Do Business Well

We’ve neglected consumer desire. That’s why consumers are taking an extended holiday in this recession. Why the Web was wiped out overnight. Why many Christmas retailers and resorts have gone into mourning.

Today’s advertising is so busy looking over its shoulder to see what analysts are saying about its company’s stock value, and what its competitors are saying in their ads, that the consumer has been left out of the loop. Continue Reading »

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1. Control the size of the establishment

Large-scale production brings certain economies with it especially in times of stability or growth, but in periods of retraction large-scale facilities can be too costly. Ensure that establishment costs are affordable for both high and low levels of activity.

2. Assess the minimum/optimum establishment size for your present activity level

Firms often work with facilities which have grown over the years as demand has developed. But are they what you really need now and for the future? Assess your ideal facilities objectively and compare them with what you have at present; you will at least have a picture of the changes you might make. Continue Reading »

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When your largest customer dominates its industry, you can expect to share in its good fortune. This is self-evident to the executives at Keystone Foods and J. R. Simplot, two privately held (hence unranked) companies that supply McDonald’s restaurants in the United States with, respectively, meat and potatoes. They are among the many suppliers whose fruitful collaborations with the fast food chain have lasted decades, after starting with nothing but a handshake agreement.

When customer and supplier interests are so intricately entwined, the concept of teaming up with customers assumes another dimension in addition to those we have discussed thus far. As a result, my fourth strategy for winning collaborator customers calls for more than specialized expertise and a close relationship. It entails a radical commitment—not easily reversed—to joint success. Here the primary emphasis changes to the physical and strategic interlocking of the supplier’s and customer’s businesses. Continue Reading »

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