Não são parafusos, são pessoas

Um tema que os professores Guedes Miranda e Vitorino me deram a conhecer quando andava no 10º e 11º anos de escolaridade: o indeterminismo. A incapacidade de ter à priori toda a informação, mas mesmo que a tivéssemos teríamos de viver com o facto da mesma acção não gerar os mesmos efeitos ao longo do tempo. Einstein, da velha guarda, dizia que Deus não joga aos dados.

“War is an environment, he argued, in which getting simple things to happen is very difficult and getting difficult things to happen is impossible.
...
The gap is described as the difference between what we know and what we can do, as the gulf between planning and execution
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It is important here to understand the nature of Clausewitz’s disagreement with von Bülow, and others of the school of scientific generalship. They too recognized that chance and uncertainty played a role in war. The difference was that they believed these factors could be eliminated by a more scientific approach to planning. Certainty of outcomes could be achieved by anyone who could gather and correctly process data about topological and geographical distances, march tables, supply needs, and the geometrical relationship between armies and their bases. They believed that in many cases this would render fighting unnecessary.
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Clausewitz disagreed on two counts. First, he believed that friction was as inherent to war as it is to mechanical engineering and could therefore never be eliminated but only mitigated. Secondly, he believed that studying march tables and the like was not a fruitful means of mitigation. In fact, he came to think that friction had to be worked with. It actually provided opportunities, and could be used by a general just as much as it could be used by an engineer. The first thing was to recognize its existence. The second thing was to understand its nature. That was and remains more difficult.
...
The very business of getting an organization made up of individuals, no matter how disciplined, to pursue a collective goal produces friction just as surely as applying the brakes of a car. Because of the role of chance, actual outcomes are inherently unpredictable.
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There is a gap between the actions we planned and the actions actually taken.
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no one should develop a strategy without taking into account the effects of organizational friction. Yet we continue to be surprised and frustrated when it manifests itself. We tend to think everything has gone wrong when in fact everything has gone normally. The existence of friction is why armies need officers and businesses need managers. Anticipating and dealing with it form the core of managerial work. Recognizing that is liberating in itself.
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Not only is an army not a “well-oiled machine,” the machine generates resistance of its own, because the parts it is made of are human. Although Clausewitz’s metaphors are all taken from mechanics rather than biology, he clearly sees where the metaphor itself begins to break down. He is reaching toward the idea of the organization as an organism. While the scientific school sought to eliminate human factors to make the organization as machine-like as possible, Clausewitz sought to exploit them.”

Clausewitz não via o factor humano como um defeito.


Excerto de: Bungay, Stephen. “The Art of Action: Leadership that Closes the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results”

Em vez de abstracções, em vez de masturbações ...

No postal anterior, o primeiro passo é:

"Decide What Really Matters"

Este é o papel da gestão de topo, este é o papel de quem tem o comando. Estratégia ao mais alto nível é a expressão desta intenção, desta vontade, deste imperativo, desta escolha.

"Being strategic means consistently making those core directional choices that will best move you toward your hoped-for future.
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This is, I think, a deceptively simple sentence. It implies that you know where you’re starting from, you’re clear on where you want to go, and you have the means and the will to make consistently good and powerful choices about how to get there. You can use this capability that I call being strategic to guide you through this wild time of ours."

Em vez de abstracções, em vez de masturbações, começar com o concreto:

• em que é que somos bons?
• em que é que fazemos a diferença?
• o que nos dá pica?
• o que nos faz ganhar dinheiro?
• o que nos afasta da guerra dos descontos por causa da concorrência ter baixado o preço deles?
• o que nos faz crescer intelectualmente?
• o que nos dá orgulho?

Este é o nosso negócio. 

E para deixar tudo claro, não faz mal nenhum explicitar o que não é o nosso negócio:

• porque não nos dá margem;
• porque é um lago de tubarões;
• porque é uma corrida para o fundo;
• porque teríamos de competir com quem tem outra estrutura de custos;
• porque não teríamos tempo de qualidade para os clientes que interessam;
• porque é aborrecido;
• porque ficaríamos estagnados;
• ...

