Some favored group like MIT, huge budgets. Big group (BIG GROUP) of engineers fly biz class in end Feb from Asea to US, and now another group from US to Asea! While other departments continuously get rejected for travels! Would really like to know what criteria higher up uses to determine which groups get how much in travel budgets! Or is it office politics that determines the budget?
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Just transfer to MIT
Endless spending in Marketing BU as well.
IT are well known for social networking. The Director in one of the big Asian site went up through socializing and thus promotes those who socializes with him. There are regular dinners, drinking and partying sessions, as well as cycling sessions. Those not in the gang, best you change group.
Happened in iCDG a few years ago. We really needed to set up a meeting with other engineers urgently, but there was a travel cost reduction, so we were told what clueless managers always tell you: Why don‘t you use video conferencing?!?
At the same time a large number of managers were flown to some expensive resort in the US (REALLY expensive, several days, including social event) to come up with Aicha‘s brilliant G5 plan (the plan that three of the five leaders didn‘t believe in right from the start) which had very little impact on our execution quality, speed or cost.
Always funny when managers think that engineers can solve their problems via video conferencing, while management problems have to be solved face to face.
Send an email to Bob Swan, CFO, no joke. If you are an Intel employee or shareholder you should make sure every penny is spent correctly.
Travel is most abused particularly for senior manager face to face, and supplier visits. You would be surprised to know how some suppliers hate frequent intel visits as it takes them away from work.