Value – Key Driver of Change
Productivity is defined not in terms of the number of goods produced, but in terms of value-added per employee. Customers don’t really buy goods and services but in fact, they buy a value - something they value. The future is all about tangible products fulfilling intangible needs. Ideas like this can transform a business and provide them a competitive advantage to thrive in the future.
People Look for Intangible Benefits
People, as Theodore Leavitt pointed out long ago, don't really buy goods and services. They buy a value - something they value. The customers want the goods or services to be accompanied by intangible benefits associated with availability at the right time and place and to express the values they require.
On the weekend of the Christmas holiday, David had a breakdown with his electricity. He took a service from Urban Clap and the person diagnosed and corrected a very small fault which had put the central heating out of action, and put it right. On that day Urban Clap was not selling them a service or a spare part, they were selling peace of mind on a festival day. That is the value that was given even when it’s not needed. It’s the confidence that someone will come when David needs one.
The enterprise providing the value is able to share economics with the consumer by using as little matter as possible in the preparation of the goods or services. So automation and materials technology keep down the amount of processing and actual stuff that has to go into the provision of goods and services.
The idea of “No-Matter”
Automation and materials technology keep down the amount of processing and actual stuff that needs to go into the production and provision of services. Products will be produced more quickly and cheaply, and with less final bulk and weight. The phrase “No Matter” encapsulates all this competitive advantage and value add. 'No matter' as a concept also includes the role of the disposable, though we have to watch its impact on the environment. The idea of no matter also covers the idea of the invisible purpose behind a sale.
For example, the invisible purpose behind a drill is not the selling of drills as such, but rather to sellability to make holes. If you use a laser drill, you are very much into the realm of 'no matter', for the laser produces holes which are by definition the absence of matter. This is all a question of tangible products fulfilling intangible needs. Ideas like this can transform a business. It is all about the effectiveness of outcomes rather than the efficiency of inputs. So the physical and the intellectual blend in the marriage of the changing mindset and the future mindset.
Mass Customisation
Next is the paradoxical idea of 'mass customization'. This is providing the customer with precisely what he or she requires, such as a garment to suit a bulky or a slender frame. Providing something that is non-standard yet can be produced as goods of standard size, weight, or other requirements. The technology now permits the non-standard to be produced on the standard line. Just a change of the computerized instructions and the trick is performed. Now customers don’t want to wait for something that is made to measure.
The same technique of mass customization can be used to provide cultural variations required in various parts of the world without setting up a special production line. The mass economy provides the benefit of scale; mass customization allows for the differentiation and individualization of requirements.
Future Trends and Change
Not so long ago you can imagine how some traditional business houses would have resisted such changes in the mindset and approach. Managers today need to group the changes which have had the biggest impact on business, industry, and society. Types of technological development have to be focused on the understanding of futurology. They can no more stick to what they know we are good at and so on. There is an emerging need to approach the present from the standpoint of the future. That's how all these developments have occurred- so much so that we find it difficult to realize the amount of resistance they initially caused.
Many of these developments are at a relatively early stage, so there is much more to follow. It is essential that managers who are going to have to cope with such changes see them as a part of their functions to educate their workforces to understand the nature of the changes we can expect, of the world in which we live and the future we can create.
Related Links
You May Also Like
-
Tips for Effective Time Management
After studying and analyzing how time is spent, why time is wasted, and where time is wasted you need to decide about the changes required for effective utilization of time. For this purpose, a large number of remedial measures can be taken by you. The first and foremost determinant of a planned and purposeful utilization of time is to develop consciousness of the value of time at all levels of the organization. Planning, goal setting, and defining priorities are concerns to addressed immediately.
-
Listening is the foundation for good communication. It is also the hardest skill to master. Do you listen to confirm what you already know, or do you listen to explore and learn new things? How can we create receptive communication as a listener? The real art of listening involves awareness and sensitivity to the feelings of the speaker because it is at the feeling level that genuine connection, relationship, and healing occurs.
-
Facilitative Leadership is all about involving the employees in the decision-making process at all levels enhancing their sense of ownership, responsibility, and motivation. Facilitative leadership style uses a number of indirect communication patterns to help the group reach consensus and build commitment for the decision taken. To be effective in modern organizations, managers need to become facilitative leaders, learn what it means to be a one.
-
Reasons behind Wastage of Time
Under-utilization of time may be due to the faulty system or faults of manager/officer/leader or due to lack of planning. There could be many factors driving the procrastination behavior like system issues, personal work habits, and lack of delegation, personality traits, and bad working habits of the leader, failure to tackle interpersonal conflicts, obstacles, and lack of far-sightedness.
-
Thinking & Problem Solving Skills
Today's dynamic business world demands that you make decisions that significantly boost productivity and drive competitive advantage. But how do you know whether a decision will benefit the organization? And how do you know that the decisions are based on rational and statistical reasoning? Explore how to become a dynamic problem solver with the skills to make accurate decisions.
-
How often do you have a plan for how you are going to spend your day but you aren't able to complete the tasks on your plan because of unimportant tasks, interruptions, or your own procrastination? Wouldn't it be great to be able to manage your schedule and your time while avoiding, or at least controlling, these time stealers? Learn the strategies to manage your schedule while still handling interruptions and demands on your time.
-
Communication has as its central objective the transmission of meaning. The process of communication is successful only when the receiver understands an idea as the sender intended it. How does a message or an idea travel from one person to another? To transmit our message, we engage in a sensitive and complex process of communication, with different elements like sender, message, channels, receiver, noise, and feedback.
-
Change is a complex phenomenon. There are different types of changes that are going on around us. Listed in this article are twelve areas in which change arises and bring some classification to it. However one may classify the change, the various heading is always interrelated. The change could be triggered by market changes, technological changes, or organizational changes.
-
In its simplest sense, decision-making is the act of choosing between two or more courses of action. Decision making is a key skill in the workplace and is particularly important if you want to be an effective leader. When decisions have to be made, there are several stages that you should go through to reach a practical solution. Understand the meaning and importance of decision making and how to look at it as a process.
-
Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. The best time management techniques improve the ways you work. Time management refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity. Learn more about the five steps for effective time management viz. study, identify, analyze, decide, and implement.