"No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy"

Bom senso, simplicidade - coisas que normalmente estão em défice:

“1 Decide What Really Matters .
You cannot create perfect plans, so do not attempt to do so. Do not plan beyond the circumstances you can foresee. Instead, use the knowledge which is accessible to you to work out the outcomes you really want the organization to achieve. Formulate your strategy as an intent rather than a plan.
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2 Get the Message Across.
Having worked out what matters most now, pass the message on to others and give them responsibility for carrying out their part in the plan. Keep it simple. Don’t tell people what to do and how to do it. Instead, be as clear as you can about your intentions. Say what you want people to achieve and, above all, tell them why. Then ask them to tell you what they are going to do as a result.
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3 Give People Space and Support.
Do not try to predict the effects your actions will have, because you can’t. Instead, encourage people to adapt their actions to realize the overall intention as they observe what is actually happening. Give them boundaries which are broad enough to take decisions for themselves and act on them.”

Recordar von Molkte:

"no plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force
...
No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy."

Excerto de: Bungay, Stephen. “The Art of Action: Leadership that Closes the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results”.

"Unfortunately, these reactions do not solve the problem"

"“We can measure the results until the outcomes we want are achieved. We can make plans, take actions, and achieve outcomes in a linear sequence with some reliability. If we are assiduous enough, pay attention to detail, and exercise rigorous control, the sequence will be seamless.

In an unpredictable environment, this approach quickly falters. [Moi ici: Imaginem ter um Estado-Maior numa sala, longe das operações no terreno, a dar ordens aos bombeiros sobre quando devem actuar e como. E comparar com o blitkrieg] The longer and more rigorously we persist with it, the more quickly and completely things will break down. The environment we are in creates gaps between plans, actions, and outcomes:

•  The gap between plans and outcomes concerns knowledge: It is the difference between what we would like to know and what we actually know. It means that we cannot create perfect plans.
•  The gap between plans and actions concerns alignment: It is the difference between what we would like people to do “and what they actually do. It means that even if we encourage them to switch off their brains, we cannot know enough about them to program them perfectly.
•  The gap between actions and outcomes concerns effects: It is the difference between what we hope our actions will achieve and what they actually achieve. We can never fully predict how the environment will react to what we do. It means that we cannot know in advance exactly what outcomes the actions of our organization are going to create.

Although it is not common to talk about these three gaps, it is common enough to confront them. It is also common enough to react in ways that make intuitive sense. Faced with a lack of knowledge, it seems logical to seek more detailed information. Faced with a problem of alignment, it feels natural to issue more detailed instructions. And faced with disappointment in the effects being achieved, it is quite understandable to impose more detailed controls. Unfortunately, these reactions do not solve the problem. In fact, they make it worse.”

Excerto de: Bungay, Stephen. “The Art of Action: Leadership that Closes the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results”. iBooks. 

Riscos e impactes

Um artigo interessante sobre diferentes alternativas para incorporar a análise de risco no desenvolvimento de um sistema de gestão ambiental em "Environmental Management System Risks and Opportunities: A Case Study in Pertamina Geothermal Energy Area Kamojang".

E para um visual como eu, o uso de esquemas é muito bom. Pessoalmente uso algo deste género:

Não sigo a abordagem que se segue, mas concordo que é bem possível alguém optar por ela:

Ou seja, considerar que os impactes ambientais significativos são o mesmo que os riscos e oportunidades prioritários.

Não consigo deixar de pensar que há muito a melhorar nesta norma ISO 14001:2015.

"The problem is getting the right things done"

Acabei de ler até à última página  “The Art of Action: Leadership that Closes the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results”de Stephen Bungay. 

Valeu a pena!

O livro começa com uma introdução sobre o blitzkrieg, tema que já abordei aqui há anos (2010 e 2009) e que os relatos do recente incêndio de Monchique avivaram.

O livro começa com o discurso estratégico de um CEO. Depois, alguém coloca a pergunta:

"“what do you want me to do?”
...
she had had the courage to ask the risky question that everyone wanted answered.
The reply was measured, but evinced frustration of its own. As I said, the CEO observed, we do not have all the answers. But surely you don’t expect me to tell all of you what to do? This is not a command-and-control organization. You are big boys and girls. I am not running this company, we all are. We have a strategy, we have long-term objectives, we all have budgets. We are running a business and we have a direction. It is for each of us to decide what we have to do in our own area and to get on with it.
...
Answering that simple question “What do you want me to do?” is quite a problem.
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GETTING THINGS DONE
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Generating activity is not a problem; in fact it is easy. The fact that it is easy makes the real problem harder to solve. The problem is getting the right things done – the things that matter, the things that will have an impact, the things a company is trying to achieve to ensure success. A high volume of activity often disguises a lack of effective action. We can mistake quantity for quality and then add to it, which merely makes things worse.”

