Porque não somos plankton (parte V)

Parte I, parte II, parte III e parte IV.
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E continua a venda de activos da P&G, "Procter & Gamble Agrees To Sell 43 Beauty Brands For $12.5 Billion"

Tantos políticos prisioneiros do argumento "Groundhog Day"

Outro recorte retirado de "Strategy as a Wicked Problem":

"Companies design planning systems to work based on feedback; they compare results with plans and take corrective actions. Though it’s a powerful source of learning, feedback has limited relevance in a wicked context. Feedback allows enterprises to refine fundamentally sound strategies; wicked problems require executives to come up with novel ones. Feedback helps people learn from the past; wicked problems arise from unanticipated, uncertain, and unclear futures. Feedback helps people learn in contexts such as the movie Groundhog Day, where the protagonist (Phil Connors) encounters the same set of circumstances every day, which enables him to perfect his responses over time. Wicked problems arise in circumstances such as those in the TV series Quantum Leap, where the protagonist (Sam Beckett) finds himself in an unfamiliar time and place in each episode. Comprehending the challenge he faces is itself the initial problem..To develop a feed-forward orientation as a complement to the feedback practices they currently use, corporations must learn to envision the future. In this variation of scenario planning, enterprises should describe the set of external and internal circumstances that they would like to see in the next 10, 20, or 50 years. This will open executives’ minds to the range and unpredictability of possibilities that the future may bring. Enterprises must then pursue strategies that will increase the likelihood of those circumstances’ becoming reality."

Recordar "Parte VII – Zapatero e os outros."
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Tanta gente na política que ainda continua com o mindset do tempo da vida fácil...

Curiosidade do dia

Tribos, tribos, tribos e .... neste caso também os conservadores empedernidos.

"Brick and mortar record stores have been hurting for over a decade now, as the music industry is forced to witness the sales of CDs drop year after year. While vinyl has certainly found a way to thrive in the past few years, it hasn’t been enough for many businesses, as there are still stores that close up shop all the time. So, as streaming platforms become the go-to way to consume music and the world begins to move into the post-iTunes era, why is one company expanding their record store business and opening new locations?
,
HMV is one of the biggest names in music in the world, even if the brand has never quite made it in the US (it shuttered the few stores that existed a decade ago). Just recently, the company has announced plans to expand its store count and to move into a new territory: the Middle East. HMV has apparently reached a deal with a Qatari conglomerate to open at least fifteen stores in the next few years in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and of course Qatar. It also looks like deals may be in the works for the brand to eventually open in nearby nations in northern Africa like Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco."

Trechos retirados de "Why Is This Chain Of Record Stores Opening New Locations In 2015?"

Sem noção?

"As exportações portuguesas da indústria de vestuário e confeção mostram um crescimento homólogo até maio de 2015, de 1,4%, com um valor de 1,186 mil milhões de euros. Já as importações, neste mesmo período, cifram-se em 740 milhões de euros.
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Estes são os mais recentes dados lançados pela ANIVEC – Associação Nacional das Indústrias de Vestuário e Confecção, que sublinha ainda que o sector do vestuário, confeção e moda apresenta um mercado volúvel e de rápida renovação, com a sazonalidade e os curtos ciclos de vida dos produtos a criarem desafios acrescidos para a manutenção da vantagem competitiva."

Será que não têm noção de que é a sazonalidade e os ciclos de vida cada vez mais curtos que reforçam a vantagem competitiva do sector em Portugal?

Recordar "Hoje, o que diria Ricardo?"

Trecho retirado de "Exportações De Vestuário E Confeção Até Maio Atingem 1,186 Mil Mihões"

Cadê o efeito BES?

"“No segundo trimestre de 2014, a economia portuguesa terá crescido 0,7% em cadeia e 1,7% em termos homólogos, em ligeira aceleração face ao trimestre anterior (0,4% e 1,5%, respetivamente)”, segundo as estimativas do núcleo de estudos de conjuntura da economia portuguesa (NECEP) da Universidade Católica.
...
O gabinete de estudos da Católica estima, também, que no segundo trimestre do ano, a taxa de desemprego terá descido para 12,8%.
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Quanto ao crescimento médio da economia nacional durante 2015, o NECEP decidiu fazer uma revisão em baixa das previsões, para 2,1%."

Trecho retirado de "Crescimento no segundo trimestre terá acelerado, estima a Universidade Católica"

Workshop - RBT (ISO 9001:2015) (Parte IV)

Parte I, parte II e parte III.

Sobre a principal alteração introduzida pela versão de 2015 na ISO 9001, a abordagem baseada no risco (RBT).
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Um dia dedicado a testar a aplicação do RBT e como pode ser usado para desenvolver de raiz um SGQ, ou ser incorporado num SGQ já existente.

Valor do investimento: 80€ (mais IVA)
Local: Porto

Inscrições: código RBT01 para o e-mail metanoia@metanoia.pt

"You just avoided a PITA client"

Recordar o "dinheiro deixado em cima da mesa" em "Para acabar com o deixar dinheiro em cima da mesa - parte IIa" e "Para os que que deixam dinheiro em cima da mesa, porque se subestimam"

"Buyers can smell fear and anxiety a mile away, and most will take advantage. Successful salespeople avoid this problem by having enough confidence - in themselves and their products - to stand firm.
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If price is the only decision point for a client, red flags should be waving so furiously that you turn around and run the other way as quickly as possible. This person will become a PITA—a “pain in the ass” client who considers you a commodity. You will be nickeland-dimed, squeezed on everything, and expected to deliver additional services at no charge.
...
Even when talking to great clients, many reps in business to business sales underestimate their own value. At a recent sales conference, one marketing agency suggested that up to 95 percent of salespeople compromise on price before their customers even bring it up.
...
So when someone pushes you on price, stand your ground. If you don’t get the deal, consider yourself lucky. You just avoided a PITA client."

Trechos retirados de "Business to Business Sales Reps Shouldn’t Cave on Price"

Para reflexão

Um caso que merece reflexão neste mundo de conglomerados e corporações:

"While a company dealing with a wicked problem has to experiment with many strategies, it must stay true to a sense of purpose. Mission statements are the foundations of strategy, but in a fast-changing world, companies change their “concept of business,” “scope of activities,” or “statement of purpose” more often than they used to. A company’s identity, which serves as a touchstone against which it can evaluate its choices, is often a more enduring statement of strategic intent.
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An organization’s identity, like that of an individual, comprises the following:

• Values. What is fundamentally important to the company?

