Key Objectives of Logestics Strategy
31 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Key Objectives of Logestics Strategy Tags: achieve, activity, asset, chain, change, context, cost, Customer, demand, design, either, employ, equal, exceed, exist, fix, flexibility, fluctuation, group, individual, information, inventory, key, logestic, market, maximize, minimize, model, objective, operate, operation, optimize, permit, place, Product, provide, requirement, respond, service, set, short-term, specify, state, strategic, strategy, Structure, supply, system, Tallent Engineering, target, view, wide
- To optimize customer Service
The logistics system will provide products and information to customers in a way that equals or exceeds the stated requirements of each individual customer.
- To minimize the cost of supply chain operations
The logistics system will be structured and operated with a view to minimizing:
- The fixed assets employed in supply chain activities;
- The operating costs of the chain;
- The inventory held within the chain.
Cost minimization will, however, be set within the context of achieving specified customer service targets.
- To maximize the flexibility of supply chain
The logistics system will be designed to permit Tallent Engineering to respond with maximum flexibility to:
- Customers’ short-term operational fluctuations in demand;
- Longer-term strategic changes in demand either from existing customers (e.g. new models) or the wider market place (e.g., new customers/new product groups).
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight
Stakeholder Analysis
30 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Stakeholder Analysis Tags: Analysis, criteria, critical, effective, formulation, judge, keholder, key, know, likelihood, little, Mission, Organization, ought, perform, Planning, prelude, satisfaction, satisfy, stakeholder, statement, strategic, strategy, success, SWOT, time, valuable
A stakeholder analysis is a valuable prelude to a mission statement, a SWOT analysis, and the formulation of effective strategies. Indeed, if an organization has time to do only one thing when it comes to strategic planning, that one thing ought to be a stakeholder analysis. Stakeholder analyses are so critical because the key to success is the satisfaction of key stakeholders. If an organization does not know who its stakeholders are, what criteria they use to judge the organization, and how the organization is performing against those criteria, there is little likelihood that the organization will know what it should do to satisfy its key stakeholders.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight
Courtesy and Competence
30 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Courtesy and Competence Tags: accurate, actual, amateur, American, avoid, base, both, British, buddy, business, common, competence, consider, Consumer, course, Courtesy, cultural, Customer, day, dentist, determine, enthusiastic, example, expert, expression, friendliness, German, get, good, hand, happy, important, indifference, indifferent, instrument, Italin, know, licence, life, manner, mean, might, nice, People, perhaps, personable, personality, place, point, probably, rather, reality, relax, seem, serve, show, shy, sincerely, statistics, style, support, thing, think, want, warm, whatever, zealous
The two go hand in hand. Statistics show that customers seem to be happier being served by an enthusiastic amateur rather than an indifferent expert. Now for you this might be determined by whatever it is you’re being served with as a customer. For example, if I was going to the dentist, I think I might put up with some indifference if it was an expert dentist. However, the reality is of course that we want both. I would like a dentist that was relaxed and personable and at the same time accurate with his/her instruments.
Common courtesies and manners are very important, probably more important than you may consider at this point. They are also, very often, culturally based—for example, German consumers will place less importance than Italian or British consumers on such things as friendliness and personality. How you can actually be courteous and good mannered will also vary, for example, in Britain many people will shy away from the perhaps over zealous. American style of being best buddies and will avoid expressions such as ‘have a nice day’ even though, when said sincerely, customers warm to them.
Competence means that whoever serves the customer in your business or whoever supports people that serve customers in your business has to do things and do them well. It means getting things right first time. It means knowing what you should know. It means doing what you can do to the best that you can do it—competence and courtesy, hand in hand—it’s a licence to keep customers for life.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight
The Pregnant Pause
29 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in The Pregnant Pause Tags: answer, ask, bait, buyer, case, commitment, conduct, deafening, decision, dialogue, fashion, fish, fishing, help, internal, know, like, lobby, monosyllabic, net, pause, person, pitch, point, Pregnant, question, reply, restate, Sales, selling, silence, silent, Sit, speak, struggle, swim, tell, tough, until
The use of the pregnant pause in selling is very much like fishing with a net. You put some bait in a net and silently wait for a fish to swim in.