Activismo e cronyismo

“A market economy is never static. Products that are cutting-edge today will soon become commodified and easy to make. Industries that are on the technological frontier will become mainstream and, later, relics of the past. What is a good job today will inevitably become a bad job in the future. This dynamic was first recognized by Karl Marx, who thought that it was evidence of the inherent instability of the capitalist system. Eighty years later, however, the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter pointed out that instead of being a flaw, this process of “creative destruction” is capitalism’s greatest strength and its engine of growth.
...
The Princeton economist Alan Blinder recently noted that in the 1950s, companies making television sets were at the heart of America’s high-tech sector and generating tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. After a while TV sets became just another easy-to-make commodity, and today no TV set is made in America. The computer manufacturing industry picked up where the TV industry left off, and for a while it was responsible for 400,000 high-paying jobs. We saw earlier that most of these jobs have now moved elsewhere. But this is not a sign of failure. Indeed, it is a sign of success. To remain prosperous, a society needs to keep climbing the innovation ladder. As Schumpeter argued, it is the dynamic that has been ensuring our prosperity since the beginning of the industrial revolution.
The crucial question for America’s future is therefore whether our innovation clusters can adapt and reinvent themselves to maintain their edge. Clusters, unlike diamonds, are not forever. At some point the industry that supports them matures, stops bringing prosperity, and turns into a liability. The forces of attraction provide an important advantage, but once-mighty clusters have collapsed in spectacular ways.”

Recordo Nassim Taleb: "Stressors are information", são sinais para calibrarmos a quantidade relativa de exploration versus exploitation. Perante os stressors há os que os agarram e, como os ratos do livro "Quem mexeu no meu queijo", interagem com a nova realidade. E há os que, como o Pigarro do mesmo livro, resistem à mudança e solicitam o apoio e a protecção dos governos, gerando toda uma série de doenças por causa do veneno do activismo.

Como não recordar logo o exemplo do leite ou do vinho na Madeira? Entretanto, na semana passada vi várias reportagens em que uns coitadinhos pediam apoios porque o aquecimento global lhes queimou uvas e fruta. Admitamos que efectivamente há um aquecimento global em curso, antropogénico ou não. Então, o melhor é estes coitadinhos mudarem de culturas ASAP.

Outro exemplo da economia deficiente. Nos EUA, "Harvard Business School professor: Half of American colleges will be bankrupt in 10 to 15 years". Por cá, tudo será feito para atrasar a mudança, torrando dinheiro impostado/roubado aos contribuintes para manter o status-quo.


BTW: Os romanos tinham vinhas nos Alpes, sinal de que o clima era mais quente que o dos últimos séculos. Imaginem os produtores de vinho suíço a receberem apoios desde há 2000 anos. Que renda!

Excerto de: Enrico Moretti. “The New Geography of Jobs”

O FMI já não vem!

"Dois adultos de boa-fé olham para a mesma realidade e chegam à mesma conclusão."

Palavras do então candidato presidencial Cavaco Silva (recordar Janeiro de 2010 ou Junho de 2009).

Ontem encontrei:

• Five Reasons Amazon Will Hit $4,000 By 2019; e
• The End of Amazon

Entretanto, ontem de manhã enquanto aguardava boleia li esta pérola:

“everything depends on people. Metrics give us information. Interpreting the information can impart understanding. Taking the right action requires wisdom. Only people can have that.”[Moi ici: E é impressionante o quanto os modelos mentais são críticos]

Excerto de: Bungay, Stephen. “The Art of Action: Leadership that Closes the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results”.

Socialismo com esteróides

A propósito de "Chic by Choice em tribunal. Credores reclamam mais de 72 mil euros em dívidas":

"O assunto está a ser tratado fiscalmente, financeiramente e juridicamente, para encerrar a empresa. É esse o desfecho, que para nós é normal, por isso é que é capital de risco”, disse Rita Marques, que lidera a gestora de capital de risco do Estado desde maio de 2018."