• Competencies. What does the company do better than others do?

• Aspirations. How does the company envision and measure success?

An identity provides executives with direction and focuses attention on opportunities and threats. For instance, in August 2007, Campbell Soup decided it would sell off the Godiva business. The company didn’t base the decision on financial performance; Godiva is a superpremium chocolate brand and a profitable business. Trouble is, Campbell’s values, competencies, and aspirations focus on nutrition and simplicity - and Godiva chocolates don’t fit in with that self-image. “Although the premium chocolate category is experiencing strong growth and Godiva is well-positioned for the future, the premium chocolate business does not fit with Campbell’s focus on simple meals,” explained Douglas R. Conant, Campbell Soup’s CEO, while announcing the decision. In December 2007, the company reached an agreement to sell Godiva to Yildiz Holding, which owns the Turkish company Ülker Group, for $850 million. By relying on its identity, rather than on financial projections, Campbell made the decision to sell Godiva quickly and painlessly."

Qual a identidade da sua PME?

Trechos retirados de "Strategy as a Wicked Problem"

Curiosidade do dia

Há exactamente uma semana Estarreja apareceu nos noticiários televisivos da noite por causa do aparatoso incêndio em vários pontos em torno de uma zona industrial.
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Hoje de manhã, aproveitei o céu nublado para fazer uma caminhada por lá. E parei diante deste símbolo:

No ar ainda se sente o cheiro a queimado e, no chão, preto e cinza, salientam-se já uns tufos de erva fresca de cor verde-benetton.
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Sou um fã de usar a biologia como uma metáfora da economia... aliás, a economia é a continuação da biologia.
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Depois da desgraça, depois da recessão, depois da depressão, os recursos que restam são reaproveitados para novos projectos, novas tentativas, novos sonhos.
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Sem necessidade de planeamento central.

Acerca da Grécia

"The First Rule of Strategy 
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The general principle for sequential-move games is that each player should figure out the other players’ future responses and use them in calculating his own best current move. This idea is so important that it is worth codifying into a basic rule of strategic behavior:

RULE 1: Look forward and reason backward. 

Anticipate where your initial decisions will ultimately lead and use this information to calculate your best choice."

Trecho retirado de "The art of strategy : a game theorist's guide to success in business & life" de Avinash K. Dixit e Barry J. Nalebuff.

Outra abordagem

A propósito de "Foodie Friday: Top Trend–Pet the Horse…Pass the Pizza!":

"“The real advantage of the pizza farms, notes Consumerist, is that it provides typically small farms with additional income.
...
‘They’re selling an experience by letting people come to their farm, and I think there are a lot of people out there hungry for this experience.'”
As agritourism continues to grow – so do new opportunities to showcase and sample freshly harvested and prepared farm-fresh foods.
...
Children will chase chickens and pet horses while the adults share conversations and sip on beverages while waiting for “farm-fresh” pizzas to emerge from large wood-burning ovens. This trend is sweeping the heartland of America, and shows no signs of slowing any time soon."

Recordar "A verdade que não nos é contada, acerca do leite"

É claro que Portugal não é o estado de Nova York, quer em nível de vida, quer em gostos, quer em mindset. No entanto, quantas explorações agrícolas podiam beneficiar desta abordagem?

Em vez de continuar a espiral absurda da quantidade, para competir com os gigantes franceses ou servir a distribuição, seguir uma outra via. O objectivo de uma exploração agrícola não é o de alimentar todo o mundo.

"Sometimes the best way to create a profitable and sustainable business is to shrink"

Um excelente artigo, com grandes ensinamentos:

"During the 1990s Tommy Hilfiger became one of fashion’s hottest brands. I got involved in 1996, when I became a partner in a start-up company that signed the license to sell Hilfiger products in Europe. During that period the U.S. business really took off: From 1997 to 2000 the company’s overall sales more than doubled, and it was a stock market success as well. But that came at a price. The brand was too hot, too hyped, and grew too fast. In the United States its products drifted away from its core values, and when demand fell and they began to sell at a discount, the company’s designers started creating stuff that felt like discount clothing—a vicious cycle. By the early 2000s Hilfiger’s U.S. sales were falling every year.
...
One challenge of executing a turnaround in this situation is that when you’re a public company, the expectation is that you’ll grow every quarter. Sometimes the best way to create a profitable and sustainable business is to shrink, [Moi ici: Uma grande verdade que muitos evitam, muitas vezes pela vergonha de encolher a empresa] but it can be difficult to do that in the glare of the public markets.
...
When a brand becomes too big and too visible, giant logos and apparent ubiquity can start working against it. By 2000 the brand had peaked in the U.S., and the company began to face market resistance.
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In the fashion industry, weak demand leads to discounting. If the discounting goes on too long, it can become structural, which means it gets factored into the design process. Let me give you an example. For years Tommy Hilfiger’s designers had been creating shirts that would sell for $79 but would offer the look and quality of shirts that might sell for $89. But when the market started to turn against the brand, retailers had to mark down those shirts to $49 in order to sell them. To be profitable at $49, you need to make very large compromises on materials, styling, and quality. They began designing into the discount environment, and the brand eroded further.
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In the European division, which I was running, we chose not to sell the lower-quality product. To succeed in Europe, we needed a $99 shirt that looked as if it cost $150. By 2001 we’d taken steps to reduce our reliance on the brand’s U.S. operations. We created our own design center and supply chain. From 2000 to 2006, while Hilfiger’s U.S. sales fell every year, European sales grew by roughly 50% every year.
...
The strategy to scale back the U.S. business in the short term laid the groundwork for the brand’s turnaround in the market in less than four years."

Trechos retirados de "Tommy Hilfiger’s Chairman on Going Private to Spark a Turnaround"

Curiosidade do dia

No primeiro trimestre deste ano os empresários do sector bem diziam que a coisa estava um bocado mais fraca que no ano passado. Excepção para as empresas mais low-cost que estavam carregadas de trabalho.
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Volto a recordar um precioso tweet de Nassin Taleb em Agosto passado:

"Economists fail to get w/ GDP growth that anything that grows without an "S" curve (slowing down phase) blows up."

