Cross-Linking Supply Chains & Establishing New Value Allocations
Summary: We CEOs tend to look at our suppliers on one hand and our customers on the other. What if there were no suppliers or customers yet...if the supply chain hasn't been formed? Read how one Alliance member is building a new supply chain by cross-linking three existing supply chains! ...Read More
Forum Categories: Operations | Strategy & Planning
Summary: Read how CEOs are viewing certain indicators for signs of improvement in the economy in preparation for their acceleration strategy. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Operations | Strategy & Planning
Summary: An entrepreneurial couple brought in outside board members to help bring in key accounts and to aid in their decision making. They diluted ownership’s vote to 50%, but the payoffs far outweigh the lack of freedom. Important pros and cons are discussed, as well as some guidelines for adding outside board members. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Operations
Summary: If your prospects don’t understand your value proposition, educate them. The company developed conferences to reinforce its solutions and position itself as a knowledge leader, which leads to higher sales. Learn the keys to creating a great educational setting. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Marketing | Operations | Sales
Shifting Gears from Startup to Scaled Enterprise
Summary: Every successful startup goes from an entrepreneurial stage to a professional enterprise. Learn how the entrepreneur also successfully made the crossing point without hitting the wall. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Human Resources | Leadership | Operations
Summary: Customer feedback is an important part of every successful company. After scaling up his business, a CEO struggles with his company’s feedback system before closing the loop and improving response rates. Effective processes for handling feedback are examined. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Operations | Sales
Summary: A feature-rich product is designed, but after months of development work, it is discovered that it cannot be built. Key features are dropped so that it can finally go into production. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Operations | Strategy & Planning
Summary: CEOs of startups must work very differently than CEOs of firms that have made their place in the market. They must be hands-on with prospective customers and with all the key decisions, from sales to marketing to engineering/product development, in order to keep the business on a straight vector towards its vision. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Operations
Summary: An incoming CEO fires the most senior technical expert because he won’t embrace the new values that must take hold for the firm to survive. The bold move works without significant damage. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Human Resources | Leadership | Operations
Summary: Quick decisive action enables the firm to grab a nice piece of business before anybody else has the chance to compete. The speed at which your business and your team move is a critical element of competition, today more than ever. What does it take to make speed a competitive edge? ...Read More
Forum Categories: Operations | Sales
Every Business Needs a Common Enemy
Summary: Identifying a competitor or two as an “enemy” to beat is a powerful leadership tool that CEOs should use to galvanize business improvement at every level. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Operations | Sales
Summary: Referrals are the least expensive way to bring in new business. An employee benefits company amazes their clients with incredible service, and for the past 18 years grows only through referrals, diverting all its marketing spending into operations. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Operations | Sales
Summary: A company finds an excellent way of managing off-shoring, taking advantage of the positives while avoiding the pitfalls. Blending the efforts of on-shoring with off-shoring and a commitment to close management are key. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Human Resources | International Business | Operations
Avoiding Costly Surprises When Going Global
Summary: A firm signs leases overseas and discovers some nasty surprises that cost it big bucks. Some simple but key steps are discussed to avoid being surprised by local rules, laws and practices. ...Read More
Forum Categories: International Business | Operations
Management by Getting Your Hands Dirty
Summary: A manager is fired, and the CEO steps into the role. The CEO fixes critical problems and builds new systems. A well-run department is passed on to a new manager. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Operations
Summary: A retail chain has incredible training program, which instills corporate values in new hires and teaches product knowledge as well as systems and customer interface protocols. After the initial training, they weave training into the company’s routine. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Human Resources | Leadership | Operations
Summary: A new architectural firm discovers that some clients just aren’t for them, and don’t contribute to profits. Based on their strategic objectives, they develop of prospect profiling system to avoid likely problem clients and focus on business that is most useful for growing the firm. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Marketing | Operations | Sales
Cut Customer Costs Instead of Prices
Summary: Low-tech concrete meets high-tech logistics when RMC Pacific Materials acts to save their customers money through integration and technology, rather than price cutting. The result: industry leadership and a choice contract: The new Oakland –San Francisco Bay Bridge. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Operations
Summary: New CEO steps in ready to ramp up, but discovers serious product problems and has to re-engineer and refinance to save the firm. Read how to avoid these kinds of surprises. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Human Resources | Leadership | Operations
"I can't imagine being a CEO without having the Alliance as part of my CEO tool kit."
John Rule, CEOApplied Aerospace StructuresAlliance Member since 2000