Ultimate collaborative mechanism
The uneven distribution of power in a supply chain is the norm. To move beyond simple supply to a value chain, or further to a demand chain, the decision making power needs to be distributed more evenly through the chain via collaborative mechanisms. The ultimate...
A contract and an act of trust
Two weeks ago, on coming to an agreement with a new client, sealed with a handshake, I indicated I would send him a letter that outlined our agreement. Pretty standard practice in my industry, but his response surprised me. He asked " do we need our agreement in...
Visualise to succeed
All of my four kids were elite athletes, petty unusual in one family, particularly as the sports they excelled in were different. Apart from being naturally very good athletes, and being prepared to work very hard, they have one common trait: They all visualised the...
New blood, old blood.
This post follows up on the thoughts posted yesterday. Considering where the responsability for management failure lies, I started thinking about the experience currently being wasted by those unwillingly sitting on the sidelines, for any number of resaons. Tough...
New blood to face the challenges
Many businesses bring in new blood from time to time, particularly when crises hit. If this is because the "old blood" is not up to the challenge, OK, but usually it is not because the new people are smarter, or more motivated than the "old blood" but because the...
Archimedes & the web.
Archimedes theorised that "With a long enough lever, you could move the world" It appears that the web is such a lever, as the world has changed as a result of the leverage applied by the development of the web. The internet bubble may have burst in the nineties,...
Leadership & management.
There is a difference between telling someone what to do (management) and inciting a movement (leadership). Managers use organisational structures to get stuff done, leaders create momentum by enabling connections to be made amongst like minded people, and showing...
Trust or truth.
Trust is often cited as the key in making relationships, personal or commercial work. What is sometimes poorly understood is that trust is an outcome of lots of other things, primary amongst them is truth, along with consideration of the others point of view,...
Engagement
The rules of the game have changed, marketing is about the engagement of customers. My definition of marketing, is" the recognition, building, protecting and leveraging competitive advantage" Engagement by consumers in the brand proposition is what that is all...
Horizontal and vertical chains.
The usual, and correct view of a supply chain is a number of competitors at each point in the chain competing to provide the goods and services necessary to send the goods along to the next stage. The classic is the Australian wool chain, where the agents compete...