Como tratar os clientes actuais?

Um tema que costumamos referir e marcar com o marcador "stobachoff":

"One study found that, in business-to-business companies, the top 20% of customers are generally responsible for 150%-300% of total profits, while the company breaks even on the middle 70% of customers and the bottom 10% of customers cause losses. Similarly, a multi-industry study by McKinsey & Co. found that bad customers might account for 30%-40% of a typical company’s revenue.
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As an illustration, we provide the cumulative profits curve at a bank with which the second author has worked. This type of curve is often referred to as the “whale curve” [Moi ici: Ou curva de Stobachoff] because of the profit curve’s humpback, inverse-U shape. In this bank’s case, about 50% of customers contribute negatively to profits. In fact, the top 5% of customers contribute almost 75% of the bank’s profits."

E na sua empresa, como é esta distribuição?
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Trecho e figura retirados de "Should You Punish or Reward Current Customers?"

As 3 partes de um BSC (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.

"a sense of background is even more critical as environments become more turbulent and uncertain. Without this sense of background, one begins to lose any orientation or grounding. It becomes more difficult to make sense of events as they unfold. By forcing attention on the background, this strategic approach helps create meaning and focus
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Companies should not and actually cannot describe this background in detail, because it must accommodate many permutations of the future while still providing a framework for effective resource allocations in the near term.
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Compelling statements of long-term direction can also help companies build advantaged capability-building positions as shapers of broader process networks."

Com um BSC da 3ª geração, vejo o mapa da estratégia como o descritor deste "background". No meio da incerteza e turbulência actual, como estaremos a funcionar no futuro, onde nos devemos concentrar?

Trechos retirados do capítulo 7 "New Approches to Developing Strategy" do livro "The Only Sustainable Edge".

Continua.

Sequências que me fazem pensar...

Sequências que me fazem pensar...

• Cimpor limita quedas em Portugal com aumento do consumo no segundo trimestre deste ano (25 de Agosto de 2013)
• Exportações da Cimpor crescem 60% e sustentam subida de vendas (26 de Novembro de 2013)
• A Cimpor já exporta 70% do cimento que produz em Portugal (22 de Maio de 2013)
• Cimpor regista prejuízos de 10,8 milhões de euros (21 de Maio de 2013) daqui sublinho:

"A Cimpor viu os seus resultados trimestrais caírem de um lucro de 47,2 milhões de euros, nos primeiros três meses de 2013, para um prejuízo de 10,8 milhões de euros, no mesmo período de 2014.
...
As vendas totais de cimento e clíquer aumentaram em 12,2% para 7.171 milhões de euros."

Nichos e nichos e mais nichos

"Historically, beer was a local product. According to the Brewers Association, there were 3,200 U.S. breweries in the 1870s. Then, over the next 100 years, technological advances and the drive for economies of scale changed all that; by 1978, there were only 89 breweries owned by 42 companies in the United States. Local beers were few and far between, and supermarket beer coolers were boring as well as cold. Now fast-forward to 2013 - more than 2,800 breweries were operating in the U.S., 98 percent of which were owned by local brewers.
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The big brewers and their now-global brands are still dominant in the U.S. marketplace, and they are fighting over fractions of a point in added market share with US$3 million Super Bowl ads in a market that is slowly shrinking. Meanwhile these pesky craft brewers have grabbed a 10 percent share of market. Their share is growing, and more and more of them are entering the fray every day."

Trecho retirado de "A Toast to Industry Disruption"

Recordar:

"Diversity and complexity could also be mutually reinforcing. As species diversity increases, niches become more complex. The more complex niches are then filled by more complex organisms, which further increases niche complexity, and son."

