Wal-Mart has been one of the most successful international businesses in the world. In the process of expanding to India, it is important for Wal-Mart to develop a good relationship with farmers, as farmers are a vital aspect to India’s food industry. Wal-Mart is trying to create a secure initial agricultural position that can be used for further improvement in India. In order to improve efficiency and increase the flow of goods, the company uses hyper efficient practices in their distribution model. For the past few years, Wal-Mart has been developing a close and trustworthy relationship with the farmers in India. In Haider Nagar, farmers prefer to do business with Wal-Mart because the farmers get paid well and on time. Wal-Mart distributes its products quickly to consumers, which increases farmers’ profit since they sell their product at a faster rate. Overall, the business to business relationship a company has with its partners is important because it will help the company succeed in foreign markets.
The relationships at hand reveal the significance of knowing who you are working with and how they are going to react. Rare Wines LLC customers reacted to the fraud by filing law suits and suing the company. Due to past experiences of not receiving paid for wine from the company the consumers were more apt to believe that they were never going to get any of their wine or their money back. The same can be said for Wallace and his company with previous troubles of the winery in France failing to supply the wine that was purchased. They knew that the winery did not deliver the wine before, so why should they trust them again - what type of conclusion was drawn? Not only did Rare Wines LLC lose value that has been added to their name, the winery in France has lost its value as well.
Everyone has a role in a business whether it is as the owner, manager, employee, supplier, lawyer or customers. It took a court date for an employee of Rare Wines LLC to step forward and say anything regarding what has been going on. Communication among all the players, trustworthiness, dedication and consistency are all important factors that keep a business to business relationship going well. Rare Wines LLC proved to be have opposite qualities of what a good business relationship should look like, which is why they are bankrupt and not in operation.
There is a relatively new controversy over milk in New Zealand and Australia.The claim is that protein in regular milk (A1 protein) can make its way into the bloodstream, causing diseases such as autism, schizophrenia, juvenile diabetes, and heart disease.Scientists disagree whether this claim is valid. The benefits of A2 milk seem to be mostly hype at this point, but consumers that believe A2 milk is beneficial continue to purchase the more expensive A2 milk.A2 Corporation and Freedom Foods companies created a joint venture, A2 Milk Company, in order to take advantage of the hype and capture a share of the relatively small market.It’s interesting that they created a joint venture in order to spread out the risk between the two companies in case scientific evidence proves there is no benefit to consuming A2 milk instead of A1 milk, and the A2 milk market falls through.
Tyson Foods loses lawsuit that claims its deceptive practices bankrupted growers
Tyson as the world’s second largest food processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork, uses its economic power to force McCurtain Country’s 50 chicken growers into growing chickens at a low cost. This had costs hundreds of families into bankruptcy and foreclosure. The chicken growers were verbally and financially pressured by Tyson to use loan money for chicken houses constructions, but Tyson then paid them at a price that is less needed to break even. In terms of financial pressures, Tyson tried to place its growers under a huge debt loads which made growers hesitant to refuse any of Tyson’s demands. And the end, Tyson must to pay a total of $7.3 million to the 10 of the 50 growers who filled a lawsuit. And the McCurtain County officials are assessing all options to prevent this from happening again in the future.
Cargill, the world's largest trader of agricultural commodities, is threatening to halt business with one of its suppliers based on information that points toward the company's deforestation activites. Sinar Mas, a major Indonesian palm oil supplier, has been accused of illegal land-clearing activities to create plantation ground for its palm oil production. Sinar Mas assures that once further investigation is completed, its business with Cargill will remain. However, other buyers, like Nestle who is switching suppliers and Unilever who scrapped a $33 million contract with Sinar Mas, are way past threatening. Their business relationship with Sinar Mas is no more, because these multinationals didn't want to harm their companies' global perception because of their supplier's actions.
Companies stop business relationships all the time; so, why is this particular situation significant from a food marketer's standpoint? None of these buyers had any real issues with what they were buying. The issues that terminated the supplier/buyer relationship had nothing to do with the quality or physical ascpect of the product that was being transacted.
Here, we see the extension of a generic commodity to what Theodore Levitt would call a product bundle + intangibles. In business relationships, there are intangibles that are added into a product bundle with the commodity/product that are remarkably influential. It was an "intangible" part of the "product bundle" that Sinar Mas created that was unwanted by its buyer. Nestle, Unilever and now Cargill can't do business anymore with Sinar Mas. But did this have anything to do with the product? Nothing. The problem was entirely in the risk of tarnishing the perception of the buyer, and how that was affected by WHO they bought palm oil from, and HOW it was being produced, but not WHAT it was.
Many factors, be it technology, globalization, or media influence, make any business relationship extremely fragile nowadays, in that absolutely EVERYTHING that is offered to the other company matters. Every aspect of what you sell/buy and how you go about it in a business relationship can be influential, even if it is "intangible."