Cito e sublinho as palavras de um comentador do artigo:

"O que é extraordinário é o contribuinte perder umas centenas de milhar porque temos a Portugal Ventures, uma capital de risco sem risco, uma vez que o risco é só do contribuinte. Como bem diz a gestora de capital de "risco" é esse o desfecho normal, para o contribuinte. Capital de risco, mas público, é o socialismo com esteróides"

E recordo:

• Conto do vigário (Novembro de 2017)
• Precisamente por isto é que me faz espécie (Julho de 2017) 
• Alquimia da estupidez (Outubro de 2016) de onde sublinho:

"Dinheiro público é entregue a umas sociedades para o distribuírem por projectos de alto-risco financeiro e elevada taxa de mortalidade.
.
Estranha definição, estranho conceito este de business angel com dinheiro do Estado de futura impostagem aos saxões do costume.
.
Uma verdadeira alquimia da estupidez.
.
Imaginem o moral hazzard potencial."

Fazer a mudança acontecer

“Drawing on his observations [Austrian psychologist Konrad Lorenz] about what is needed to make people change, we might modify them for an organization as the following:

1. What is said is not yet heard.
2. What is heard is not yet understood.
3. What is understood is not yet believed.
4. What is believed is not yet advocated.
5. What is advocated is not yet acted on.
6. What is acted on is not yet completed.

There is an understandable tendency for leaders of organizations to concentrate on the first step – demanding enough in itself – and assume that once that has been achieved, their work is done. In fact, it has just begun.”

Excerto de “The Art of Action: Leadership that Closes the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results” de Stephen Bungay.

"we travel to have experiences"

Simplesmente extraordinário, "Falconry and fire-swallowing: How Airbnb's "Experiences" are transforming the platform".

Ainda ontem escrevia num postal:

"O importante, para subir na escala de valor, é deixar de vender o que se produz e passar a focar no resultado que se obtém com o que se produz"

Entretanto, à tarde, a caminho de Bragança, encontrei o artigo acima:

"Ten years ago, Airbnb disrupted the hotel industry and changed how people travel. Now, it's selling what you do on vacation as much as where you sleep. There are thousands of "Experiences" around the world to book on Airbnb — everything from walking with wolves to aerial yoga and even, as CBS News' Jamie Yuccas found out, flying in a vintage airplane." 

Recordar:

• As experiências estão em todo o lado (Setembro de 2011) 
• Mais uma sugestão de modelo de negócio (Setembro de 2010)

"Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky launched the "Experiences" feature two years ago. He says it's now growing 10 times faster than the company's core home rental business.
.
"Three out of four millennials, young people, said they'd rather buy an experience than a physical good. And so I think the experience economy is this huge wave," Chesky said. "We want the experience to be so good that you do them even if you live in the city."
...
"We don't travel to sleep in a house or a hotel, we travel to have experiences.""

Satisfação e preço

Mais um excelente texto de Seth Godin:

"If you want to create satisfaction, the two elements are:
.
Make useful promises
.
Keep them
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Price is unrelated, except for one thing: Charge enough that you can afford to actually keep your promise. The thrill of a low price disappears quickly, but the pain of a broken promise lasts a very long time."

Trecho retirado de "Price and satisfaction"

Produzir e vender

Um discurso interessante em «Estamos a tornar-nos numa empresa de serviços»:

"O que estamos a perceber também é que, neste momento, com o paradigma da mudança do comprador e das compras online, as empresas como a nossa começam a ter que trabalhar da fábrica para a prateleira. Não é para o armazém.
...
No fundo, em vez de sermos uma indústria, estamos a tornar-nos numa empresa de serviços. [Moi ici: O importante, para subir na escala de valor, é deixar de vender o que se produz e passar a focar no resultado que se obtém com o que se produz]
.
Que consequências daí advêm?
.
Mais recursos e muita mais logística, porque estamos a virar o nosso posicionamento para o serviço ao cliente.
...
Trata-se de um novo modelo de negócio?
.
Costumo dizer que precisamos de três a quatro anos para entender onde é que isto vai parar. Parece-me que isto é o início… Foi uma crise, foi um crescimento, porque os clientes, com stocks enormes, vieram a Portugal procurar-nos como um refúgio para diminuir aos seus stocks e agora é um novo ciclo em que temos que ser logística e serviço. [Moi ici: A evolução que temos relatado aqui desde 2007/2008. Primeiro a proximidade pura e dura, agora os serviços associados]
...
Em Portugal, e isto já foi dito várias vezes, a nossa maior dificuldade não é produzir, é vender. [Moi ici: Recordar "Produzir é o mais fácil"] E temos que criar uma cultura nas empresas de conseguir vender o melhor possível em mercados muito diversificados, para não estarmos dependentes de um mercado. E para isso temos de ter um leque muito grande de clientes. Por isso é que dizemos que, a cada ano, o nosso objetivo é ter 15 clientes novos."

