Report is a good way to gauge how your plans mesh with customers’ needs.
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Recent survey shows many companies view global opportunities as key to growth in 2011.
In HBR blog, John Kotter says that productive conflict highlights concerns that should be addressed.
List provides overview of Grainger’s approach to business in the past year.
Al Bates: Two profit drivers differentiated typical from high-profit firms in the recession.
In recent meeting, global supply chain SVP D.G. Macpherson outlined Grainger’s approach to product expansion.
While the specifics in different forecasts are all over the board, the general consensus is that 2011 will be a challenging year. The latest Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI economic forecast puts U.S. GDP growth for 2011 at 2.8 percent, and expectations are that there will be little to no growth in new construction during the year.
“We’re looking ahead to 2011 being kind of a difficult year for a lot of companies,” says Brent Grover, managing partner of Evergreen Consulting, LLC. Job growth is not occurring, particularly in wholesale distribution, and companies are still putting off capital expenditures.
In his conversation with MDM Publisher Tom Gale for the latest episode of MDM’s Executive Briefing Webcast (available free to subscribers at www.mdm.com/executivebriefing), Grover provided an overview …
Brent Grover talks about what distributors should keep in mind when approaching pricing processes.
Any shift in strategy or improvement in operations requires a shift in mindset.
Jonathan Byrnes, senior lecturer at MIT and author of new book Islands of Profit in a Sea of Red Ink, recently spoke with Editor Lindsay Konzak. Here is part 2 of that interview, covering steps distributors can take to make unprofitable business profitable. He also addresses how to incentivize your team to make these critical changes to how you do business.
MDM: You write in your book that 40 percent of every business is unprofitable. How can distributors make the changes necessary to reverse this?
Jonathan Byrnes: There are four building blocks. The first is the right information. In Chapter 6 I talk about profit-mapping. That will give a company information on the specific products bought by customers. That information can be put into a database program on the profitability of each one, and the company can figure out the best measure for profitability. By the way, that information can be developed by two people within a month or two. … I’ve done that with multibillion-dollar companies.
Distributors provide updates on end-market growth, acquisition plans and employee headcount.
New book: How to categorize customers to improve service levels – and lower cost.
At Activant forum, discussion focused on the importance of adaptation to new conditions.
HARDI speaker: Don’t let ups and downs stop your company from taking action.
The tools you need to meet business goals may change over time.
If your company has no room for improvement in either benchmarking or contingency planning, then read no further. You have your priorities defined and are well-positioned to negotiate the next few years of volatility. I’m oversimplifying of course, but I believe the next 12-24 months will reshape many distribution sectors and markets. Here are a few reasons why.
As industry groups dive back into the fall meeting schedule, there is a sense of optimism not seen the past few years. But the pattern is tracking pretty closely to what we’ve heard from economist Dr. Adam Fein and others who track industrial markets closely. The rebound is sluggish and has the potential to stay so for a few years. A weak recovery doesn’t feel very good, as we all are finding out, but it beats what just happened.
Fastenal outlined growth goals in recent presentation.
Grainger: Consolidating products, services a key growth opportunity for distributor.
The HVAC distributor says it will continue to zone in on the Sun Belt.
