In today's economy, there is no doubt a large focus on reducing operational costs (whether they are the traditional operational costs of a business or the day-to-day personal operational costs). Reducing operational costs reduces your breakeven point - definitely a key to success in today's economy: Reduce waste - [...]
To succeed in today's environment, it is no longer desirable to have a world class operation focused on providing a value add while maximizing resources; it is a requirement. Today's global business climate is becoming more competitive. It is tough to stand out in the crowd, and it is [...]
It has recently occurred to me that businesses are missing a huge opportunity to leverage the transferability of best practices. Although as a business consultant, leveraging best practices has been an "assumed" part of the value I provide clients, even I missed the boat and forgot to leverage this [...]
The value of customer service might not be clear until it's necessary - after all, it seems like not a big deal to potentially sacrifice a bit of service in order to gain a good discount. How many of us shop for discounts at the store? Or, in a [...]
Even the founder of lean principles, Toyota can falter on quality; thus, anyone can lose their edge - yet it is cornerstone to business success. View quality from your customer's perspective - what matters is what your customer expects when agreeing to purchase the product or service. Be vigilant [...]
As we are nearing the end of the first quarter of 2010 and continuing to teeter on the edge of a recovery of sorts, it is a good time to think about the power of focus. Ideally, your company developed and clearly articulated the top priorities for 2010, and [...]
As I'm on my way to New York to give a speech on leveraging supply chain strategy to achieve a competitive advantage, I've been thinking about common themes with my speeches, articles, surveys and client observations - customer service emerged as a vital priority in all cases. Customer service [...]
Bedrock - always appropriate. I want to thank my mentor in this topic, Debra Daniels for her expertise – Debra, have I incorporated your wisdom appropriately? Build safety into the culture – most safety programs are pointless as they are considered an outside program (and many times, meetings are [...]
How can we not only "get through" today's new normal business environment but THRIVE? In my 20+ years of experience as both an Operations Executive and as an entrepreneur and business consultant who has worked with multiple companies ranging from start-ups to multi-billion dollar enterprises across varied industries and [...]
As 2011 winds down, it is an opportune time to evaluate this year's progress and to think about strategy for 2012. I find that in order to get ahead of the curve (NO longer a nice-to-have in today's new normal business environment); it is vital to incorporate the latest [...]