The intangibles that are included in the product bundle are significant. So significant, in fact, that it cost Sinar Mas a relationship with some of the most recognizable food companies in the world.
Iowa soybean farmer, Norm Chambers, has been busy expanding his target market to overseas purchasers during the last two decades.Utilizing his past networking to obtain current customers as well as gaining thorough knowledge of the Japanese culture of business, Chambers has been able to attain a buyer-seller relationship that greatly benefits both businesses.Moving out of the spot market through growing a value-added crop has allowed Chambers to capitalize on premiums that are apparent as a producer moves toward food and the consumer end of the continuum.There were multiple risks with partnering with an international contact, and the suppliers are currently feeling one such pressure as competition continuously increases in their industry.Theodore Levitt states, “The relationship between a seller and buyer seldom ends when a sale is made.The sale, then, merely consummates the courtship, at which point the marriage begins.”Chambers has been loyal, fair, flexible, considerate and compliant throughout the course of his “marriage” with his Japanese partner, which has resulted in a healthy, long-term relationship between buyer and seller.
A recent issue of The Costco Connection, discussing the evolution of house brands, cited packaging and efficiency issues. A prime example was the design of a "square" jar for cashews that increased pallet capacity by 50%. That, in turn, saved 600 truckloads a year in transporting cashews alone. 600 truckloads isn't peanuts, even for Costco.
Their liquid detergent bottle design increased pallet capacity by 33% with proportionate transportation savings--and improved consumer utility. Full disclosure: they're doing something similar with gallon milk containers, but I've yet to figure out how to make the first pour go into the glass and not all over the counter.
These cases led me to two takeaways. One is that "green" initiatives don't all have to be high-concept, multi-million dollar investments with decades-long payback periods. We are surrounded by simple opportunities that are the right thing for the environment, for business, and for customers-- provided that we are willing to simplify and focus our visions.
The other is that these kinds of supply chain improvements outght to be what's coming out of better relationships and collaborative problem-solving with suppliers who are able to think in terms of the downstream customer, and the ultimate consumer. I don't know that to be entirely the case with Costco, but I suspect it is, and other companies have derived similar benefits from close and progressive business relationships.
When the supplier is able to apply parallel solutions for other customers, the benefits become part of a significant ripple effect with positive consequences all up and down the supply chain. Powerful stuff.
What has your experience been? Do you have to drive all the improvements, or do your business partners? Or, do you develop them together? If together, how do you either limit or promote their application outside of your specific relationships?
Kraft’s acquisition of Cadbury has been part of every conversation in the agbusiness industry.Both companies are prestigious brands with solid global markets, this merger of Kraft and Cadbury will control 15% of the world’s confectionary market making it the largest. In respect to business relationships, this merger in terms of annual cost savings, is predicted to save Kraft about $625 million in procurement, marketing and R&D.Kraft will take advantage of these cost reductions by using Cadbury to tap into the luxury segment of many emerging markets like India and Latin America.So far this all sounds good for Kraft, but what benefits does Cadbury receive?Cadbury benefits from Kraft’s huge amount of financial resources and assets to make products like Chocolate bunnies and Dentyne Ice at cheaper costs.The merger in the long run is expected to increase sales 5% annually.This relationship will work in the long-run.
In 2005 Starbucks committed to support Ethos Waters mission of helping children around the world get clean water. Through the sales of Ethos water, Starbucks said they would contribute $10 million to the humanitarian water program by 2010. With each bottle of Ethos Starbucks sells they contribute $.05 from US and $.10 from Canada. So far, the Starbucks Foundation has committed $6.2 million in grants. With this money 420,000 people that live in coffee-and tea growing communities in East Africa and India are helped educated about water sanitation and hygiene.
Ethos and Starbucks relationship is very unique and I think a very good example of how large retailers like Starbucks can help small suppliers like Ethos. Furthermore, they are great examples of how small donations from each individual product can come together as a large sum of money and help make a difference. One question I have is, why aren't other companies doing this.
This winter we have had a lot of snow, so I have been staying inside watching reality TV shows on Bravo.
I used to think it as a mindless activity-no offense Bravo, I am a huge fan-- but lately they have offered great insight and food for thought in regards to management, team work, and most importantly, business relationships.
My new favorite show, Kell on Earth, follows a fashion public relations, marketing and branding firm called People's Revolution.
People's Revolution was founded by Kelly Cutrone, show's namesake. Episodes are undoubtedly edited to highlight drama and failure-many the results of miscommunication and vague delegation of responsibility, but the fact is that many of the members of the team are not meeting expectations and deadlines, and that threatens the health of the relationships with the firm's clients.
The 'a-ha' moment came out of a segment with a newly appointed manager of interns. She learned the hard way that just because you ask someone to do something, it doesn't mean they actually follow through and complete the task, and it certainly doesn't guarantee that they will be done correctly.