Segundo os dados do INE, publicados na passada sexta-feira, as exportações de calçado português, entre Janeiro e Maio, tiveram uma quebra homóloga de 0,54%.
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Sinal de que é preciso continuar o bom trabalho.
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BTW, as exportações de calçado para fora da UE cresceram 4,8% no mesmo período.

Não é novidade nenhuma

"“The main source of the productivity slowdown is not so much a slowing of innovation by the most globally advanced firms, but rather a slowing of the pace at which innovations spread out throughout the economy - a breakdown of the diffusion machine,” the OECD said.
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But why are innovations not spreading as quickly as before? One key reason appears to be that the process of “creative destruction” identified by Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter as essential to capitalism’s dynamism appears to have lost some of its ferocity. In the OECD’s words, “market selection is weak.”
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One reason for that is government policy, which the OECD said favors incumbents across a whole range of areas, from regulations designed to protect the environment, to taxation. As a result, older firms that suffer from low productivity growth endure, often “trapping” workers in jobs for which they are over qualified.
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“High rates of skill mismatch often coincide with the presence of many small and old firms,” the OECD said. “These firms are often unproductive and tend to be harmful for aggregate productivity to the extent that they absorb valuable resources, thereby constraining the growth of more innovative firms.”

Trechos retirados de "OECD: Broken “Diffusion Machine” Is Slowing Productivity"

O fim do século XX

Uma imagem metafórica do que é o fim do século XX:

O fim dos monólitos, o fim do domínio das empresas grandes, a explosão de variedade.

Imagem retirada de "Opening Windows"

O que é isto senão Mongo?

Via @armando_moreira cheguei a este artigo "Salesforce cofounder explains where big old tech companies like Microsoft often go wrong" cim uma mensagem tão querida deste blogue:

"Salesforce is expected to surpass $6 billion in revenue this year, making it the fastest enterprise software company to ever do so. Now it’s worth over $45 billion..It took almost 16 years for Salesforce to get to this point, but its cofounder Parker Harris believes there’s one key reason to its massive growth in a relatively short period of time: focus..Unlike some of its bigger rivals like Oracle and SAP, who are virtually in every area of enterprise software, Salesforce has kept its business focused on the customer relationship management (CRM) space, largely comprised of sales, marketing, and service automation....“Many people have said we just need to add more products. Look at Oracle, look at SAP. Add ERP and inventory or compensation. Add all this stuff,” Harris told IDG. “What we realized is we’re the customer company. We’re the front office solution and our customers would be really upset if we just added a whole bunch of stuff and lost focus.”"

Foco, foco, foco!
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Em vez de querer ser tudo para todos, em vez de uma oferta alargada, just-in-case"; foco, foco, foco!!!
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Interessante como o tema está presente numa série de outros artigos publicados recentemente.
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Por exemplo, "In Technology, Small Fish (Almost Always) Eat Big Fish" (este artigo merece outro postal futuro, sobre outra vertente) pode ler-se:

"Eventually, and inevitably, these “small” entrants eat their way up the food chain into the market, capturing a larger and larger share, until the behemoths of the sector are forced to retreat back into a narrowing market niche.
...
One sterling example is in the CRM (customer relationship management) space. For as long as anyone could remember, the market was owned by Siebel. It was big, offering an incredibly complex solution that had to be installed for customers on their servers, licensed in bulk, with tons of training and customer service attached. Sounds unwieldy, but it was the norm, and everyone needed it.
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Then along came a company called Salesforce.com, offering just one capability of the many Siebel already provided. Only they offered it differently — instead of having to buy hundreds of licenses, customer companies could pay per employee using Salesforce.com, and use it in their web browsers hassle free. They became the automatic choice for the many young companies that couldn’t afford to do anything but start small with SaaS.
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Even so, the larger incumbents like Siebel comforted themselves that enterprise customers would never entrust their precious data and prospect lists to an offsite cloudbased system. Today, Salesforce.com completely dominates the CRM market and has an enormous ecosystem around it. Siebel, having had their lunch eaten right in front of them, became acquisition bait for Oracle.
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Salesforce.com’s ascent highlights the momentum of all cloud solutions, led by small, specialized companies purveying simple, easy-to-understand benefits for consumers and enterprises alike. Think Dropbox and Box, respectively. They are now what people think of when they hear the term “cloud,” not the large, vertically integrated storage solutions of yesteryear.
 ...
[Moi ici: Recordando o exemplo de ontem sobre as peúgas, sobre a decomoditização] Your rallying objective should be to build something truly great for the low end of the marketplace, solving an important problem with a simple, low-friction product in a segment of the market that's underserved by the incumbents. Once you've achieved excellent market traction in this arena, you can nibble your way upward until you're competitive with the heavyweights of your industry."

Ainda um outro artigo sobre o poder do foco "The Increasing Fragmentation of SaaS":

"According to ChiefMarTec, in 2015 there are 1875 marketing technology companies, up from 947 last year. If the number of marketing software companies is any indication, there is a huge expansion in the number of SaaS companies in almost every segment including sales tools, engineering productivity, finance, and human resources.
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This fragmentation trend has been happening for quite some time. In the old model of software procurement, companies would call one of the large software monoliths (Oracle, SAP, IBM, etc) and negotiate an enterprisewide license for a software suite to serve the majority of their departments. These suite offerings promised simplified negotiation and procurement, a single integrated platform with free data interchange across departments, and one point of support. But, this promise was never fulfilled. For example, according to a recent study by Panorama Consulting Solutions, the average
ERP implementation requires 16 months to deploy and 20% of them are considered failures.
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The alternative, which is the fragmented market of today, enables teams to purchase best-of-breed point solutions, try them, and quickly cycle through all the different offerings until they find the best one for their needs. This change in purchasing behavior is happening broadly across SaaS.
...
These department specific software stacks serve their customers much better than a single suite ever could, because each team in each company can select precisely the products that offer the features that meet their specific needs. and if requirements should change, it’s as simple as canceling a subscription, and starting with another product."

