Achieving Class A Business Excellence: An Executive's Perspective

Epilogue

In dysfunctional companies, those considered the better players are the ones who actually cause the most disruption to the supply chain.

The customer isn’t always right, but is always the customer, and don’t you forget it!

 

 

 

 

 

Most companies, like Cosmetics Products, are dysfunctional to varying degrees. Both the best and the worst companies are typically led by strong individuals or family members who want to succeed. Only those who truly understand the integrated nature of a company and the need for education, leadership, and customer focus, however, win in the marketplace. Those who don’t, create dysfunctional organizations that act a bit like elephants, wandering around gathering their food by almost superstitiously following the same tracks for the same food day after day, year after year. That’s their paradigm. The only time elephants alter their direction is when they smell smoke and fear a fire. The elephants may make it to safety if they can change their paradigm and move fast enough, but many of them don’t succeed. Much like the elephants, dysfunctional companies sooner or later are faced with their own “burning platforms.”

Consider this real-life situation. The chief financial officer (CFO) of a major corporation, concerned about an unacceptable balance sheet, issued an edict through the chief operating officer (COO) to reduce all inventories by 7.5 percent. This, he had calculated, would restore the balance sheet to health. Had he understood the integrated ...