Next up is an analysis of Project Runway, or, a case study on how big egos and opposition to collaboration on team challenges end in lose-lose situations and tarnish relationships.
North America is a weak spot in the global drinks business, largely because of the decline of carbonated soft drinks. With PepsiCo’s soda volume dropping 5 percent last year, according to Beverage Digest, the company had to figure out how to restructure its distribution network in order to fill customer needs more readily.
Last year, PepsiCo agreed to purchase it’s two largest independent bottlers for $7.8 billion. This all comes at a time where the carbonated beverage market is losing share to healthier, non-carbonated products like juice and water. Ten years ago, soft drinks comprised 70% of PepsiCo’s beverage selection, where today they are responsible for only 45%.
PepsiCo wanted to put an end to the days in which it argued with bottlers over profits and plans for new brands. When the company wanted to try new drinks or package sizes, the requests were sometimes hard for its big, independent bottlers to fulfill at the pace Pepsi wanted. That highlighted one of the central tensions: Bottlers thought Pepsi was too demanding, and Pepsi thought bottlers didn’t move fast enough. Big decisions between PepsiCo and its large bottlers too often became tug-of-wars over revenue, sales volume and profits. This shows just how willing partners must be to work with one another and just how important it is for businesses in partnerships to respond to the wants of the other.
The new system put in place by PepsiCo now allows for a more integrated and seamless operation. This allows more flexibility to move with consumer’s changing tastes and compete with rivals like Coca-Cola in the short term. And in a time where big-box chains like Wal-Mart and CostCo continually demand lower prices, this acquisition allows PespiCo more negotiating leverage than its rival, leaving the boys at Coca-Cola to play catch-up.
This article is very important and interesting for a variety of reasons. Changing to a small percentage of cage-free eggs towards the end of May, 2009 made it so that Wendy's came into a favorable outlook from the Humane Society of the United States. This society has had a national campaign against caged hen eggs for being cruel and inhumane confinement of egg-laying hens. Prior to this decision, all of Wendy's eggs had came from caged hens. Although they only changed to having two percent cage-free eggs, this was looked at in a very positive light. Another positive aspect for Wendy's is that they are very much ahead of McDonald's in moving to at least a small percentage of cage-free eggs. Wendy's is not the first restaurant chain to move towards cage-free eggs as restaurants such as Quizno's, Denny's, Burger King, and Hardee's were already using these eggs. It should be noted that this article was published almost a year ago and many facts could have changed since then.
Its so secret that in the past year, McDonalds has beefed up their menu. Certified Angus Beer burgers have invaded the iconic McDonalds menu, and customers seem to love them. The third-pound lineup includes: the deluxe, mushroom & swiss, and the savory bacon and cheese. The burgers are made with USDA-inspected Angus beef and are intended to be more "gourmet" than the average McDonald’s offering. For instance they come on "bakery-style" rolls in order to appeal to those who would normally opt for a different burger chain over the golden arches.
With $3.99 a pop, McDonald’s is able to sustain a more competitive advantage against restaurants with a higher quality alternative to fast food. Not only does this relationship work for McDonald’s, the Angus Beef brand is further instating themselves as the affinity in beef.Boasting that less than 8% of all beef makes the cut, Angus Beef is continuing to find their product in American’s hands, or for that matter American’s stomachs with this business-to business relationship with McDonald’s.
Empire Valley Ranch is a family farm in British Columbia, Canada who was using the conventional channels to market their cattle.They would sell their weaned calves on the spot market to area buyers most likely for an established per pound live weight.Essentially they were selling a commoditized product to a faceless buyer.However, they have decided to differentiate their product by taking a risk and switching to a system where they finish their calves on a grass-fed diet and production is free of hormones and antibiotics.This allows them to enter a niche market with fewer buyers and for the time being higher prices and greater margins.They have had to establish direct relationships with their customer base in order to assure their product can be moved.“One must be able to build a real relationship with your customer. Once you build that trust then you most likely will have a customer for life/There is nothing better than a person coming in or calling to say they love your beef.” –Joyce.The risk seems to be working out for them and their new customers.
The idea of having access to a shared master schedule that all employees to view and edit seems like a great idea.
With a shared master schedule it is easy to identify when someone is on a business trip or took an afternoon off, and it can help tremendously with communication in general. Many offices have some form of master schedule in place already. In many cases this schedule has gone digital.
This is one of those wonderful ideas in theory-- and in practice, so long as it is not abused. I heard about a large company that uses a scheduling program that allows high-level employees to book meetings with their employees as long as the time slot is available. This seems fair, and like a smart system.
Some executives are trying to enforce a software change that would allow them to reschedule or cancel their employees' meetings so they can schedule meetings in the once-occupied time slots. It is my personal opinion that canceling someone else's meeting is crossing the line into abuse of the system, but I understand others-- like busy executives-- might think otherwise.
