Do Business Well

The second strategy focuses on solutions that address the specific circumstances of individual clients who are eager to break new ground. In other words, this approach concentrates on exploiting new opportunities and resolving ad hoc problems.

Traditionally, this has been the strong suit of strategy and operations consultants, whose depth of knowledge and years of experience give them a well-honed capacity to solve knotty problems. For a critical perspective and fresh thinking, customers call on McKinsey, A. T. Kearny, BCG, or A. D. Little—to name a few of the larger firms—or any of multiple smaller specialists.

Today, often at the urging of collaboration-oriented customers craving insightful viewpoints and better performance, suppliers are entering the fray. As customers tap their expertise, suppliers realize that they complement and often can substitute for consultants. To extract the most value from their know-how, suppliers are redesigning their selling and marketing processes and developing consulting skills that they emphasize over their ability to take orders, which, of course, they continue to do. They engage the customers‘ organizations at multiple levels to gain a detailed view of their needs, then assign a cross-functional team to devise individualized solutions, and this is all taking place in collaboration with the customer.

To uncover opportunities with potential, some suppliers initiate pilot projects with selected customers to jointly examine possible areas for process improvement or product breakthroughs. In fact, according to Craig Naylor, group vice president and general manager at Du Pont, his company pursues this method to strengthen its bonds with demanding customers, such as Delphi Automotive and Robert Bosch, two of the world’s largest automotive parts makers.

On a grander scale, the new market leaders establish consulting divisions, that is, think tanks or business-development units for the purpose of helping customers break new ground. IBM, which employs multiple strategies to appeal to collaborators, as do UPS and other market leaders, exemplifies this point. IBM’s business innovation services division pursues our second strategy by teaching customers how to develop unique e-business strategies, new ventures, Web applications, customer relationship management solutions, and the like.

One innovative company that is worth watching in this context is Ariba, which was founded in 1996 and is one of the youngest organizations in my top 100. Ariba and its major rival, Commerce One, have quickly become the leading pioneers in the highly competitive and swiftly expanding field of business-tobusiness e-commerce. Ariba broke new ground by establishing and managing, as of now, well over one hundred Internet-based marketplaces that allow participating sellers and corporate buyers to transact business with efficiency and speed. The company’s plans are to build thousands of such exchanges in all segments of the economy and the world. Ariba’s marketplaces focus on transactions that involve so-called operating resources, such as technology and office equipment, maintenance and repair items, and many other goods and services required to operate a business. In a typical company, these transactions represent the largest segment of corporate expenditures yet are often carried out with paper-based or semiautomated procedures that are inefficient for both buyer and seller. Ariba automates their processes and brings the parties together through its Internet-based network.

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