O que é isto senão Mongo? Diversidade, focalização, especialização, decomoditização...
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BTW, em sectores completamente diferentes, recordar:

• "Hits" versus nichos;
• "Ter uma estratégia clara = escolhas claras = ideias claras = desejar sucesso à concorrência (parte V)"

A lição da biologia:

Especialização, diferenciação, nichos...

"aposta noutro mindset"

Primeiro, este trecho de Trout em "Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition":

"Now let’s look at that 0 percent differentiation degree in the Banking sector. How can that be? All these big name banks spend millions on advertising telling us how wonderful they are to do business with. Well, class, the answer is obvious. Mergermania has taken a terrible toll. And after all these mergers, who knows who is who these days much less for what they stand. As the psychologists advise, without a line to the past, how can you be sure of a line to the future. The Banking category is a mess and deserves their 0 percent."

O que ouvimos e lê-mos em Portugal sobre os bancos?
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Corrida para fechar agências!
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Corrida para passar a oferecer os serviços via internet!
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O que se passa nos Estados Unidos, que vão à frente na tendência do eficientismo?

"Banks just can’t figure out what to do with their branches.
...
The efforts are proving tricky given that banks want customers to come to branches for moneymaking financial products such as loans or credit cards, but also have to serve the millions of Americans who still regularly make deposits and withdraw cash at the teller line.
...
Bank of America Corp. soon will begin converting about 9,000 tellers to “relationship bankers” who can direct customers to high-tech ATMs or show them how to deposit a check via smartphone.
...
Despite banks cutting costs sharply in recent years, as many as one-third of those branches remain unprofitable, says consulting firm Simon-Kucher & Partners.
...
“Nobody buys a home equity line of credit on impulse,” ... In some cases, the changes risk turning off customers.
...
Some firms are simply shuttering branches. Fifth Third Bancorp last month announced that it will close or sell 100 branches, or 8% of its offices. Like many of its peers, the Cincinnati-based bank also is expanding its use of employees who can handle a variety of functions."

Entretanto no Twitter, encontrei estes tweets de Esko Kilpi, bem em linha com a mensagem deste blogue (ler de baixo para cima):

Recordar "The Three Rules" de Raynor e Ahmed:

• Better before cheaper;
• Revenue before cost;
• There are no other rules

O que é que os bancos andam a fazer há anos?
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A fugir da interacção e a fugir daquelas 3 regras.

.

Para terminar, este trecho retirado de "Home and Away" na revista "Health Club Management":

Quem não aposta no "cheaper" e no "cost", aposta na interacção, aposta na co-criação, aposta noutro mindset... eu diria, "Every visit customers have to make are an opportunity for interaction and co-creation"
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Nunca esquecer, Golias pode apostar e ganhar com a automação porque está no seu ADN; contudo, David não tem qualquer vantagem em seguir esse caminho, tem muito mais a perder do que os euros que poupa.

Trechos 2 retirados de "Is This a Coffee Shop or a Bank?"

Curiosidade do dia

Imaginem que esta vigilância acerca do uso de conceitos económicos, "Does Jeb Bush Understand Economics?", se alargava a outros políticos... como Tsipras, ou Arménio Carlos, ou a João Galamba ou Paulo Portas...
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O debate político teria muito menos lixo tóxico a poluir as mensagens. Imaginem o que este tipo de vigilância diria dos políticos que prometem o aumento do SMN para baixar o desemprego, ou das palavras do bispo da Guarda que começa uma frase a lamentar a falta de investimento das empresas grandes no interior e acaba-a a chamar-lhes gafanhotos que chegam, sacam e voam para outras paragens.
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Hoje, com a publicação dos números do comércio internacional foi interessante ver os que defendem o aumento do consumo para fazer crescer a economia, criticarem o aumento das importações... go figure.
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BTW, ganda confusão na cabeça daquele Bush

Baptistas da Silva e números ... (parte II)

Parte I.

Enquanto misteriosamente, segundo a AHRESP, o sector da restauração perdia 53 mil empregos, isto acontecia em Portugal:

"Pela primeira vez desde 2012, há mais famílias a consumir fora de casa, em cafés e restaurantes. Em contrapartida, fazem menos compras nos supermercados, de acordo com os dados recolhidos pela Kantar Worldpannel e divulgados pelo jornal Público e pelo Jornal de Notícias.
O consumo dos portugueses fora de casa aumentou no primeiro semestre do ano, pela primeira vez desde o início da crise.
...
O trabalho "Retrato do shopper português no grande consumo" conclui também que há menos 5% de pessoas a levar comida para o emprego, uma tendência que se acentuou consideravelmente desde o início da crise, com os cortes nos rendimentos, aumentos de impostos e, concretamente ao nível da restauração, o aumento do IVA para os 23%."

Trechos retirados de "Portugueses voltam a ir ao restaurante"

Ver também "Famílias vão menos ao supermercado e gastam mais nos cafés e restaurantes"

Quem tem a cabeça no século XXI concentra-se no ...

Ontem, ao jantar uma francesinha, alguém descrevia-me de forma simples e clara o "ajavardamento" do mercado automóvel, com a montagem de veículos com "plásticos" de fraca qualidade. Sintoma das consequências da aplicação da metodologia do eficientismo, tão cara ao século XX, levada ao extremo.
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Quem tem a cabeça no século XX concentra-se no custo unitário e apela à massa.
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Quem tem a cabeça no século XXI concentra-se no valor percepcionado pelos clientes. E começa por escolher uma tribo em vez de apelar à massa.
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Ao longo dos anos tenho aqui dado exemplos como:

• Littlemissmatched; e
• Happysocks

Produtos para tribos!

.

Agora, mais um exemplo, ainda no reino das peúgas, Stance:

"In a startup world crazy with competition to find a niche, Stance's founders realized theirs was hiding in plain sight.…
Oakley weren't the creators of the eyewear category, … Reef, with sandals. Total dominant player, category leader." Both of those brands took basic, utilitarian items and made them lifestyle necessities through design, function, and focused distribution.
…
In researching the sock category, … discovered that even big brands like Polo and Hilfiger licensed their sock business to other companies. "As we put this landscape together, we just became convinced, everyone is really sleepy here," says Kearl. "There's big room for innovation. No one's really created the lab environment where you could innovate on a platform like socks.”"