Por isso é que Mongo é inevitável, a menos que um cataclismo imposto pela força de quem tem o privilégio da força, o Estado, faça tudo voltar ao século XX.
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Trecho retirado de "Biology's First Law: The Tendency for Diversity and Complexity to Increase in Evolutionary Systems" de Daniel W. McShea e Robert N. Brandon

Olhar para o problema sob uma perspectiva diferente

Em tempos, Março de 2009, escrevi sobre um suíço que se estabeleceu em Portugal e que, sem saber nada de azeite, acabou por ganhar um prémio mundial. Foi em "Mentes livres de mapas cognitivos castradores".

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Lembrei-me imediatamente do seu caso ao ler:

"Toda a exploração está certificada em agricultura biológica e é guiada pelos princípios da permacultura. Uma visão integrada que se distingue da agricultura convencional que separa o homem e a natureza". Nesse sentido, Rosa encara a falta de formação agrícola como uma vantagem. "Permite-me olhar para a fruticultura de uma forma não formatada. Não penso apenas na produtividade e nos custos associados à produção. Ver as árvores somente como urna fábrica para mim não encaixa. Eu ajudo-as a ter as condições necessárias para se reproduzirem e elas devolvem-me fruta." 

Interessante como uma licenciada em Psicologia, com experiência profissional em marketing, olhou para a realidade e viu o que outros não foram capazes de ver, talvez porque antes não era possível ver:

"os figos-lampos pertencem ao grupo de São Pedro, que tem a particularidade de ter duas épocas distintas de produção: uma entre meados de maio a julho e a outra de julho até finais de agosto. Se somarmos a essa vantagem a precocidade vegetativa que ocorre neste concelho do Algarve, desvendamos a alma do negócio desta quinta: "Temos os figos mais precoces da Europa, conseguimos colher figos a partir de 15 de maio. Figos existem muitos, mas tão cedo não existem tantos."
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O primor é o trunfo que permite à Quinta da Fornalha colocar o figo algarvio no mercado europeu a um preço competitivo que compensa os custos de produção e logística. "Estamos longe do centro da Europa e pagamos sempre mais do que os franceses e os italianos. Desta forma, conseguimos ultrapassar isso sem grande concorrência. Nós ditamos o preço. É o sonho de qualquer agricultor"

Interessante a ligação ao ecoturismo, à loja biológica, às compostas, caldas, chutneys e frutos secos.

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Muitas vezes a solução não é correr mais depressa, é olhar para o problema sob uma perspectiva diferente.

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Trechos retirados de "Algarve exporta um figo que é precoce"

BTW, recordar:

• A vantagem dos ignorantes onde se pode ler "Al of us are held hostage by our axiomatic beliefs. We are jailbirds incarcerated within the fortress of dogma and precedent. And yet, for the most part, we are oblivious to our own captivity.  ... Of course it’s hard to think like an outsider when you’ve spent years swimming in the mainstream."
• Cuidado com os modelos mentais quando as regras do jogo são alteradas

As 3 partes de um BSC (parte II)

Parte I.
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Há dias o Paulo Peres mandou-me este recorte no Twitter:

É um excelente exemplo para introduzir, o capítulo 7 "New Approches to Developing Strategy" de "The Only Sustainable Edge":

"Business strategy as a distinct discipline emerged in the mid-1960s. At the time, it had some clear principles. Strategies were about positions and plans. The goal of strategy was to help a company identify attractive positions in relevant markets where a company could use sustainable competitive advantage to reap above-average profits for indefinite periods. Strategic analysis concentrated on understanding industry structures so that executives could target the most promising positions to occupy."

Nas décadas seguintes, com o aumento da incerteza resultante da intensificação da concorrência, a estratégia começou a ser vista de outra forma, onde se enquadra o recorte da foto:

"Given the difficulty in anticipating outcomes in complex and rapidly changing environments, these critics question whether it makes sense to try to understand evolving industry structures, especially when the very boundaries of these industries are being fundamentally reshaped. Since any advantage accruing to positions in these rapidly changing environments will probably erode quickly, perhaps executives should fixate on near-term movements designed to exploit market opportunities. In its more extreme forms, particularly prominent at the height of the dot-corn bubble, this school actually questions whether there is any need for strategy. When companies are sufficiently aggressive in operational initiatives, they can hustle themselves to profitability by staying one step ahead of operational copycats."