Melissa Raffoni wrote a piece called 8 Things Your Employees Want From You on the Harvard Business Review's website. Click here to read the full piece on HBR's website.
How many of these 8 do you do for your employees?
Tell me my role, tell me what to do and give me the rules
Discipline my co-worker who is out of line
Get me excited--about the work, the company, product, idea, etc.
Where to begin? Haiti is a land in which grinding tragedy has been the norm for generations, even centuries. Periodically, horrific catastrophes punctuate the suffocating days and nights, turning sadness into mourning.
As help tries to fight its way on-shore, we are reminded that infrastructure is more than roads and ports and bridges; the now-largely-missing organs of a functioning government are also key ingredients.
Simon Keeble (www.aircargoworld.com) has called for creation of an international organization to coordinate supply chain effectiveness in organizing and delivering relief. Clearly, the international community needs something like ALAN (the American Logistics Aid Network) which coordinates with FEMA and other organizations when disaster strikes at home. An international counterpart would be useful and welcome all over the globe - and should be an imperative.
In Haiti, accounts vary. There may be 3,000 NGOs (non-governmental organizations) functioning there, although there has been one claim of 10,000. Whatever the number of NGOs, the number of people involved is enormous, constituting a virtual army. An army of that size would be capable of almost anything (including running the country), if its efforts were coordinated and focused on specific goals.
But, so far, putting the recent calamity aside, they've all apparently been going their separate ways, executing their individual plans, and following their own priorities. We ought not be surprised that - absent workking relationships, coordinated and synchronized programs, and alignment on how missions and goals might complement one another - their positive impact on Haiti for the long term has been limited. Or, that their responses to the earthquake seem to be spinning in independent orbits.
Atul Gawande is a surgeon who has written a number of great books about practicing medicine in the United States. The Checklist Manifesto , his newest book,argues convincingly that checklists for surgeons improve safety and lowers critical mistakes by some 35% (he was able to demonstrate this at a hospital over a year).
One of the items on his surgery checklist speaks directly to relationships. The checklist question asks--before the suirgery--if everyone knows everyone and asks all people in the surgical theater to say their names and their job. What Gawande has found is that if you start the surgery by having everyone say their names, they feel more a part of a team and, more critically, they are better able to speak up if they notice anything wrong. In surgeries where people are not recognized, there is a great hesitancy on everyone’s part to speak up, even if people see something that they think is not right.
Recognizing people and their interrelationships improves medicine, improves teamwork and improves overall performance. Relationship before task. JSperry
There are several billion books, articles, and seminars about having effective meetings. To that pile, I’d like to add a very short few paragraphs.
I’ve noticed that when most meetings start, it’s by focusing immediately on the task. We seemingly can’t help ourselves. But when such a meeting occurs, there is no telling what is on the minds of the members. It may be that they have a sick child at home or an ailing parent or an impending divorce, all of which means they will be less than present at the meeting.
One manager I know starts her meetings by having everyone check in and say what’s going on in their lives. It takes some time but in the end it frees up the minds of meeting members and allows the group to more efficiently—and effectively—focus on the meeting topic.
Sometimes it’s better to focus on relationships before task to do a better job with the task. This is counterintuitive but I’ve seen it work again and again. JSperry
I am amazed by the number of people who act as if they believe this….the fake smiles….the insincere comments….the lack of integrity. Yet, some seem to believe that this is the way to build relationships. Obviously, there are several problems with this approach.
First, they confuse personal relationships with business relationships. While having good personal relationships can be a very important part of a quality b2b relationship, it is only one part.
Second, they seem to think that people can’t see through them. In my experience, most people cannot be fooled for very long.
Good relationships are built on trust and reciprocity. If either party is insincere, it won’t be long before that insincerity will interfere with, if not destroy, the relationship.
My advice is to be yourself, be direct and be honest. If what you say doesn’t match what you do, you will lose their trust and undermine the entire relationship.
Blog Posts With the Most Comments
In India, Wal-Mart Goes to the In India, Wal-Mart Goes to the Farm
Wal-Mart has been one of the most successful international businesses in the world. In the process of expanding to India, it is important for Wal-Mart to develop a good relationship with farmers, as farmers are a vital aspect to India’s food industry. Wal-Mart is trying to create a secure initial agricultural position that can be used for further improvement in India. In order to improve efficiency and increase the flow of goods, the company uses hyper efficient practices in their distribution model. For the past few years, Wal-Mart has been developing a close and trustworthy relationship with the farmers in India. In Haider Nagar, farmers prefer to do business with Wal-Mart because the farmers get paid well and on time. Wal-Mart distributes its products quickly to consumers, which increases farmers’ profit since they sell their product at a faster rate. Overall, the business to business relationship a company has with its partners is important because it will help the company succeed in foreign markets.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/business/global/13walmart.html?scp=1&sq=india%20walmart%20and%20farm&st=Search
Futures Wine Fraudster Sentenc Futures Wine Fraudster Sentenced
The relationships at hand reveal the significance of knowing who you are working with and how they are going to react. Rare Wines LLC customers reacted to the fraud by filing law suits and suing the company. Due to past experiences of not receiving paid for wine from the company the consumers were more apt to believe that they were never going to get any of their wine or their money back. The same can be said for Wallace and his company with previous troubles of the winery in France failing to supply the wine that was purchased. They knew that the winery did not deliver the wine before, so why should they trust them again - what type of conclusion was drawn? Not only did Rare Wines LLC lose value that has been added to their name, the winery in France has lost its value as well.