Em qualquer sector podemos encontrar este "hiding in plain sight", produtos e serviços básicos, utilitários, tratados como commodities, dominados por um mindset concentrado no eficientismo, à espera de quem veja a realidade com outros olhos:

Trechos retirados de "This Company Raised $86 Million to Revolutionize the Tired, Boring World of Socks"

Workshop - RBT (ISO 9001:2015) (Parte III)

Parte I e parte II.

A cláusula 4.1 da ISO DIS 9001:2014, sobre o perceber e compreender uma organização e o seu contexto, menciona a necessidade de identificar os factores internos relevantes, que podem afectar os resultados esperados para o sistema, ou a sua orientação estratégica.
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Uma ferramenta possível, para identificar os factores internos, pode ser baseada na abordagem por processos e, em cada processo investigar o que pode correr mal para que não se cumpram os objectivos de cada processo:

Não o fazemos perder tempo com a matéria para os auditores, não lhe falamos da evolução da norma, ou do Anexo SL, ou da transição, todo o tempo concentrado na RBT.

Valor do investimento: 80€ (mais IVA)
Local: Porto
Inscrições: código RBT01 para o e-mail metanoia@metanoia.pt

Este futuro estava escrito nas estrelas

Recordando "Este futuro está escrito nas estrelas".

"The freight trucking industry is growing profit margins at the fastest rate of all industries, according to financial information company Sageworks.
...
"If the trucking industry is doing well, growing revenues and profits and hiring more employees, it often indicates that consumer demand is strong and their appetite for buying is high," says Sageworks analyst Kevin Abbas.[Moi ici: Este parágrafo faz-me comichão... acredito que o home delivery cresce sobretudo por causa dos novos modelos de negócio online, mais do que por causa do aumento do consumo]
.
According to the American Trucking Association, more than 93 percent of companies within the trucking industry are small businesses, with 20 or less trucks.
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Because the freight trucking industry acts as a middle man between production and consumption, increasing profitability in the sector is good news for both U.S. retailers and U.S. manufacturers."

Trecho retirado de "The 10 Most Profitable Industries of Tomorrow"

Curiosidade do dia

A propósito destes números:

Reparem como na redacção da Renascença não percebem nada disto "Alemanha é o país da OCDE onde se trabalha menos", agora imaginem as pessoas que todos os dias, subliminarmente, são catequizadas por eles.

Workshop - RBT (ISO 9001:2015) (Parte II)

Não lhe falamos da evolução da norma, ou do Anexo SL, ou da transição, todo o tempo concentrado na RBT.


Parte I.

Ter memória...

Ter memória...
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Gostava de ouvir Nicolau Santos, o mesmo daqui e daqui, comentar isto:

"De acordo com as intenções manifestadas pelas empresas no Inquérito de Conjuntura ao Investimento de abril de 2015 (com período de inquirição entre 1 de abril e 1 de julho de 2015), o investimento empresarial em termos nominais deverá aumentar 2,5% em 2015. Esta expetativa corresponde a uma revisão em alta das intenções manifestadas no inquérito anterior de outubro de 2014, que apontavam para uma variação de -2,2%. Os resultados deste inquérito indicam ainda um aumento de 5,4% do investimento em 2014, traduzindo também uma revisão em alta face às perspetivas reveladas no inquérito anterior (variação de 1,0%)."

BTW, só espero que a fiscalização da AT e a comunicação das existências, tenha tido um efeito marginal nestes números.

Trechos retirados de "Inquérito de Conjuntura ao Investimento - Inquérito de abril de 2015" do INE

Não há alternativa, não se pode ser neutro (parte V)

Parte I, parte II, parte III e parte IV.

Em linha com:

• o teste da estratégia estúpida;

Mais um trecho retirado de "Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition" de Jack Trout:

"Quality and Customer Orientation Are Rarely Differentiating Ideas
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quality is a given these days, not a difference. Knowing and loving your customer is a given, not a difference.
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The great myth of marketing in the 1990s was that ‘‘serving the customer’’ was the name of the game.
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Many marketing people live in a dream world. They believe in the fantasy of the virgin market. This is the belief that marketing is a two-player game involving just the company and the customer. In this fantasy, a company develops a product or service designed to appeal to customer needs, and then uses marketing to harvest the crop.
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But there are no virgin markets. The reality of marketing is that a market consists of consumers strongly or weakly held by a range of competitors. A marketing campaign, therefore, consists of holding on to your customers while at the same time attempting to take customers away from your competitors.
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That’s what differentiation can do. It’s not just about knowing your customer. It’s about your customer knowing about you.
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Customer satisfaction is not the same as customer commitment. ... More than 40 percent of customers who claimed to be satisfied switched suppliers without looking back."

 A situação é algo caricata e perigosa... a Qualidade, como a estratégia, em vez de promover a diferenciação... promove a uniformização.

Acerca de Mongo

"Maker Movement and these types of Maker Faires as being important for fostering innovation. The result is that more and more people create products instead of only consuming them, and it’s my view that moving people from being only consumers to creators is critical to America’s future. At the very least, some of these folks will discover life long hobbies, but many of them could eventually use their tools and creativity to start businesses. And it would not surprise me if the next major inventor or tech leader was a product of the Maker Movement."

Um mundo de diversidade, de variedade, de prosumers, de novas relações económicas.
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  Trecho retirado de "Why the Maker Movement Is Important to America’s Future"

Curiosidade do dia

"“Many negative emotions such as anger, fear, and frustration become problematic when those emotions turn into a more permanent disposition or a habitual outlook on the world,”
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This way of thinking may also hurt your heart. A 2009 study from the journal Circulation looked at data from nearly 100,000 women and found that the most cynical participants were more likely to have heart disease than the least cynical folks. The more pessimistic women also had a higher chance of dying over the study period, versus those who were more optimistic about humanity.
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Our thoughts and emotions have widespread effects on bodily processes like metabolism, hormone release, and immune function, Simon-Thomas says. One theory is that when you’re stressed or depressed, cortisol levels increase, making your immune system less able to control inflammation, which could lead to disease over time."