Esta postura foi muito bem apanhada por Roger Martin e comentada em "São as decisões dos humanos que ajudam a fazer a diferença (parte III)":

"When I ask business executives about their company's strategy — or about an apparent lack thereof — they often respond that they can't or won't do strategy because their operating environment is changing so much. There isn't enough certainty, they argue, to be able to do strategy effectively."

E volto ao capítulo 7

"Companies are beginning to realize that speed alone is not sufficient; they also need a sense of direction. Long-term position still matters, especially as we see the growing importance of global process networks and local business ecosystems. Without some sense of long-term position, movement rapidly degenerates into random motion.
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Options typically expand as change accelerates. Companies lacking a sense of direction usually fall into reactive approaches, pursuing too many options at the same time. The result is that resources are spread too thinly and performance impact diminishes because all the initiatives are under-resourced. In times of increasing uncertainty and rapid change, reactive approaches can become significant traps.
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Balancing the imperatives of speed and direction requires a different strategic approach focused on two very different time horizons. A long-term horizon of five to ten years creates a background for executive decision making, and a much shorter-term horizon of six to twelve months provides the foreground, where operational and organizational initiatives play out. Without the sense of background to put events and actions into context, the foreground of the six- to twelve-month horizon, where most line executives usually operate, begins to lose coherence. This coherence especially deteriorates in the business landscape that is evolving rapidly on a global scale and with the increasing need to coordinate across enterprises."

Foto inicial retirado do livro "Moments of Impact" de Chris Erthel.

Continua.

Este é o erro principal de quem quer aumentar a produtividade

Neste postal "Confusões acerca da eficiência e da produtividade" comentei o artigo "Should Your Business Be Less Productive?".
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Agora, ao relê-lo, percebi que esqueci-me de comentar o lead:

"Many contemporary businesses are on a quest for productivity gains. They seek to maintain quality and quantity of output at ever-decreasing cost, yielding higher profitability. As advanced economies move more into the service sector, that means many managers devote a lot of attention to designing automated processes that reduce the need for people — typically their most expensive resource."

Este é o erro principal de quem quer aumentar a produtividade.

"They seek to maintain quality and quantity of output at ever-decreasing cost"

Aquele "mantendo a qualidade" afunila o campo de possibilidades

Rápido, o que é que é preciso para aumentar a produtividade, mantendo a qualidade e quantidade do que se produz?
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É preciso cortar!
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Sabem qual é o impacte dos cortes nas margens? Claro que sabem, Marn e Rosiello e muitos outros mostraram-nos este gráfico:

Voltemos ao texto acima:

"that means many managers devote a lot of attention to designing automated processes that reduce the need for people — typically their most expensive resource"

Pessoas são um custo fixo... qual o efeito do corte de 1% nos custos fixos?
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É só olhar para o gráfico.
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Qual o problema daquela frase inicial?
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É só olhar para o gráfico.
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Gilmore e Pine criaram esta figura para ilustrar a evolução económica:

Aquela frase inicial foi esculpida na pedra no tempo em que só se transaccionavam commodities. Hoje, num tempo em que as experiências se impõem, a melhor forma de aumentar a produtividade passa por melhorar, por aperfeiçoar a experiência. Se falarmos numa lógica de produto, podemos dizer que o truque é alterar, melhorar, aperfeiçoar a qualidade.
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Se o que oferecemos é diferente e melhor... pode ser vendido por um preço superior... qual o impacte desse aumento?
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É só ver o gráfico acima.
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Qual é o factor com maior efeito de alavanca?