Para reflexão

"Para termos claro do que custamos aos nossos patrões e do que o estado leva..." - João Merino pic.twitter.com/i0wWBR6tBy

— Romeu Monteiro 🇵🇹🏳️‍🌈🇮🇱 (@romeu) September 1, 2018

Portanto, ao pagar 600 euros de salário, o trabalhador, para fazer sentido manter o posto de trabalho, tem de gerar um retorno que compense, pelo menos os 742,50 euros.

Agora imaginem o emprego numa loja numa vila do interior... também por isto o emprego no interior é cada vez mais emprego público.

Clientes-alvo e ADN

"The lesson: Growth is best achieved by making things simpler for your customer rather than for you.
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The underlying trouble had been McDonald’s working from an inside-out perspective: what fit with its current infrastructure and operations. It had tried to listen to customers, but paid attention only to what was workable within its existing capabilities.
...
[Moi ici: O que se segue também deve ser lido à luz de Mongo e da importância crescente das estratégias de diferenciação] Product expansion is often used as a path to growth, but it can have unintended consequences for other aspects of the business — including the customer experience central to the company’s value proposition. Indeed, current trends are moving away from broad offerings in many industries. A recent poll had 64% of consumers saying they would pay more for a simpler, more convenient experience. The trick is, growth strategies have to fit the company’s current context, especially its brand promise and its target market. [Moi ici: As consequências desta evolução... uma vez que a procura, por todo o lado, se está a diferenciar, se está a segmentar] Once they have a strategy to fit the context, they can sequence out the various steps to implement it.
...
Boosting growth requires intentional decision making that starts from the outside in. That doesn’t only mean being customer-centric. You have to reframe your strategic moves to serve those customers around the current and future market context, not the past. You also have to resist the temptation to try everything with your customers and hope something will stick. You need to understand trade-offs, and resist seemingly attractive moves that have undesirable long-term consequences."

Começar por uma perspectiva outside-in é fundamental. É preciso focar quem são os clientes-alvo. No entanto, não esquecer que uma PME tem de começar pelo seu ADN. Recordar a effectuation e o concreto.

Trechos retirados de "Why Adding More Products Isn’t Always the Best Way to Grow"

Ao arrepio do resto do Ocidente

Há dias li alguns números, que não consigo recuperar, sobre a taxa de emprego.

Na altura pensei:
OK, o desemprego está a baixar, mas não é uma baixa dramática. Como cresce a taxa de emprego?

Será por causa da imigração? Não conheço números, mas a verdade é que cada vez mais oiço vozes com sotaque brasileiro no dia-a-dia.

Será o  regressos dos emigrantes? Não, o saldo continua negativo. Em 2015 e 2016 sairam cerca de 100 mil e em 2017 pouco mais de 81 mil.

Será por causa da demografia? Não, continua o envelhecimento.

Ontem, descobri números para outro factor de que suspeitava:

Um trabalhador por conta própria, ainda que esteja activo, não é considerado pessoa empregada, para as estatísticas.

Interessante perceber que em Portugal o número de trabalhadores por conta própria está a baixar, enquanto em todas as economias ocidentais está a crescer.