Everyone has a role in a business whether it is as the owner, manager, employee, supplier, lawyer or customers. It took a court date for an employee of Rare Wines LLC to step forward and say anything regarding what has been going on. Communication among all the players, trustworthiness, dedication and consistency are all important factors that keep a business to business relationship going well. Rare Wines LLC proved to be have opposite qualities of what a good business relationship should look like, which is why they are bankrupt and not in operation.
Take a look at the article – what do you think?
http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/Futures-Fraudster-Sentenced-to-Pay-11-Million-Restitution-But-Avoids-Jail_3415
The Dairy Debate The Dairy Debate
There is a relatively new controversy over milk in New Zealand and Australia. The claim is that protein in regular milk (A1 protein) can make its way into the bloodstream, causing diseases such as autism, schizophrenia, juvenile diabetes, and heart disease. Scientists disagree whether this claim is valid. The benefits of A2 milk seem to be mostly hype at this point, but consumers that believe A2 milk is beneficial continue to purchase the more expensive A2 milk. A2 Corporation and Freedom Foods companies created a joint venture, A2 Milk Company, in order to take advantage of the hype and capture a share of the relatively small market. It’s interesting that they created a joint venture in order to spread out the risk between the two companies in case scientific evidence proves there is no benefit to consuming A2 milk instead of A1 milk, and the A2 milk market falls through.
To read the full report, go to the following link: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2866747.htm
Please leave comments on your thoughts!
Tyson Foods loses lawsuit that Tyson Foods loses lawsuit that claims its deceptive practices bankrupted growers
Tyson Foods loses lawsuit that claims its deceptive practices bankrupted growers
Tyson as the world’s second largest food processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork, uses its economic power to force McCurtain Country’s 50 chicken growers into growing chickens at a low cost. This had costs hundreds of families into bankruptcy and foreclosure. The chicken growers were verbally and financially pressured by Tyson to use loan money for chicken houses constructions, but Tyson then paid them at a price that is less needed to break even. In terms of financial pressures, Tyson tried to place its growers under a huge debt loads which made growers hesitant to refuse any of Tyson’s demands. And the end, Tyson must to pay a total of $7.3 million to the 10 of the 50 growers who filled a lawsuit. And the McCurtain County officials are assessing all options to prevent this from happening again in the future.
http://eatdrinkandbe.org/article/lawsuit.0405_law_tysonverdict
Cargill, Unilever, Nestle Scra Cargill, Unilever, Nestle Scrap Palm Oil Supplier/Carbon Footprint
Cargill, the world's largest trader of agricultural commodities, is threatening to halt business with one of its suppliers based on information that points toward the company's deforestation activites. Sinar Mas, a major Indonesian palm oil supplier, has been accused of illegal land-clearing activities to create plantation ground for its palm oil production. Sinar Mas assures that once further investigation is completed, its business with Cargill will remain. However, other buyers, like Nestle who is switching suppliers and Unilever who scrapped a $33 million contract with Sinar Mas, are way past threatening. Their business relationship with Sinar Mas is no more, because these multinationals didn't want to harm their companies' global perception because of their supplier's actions.
Companies stop business relationships all the time; so, why is this particular situation significant from a food marketer's standpoint? None of these buyers had any real issues with what they were buying. The issues that terminated the supplier/buyer relationship had nothing to do with the quality or physical ascpect of the product that was being transacted.
Here, we see the extension of a generic commodity to what Theodore Levitt would call a product bundle + intangibles. In business relationships, there are intangibles that are added into a product bundle with the commodity/product that are remarkably influential. It was an "intangible" part of the "product bundle" that Sinar Mas created that was unwanted by its buyer. Nestle, Unilever and now Cargill can't do business anymore with Sinar Mas. But did this have anything to do with the product? Nothing. The problem was entirely in the risk of tarnishing the perception of the buyer, and how that was affected by WHO they bought palm oil from, and HOW it was being produced, but not WHAT it was.
Many factors, be it technology, globalization, or media influence, make any business relationship extremely fragile nowadays, in that absolutely EVERYTHING that is offered to the other company matters. Every aspect of what you sell/buy and how you go about it in a business relationship can be influential, even if it is "intangible."