Recordar “Tell me something good that happened today.”

Trecho retirado de "Can Negative Thinking Make You Sick?"

Arriscar

Uma metáfora sobre o arriscar antes de ser claro, sobre ser o que abre o caminho, sobre ser o que tenta quando o resultado é incerto:

"You need to press the buzzer before you know the answer.
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As soon as you realize that you probably will be able to identify the answer by the time you're asked, buzz. Between the time you buzz and the time you're supposed to speak, the answer will come to you. And if it doesn't, the penalty for being wrong is small compared to the opportunity to get it right.
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This feels wrong in so many ways. It feels reckless, careless and selfish. Of course we're supposed to wait until we're sure before we buzz. But the waiting leads to a pattern of not buzzing.
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The act of buzzing leads to leaping, and leaping leads to great work. Not the other way around."

Trechos retirados de "Buzzer management"

Não há alternativa, não se pode ser neutro (parte IV)

Parte I, parte II e parte III.

Como as empresas não se mexem, julgando que podem ser neutras e estacionar algures num local confortável:

"While categories are expanding thanks to the law of division, something sinister is happening. Despite all the attention paid to branding these days, more and more of these categories are sliding into commoditization. In other words, fewer and fewer of the brands in these categories are well differentiated.

...

[Moi ici: Por que é que a Starbucks tem pricing power?] Today everybody from clothing designers to celebrities claims to be a brand, but ultimately the products and services must face the realities of the marketplace—and the consumers. Consumers ask, ‘‘What do you have on offer? How are you different from others in

the category? How are you better? Do you represent values that are valuable to me and make me feel valued? How are you differentiated from the others?’’

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‘‘It’s no secret that more and more companies are having problems differentiating themselves from their competitors. [Moi ici: E agora um tema caro a este blogue. Caro porque foi aqui que começamos a nossa vida profissional e, porque percebemos que se trata de um grupo que não percebeu a mudança que ocorreu no mundo com a globalização e com a mass customization e o advento de Mongo. O mundo da qualidade continua tão concentrado a construir a Torre de Babel, a combater a variabilidade que nem se apercebe do tesouro que é a variedade]

The Total Quality and Process Re-Engineering movements of the last two decades of the 20th century pretty much guaranteed that companies that actually made it to the 21st century were going to be virtually indistinguishable from one another,’’

O que faz a sua empresa para se diferenciar?
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Trechos retirados de "Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition" de Jack Trout.

Como se ganha pricing power?

Reparem no título "Starbucks Raises Prices Despite Declining Coffee Costs", ou neste outro "Starbucks is hiking prices, again".

"The Seattle company, like other coffee purveyors, often raises prices for its products when coffee prices increase, but the latest move comes despite a decline of about 42% in Arabica futures prices from a peak late last year."

Por que é que a Starbucks consegue aumentar os preços, várias vezes, apesar da descida dos custos da matéria-prima?
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Acham que uma PME típica pode justificar um aumento de preço com um aumento dos seus custos? Poder pode, mas qual é o resultado? Insatisfação dos clientes!!!
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Como é que uma Starbucks consegue aumentar preços?
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Porque pode!

Preço não tem relação matemática com os custos, apesar do que digam os economistas.
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Como se ganha pricing power?
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Com diferenciação e oferecendo propostas de valor percebidas como superiores pelos clientes.
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Com estratégia...
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Pois, o que é que a sua empresa está a fazer para ganhar pricing power? Nope, não olhe para dentro, olhe para fora!

Workshop - Abordagem Baseada no Risco (ISO 9001:2015)

Interessados em trabalhar com o novo conceito introduzido pela ISO 9001:2015?

Tem curiosidade em saber o que é a abordagem baseada no risco (RBT)?

Quer participar numa sessão que conjuga a análise das cláusulas ISO  9001 relevantes para a RBT, com a realização de exercícios e a análise de exemplos e casos práticos?

Um Workshop de 7 horas, com o seguinte programa:

Atenção! Não se trata de mais um Workshop para percorrer a norma ISO 9001:2015 cláusula a cláusula. Acreditamos que a principal alteração é a introdução da RBT e, é sobre ela que o Workshop se debruça:

Valor do investimento: 80€ (mais IVA)
Local: Porto
Inscrições: código RBT01 para o e-mail metanoia@metanoia.pt

NOTA: Aquando da realização dO workshop será utilizado o referencial em vigor no momento (versão DIS, ou FDIS, ou ISO).

Curiosidade do dia

Para mais um banho de humildade sobre a capacidade dos humanos preverem o futuro:

"The limitations come from what people actually do with computers, as opposed to what the marketers expect them to do. On the whole, people don't want to lug a computer with them to the beach or on a train to while away hours they would rather spend reading the sports or business section of the newspaper. Somehow, the microcomputer industry has assumed that everyone would love to have a keyboard grafted on as an extension of their fingers. It just is not so.
...
But the real future of the laptop computer will remain in the specialized niche markets. Because no matter how inexpensive the machines become, and no matter how sophisticated their software, I still can't imagine the average user taking one along when going fishing."

Trechos retirados de "THE EXECUTIVE COMPUTER" (Dezembro de 1985)


HT ‏@ValaAfshar

Contra as importações mas a favor do consumo das famílias... entendam-se

"Em 2013, França era o país que maior contributo positivo dava ao saldo comercial português, tendo sido ultrapassada no ano passado por Angola. A seguir, surgem: Estados Unidos, Reino Unido e Marrocos. Por outro lado, as economias que vendem mais que nos compram são, em primeiro lugar, Espanha, seguida por Alemanha, Itália, Holanda e Cazaquistão.
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Ou seja, no primeiro grupo estão os países cuja relação comercial com Portugal mais ajuda o nosso crescimento. No segundo grupo estão os que mais o prejudicam."

