Читать книгу Supply Chain Metrics that Matter - Cecere Lora M. - Страница 6

Over the past decade, good business practices did not become great. Scorecards were difficult to balance, and leadership teams struggled to evolve. Today, executive boards are disappointed. Even though companies have spent 1.7 percent of revenue on improving technology, they have not been able to maximize the value that they were expecting to earn in the information economy.

In our research, we find that 9 out of 10 companies are stuck. Growth has slowed, and progress on operating margin and inventory turns is difficult. The answers are not as easy to find as promised.

In this book, we tell the story of a leadership team struggling to make progress. The story is fictional, but the characters and the dialogue are a composite of the teams that we have worked with over the past three years. This team, like many that we work with, finds itself seeking the answers to many questions:

• What drives value in a value chain? What is value? Different industries have matured at different rates. What can we learn?

• How do companies maximize value? Which portfolio of corporate metrics maximizes market capitalization and cash flow?

• How do we move forward? The book is the story of a leadership team finding its way.

Each chapter in this book is written to answer specific questions. The goal of Chapter 1 is to answer the question, “How does a company start the journey?” Chapter 2 answers “How do you build a guiding coalition to drive change?” Chapter 3 introduces the concepts of value networks and how metrics can be improved by working collaboratively with trading partners. Chapters 4 through 8 highlight how individual companies have successfully aligned operational strategies to improve corporate results and answer the question of “What is possible?” In each chapter, to make the case, we share research and case studies to give new perspectives on how other companies have worked to drive alignment, balance, and resiliency to improve corporate results.

By analyzing the trends of corporate performance over the period of 2006–2013, in the story, we share insights on the strength, balance, and resiliency of industry peer groups. In the creation of the book, we have developed a methodology to evaluate which companies have been able to deliver the greatest value. More important, we have begun to understand the stories behind these patterns of performance. This analysis is based on three years of research on corporate performance. The reader will gain insights on the management of the value network as a complex system.

Leadership teams want to understand what is possible, and what maximizes value. They want to evolve and mature. Organizations are seeking a road map. Here we provide it. It is our hope that this book can help organizations maximize value and harness the true value of the information economy.