Increasingly, organizations see many fixed assets and virtually all working capital as drags on performance rather than as strategic advantages. Why is that view taking over?
To understand that shift let's make a contrast between Henry Ford's day and the automobile industry now. When Mr. Ford started his breakthrough of the assembly line, there were few suppliers who could provide parts...
Most organizations will tell you that they are the best in the world at what they do. In most cases, that's more pride talking rather than reality.
Over the years, I have conducted many worldwide searches for organizational best practices. Invariably, I find that most organizations are well above or well below average in each particular practice.
You can picture this occurrence as...
Most people pursue outsourcing choices in an incorrect way. When you spend time on alternatives that don't make sense for your organization, you've missed an opportunity to outsource something that will put you ahead of competitors.
Here are the typical approaches that can draw your attention away from your best outsourcing opportunities:
-Examining only choices that potential...
Many people will tell you that you should never consider outsourcing for those areas that are most important to your success. These authorities argue that you'll give away parts of your competitive strength and will become vulnerable as a result.
While vulnerability may sometimes be created and exploited, having outsourced important tasks can also lead to greater success. For instance, when...
Years ago, many service organizations jealously guarded their expertise from their clients. The thought behind this caution was that otherwise you would lose the opportunity to sell the same expertise over and over again to that and other clients. The best a client could hope to do was to hire some people from the service organization after the engagement and hope to transfer needed skills and...
What can't be cured must be insured. --Oliver Herford
When a vehicle strikes another vehicle, an object, or a person, the consequences can be grave. Part of the price paid for mobility is the cost of such accidents.
The human toll is often much greater than the economic one. Although one can never hope to compensate for the human costs, insurance can certainly help soften the economic...
I acted and my action made me wise. --Thom Gunn
If beneficiaries, customers, and users can help themselves, costs can fall while satisfaction rises. For instance, some stores now offer the experience of being a potter. Everything you need to make and decorate a pot is there, and your artistic creation can be carried away to use after it has been fired and cooled by the store's staff.
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After an offering has been finalized and delivered to the beneficiaries, customers, and users, flaws may remain. In the worst cases, offerings will have to be recalled to remedy the dangers. In other cases, user warnings will suffice. In some cases, it will be simple to make adjustments in other ways to eliminate danger.
Long before complaints begin piling up in your offices, accident...
What makes some people love being where they are and want to stay there while others want to see what else there is? Clearly, curiosity must play a role. Beyond that, experience must reinforce curiosity by providing rewards. Like many adventuresome Australians, Bob Kudyba was born with the necessary curiosity and life has kindly rewarded him for acting to satisfy his curiosity.
From quite a...
Those who have experienced simulated or real accidents can usually give you chapter and verse on what they were thinking, how they were confused, and what misled them into taking a dangerous action. But after a simulated, real, or potential accident most organizations see their job more as calming down the beneficiary, customer, or user rather than learning from their perception of what went or...