The intangibles that are included in the product bundle are significant. So significant, in fact, that it cost Sinar Mas a relationship with some of the most recognizable food companies in the world.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/79510d4c-37af-11df-88c6-00144feabdc0.html
Theodore Levitt: http://cte.jhu.edu/courses/pii/marketing%20success%20through%20differentiation.pdf
The Road Less Traveled The Road Less Traveled
http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/marketing/0301-chambers-farms-grew-markets/index.html
Iowa soybean farmer, Norm Chambers, has been busy expanding his target market to overseas purchasers during the last two decades. Utilizing his past networking to obtain current customers as well as gaining thorough knowledge of the Japanese culture of business, Chambers has been able to attain a buyer-seller relationship that greatly benefits both businesses. Moving out of the spot market through growing a value-added crop has allowed Chambers to capitalize on premiums that are apparent as a producer moves toward food and the consumer end of the continuum. There were multiple risks with partnering with an international contact, and the suppliers are currently feeling one such pressure as competition continuously increases in their industry. Theodore Levitt states, “The relationship between a seller and buyer seldom ends when a sale is made. The sale, then, merely consummates the courtship, at which point the marriage begins.” Chambers has been loyal, fair, flexible, considerate and compliant throughout the course of his “marriage” with his Japanese partner, which has resulted in a healthy, long-term relationship between buyer and seller.
Cashews And Peanuts Cashews And Peanuts
A recent issue of The Costco Connection, discussing the evolution of house brands, cited packaging and efficiency issues. A prime example was the design of a "square" jar for cashews that increased pallet capacity by 50%. That, in turn, saved 600 truckloads a year in transporting cashews alone. 600 truckloads isn't peanuts, even for Costco.
Their liquid detergent bottle design increased pallet capacity by 33% with proportionate transportation savings--and improved consumer utility. Full disclosure: they're doing something similar with gallon milk containers, but I've yet to figure out how to make the first pour go into the glass and not all over the counter.
These cases led me to two takeaways. One is that "green" initiatives don't all have to be high-concept, multi-million dollar investments with decades-long payback periods. We are surrounded by simple opportunities that are the right thing for the environment, for business, and for customers-- provided that we are willing to simplify and focus our visions.
The other is that these kinds of supply chain improvements outght to be what's coming out of better relationships and collaborative problem-solving with suppliers who are able to think in terms of the downstream customer, and the ultimate consumer. I don't know that to be entirely the case with Costco, but I suspect it is, and other companies have derived similar benefits from close and progressive business relationships.
When the supplier is able to apply parallel solutions for other customers, the benefits become part of a significant ripple effect with positive consequences all up and down the supply chain. Powerful stuff.
What has your experience been? Do you have to drive all the improvements, or do your business partners? Or, do you develop them together? If together, how do you either limit or promote their application outside of your specific relationships?
Kraft's marriage with Cadbury Kraft's marriage with Cadbury
Kraft's marriage with Cadbury
Article http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/feb2010/ca2010028_928488_page_2.htm
Kraft’s acquisition of Cadbury has been part of every conversation in the agbusiness industry. Both companies are prestigious brands with solid global markets, this merger of Kraft and Cadbury will control 15% of the world’s confectionary market making it the largest. In respect to business relationships, this merger in terms of annual cost savings, is predicted to save Kraft about $625 million in procurement, marketing and R&D. Kraft will take advantage of these cost reductions by using Cadbury to tap into the luxury segment of many emerging markets like India and Latin America. So far this all sounds good for Kraft, but what benefits does Cadbury receive? Cadbury benefits from Kraft’s huge amount of financial resources and assets to make products like Chocolate bunnies and Dentyne Ice at cheaper costs. The merger in the long run is expected to increase sales 5% annually. This relationship will work in the long-run.
The Ethos and Starbucks Missio The Ethos and Starbucks Mission
http://ethoswater.com/index.cfm?objectid=3AD74272-F1F6-6035-B068E1C48A77AE99
Reality Check on Delegation Reality Check on Delegation
This winter we have had a lot of snow, so I have been staying inside watching reality TV shows on Bravo.
I used to think it as a mindless activity-no offense Bravo, I am a huge fan-- but lately they have offered great insight and food for thought in regards to management, team work, and most importantly, business relationships.
My new favorite show, Kell on Earth, follows a fashion public relations, marketing and branding firm called People's Revolution.
People's Revolution was founded by Kelly Cutrone, show's namesake. Episodes are undoubtedly edited to highlight drama and failure-many the results of miscommunication and vague delegation of responsibility, but the fact is that many of the members of the team are not meeting expectations and deadlines, and that threatens the health of the relationships with the firm's clients.