Gente que não percebe a importância da batota

"Uma garrafeira deve organizar eventos para mostrar aos clientes a dinâmica criativa que ocorre em todas as regiões vitícolas. É isso que as deve distinguir dos hipermercados.
.
Depois de uma vista de olhos às prateleiras, dois vinhos chamaram a minha atenção: o Edmun do Val 2009 (Alvarinho) e o Puro Talha 2015, da Adega José de Sousa. Como quem não quer a coisa, perguntei à funcionária se o Alvarinho de 2009 estaria em condições. Resposta: "Está sim, senhor." E acabou a conversa. Quanto ao vinho de talha, a senhora só sabia dizer que o mesmo tinha sido apresentado há uns meses numa feira de vinho. E fim de conversa.
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Se estivesse numa grande superfície, ainda era como o outro. Mas numa garrafeira especializada exige-se mais. Exige-se que os funcionários tenham capacidade de contar uma história por cada marca que vendem. Afinal de contas, os produtores, que são o suporte do seu negócio, confiam neles.
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Com as honrosas excepções da praxe, poucas são as garrafeiras que mostram dinamismo e criatividade na exposição e comunicação das marcas aos clientes. Limitam-se a encher prateleiras divididas por denominação de origem e esperar que alguém entre pela loja a pedir um conselho para uma garrafa destinada a um jantar disto ou daquilo em casa de um amigo.
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Num país tão pequeno, mas com perfis de vinhos tão diferentes, uma garrafeira bem gerida deveria criar eventos temáticos de todas as formas e feitios, captando a atenção dos consumidores que gostam de vinhos que não se vendem na grande distribuição.
...
Se um tipo disser ao dono de uma garrafeira para fomentar a procura, desafiar os consumidores, apresentar uma oferta diferente das garrafeiras dos hipermercados ou - como nalgumas cadeias de livros e música - apresentar regularmente uma selecção de vinhos dos próprios funcionários, ele reconhecerá, por educação, que temos razão, mas encolherá os ombros e voltará ao "business as usual". Como dizia o outro, é a vida. Infelizmente."

E recuo a Maio de 2008 e à apologia da batota...

Trechos retirados de "Garrafeiras mais dinâmicas precisam-se"

Fugir do anonimato

Temas abordados aqui ao longo dos anos: transparência, autenticidade, artesanato em vez de vómito industrial.

Em Março de 2015, escrevi "Outra forma de David bater Golias" onde publiquei:

A loja da Eureka em Sta Catarina ñ ganharia em mostrar a relação à fábrica?

— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) March 10, 2015

Há dias descobri este exemplo de batota, de aposta na imperfeição dos mercados, de criação de relação e de distinção:

"There will be a little card with a photo of one of the Italian artisans who made your new leather shoes, bag, or jacket. You’ll also find a pre-stamped postcard with a hand-drawn map on it of all the places in Tuscany where Arno makes its products. You can send the card to whomever you choose, but if you’d like to send a thank-you note to the man or woman who made the item you just purchased, you can send the postcard back to Arno’s founders, who will deliver it to the right person.
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“We’ve been surprised by how many of our customers actually choose to send the cards back to us,”
...
Not only do their customers know where their shoes were made, they can see a picture of the shoemaker who crafted it by hand. It’s a level of visibility into the supply chain that we don’t see very often in the world of fashion.
...
Arno sells products directly to the consumer, bypassing traditional retailers–and their price markups–allowing it to sell products at a fraction of the cost of traditional luxury brands, with sandals starting at $198. The brand collaborates with family-owned factories in a small region just outside Florence, Italy. Products are made by a small team of artisans, who each have extensive experience making leather goods. One of these factories has chosen to invest in Arno, which is unusual since it is usually fashion brands that invest in manufacturing facilities.
...
Arno wants to take this approach a step further, by humanizing the manufacturing process even more and giving customers a glimpse of the person who actually made the item they purchased. Besides the photograph that comes in their package, they can go to the Arno website, which offers bios of each artisan full of details about their families and interests. For instance, Laura, Arno’s head of quality control, was born on the island of Sardinia, and went into an artisan apprenticeship program immediately after middle school. Since she lives two streets away from the factory, she goes home for lunch every day, and returns to her village every summer for a vacation.
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“We really believe this is the future of luxury,” says Crowe. “People want to know how their products were made, and the natural extension of that is to connect with the human beings who made their new shoes or bag.”"

Como é que a sua empresa pode adaptar algumas destas ideias, para fugir do anonimato?

No mercado, provavelmente a sua empresa é como o Willy nesta figura. quem vai ter paciência para a procurar? E como sabem que ela existe?



