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Yet, one simple "rule of business" remains constant. Your organization's ability to execute is the ultimate determinant of your success. And, when it comes to effective execution your potential roadblocks are many.
At Ford Business Consulting, our specialty is helping organizations overcome obstacles to superior execution by tuning the human system to support the business strategy.read more...
At Ford Business Consulting, our specialty is helping organizations overcome obstacles to superior execution by tuning the human system to support the business strategy.read more...
Customers, suppliers – what’s the difference anyway?
Customers, suppliers – what’s the difference anyway? Here are some thoughts from the March, 2006 Harvard Business Review.
Sure, you know you need a customer value proposition so your sales force sells into the customer need. Have you asked your customers what your value proposition really is? How about your customers’ customers? In the March, 2006 Harvard Business Review, James Anderson and his colleagues draw some useful distinctions between various kinds of value propositions. They suggest that you undertake “customer value research” to determine the value proposition.
So, now you’re going to rush out and do research on your customers, right? What if you turned that idea a little sideways – instead of research on your customers, you could do research with your customers. Bring your customers truly into the fold, make them part of your endeavor.
Gee, that sounds a lot like the theme from another article in the same issue – “Connect and Develop.” Proctor and Gamble are proactively looking in all kinds of places outside their own four walls for promising ideas. This isn’t innovation outsourcing, strategic alliances or joint ventures. It is a very leveraged R&D model that has great promise.
For example, the Proctor and Gamble folks have build a secure IT platform specifically for sharing technology briefs with suppliers and allowing suppliers to respond in a secure environment. In other words, they are using technology to bring suppliers into the fold as collaborators, much as I suggested above for customer research. The article warns of challenges with company culture and rewards systems but also sites many facts and figures to support the success of this project.
So, why do I ask “Customers, suppliers – what’s the difference anyway?” Because in both of these articles, the authors are hinting at moving from the enterprise to the Outerprise. In the Outerprise, you shift how the company relates to its stakeholders. You bring key stakeholders into key processes to add value to the organization. For more on the outerprise concept, read “Connect and Develop” in the March, 2006 Harvard Business Review.
Sure, you know you need a customer value proposition so your sales force sells into the customer need. Have you asked your customers what your value proposition really is? How about your customers’ customers? In the March, 2006 Harvard Business Review, James Anderson and his colleagues draw some useful distinctions between various kinds of value propositions. They suggest that you undertake “customer value research” to determine the value proposition.
So, now you’re going to rush out and do research on your customers, right? What if you turned that idea a little sideways – instead of research on your customers, you could do research with your customers. Bring your customers truly into the fold, make them part of your endeavor.
Gee, that sounds a lot like the theme from another article in the same issue – “Connect and Develop.” Proctor and Gamble are proactively looking in all kinds of places outside their own four walls for promising ideas. This isn’t innovation outsourcing, strategic alliances or joint ventures. It is a very leveraged R&D model that has great promise.
For example, the Proctor and Gamble folks have build a secure IT platform specifically for sharing technology briefs with suppliers and allowing suppliers to respond in a secure environment. In other words, they are using technology to bring suppliers into the fold as collaborators, much as I suggested above for customer research. The article warns of challenges with company culture and rewards systems but also sites many facts and figures to support the success of this project.
So, why do I ask “Customers, suppliers – what’s the difference anyway?” Because in both of these articles, the authors are hinting at moving from the enterprise to the Outerprise. In the Outerprise, you shift how the company relates to its stakeholders. You bring key stakeholders into key processes to add value to the organization. For more on the outerprise concept, read “Connect and Develop” in the March, 2006 Harvard Business Review.
Labels: innovation, stakeholders