Há qualquer coisa de perverso nesta linguagem típica de burocratas fechados numa sala e enterrados em folhas de cálculo. Os tais que sabem tudo sobre preços e custos e nada sobre valor.
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Ao fim do dia, quando regressam a casa, aposto que o fazem num automóvel alemão.
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Só ao chegar a esta linha, juro, é que me lembrei de quem podia ser o autor destas palavras... não falhei, era fácil.
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E de que falamos quando falamos de crescimento? Crescimento por crescer ou crescimento associado a produtos e serviços com maiores propostas de valor? Será que um crescimento das exportações para Angola não tem um ou mais lados negativos?
Será que as importações espanholas, que fazem mexer a economia têxtil do vale do Ave e, depois de traduzidas em emprego são exportadas para a Inditex, são negativas?
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Este discurso, no tempo da filosofia e da coerência do discurso e da narrativa não teria pernas para andar. É um discurso contra as importações no geral mas que elege o consumo das famílias como a saída da crise... ooops os pópós alemães é que estão a dar.

Trechos retirados de "Relação comercial com Angola é a que mais ajuda o crescimento da economia"

  

Não há alternativa, não se pode ser neutro (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.
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E continuo a leitura de "Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition" de Jack Trout.

"Choice Can Be a Turnoff
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Choice can actually hinder the motivation to buy.
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Too many choices spelled confusion. And confusion spelled, ‘‘No thanks.’’
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People are so overwhelmed with choice that it tends to paralyze them. Too much choice makes people more likely to defer decisions. It raises expectations and makes people blame themselves for choosing poorly. You don’t expect much if there are only two pairs of jeans to choose from. If there are hundreds, you expect one to be perfect.
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Choice Can Be Cruel
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With the enormous competition, markets today are driven by choice. The customer has so many good alternatives that you pay dearly for your mistakes. Your competitors get your business and you don’t get it back very easily. Companies that don’t understand this will not survive. (Now that’s cruel.)
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You Have to Be CarefulIf you ignore your uniqueness and try to be everything for everybody, you quickly undermine what makes you different....
If you ignore changes in the market, your difference can become less important.
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Don’t bet that all this will calm down. We believe that it will get worse for the simple reason that choice appears to beget more choice."

E reforço o sentido do título desta série...
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Não se pode ser neutro, não se pode ficar parado...

Num arquétipo de escalada, ficar parado é ficar para trás.
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O que é que a sua empresa está fazer para não ficar para trás?

Os princípios de gestão do século XX

Um tema desenvolvido por este blogue há anos e anos, o contraste entre a mentalidade do século XX, com o seu eficientismo, e Mongo:

"The summary is that 20th century management and economic theory has created a gap between customers and companies. And as companies are seeing that the traditional tools for improving company excellence (operational efficiency and standardization) isn’t churning out the results they used to, they are turning their eyes back to the customers in order to extract value. The problem is that the customer centric approach – often marketed by glorified slogans of customer experience – isn’t connected to the existing organizational culture (goals, collaboration and metrics). So companies can’t just flick the switch, and win with customer orientation – they need a fundamental shift in how they are managed and compete.
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Creating customers have become the problem (marketing is the expense department), while organizational efficiency and standardizing employees task has become the solution (20th century management principles)."

E pensar que tanto e tanto comentador, político e economista continua preso ao século XX... a velha frase de Napoleão:

"Napoleon said: To understand someone, you have to understand what the world looked like when they were twenty." 

 Trecho retirado de "The Customer Is The Strategy"

Controlar, controlar, controlar...

E na linha da "Curiosidade do dia" de ontem:

Este artigo "Exponential Organizations Are The Future Of Global Business And Innovation":

"Here’s a strange thought: Not very long ago, vertical integration was the cutting edge of global business. Indeed, well into the last century, the companies considered to be at the forefront of innovation were those resting atop the largest and most sprawling networks of operation.
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Today’s business leaders stake their success on the opposite model of development. Increasingly, “agility” is the determining factor of market competitiveness, “leanness” its new underlying impetus.
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One of the last persistent hangovers from the previous mindset is the presumption of scarcity. For businesses operating under the notion that the resources available to them are fixed and at a premium, the goal has been and always will be to control as many stages of production and distribution as possible."

E recordo tantos artigos que, ainda enterrados no século XX, alertam para o perigo da perda de controlo.
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Como não recordar "The Power of Co-creation" e a percepção de que cada vez mais as empresas têm de perceber que não controlam parcelas crescentes da cadeia de valor...

Curiosidade do dia

Esta imagem:

Quer dizer muito...
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O que significa face ao paradigma do século XX?

Resultados são consequência de...

Resultados são consequência de exigência e planeamento.
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Atenção a este vídeo "What Sets Top Sales Teams Apart".
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Equipas de vendas de topo têm objectivos exigentes e planeamento:

"Structure - Expectations are followed up on and processes are put in place
11. High-performing sales organizations hold their team members to a higher level of accountability.
12. High-performing sales organizations are quicker to terminate underperforming salespeople.
13. Sales managers at high-performing sales organizations reported a higher percentage of their salespeople achieved their annual quotas.
14. High-performing sales organizations employ a morestructured sales process.
15. High-performing sales organizations more closely monitor their lead follow-up process."

Trecho retirado de "Sales Organization Performance Gap Research Report"

E começar pelos resultados?

A batota é um tema clássico neste blogue.
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A batota é o tema de "A Three-Step Guide to the Ultimate Customer Experience".
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O autor, pessoa que muito estimo, propõe esta sequência:

• 1. What if everything went exactly right?
• 2. What does it take to make it work out that way?
• 3. What are the road blocks?

No final da primeira leitura acabei a pensar na inversão da ordem... tal como prefiro o CAPD em vez do PDCA. Uma loja não começa do zero, já existe, já está aberta e, constata que as contas não vão bem.

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A loja de hoje é uma plataforma que existe para servir que tipo de clientes, em que contextos da sua vida?
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Em vez de começar pelo planeamento, como se se começasse com uma folha em branco, talvez faça sentido começar pelo que corre mal e começar a remover os obstáculos. Ou seja, começar pela análise do desempenho actual.

"Crise fecha 13 empresas por dia"

Segundo uma fonte, o Barómetro BD Informa, a evolução dos encerramentos de empresas em Portugal nos últimos anos foi esta:

Em 2014 já encerraram menos empresas que em 2010.
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A mesma fonte dá este desempenho para 2015:

2015 ainda está melhor que 2014.
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E o que resolve escrever o JN, um jornal do Norte, a região que está a reganhar algo que tinha perdido desde os anos 80 do século passado?