Isto é tão interessante

""Operating margins at the world’s 10 largest automotive suppliers are on average 4 percentage points higher than those of the 10 largest carmakers, according to Strategy&.
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Continental, the world’s second-largest car part supplier by revenue, recorded an earnings before interest and tax margin of 9.8 per cent last year. Carmakers General Motors and Fiat, two of Continental’s biggest customers, reported margins of 5.5 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively."
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Suppliers can demand a bigger slice because they are much harder to replace. GM may want to tell Continental to take a hike, but without the in-house capability to develop new components plus make them around the world, GM has little choice but to give when Continental asks for more."

Há um caso em Portugal, não no sector automóvel, onde isto um dia vai acontecer. Um dia o "dono do mercado" vai descobrir que, como externalizou tudo o que dizia respeito ao trabalho e planeamento no terreno, os seus quadros de gabinete já não poderão fazer a coisa voltar atrás.

Trecho retirado de "Shifting power in auto supply chains"

"It moves organisations from being inward-looking to outward-looking"

O livro "The Power of Co-Creation" de Venkat Ramaswamy e Francis Gouillart começa assim:

"All around the globe, the expectations of informed and connected people have dramatically changed in recent years. Whether as customers, employees, or citizens, people demand more engagement with providers of goods and services, with their employers, and with their governments. People today are highly connected and networked, sharing their experiences of using products and services. They want to help design the value of the products and services they use; they want an ongoing conversation with the organizations they do business with and with each other; and they want their voices heard. Yet, in spite of their best efforts, many organizations are locked into a firm-centric paradigm of value and its creation. They fail to engage people in generating better products and services that the organization can deliver. Technology gives innovators and marketers more and more options in designing and delivering products and services, yet they struggle to connect with what people value, and this further frustrates people. As a result, satisfaction ratings are declining or flat across many industries, and loyalty is increasingly a thing of the past."

Pode parecer pouco, para alguns até pode ser visto como um truque barato de marketing, contudo; é um salto medonho, apostar na co-criação:

Unfortunately, this view of value is based upon a now outdated belief that value is something that can be added. This added value notion can be rejected. It is merely an enduring economic anachronism that uses a factory vocabulary to suggest that value can be added to physical goods and service, rather than viewing how value emerges for the customer within their lifeworlds.
...
A new role for the organisation is to support customers in their value-seeking endeavours. Strategically, this moves the organisation from viewing itself as being responsible for creating added value to an orientation that is value-supporting and customer-centric. [Moi ici: Este passo é de gigante, é enorme e muitas empresas não percebem como é libertador...]
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[Moi ici: Como as empresas continuam a pensar que são elas que criam valor] Value-added, although a term of worthy intent, should be reconsidered. It results in some organisations taking the wrong direction. They look inwardly to how they can add value to what they have, rather than looking outwardly to understand what value the customers seek.
...
Moving to a value-supporting orientation allows blind spots like the ones highlighted above to be brought into sharp focus. In addition, it throws the focus firmly upon the customer as the seeker of value and the organisation simply as the value supporter. It moves organisations from being inward-looking to outward-looking. It requires an understanding of customers’ lifeworlds. This simply means being conversant with how customers live their lives and how the organisation can strategically support the value customers seek."

A mudança de perspectiva muda tanta mas tanta coisa...

Trechos retirados de "Girls (not) aloud"

As 3 partes de um BSC (parte I)

Quando trabalho com o balanced scorecard (BSC), trabalho com aquilo a que chamo um BSC da 3ª geração. Um BSC composto por três partes:

• Um mapa da estratégia;
• Um conjunto de iniciativas estratégicas; e
• Um conjunto de indicadores estratégicos.

Um mapa da estratégia:

Descreve o estado futuro desejado em que a empresa vai estar a funcionar e a ter sucesso. Muitas vezes, as relações de causa-efeito retratadas no mapa da estratégia ainda não existem no presente, ou então são ainda muito incipientes. O mapa serve para visualizar o racional de como vai ser, de como vai funcionar no futuro desejado.