The 'a-ha' moment came out of a segment with a newly appointed manager of interns. She learned the hard way that just because you ask someone to do something, it doesn't mean they actually follow through and complete the task, and it certainly doesn't guarantee that they will be done correctly.
Next up is an analysis of Project Runway, or, a case study on how big egos and opposition to collaboration on team challenges end in lose-lose situations and tarnish relationships.
PepsiCo acquires bottlers; Gai PepsiCo acquires bottlers; Gains advantage over Coca-Cola
North America is a weak spot in the global drinks business, largely because of the decline of carbonated soft drinks. With PepsiCo’s soda volume dropping 5 percent last year, according to Beverage Digest, the company had to figure out how to restructure its distribution network in order to fill customer needs more readily.
Last year, PepsiCo agreed to purchase it’s two largest independent bottlers for $7.8 billion. This all comes at a time where the carbonated beverage market is losing share to healthier, non-carbonated products like juice and water. Ten years ago, soft drinks comprised 70% of PepsiCo’s beverage selection, where today they are responsible for only 45%.
PepsiCo wanted to put an end to the days in which it argued with bottlers over profits and plans for new brands. When the company wanted to try new drinks or package sizes, the requests were sometimes hard for its big, independent bottlers to fulfill at the pace Pepsi wanted. That highlighted one of the central tensions: Bottlers thought Pepsi was too demanding, and Pepsi thought bottlers didn’t move fast enough. Big decisions between PepsiCo and its large bottlers too often became tug-of-wars over revenue, sales volume and profits. This shows just how willing partners must be to work with one another and just how important it is for businesses in partnerships to respond to the wants of the other.
The new system put in place by PepsiCo now allows for a more integrated and seamless operation. This allows more flexibility to move with consumer’s changing tastes and compete with rivals like Coca-Cola in the short term. And in a time where big-box chains like Wal-Mart and CostCo continually demand lower prices, this acquisition allows PespiCo more negotiating leverage than its rival, leaving the boys at Coca-Cola to play catch-up.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124939009522504571.html
Wendy's Gets Applause for Its Wendy's Gets Applause for Its New Policy on Cage-Free Eggs
This article is very important and interesting for a variety of reasons. Changing to a small percentage of cage-free eggs towards the end of May, 2009 made it so that Wendy's came into a favorable outlook from the Humane Society of the United States. This society has had a national campaign against caged hen eggs for being cruel and inhumane confinement of egg-laying hens. Prior to this decision, all of Wendy's eggs had came from caged hens. Although they only changed to having two percent cage-free eggs, this was looked at in a very positive light. Another positive aspect for Wendy's is that they are very much ahead of McDonald's in moving to at least a small percentage of cage-free eggs. Wendy's is not the first restaurant chain to move towards cage-free eggs as restaurants such as Quizno's, Denny's, Burger King, and Hardee's were already using these eggs. It should be noted that this article was published almost a year ago and many facts could have changed since then.
Website:
http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/wendys_cage_free_052209.html
Where's the beef? McDonalds B2 Where's the beef? McDonalds B2B relationship with Angus Beef
Its so secret that in the past year, McDonalds has beefed up their menu. Certified Angus Beer burgers have invaded the iconic McDonalds menu, and customers seem to love them. The third-pound lineup includes: the deluxe, mushroom & swiss, and the savory bacon and cheese. The burgers are made with USDA-inspected Angus beef and are intended to be more "gourmet" than the average McDonald’s offering. For instance they come on "bakery-style" rolls in order to appeal to those who would normally opt for a different burger chain over the golden arches.
With $3.99 a pop, McDonald’s is able to sustain a more competitive advantage against restaurants with a higher quality alternative to fast food. Not only does this relationship work for McDonald’s, the Angus Beef brand is further instating themselves as the affinity in beef. Boasting that less than 8% of all beef makes the cut, Angus Beef is continuing to find their product in American’s hands, or for that matter American’s stomachs with this business-to business relationship with McDonald’s.
http://www1.mcdonalds.com/angus/
Beef Niche Market Beef Niche Market
Empire Valley Ranch is a family farm in British Columbia, Canada who was using the conventional channels to market their cattle. They would sell their weaned calves on the spot market to area buyers most likely for an established per pound live weight. Essentially they were selling a commoditized product to a faceless buyer. However, they have decided to differentiate their product by taking a risk and switching to a system where they finish their calves on a grass-fed diet and production is free of hormones and antibiotics. This allows them to enter a niche market with fewer buyers and for the time being higher prices and greater margins. They have had to establish direct relationships with their customer base in order to assure their product can be moved. “One must be able to build a real relationship with your customer. Once you build that trust then you most likely will have a customer for life/There is nothing better than a person coming in or calling to say they love your beef.” –Joyce. The risk seems to be working out for them and their new customers.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_cariboo/williamslaketribune/community/89484742.html
Overruled Overruled
The idea of having access to a shared master schedule that all employees to view and edit seems like a great idea.
