Best Practices in Lean Six Sigma Process Improvement: A Deeper Look

Chapter 17. External Linkages

Thomas Friedman, in his blockbuster book, The World Is Flat, offers this perception on the power of global supply chains: "No two countries that are both part of a major global supply chain, like Dell's, will ever fight a war against each other as long as they are both part of the same global supply chain." Friedman is quoting Glenn Neland, Dell's senior vice president for worldwide procurement. Neland refers to the prosperity and lack of wars enjoyed by Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia. These (along with prominent but unmentioned China) are countries with a large presence in extended supply chains. In contrast, he cites the following conflicted countries for their lack of that presence: Iraq, Syria, south Lebanon, North Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran.

This thought-provoking idea, referred to by Friedman as the Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention (it's the title of a chapter in his book),^[334] is surely an over-simplification. Not many supply chains are as tightly strung as Dell's. However, the sheer volume, if not the tightness, of crisscrossing global linkages may offer support for the theory.

Our quest here, though, is not to save the world from wars. It is to look to practices that will allow companies to survive and flourish. Other chapters have made the point that many companies are doing well on practices close to the action in operations but poorly on those more remote or external. This ...