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Hoje estamos no hoje, não no futuro desejado. O futuro desejado é diferente do hoje, por isso, é preciso fazer esta transição:

A transição é que vai fazer a transformação, a transição precisa de acção, por isso usarmos a expressão "O que começar a fazer na próxima segunda-feira para executar a estratégia?"

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O mapa da estratégia aponta para um futuro desejado.

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As iniciativas estratégicas apontam para coisas concretas. Uma iniciativa estratégica responde a 5 perguntas (tenho de escrever aqui sobre as fichas de missão):

• O que fazer de concreto?
• Por quem?
• Até quando?
• Quanto vai custar?
• Que resultados objectivos é que são esperados?

Daí se dizer que as iniciativas, porque alinhadas com a estratégia, ajudam a operacionalizar a estratégia.

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Os indicadores permitem monitorizar a viagem para o futuro desejado e perceber o que está a acontecer e, validar ou não pressupostos do mapa da estratégia.

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Recordo isto agora por causa do último capítulo do livro "The Only Sustainable Edge"

Continua.

O medo de Mongo

Ontem chegou pelo correio "The Zero Marginal Cost Society" de Jeremy Rifkin, relacionei-o logo com estas notícias:

• "Governo força registo de casas para turistas"
• "Principais mudanças legais nos arrendamentos a turistas"

"Within the next two to three decades, prosumers in vast continental and global networks will be producing and sharing green energy as well as physical goods and services , and learning in online virtual classrooms..."

Não são só os incumbentes que têm medo de Mongo, são também os Estados.
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BTW, Rifkin chama a Mongo de Collaborative Commons.
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Ainda é cedo, muito cedo, ainda não passei da página 10, mas desconfio que Rifkin está a sobrestimar o papel do custo.

Curiosidade do dia

As primeiras rosas bravas do ano

Sinal de que Junho está a chegar.
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Entretanto, ontem ao final da tarde, junto à ria de Aveiro:

Dois Vanellus vanellus (Abibe).
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E várias Ardea purpurea (Garça-vermelha)

Concorrentes estúpidos

A classificação não é minha:

"The financial strength, number, and pricing-savvy of your competitors will all affect the price you can charge.
Stupid competitors can lower profits for all companies, sometimes even making an entire industry unprofitable. My definition of stupid competitors includes the following:

• Those who will always cut price to make a sale. They often find themselves in price wars that nobody wins.
• Those so addicted to the sales boost that they run constant sales, causing consumers to devalue the “fair” price for that type of product or service.
• Those who see the industry leader raising prices and don’t at least consider jumping on the bandwagon."

Trecho retirado de "Setting profitable prices : a step-by-step guide to pricing strategy - without hiring a consultant" de Marlene Jensen.

Acerca do uso do BSC em Portugal

Acerca do uso do BSC em Portugal:

"We have interviewed people in charge of management accounting in 58 industrial enterprises, from eleven Portuguese Districts. The evidence gathered allowed us to conclude that very few enterprises use the Balanced Scorecard, and that the majority of those in charge interviewed does not know about it."

Interessante este argumento:

"the evidence collected allows the conclusion that only three enterprises (5%) use performance evaluation tools, being the BSC the method used in all those cases. One of the enterprises is still considering its use.
...
in 11% of the cases, managers consider the BSC philosophy is not compatible with the company’s internal policy of non-disclosure of management information to the public" [Moi ici: Onde é que o BSC obriga a divulgar informação para o exterior?]

E ainda:

"The results obtained allow us to conclude that the majority (62%) of those in charge of management accounting do not know about the BSC." [Moi ici: Cuidado, como costumo dizer, o BSC não é uma ferramenta da Contabilidade, o BSC não substitui a Contabilidade, o BSC é uma ferramenta de gestão centrada na definição, execução, monitorização e comunicação da estratégia]

Trechos retirados de "Balanced Scorecard: Empirical Study on Small and Medium size Enterprises" de Maria João Cardoso Vieira Machado.

