Innovations, where have they gone? There is a critical lack of good innovation at SLB, without which no company can thrive. What is the problem, why are there no good innovations? It seems to me that our leaders do not understand the consequences of this or do not care much at all.
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y'all gotta hear the tale of Schlumberger, innovation and yes men/ women.
Outsider: Is Schlumberger an innovative company?
Schlumberger employee: big yes!
Outsider: What kind of innovation are you working on these days?
Schlumberger employee: yes.
There can be no innovation when the company is populated by yes-people who are either too afraid or too connected to buck the system. There can be innovation when the most experienced people are replaced by younger, cheaper, and less experienced staff that make the HR demographic statistics look better. Most of all though, innovation is stifled by the need to satisfy the bureaucratic appetite of the company with endless reports, studies, and presentations that are requested at the last minute, then gather electronic dust while they sit in a manager's inbox while they enjoy a beautiful day on the links because, you know, business.
Innovation in o&g is game over, why innovate when the cost recovering period is longer than 8-10 years and could result in missing an energy transition innovation boat or window.
Pivot into energy transition innovation! There are longer term returns, the only innovation in o&g is an efficiency game to be played if u can supply less service or less product cheaper and still meet the contract requirements. Squeeze a few pennies…. If you don’t need expensive employees get cheaper ones as well.
The days of research and ground up solutions are over!
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And many of the people who promoted CLM were made engineering managers and project managers even though they were not qualified. Real innovation blossoms in an environment without over bearing bureauracy and one that allows some chaos and free wheeling.
This is so true, and the reason why so many good engineers have left SHTC Stonehouse U.K. . This product centre continues to decline at an ever increasing speed and the high attrition rate will eventually lead to it's closure, already started by the closure of the battery plant in building B.
The very rigid and bureaucratic CLM product development system adopted by Schlumberger was a death knell to innovation. CLM is at its heart a very rigid set of timelines and procedures with associated documents which was supposed to guide projects from concept to commercialization. It is an expensive system that employs large numbers of bureaucrats and process managers. The people who unleashed this process had little or no experience in product development and did nor realize the importance of having teams staffed by top rated engineers. Somehow they believed that the CLM process would magically result in good technology. Just the opposite many of the top engineers left the company. And many of the people who promoted CLM were made engineering managers and project managers eventhough they were not qualified. Real innovation blossoms in an environment without over bearing bureauracy and one that allows some chaos and free wheeling. Engineering teams staffed with talented and qualified managers and top engineers can develop innovative technology that meets specifications by giving the team autonomy and holding them accountable. Teams with unqualified managers and mediocre engineers will never develop innovative technology no matter how many CLM documents are written.
The stock price is only held up by its employees, especially the ones getting the multi million dollar bonuses. SLB is a pyramid scheme.
Totally untrue, the ability of this company to innovate ceased at least 15 years ago. It has only survived by acquiring other companies who have had good inventive technology already developed and with a proven ability to make money.
These companies that are taken over are now ruined by the short term outlook and overbearing, toxic management culture of SLB that is ruthlessly imposed upon them, not a surprise that they then become a shadow of their former selves and then fail. SLB management discourages innovation and diversity both of the employee and any product development, it's a mere tick the box company now.
SLB will continue to decline, it's poorly regarded by many in the market place, a fundamental management culture change is it's only hope but there is little chance of that happening, the narrow minded, arrogant and toxic culture prevents this from happening.
Historically the company was focused on Technology and Innovation. But after years of layoffs and budget cuts, many research scientists and Engineers are gone and the senior managers is focused on short term financial goals.
can't innovate when there's no inspiring, innovative leaders. when mid- and senior- management are staffed by bu-t-kissing politicians, the vision and incentive for producing innovative gets erased.
listen to how droll and banal the management broadcasts and speeches are. if these buffons were in charge for the last 5-10 years while the company created nothing, how could the company start creating novel and valuable things now?
innovation WAS in our dna. no longer.
It's a leadership problem
They want to reap benefits in very short terms and therefore refrain from funding innovation.
Cameron Manufacturing for example went through a leader in Oil&Gas to a laughing stock.
Just another set of buzz words, put out by people with their heads in the sand, hoping to convince the investors to buy a few more shares of stock in a company (industry) that is fast become somewhat irrelevant, and, not that it matters, tell the increasingly distrustful employees, that, yes, you do matter.
Look for upcoming layoffs.
And, here I thought that Halliburton had the edge when it came to playing the game of "Buzz Word Bu-----t".