Cooperation comes naturally when the economy is good. With plenty of customers, low operating costs, and generous profits, businesses will feel comfortable cooperating with one another. A full motel will send travelers to a competitor down the road. Vegan diners might be directed to a vegetarian restaurant. Purchasing agents from competing manufacturers might share sources [...]
The Unparalleled Usefulness of Employees’ Knowledge
An employee’s knowledge of his or her work consists of various levels of responsibilities. For employees in a special field of work, the knowledge may include tasks involving data analysis, product or service design, production planning, organizing work, and legal or technical advice. Knowledge of work is also a function that covers unique activities such [...]
How to Become a Supplier of Value-Added Products or Services
Customers often have pictures on their walls of all their preferred suppliers. When you call on the customer, you might just be one of the hundreds of mundane supplier names posted on the wall or you can stand out so that may be you stand out for providing an exceptional service. Using the same routine [...]
Becoming the Best in the Business by Developing Your Strengths
Today’s managers have never been short of advice on how to conduct their everyday business transactions. The changes in technology and the unpredictability of the global market have compelled many managers to embrace a variety of management theories and tactics that may (or may not!) help them to become more effective. The problem is that [...]
The Impact of Knowledgeable Workers in Today’s Knowledge-Based Economy
Today’s workforce is ideally composed of individuals who are valued for their ability to act and communicate with knowledge within their area of expertise. The most sought-after employees are those who can always advance an overall understanding of the business philosophy through focused analysis, superior performance, new product development or coming up with inventions or [...]
Be a Business Winner Through Zero Management
The traditional management philosophy tells you that there is always an optimum solution to every business decision that you make every day. To get an acceptable return-on-investment (ROI), the business organization must sell its products or services at the right price, produce at reasonable cost, carry a safe amount of inventory, and deliver the goods [...]
How to Survive the Impact of the Rapidly-Changing Business Environment
The winners of tomorrow are those who can proactively deal with any chaos brought by today’s rapidly-changing business environment. The changes, which may be dramatic and may take place at an accelerated pace, are now commonplace and will soon become the basis for differentiating the winners from the losers. The rate of change is so rapid [...]
Total Customer Satisfaction is Crucial for Business Survival
Your business is nothing without your customers. Your organization exists mainly to meet customer needs and expectations. It is then necessary that you develop proactive methods in order to better understand what your customers like or dislike. If you believe otherwise, look behind you and you will see a long queue of competitors lining up [...]
Customer Loyalty is the Key to Long-Term Business Survival
It is not enough to offer customers your excellent products or services. For all you know, the competition also supplies the market with equally good or better products or services. With the wide availability of technology, most companies are now able to come up with their own versions of quality products or services. So, even [...]
Knowledge Workers: The Key to Organizational Efficiency and Productivity
Productivity requires that employees’ knowledge be seen and treated as an ‘asset’ rather than as a ‘cost’. It necessitates that knowledge workers want to work for the organization in preference to all other opportunities like overseas employment and other placements. Knowledge worker productivity is not only a matter of the quantity of outputs but also [...]
The Value of Knowledge Management
Many large companies today – both profit and non-profit organizations – have resources dedicated to internal knowledge management efforts. It is often initiated as a part of the business strategy, information technology, or human resource management departments. A company’s knowledge management direction comprises of a range of strategies and practices used to identify, create, represent, distribute, [...]
Successful Results Begin with Tangible Efforts
The performance improvement efforts of many business organizations have a great impact on operational and financial results and are not merely a ceremonial ‘rain-dance’ to the weather. While some companies constantly improve their measurable performance, others constantly dance around a campfire – exuding some kind of faith but wasting a lot of precious energy. This [...]
Make a Difference to Sustain Competitive Advantage
The essence of sustainable competitive advantage is an organization’s ability to continually differentiate itself in the market place. Differentiation can be attained by asking the questions: “How are we different from other organizations?”; “What makes us unique in the market place?”; “What special ways do we add value to the customers that nobody else does?”; [...]
The Principles of Stewardship in Business
The primary task of managers is to continuously create organizations that work. For an organization to remain effective, fundamental changes in the way people think and manage the business are an everyday requirement. But cultural change is not enough. Unless there is a shift in governance – how power, privilege and control are distributed among [...]
How Can You Achieve Customer Focus?
The number one factor we need to remember always is that the customer is the judge of quality. The customer’s loyalty and satisfaction will largely depend on the quality of the product and service received from you. The relationship between the company and customer must involve trust and confidence in your products and services. Some [...]