Logistics: Vested Outsourcing & True Partnerships For a number of years we have been proponents of achieving
positive outcomes in logistics through partnerships. Rather than merely using
the word for its own sake the idea was to build true relationships where equal
partners come together and do what they each do best. The idea is to drive the
bottom line and not a case of squeezing the last nickel from a supplier. By
bringing the Òsupplier-partnerÓ in-house we gain significant knowledge to take
market-share away from competitors and to grow as a team!
This concept has always been one more of ÒfeelÓ than being
able to espouse all of the dynamics of how such a relationship happens. Now
definitive work is being done at the University of Tennessee by Kate Vitasek.
Her work in the practice of supply chain management and outsourcing has made
her the lead researcher in the award-winning concept called Vested Outsourcing.
Vitasek is co-author of two must-read books based on the concept: Vested Outsourcing: Five Rules
That Will Transform Outsourcing and Vested Outsourcing Manual: A Guide for
Creating Successful Business and Outsourcing Agreements.
Vested Outsourcing is built on five basic rules that guide
its implementation. Rule # 2, ÒFocus on What not HowÓ
starts to give you an understanding of the work. It says that you must define
what you need from the relationship and leave the implementation to your
supplier-partner. An example might be that we need next day delivery of our
products at the lowest possible cost. The next step means forgoing the typical
highly detailed RFP directing the supplier-partner in ever greater minutia on
how that is to be done complete with penalties for Ònon-performanceÓ. Rather
you turn to your supplier-partner and ask how they would suggest that the task
be accomplished. It is after all their industry and they are the experts.
Another example involved an educational publisher where we
approached a printer and simply asked how we could produce a workbook at a particular
unit price to beat competitors. Rather than handing the printer details about
how to produce the book we asked how they would do it! In return we promised
not to bid it out to a hundred other printers. The upside was if we sold a lot
of books they would print a lot of books. We were partners and the other
publishers were the competition. The outcome was better than we expected or
hoped.
No doubt, someone in traditional procurement will ask why
not squeeze every last nickel out of the printer, search for ever cheaper ink,
paper and binding. The answer is three-part. First if we were not fair with the
printer they would never again choose to work with us to find great ideas.
Second, that energy could be better placed into developing additional new
products which after all is the real job. But most importantly, if our profit
only comes from wringing out a few nickels here and there, we have a strategic
disconnect. A sustained effort by the company and their supplier-partners
should be to drive ever larger market share in the industry. If the combined
knowledge of your supplier-partners in concert with your company to produce new
products is not the best use of your time then such bidding is the very least
of your problems.
Images on the Internet – Guarding
your Intellectual Property on the web! From the
beginning of the Internet, everyone has valued information on
the web; the saying goes “content is king.” Whether
you believe such a concept or not, it can be said that product
images are crucial for e-commerce. More and more companies are
beginning to realize that their product images are a crucial
“placeholder” when selling products online. If
you've spent a small fortune producing those images, you better
make sure that such value is not walking out the back door. Any
online sales initiative should be built on a strong image
database and those images should be watermarked or protected
before they hit the web. Manufacturers, marketers and
advertising agencies will want to investigate such new
technologies and make sure that their clients are protected
before rather than after the images have been
“borrowed.” One company found more than 11,000
entries for their products on Google Shopping – the only
problem was: not a single one of those listings belonged to the
company!
Open Mobile Alliance facilitates global
user adoption of mobile data services
What started in 1973 as a strange new
two-way radio has blossomed to over 4.5 billion cellphones
world-wide. Beyond communications, today’s cellphone
provides services such as SMS (or text) messages, email,
Internet access, gaming, Bluetooth, infrared, camera, MMS
messaging, MP3 player, radio, GPS and computing power driven by
thousands of apps. Any company striving for success that does
not have a mobile phone strategy is at a distinct disadvantage.
You need to pose the question: how does a
device that’s in the hands of 2 out every three persons
on earth affect your company. What is your answer?
Microsoft TAG – Connecting Real Life
with the Digital World!
A 2-D barcode is a matrix code (or
two-dimensional bar code) originally created by the Japanese
corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. They added the term
"QR" derived from "Quick Response" to what
became QR-code. Others picked up on this technology: Microsoft
moved into this area and called it Microsoft TAG. A Microsoft
Tag is essentially a machine readable web link, analogous to a
TinyURL link: when read, the Tag application sends the HCCB
data to a Microsoft server, which then returns the publisher's
intended URL. The Tag reader then directs the user's mobile
browser to the appropriate website. This technology has
far-ranging possibilities in the business world. 2-D barcodes
can do for newspapers and other publications just what
Microsoft says: it can connect traditional print to the Digital
World! New barcodes such as these can also ensure that
information printed on a box can never be out of date. This
brings all kinds of new opportunities to the world of
Logistics. Just imagine a haz-mat situation at 3:00 am when a
load of boxes spill out of an overturned semi-truck. Old
barcodes at best gave you a manufacturer’s name,
Microsoft TAGS can allow a first responder to see just exactly
what is at hand. How could this technology help your company?
Project management is the discipline of
planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the
successful completion of specific project goals and objectives
The Project Management Institute serves
practitioners and organizations with standards that describe
good practices, globally recognized credentials that certify
project management expertise, and resources for professional
development, networking and community. Like many professionals,
we believe that project management has become the basis of all
business activities. Sometimes it is beneficial to bring in
outside resources to confront major projects. This is not an
indication of a lack of internal skills as much as an
understanding that a new perspective is incredible helpful.
Over time, organizations build up entire constructs of
“that’s not the way we do things” which make
it very difficult for a new project to bring anything other
than the same old results. As project management professionals
we know how to separate corporate knowledge from corporate
“culture.” Would a new perspective help on your new
project large or small?