As histórias comem os factos ao pequeno-almoço

"even in business meetings, numbers don’t ever speak for themselves.
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To influence human decision making, you have to get to the place where decisions are really made — in the unconscious mind, where emotions rule, and data is mostly absent. Yes, even the most savvy executives begin to make choices this way. They get an intent, or a desire, or a want in their unconscious minds, then decide to pursue it and act on that decision. Only after that do they become consciously aware of what they’ve decided and start to justify it with rational argument.
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He began with an alluring description of the future state — improved margins, a cooler, higher-tech product line, and excited customers — then asked his audience to move forward with him to reach that goal. It was a quest story, and it worked.
Good stories — with a few key facts woven in — are what attach emotions to your argument, prompt people into unconscious decision making, and ultimately move them to action."

Recordar Kotter e o:

• See
• Feel
• Act

Trechos retirados de "Decisions Don’t Start with Data"

Acerca do preço

Muito bom este "What Business Owners Don’t Know About Price….."

"For starters, they do not understand how elastic price is. Only a small percentage of buyers of anything make a small percentage of their decisions sole or predominately based on cheapest price. If more did, the Yugo’d be the car you see on the road most; no clothing store would exist but Wal-Mart.
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Second, they do not understand people buy at different price levels. Yes, obviously, there is a Wal-Mart customer, probably in every category (although it is a big mistake to think Wal-Mart’s chief attraction to its customers is lowest price. It isn’t. It’s more complicated and clever than that. It has more to do with the social and entertainment experience.)  But there is also a Nieman-Marcus customer, in every category. You can get a steak dinner at Dennys, you can get a steak dinner at Mortons. You can sleep at a Marriott Courtyard or a full service Marriott. Or a Ritz Carlton. You pick your own clientele, so if you wish, you can certainly pick those for whom price is low on the totem pole.
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Third, they try to compete on price. My preaching on this has been consistent for over 20 years: if you can’t be THE cheapest, there’s no benefit in being almost the cheapest.
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If you’re in a commodity business –get out. I mean: reinvent. Find another basis to compete on.
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Fifth, they live in fear. Any business decision made out of fear is a bad decision. Most business owners needlessly under-price, raise prices too little too late, and ignore opportunities to sell premium priced versions of their products and services entirely out of fear.  Price paid is a result of target market selected, value built, value proposition presented, salesmanship, credibility, celebrity, brand, buying experience and many other factors. It actually has very little to do with objectively measured intrinsic value.
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This dramatic difference between intrinsic, objective value and perceived value exists in every business, industry, profession, city and town. There’s always somebody successfully selling at prices or fees dramatically higher than everyone else, with a difference far greater than the objective difference that exists in the quality, competence or delivery. If one can, so can you."

A caminho da 4ª

"Bloco defende introdução do ensino do surf nas escolas portuguesas"

Tão, mas tão ridículo!

Curiosidade do dia

"The group [Toshiba] has announced plans to begin producing pesticide-free, long-life vegetables this summer in one of its idle facilities at Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo.
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Production management for lettuce, baby leaf greens, spinach and mizuna will mimic that used for the semiconductors it also makes. Overall the enterprise will be a high-tech one, with the facility deploying fluorescent lighting judged the best for vegetable growth, air-conditioning systems to maintain a constant temperature and remote monitoring systems to track growth.
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It also believes the business can achieve some scale. Toshiba, whose sales for the year to March were Y6.5trn, believes the vegetables business could pull in as much as Y300m and has not ruled out building a large plant factory outside Japan or selling equipment for growing plants."

Trechos retirados de "Toshiba turns a new leaf with diversification into lettuce"

Parabéns!!!

Há pouco mais de um mês escrevi "Será que os produtores nacionais de leite estão a aproveitar?".
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Depois, escrevi "O tempo é a variável mais preciosa"
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Afinal, estava a ser injusto e, pelos vistos, havia algo em curso "32 empresas portuguesas podem exportar lacticínios para a China"

Começou

Já tenho saudades da troika!!!
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Via @icyView