Defining the Entrepreneurial Spirit
As originally published in Inside Supply Management August 2011 Achieve an entrepreneurial spirit or be left to slowly wither away in today’s new normal business environment. With the retiring of the baby boomers, high commodity prices and nagging unemployment, the new normal is characterized by weak sales growth (at [...]
Innovation Tips
As innovation is key to succeeding in the “new normal”, I thought a few tips might prove helpful: Create a culture of innovation – it’s not enough to encourage innovation in R&D. Those companies who create a culture of innovation will be those who succeed. Start with the customer [...]
Building an Innovation Culture – What Is Vital?
What is vital to building a culture of innovation? There’s one word – leadership! A recent Industry Week article showed several examples of innovation success – the key is that executives must be committed, patient and ready to lead by example. Doesn’t this sound like something we should do [...]
US Manufacturers Face Shortage of Skills – How Can That Be?
According to a study released in 2009 by Deloitte, the Manufacturing Institute and Oracle revealed that nearly a third of companies were experiencing a modest to severe shortage. Gaps in such skills as problem-solving and communication also were noted in the study. This doesn’t seem to add up vs. [...]
Made in the USA Gains Momentum
I was recently quoted in a World Trade Magazine article, “Made in the USA Gains Momentum”, and so I thought this would be an interesting topic to discuss on my blog. Read the full article here. Actually, I am quite interested in this topic, as I believe we MUST [...]
Just-in-Time Remains Justifiable
Published in Industry Week on May 11, 2007 It seems very common that people get on the bandwagon of some of these philosophies like JIT, and they give up as opposed to understanding that it's not something trendy to do," says Lisa Anderson, president and founder of business processes [...]