Trechos retirados de "The future of luxury fashion? Getting to know your shoemaker"

Mongo por todo o lado e em todos os setores

"The traditional power relationship between mass media and markets is eroding. Connected and conversational consumers are less inclined to respond to generic advertising, template websites, poorly designed mobile sites, and flat social signals. As consumer data has become increasingly available and transparent, the idea that demographic data is sufficient has also faltered. In other words, simply targeting the “right” consumer based on zip codes, ages of homes, median income, and other freely available data fails to answer the most important question: Is the customer ready or at least looking for a contractor to install a new heating and cooling system?
.
Pretending that these shifts aren’t happening is a mistake — one that can significantly harm a distributor’s value proposition among contractors. However, distributors can create a market advantage for themselves and their customers by responding to shifts in consumer behaviors as well as providing marketing and advertising options that are aligned with current trends.
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Traditional marketing and advertising efforts are being challenged by consumers and contractors with new expectations. As Moises Naim wrote, “The decay of power is changing the world.” Distributors who capitalize on this decay recognize it is not simply decay, it’s the emergence of a new set of opportunities. These opportunities will result in marketing and advertising programs that happen faster, more authentically, and creatively. Distributors also need to pay attention to quickly emerging technologies that will reshape the very nature of brand building and lead generation. Those who do will differentiate themselves — and this may simply be a matter of recognizing that the programs that made HVAC contractors successful have become the things that are now holding them back."

O que é que a sua empresa faz para se destacar da manada?

Trechos retirados de "HVACR Distributors Are Becoming Faster, More Authentic Via Differentiation"

Trabalhar o ecossistema

Ando a ler um excelente livro que vou ter de comentar aqui no blogue, “The Art of Action: Leadership that Closes the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results” de Stephen Bungay.

Para já, fico-me por uma citação relacionada com o tema da estratégia e da sua relação com as partes interessadas. Fez-me lembrar a minha experiência de trabalhar com empresas que elegem o influenciador ou o prescritor como o verdadeiro motor do modelo de negócio. Recordar:

• A mensagem de quem sabe quem são os seus alvos (Setembro de 2016)
• Arquitecto de paisagens competitivas (parte I) e (parte II) (Junho de 2012)
• Dores de crescimento (Junho de 2011)
• Sem uma estratégia clara, come on... BSC? (parte I) e (parte II) (Julho de 2014)
• Balanced Scorecard (parte V) (Agosto de 2016)

“A few years ago, I visited a manufacturer of domestic boilers. At the time, the company was number three in the market and was not only making good returns but gaining share, closing the gap with the number two player. I asked all the top executives why the company was so successful. One said it was the quality of the product – but he admitted that the differences with competitors’ products were small. One said it was the brand – but had to admit that the market leader’s brand was also very strong. So it went on: R&D, technology, production efficiency, delivery times, customer service – all had their advocates, but none in itself felt compelling.
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My last interview was with the managing director. I asked him once again why the business was so successful. “Let me tell you how our business works,” he said. “Almost all of our domestic business is for replacement of existing boilers. People replace boilers when their existing ones break down. What do you do when your boiler breaks down? You call the installer,” he continued, answering his own question. “When he tells you the boiler is too old to repair because he can’t get the parts, what do you do?” He paused. “I’ll tell you. You do what he suggests. And when you ask him which new boiler to install, he tells you that too. So 90 percent of all purchasing decisions are made by the installer.” He paused to let this sink in. “Our business,” he said deliberately, “is about service to the installer. But I am the only person around here who gets that. They all think I’m an old man with a bee in his bonnet.” He looked me in the eye. “We are being successful because we offer our installers better service than any of our competitors.
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This informed all his operational decisions. He wanted to increase the number of visits installers paid to the company’s site – which was already more than any of their rivals – and build a new training center. He was obsessed with the quality of  “its installation literature. He was ready to invest whatever it took to increase spare parts availability at the distributors so that installers did not waste time waiting for a part. He wanted the new range of boilers the company was just developing to be energy efficient, quiet, and reliable, but above all he wanted them to be easy to install. And so on. And it was working.
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He wanted to run some strategy workshops to focus all his top team on optimizing service to the installer. They were already making their implicit strategy happen, but as it became explicit and the top team grew more aligned, so decision making and execution became more focused. At the time of writing the company has overtaken the number two player, and is closing the gap with the market leader.
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In this example, service to the installer is the source of competitive advantage my friends are seeking to exploit. Their aim is to achieve leadership of their chosen segments. They have identified becoming the supplier of choice to the installer as an opportunity across the market, and by excelling at that they are unhinging the position of their major competitors. They already have the capabilities to do so, but they are investing further in those capabilities and creating others. They are doing what all successful strategists do, which is to build further on their existing strengths. They therefore have a coherent strategy”

E na sua empresa, como aborda o ecossistema da procura? Está a ver onde a estória das partes interessadas na ISO 9001 nos pode levar?