Discoveries along the way
The teams pushed the network’s people to question the ways they worked. Many had never examined their processes, assuming they couldn’t be changed because they’d always been in place. Identifying these misconceptions was the first step toward making the network more efficient.
Performance reports from the business unit to the corporate organization often focused on the wrong information. Improved reporting systems would make it easier for top executives to identify which areas of operations or sales needed attention.
In the early stages of product development, there was little communication between R&D, manufacturing, and marketing. We saw an opportunity to increase profitability by factoring costs and sales forecasts into the initial product planning stages.
Although certain products did not sell well in certain countries—the style and size of a product that did well in China wouldn’t sell in France, for example—there were far more similarities than differences across markets. An integrated global product strategy was not only feasible but likely to succeed.
The company’s management had to achieve change. Even though the client had helped develop the recommendations, there was some resistance within the organization to adopting them. After we addressed his questions, the CEO told the entire organization he planned to follow the recommendations. His personal example helped shift the organization’s mindset, making widespread change possible.