With a shared master schedule it is easy to identify when someone is on a business trip or took an afternoon off, and it can help tremendously with communication in general. Many offices have some form of master schedule in place already. In many cases this schedule has gone digital.
This is one of those wonderful ideas in theory-- and in practice, so long as it is not abused. I heard about a large company that uses a scheduling program that allows high-level employees to book meetings with their employees as long as the time slot is available. This seems fair, and like a smart system.
Some executives are trying to enforce a software change that would allow them to reschedule or cancel their employees' meetings so they can schedule meetings in the once-occupied time slots. It is my personal opinion that canceling someone else's meeting is crossing the line into abuse of the system, but I understand others-- like busy executives-- might think otherwise.
What do you think?
8 Things Your Employees Want F 8 Things Your Employees Want From You
Melissa Raffoni wrote a piece called 8 Things Your Employees Want From You on the Harvard Business Review's website. Click here to read the full piece on HBR's website.
How many of these 8 do you do for your employees?
Haiti, Again Haiti, Again
Where to begin? Haiti is a land in which grinding tragedy has been the norm for generations, even centuries. Periodically, horrific catastrophes punctuate the suffocating days and nights, turning sadness into mourning.
As help tries to fight its way on-shore, we are reminded that infrastructure is more than roads and ports and bridges; the now-largely-missing organs of a functioning government are also key ingredients.
Simon Keeble (www.aircargoworld.com) has called for creation of an international organization to coordinate supply chain effectiveness in organizing and delivering relief. Clearly, the international community needs something like ALAN (the American Logistics Aid Network) which coordinates with FEMA and other organizations when disaster strikes at home. An international counterpart would be useful and welcome all over the globe - and should be an imperative.
In Haiti, accounts vary. There may be 3,000 NGOs (non-governmental organizations) functioning there, although there has been one claim of 10,000. Whatever the number of NGOs, the number of people involved is enormous, constituting a virtual army. An army of that size would be capable of almost anything (including running the country), if its efforts were coordinated and focused on specific goals.
But, so far, putting the recent calamity aside, they've all apparently been going their separate ways, executing their individual plans, and following their own priorities. We ought not be surprised that - absent workking relationships, coordinated and synchronized programs, and alignment on how missions and goals might complement one another - their positive impact on Haiti for the long term has been limited. Or, that their responses to the earthquake seem to be spinning in independent orbits.
Surgery, Checklists, and Relat Surgery, Checklists, and Relationships
Atul Gawande is a surgeon who has written a number of great books about practicing medicine in the United States. The Checklist Manifesto , his newest book, argues convincingly that checklists for surgeons improve safety and lowers critical mistakes by some 35% (he was able to demonstrate this at a hospital over a year).
One of the items on his surgery checklist speaks directly to relationships. The checklist question asks--before the suirgery--if everyone knows everyone and asks all people in the surgical theater to say their names and their job. What Gawande has found is that if you start the surgery by having everyone say their names, they feel more a part of a team and, more critically, they are better able to speak up if they notice anything wrong. In surgeries where people are not recognized, there is a great hesitancy on everyone’s part to speak up, even if people see something that they think is not right.
Recognizing people and their interrelationships improves medicine, improves teamwork and improves overall performance. Relationship before task. JSperry
Improving Meetings by Starting Improving Meetings by Starting Off-Task
There are several billion books, articles, and seminars about having effective meetings. To that pile, I’d like to add a very short few paragraphs.
I’ve noticed that when most meetings start, it’s by focusing immediately on the task. We seemingly can’t help ourselves. But when such a meeting occurs, there is no telling what is on the minds of the members. It may be that they have a sick child at home or an ailing parent or an impending divorce, all of which means they will be less than present at the meeting.
One manager I know starts her meetings by having everyone check in and say what’s going on in their lives. It takes some time but in the end it frees up the minds of meeting members and allows the group to more efficiently—and effectively—focus on the meeting topic.
Sometimes it’s better to focus on relationships before task to do a better job with the task. This is counterintuitive but I’ve seen it work again and again. JSperry
Once You Can Fake Sincerity Yo Once You Can Fake Sincerity You've Got It Made....
I am amazed by the number of people who act as if they believe this….the fake smiles….the insincere comments….the lack of integrity. Yet, some seem to believe that this is the way to build relationships. Obviously, there are several problems with this approach.
First, they confuse personal relationships with business relationships. While having good personal relationships can be a very important part of a quality b2b relationship, it is only one part.
Second, they seem to think that people can’t see through them. In my experience, most people cannot be fooled for very long.
Good relationships are built on trust and reciprocity. If either party is insincere, it won’t be long before that insincerity will interfere with, if not destroy, the relationship.
My advice is to be yourself, be direct and be honest. If what you say doesn’t match what you do, you will lose their trust and undermine the entire relationship.