Pois, isto está tudo relacionado:

Quem vai relacionar-se com as tribos de Mongo?

Uma grande verdade:

"Organizations want customers to have relationships with their brands without the expense of the brands having actual relationships with customers.
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Loyalty for most organizations is a one-way street. The customer is expected to be loyal to the brand. The idea of loyalty to the customer is not even considered.
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Real human relationships take time and effort. To become a good and loyal friend does not happen quickly. But loyalty and caring are powerful human emotions and brands seem to want to have these emotions on the cheap.
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Technology has been used to replace expensive human-to-human, face-to-face relationships, because these relationships are the most expensive of all."

No Estranhistão, planeta cheio de tribos, quem as vai servir?
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As empresas grandes ou as pequenas?
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Qual delas aposta mais na relação?


Trechos retirados de "Relationships are expensive"

Curiosidade do dia

Mongo a bombar

"Local Motors: The Ex-Marine on a Mission to Fix the Auto Industry"

Vale a pena ouvir.

"but you can pick your clients"

"You can’t pick your family, but you can pick your clients.
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Ideal Clients rock! They value what we offer, communicate well, are forward thinking and reasonable, have a good sense of humor, and will give the time, money, and resources to make our business projects successful. When we work with our Ideal Clients, our sales time collapses, productivity soars, deals are larger, and they help us get referrals to others like themselves.
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And then there’s the opposite—the PITA client.
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Working with PITA clients isn’t just an unpleasant experience; it’s an opportunity cost. PITA clients push you to do more for less. Once you say yes, you’ve locked yourself into a downward spiral.
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Part of the problem was with the sales team, who had the mentality that any business was good business—even clients with tiny budgets and huge demands. But the sales reps at this firm didn’t deal with the clients after signing them on. They got their commission checks and the terrible clients became an engineer’s problem. “This is why the engineers at this company hate the sales team … and hate their jobs,”
...
1. Create a crisp profile of your Ideal Client. This way, you recognize perfect opportunities when they arise and can help your Referral Sources make great connections for you. Consider the ideal industries, job titles, and locations of the prospects you most want to meet. Also stress the ideal personality traits, and the typical situation or need your company addresses.
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2. Ensure everyone in your organization focuses on attracting only Ideal Clients. If you’re a sales leader, empower your team to recognize PITA prospects and to get rid of them before they ever get into the pipeline. No questions asked.
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3. Ask your current Ideal Clients for referrals. When you implement a rigorous referral program, you continue to attract only Ideal Clients to your company."

Trechos retirados de "Want to Choose Your Clients? Get Referrals"

Optimizar a customização

A propósito deste postal, "Subir na escala de valor - customização", pensei para comigo como esta abordagem da customização no calçado é difícil.
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PME habituadas a outro modelo de produção, a outro modelo de negócio, torcem-se todas ao tentar enveredar pela customização.
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Ao ler "Contextual variety, Internet-of-Things and the choice of tailoring over platform: Mass customisation strategy in supply chain management" de Irene Ng, Kimberley Scharf, Ganna Pogrebna e RogerMaull, publicado por Int. J. Production Economics 159 (2015) 76–87, percebe-se o quanto há por estudar pelas PME para optimizar esta actividade:

Acerca do poder do contexto

Acerca do poder do contexto:

"while we’re ooh’ing and aah’ing, we’re missing the details that really matter: the billions of small moments that happen every day that are revolutionizing the way consumers behave and choose and live and, with it, the way we need to reach them.
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But then there are those moments that really matter—the I want-to-know moments, I want-to-go moments, I want-to-do moments, and I want-to-buy moments. They matter to consumers and they matter to brands. These moments, or “micro-moments,” are when we act on a need—to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something or buy something. They are intentrich moments where decisions are being made and preferences being shaped. We see them constantly, across billions of monthly searches, billions of hours of videos watched every month, billions of interactions with various sites and apps. These aren’t just people inattentively tapping things into their phone; they rather are the new battleground for hearts, minds and, with them, the dollars their attention brings along.
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In these micro-moments, consumer expectations are higher than ever. The powerful computers we carry in our pockets have trained us to expect brands to deliver exactly what we are looking for – the moment we are looking. We want things right, and we want things right away. In fact, 69% of online consumers agree that the quality, timing, or relevance of a company’s message influence their perception of a brand."

Trechos retirados de "Outside Voices: Why Mobile Advertising May Be All About Micro-Targeting Moments"

Curiosidade do dia

Ressalva:

Um negócio tem de dar lucro senão é um hobby!

Talvez alguns dos nomes citados em "Editoras indie, um roteiro para livros alternativos" não passem de hobbies, ou talvez sejam startups em busca de um modelo de negócio para poderem escalar, ou talvez sigam as recomendações de "Manufacturing for a Small Planet":

"Build a community first. If you’re building your product before your community, you’re doing it all wrong. Small niches are about cultivating raving fans. If you don’t have confidence that the products on your website will appeal to your fans, then you don’t have a community. Think of yourself as a rock band, not as a factory."

De qualquer maneira esta explosão de editoras indie é mais um sintoma de Mongo, do Estranhistão, de gente que recusa a uniformização, que recusa ser plankton:

"“É possível que os projetos editoriais mais modestos nos seus meios tenham surgido, em parte, como resposta a esta feroz uniformização, que é também uma uniformização do gosto e um eficaz contributo para uma branda invasão bárbara. Contudo, este surgimento das pequenas editoras não deve ser visto apenas como um movimento reativo ou de resistência face à denominada indústria cultural. Algumas delas já andavam por cá antes desta maquinaria pesada ter sido posta em marcha.”" 

Para reflexão

Por um lado "Shocker: 40% of Workers Now Have 'Contingent' Jobs, Says U.S. Government":

"“Because contingent work can be unstable, or may afford fewer protections depending on a worker’s particular employment arrangement, it tends to lead to lower earnings, fewer benefits, and a greater reliance on public assistance than standard work.”"

Por outro, "This Is Why You Should Consider Dumping Your Traditional Job":

Recordei-me logo dos vereadores e da sua piedade.

Tour de France 2015

11 meses por ano à espera deste dia