Once you get to the point in a sales pitch where you have asked for commitment, don’t speak again until the other person has replied in some fashion. Don’t restate your case. Don’t lobby. Don’t tell him you know it’s tough decision, but …
The buyer may be struggling with his decision and conducting an internal dialogue with himself. Don’t help him out. If he asks a question, answer monosyllabically. Even if the silence is deafening, just let it sit there.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight
Cohesiveness: Getting the Team Spirit
28 Jul 2009 1 Comment
in Cohesiveness: Getting the Team Spirit Tags: accept, admission, attract, belong, camaraderie, Cohesiveness, consider, cross, cut, degree, desire, determinant, difficult, difficulty, dislike, elite, entry, esprit de corps, essence, extent, factor, feeling, gain, goals, great, group, help, high, important, individual, influence, initiation, involve, join, keep, medical, meeting, member, military, obvious, overcome, part, particularly, pass, pay, People, prestegious, price, purpose, refer, remain, requirement, responsible, rigorous, school, separate, several, severity, show, spirit, sport, Stick, strength, Structure, team, tend, test, toward, Training, unable, uncohesive, understand, unwilling, work
One obvious determinant of any group’s structure is its cohesiveness—the strength of group members’ desires to remain part of their group. Highly cohesive work groups are ones in which the members are attracted to one another, accept the group’s goals, and help work toward meeting them. In very uncohesive groups, the members dislike each other and may even work at cross-purposes. In essence, coheviseness refers to a we-feeling an esprit de corps, a sense of belonging to a group.
Several important factors have been shown to influence the extent to which group members tend to “stick together.” One such factor involves the severity of initiation into the group. The greater the difficulty people overcome to become a member of a group, the more cohesive the group will be. To understand this, consider how highly cohesive certain group may be that you have worked hard to join. Was it particularly difficult to “make the cut” on your sports team? The rigorous requirements for gaining entry into elite groups, such as the most prestegious medical schools and military training schools, may well be responsible for the high degree of camaraderie found in such groups. Having “passed the test” tends to keep individuals together and separates them from those who are unwilling or unable to “pay the price” of admission.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight
Linear Programming
28 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Linear Programming Tags: activity, allocation, amount, apply, arise, assign, available, basic, best, certain, cost, Customer, design, determine, distribute, either, equation, example, express, factory, firm, goal, hour, inequality, instance, item, job, known, labor, limitation, linear, machine, machinery, manager, mathematical, maximize, meet, merchandise, method, minimize, Mix, nature, necessary, number, optimize, order, perform, Personnel, problem, Product, production, profit, programming, quantifiable, relationship, requirement, Resource, route, schedule, select, shipping, solve, spent, stated, successfully, total, Use, utilized, various, warehouse
Linear programming is a mathematical method used to solve resource allocation problems, which arise “whenever there are a number of activities to be performed, but limitations on either the amount of resources or the way they can be spent.” For example, it can be used to determine the best way to:
- Distribute merchandise from a number of warehouses to a number of customers;
- Assign personnel to various jobs;
- Design shipping schedules;
- Select the product mix in a factory to make the best use of machine and labor hours available while maximizing the firm’s profit;
- Route production to optimize the use of machinery.
In order for managers to apply linear programming successfully, the problem must meet certain basic requirements: There must be a stated, quantifiable goal, such as “minimize total shipping costs”; the resources to be utilized must be known (a firm could produce 200 of one item and 300 of another, for instance, or 400 of one or 100 of another); all the necessary relationships must be expressed in the form of mathematical equations or inequalities; and all these relationships must be linear in nature.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight
Change when you don’t have to
27 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Change when you don’t have to Tags: above, behind, best, catch, change, characteristic, clear, confidence, contrary, conventional, create, cycle, decision, desperate, fast, fix, front, gotta, gun, head, high, initiate, innovation, innovative, keep, lack, low, making, morale, necessary, Organization, pioneer, play, poor, problem, Product, Quality, quick, result, service, significant, strategy, struggle, thing, think, time, today, top, try, until, vicious, wait, water, wisdom
Most organizations don’t change until they have to. They wait until things are going poorly and then desperately try to find a quick fix, changing strategies, products, services—anything to try to catch up. The problem is that you don’t think clearly with a gun at your head. The poor decision making, lack of innovation, and low morale characteristic of organizations playing catch-up create a vicious cycle that keeps them significantly behind.
Innovative thinking and the resulting quality and service so necessary today don’t come from a struggling organization that’s “gotta” make some changes fast to keep its head above water.
The best time to change is when you don’t have to. Initiating change when you are out front will keep you there. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the best time for pioneering and innovation is when you are on top. Confidence is high.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight
