We will start our balanced scorecard journey not from performance measures but from the results we want the organization to accomplish. In other words, we will start with the end in mind, not with the measures we currently have.

The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is used extensively in business and industry, government, and non-profit organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organization performance against strategic goals.

The key problem identified in business is that many companies tended to manage their businesses based solely on financial measures. While that may have worked well in the past, the pace of business in today’s world requires more comprehensive measures. Though financial measures are necessary, they can only report what has happened in the past; where a business has been, but not where it is headed. It is like driving a car by looking in the rear-view mirror.

The characteristic of the balanced scorecard and its derivatives is the presentation of a mixture of financial and non-financial measures each compared to a ‘target’ value within a single concise report. The report is not meant to be a replacement for traditional financial or operational reports but a succinct summary that captures the information most relevant to those reading it. It is the method by which this ‘most relevant’ information is determined (i.e., the design processes used to select the content) that most differentiates the various versions of the tool in circulation. The balanced scorecard also gives light to the company’s vision and mission. These two elements must always be referred to when preparing a balance scorecard.

As a model of performance, the balanced scorecard is effective in that “it articulates the links between leading inputs (human and physical), processes, and lagging outcomes and focuses on the importance of managing these components to achieve the organization’s strategic priorities.

Modern balanced scorecard thinking has evolved considerably since the initial ideas proposed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the modern performance management tools including Balanced Scorecard are significantly improved being more flexible (to suit a wider range of organisational types) and more effective (as design methods have evolved to make them easier to design, and use).

Adapting one organisation’s balanced scorecard to another is generally not advised by theorists, who believe that much of the benefit of the balanced scorecard comes from the design process itself. Indeed, it could be argued that many failures in the early days of balanced scorecard could be attributed to this problem, in that early balanced scorecards were often designed remotely by consultants. Managers did not trust, and so failed to engage with and use, these measure suites created by people lacking knowledge of the organisation and management responsibility.

Performance measurement balanced scorecards are not very interesting, and add little business intelligence to help an organization chart strategic direction and measure the progress of strategic execution. Balanced scorecards built with the goal of “organizing the measures we have” hardly justify the energy it takes to build them.

Healthcare costs are increasing more rapidly than costs for other products and services. Healthcare providers, particularly hospitals, are under significant pressure to reduce costs while at the same time improving service and patient safety, reducing patient waiting times, and minimizing errors and associated litigation. However, most hospitals are not making the necessary improvements in cost, quality, and safety. 20 percent of consecutive inpatient stays were associated with poor quality care, unnecessary fragmentation of care, or both.

As you begin to put together your 5s Lean plan, remember, 5s is not a project. It is a mindset that should be carried out with designed purpose and in a manner that includes every able individual. It is small changes, not just big ones that will help your facility, clinic, or clinical lab become a more functional, clean, and satisfying place for both personnel and patients.

Healthcare organizations, historically, have not been designed to make service processes or a “value stream” of care flow. Healthcare services often use a “batch and queue” process, with patients spending the bulk of their time waiting until a health care professional is ready (i.e., push versus pull with regard to service delivery).

Patient cycle time (the total time from the beginning to the end of a process) in our hospitals, laboratories, and therapy settings becomes a key measurement that needs to improve.

All types of organizations are leveraging Lean principles and tools. Many organizations are trying to function effectively in the face of growing challenges such as a high costs, declining market share, and limited capacity. In all of these cases, Lean can have an immediate, positive impact on business.

Healthcare organizations are made up of a series of processes with diverse services or lines of business. Therefore, you need to build delivery systems with these lines of business in mind. Using Lean Thinking, your organization can achieve a number of benefits, which may include improved quality, increased operational flexibility, reduced cycle time within processes, more efficient use of space, consistent service delivery, reduced lead times, and reduced operating costs.

The five components of 5s are defined as sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain. 5s is a method that reduces waste in your work environment through better workplace organization, visual communication, and general cleanliness.

This is one of the primary tools necessary to improve your processes by eliminating wastes such as motion, searching, inventory (queuing) and improve quality and functionality within all departments.

5s Benefits

5s drives a cleaner work environment and organizes the workplace. It is a Lean tool that should be implemented along with process improvements identified when value-stream mapping your business processes. When implementing 5s, you rapidly affect your work or production environment with a minimal expenditure. Most organizations report 5-10% efficiency improvement in several months, which is sustainable over time. 5s provides some of the following benefits:
1. A cleaner workplace for enhanced safety and reduced clutter.
2. An organized, efficient workplace for increased productivity.
3. An always-ready environment that fosters and promotes compliance with regulatory standards.
4. The reduction of inventory and supply costs.
5. The recapture of valuable space and minimizing overhead costs.
6. The impact of “how we feel” about our workplace, organization, and ourselves.

There will be naysayers that may argue that their messiness is beneficial to them; some point to the fact that time spent keeping their environment organized distracts from the important things in their jobs like time analyzing or thinking and defining new approaches to care.

However, they miss the point; truly organized people are not organized just for the sake of order. Instead, their organization is a result of having a process to manage all of the things in their lives. These folks avoid the repeated distraction paper or e-mails in their inbox by having a clear approach for handling all of the responsibilities in their lives. By managing things effectively, they avoid clutter and chaos.

I am encouraged to see healthcare leaders looking beyond the ways they have always done things in the past to implementing innovative solutions such as Lean to curb the industry’s skyrocketing costs, poor quality, nursing shortages and employee dissatisfaction; all symptoms of deeper problems inherent in the system itself.

Today’s forward looking healthcare providers have realized the financial and moral imperatives for improving quality and safety and eliminating waste as strategies for responding to their pressing challenges.

Lean Healthcare (adapted from the Toyota Production System) is not just for manufacturing or another short-term fix; it’s a way to transform an entire organization into a safe and high-quality, high-performing healthcare delivery system. If implemented properly, it can be the “how to” for managing change and creating continuous improvement.

Lean Healthcare is used to eliminate obstacles that prevent organizations from providing best-in-class healthcare by eliminating issues as vast as out-of-date technology systems, worker frustration and errors and oversights that can increase patient safety risks. Some “fixes” are complex, but lean methodology strives to find well-thought-out improvements that can be implemented quickly and without costing a fortune, if at all possible; thus the name Lean.

As a leader, it makes sense to at least research whether your organization would embrace the methodology and sustained results derived from lean implementation.

With the financial pressures that healthcare organizations are facing, many hospitals are using traditional cost cutting methods to save money by looking at layoffs and staff reductions. Many more hospitals, however, are finding ways to reduce costs through lean management methods that don’t require layoffs and can improve quality for patients.

Lean is actually the best alternative to layoffs. It’s all about encouraging everyone to participate in process improvement, as well as finding creative and interesting ways to save money for a healthcare organization to avoid those unwanted traditional cost slashing endeavours like layoffs. Layoffs don’t lead to long-term cost reduction. And if you lay off people and don’t fix any processes, you are risking patient safety and quality. As a result, more and more healthcare providers are looking at lean to break that cycle.

Healthcare is in crisis. The industry is struggling with skyrocketing costs, poor quality, nursing shortages and employee dissatisfaction; all symptoms of deeper problems inherent in the system itself.

More and more healthcare providers are realizing the imperative of improving quality and safety and eliminating waste as strategies for responding to the challenges. Enter Lean Healthcare, the “how to” of managing change and creating continuous improvement.

Lean Healthcare is not just another project: it’s a way to transform your entire organization into a safe and high-quality, high-performing healthcare delivery system.

You can apply Lean Healthcare principles to improvements in a broad range of operating processes found in every healthcare organization:
 Admitting/Discharge
 Internal patient flow within and between departments
 Operating room turnover
 Scheduling processes and systems
 Workplace disorganization
 Medical Records
 Inventory (supplies) control
 Administrative processes and billing
 Equipment availability
 Shift change processes
 Pharmacy and Laboratory work flows and turnaround times
 Emergency Room work throughput
 Clinical Processes
 HR/Hiring Processes
 Med/Surg floor improvement
 Discharge

The word Lean marketing has been one of the buzzwords of business for a few years now, but beneath the buzzword lays a strong, successful and above all common sense strategy.

The Lean Marketing process is actually nothing new. The business tactics it employs are all well known and widely used. Despite this most businesses do not follow them in any particular order or manner. What makes Lean Marketing special is that it organizes its techniques in to a coherent, easy to follow strategy. These steps can be followed step by step to not only launch a successful business, but stop you from launching an unsuccessful business.

The key aspects of lean marketing are:
• Market Targeting
• Validation
• Minimum Viable Product
• Goals
• Improvement
• Scale-ability

This sounds like common sense, but how can you apply it to marketing? Let’s go through it piece by piece.

Market Targeting

Finding out your target market seems obvious, but have you done it in your business? Don’t just select a target audience, research what your audience needs, and ask them what they want. Whether you are doing content marketing or Pay Per Click (PPC), targeting your efforts at the correct audience is key. Asking someone if your PPC ad probably will not get much of a response, but asking them what they need tells you what you need to focus your advertising on. Avoid going broad; narrow down who you want to be affected by your marketing.

Validation

Do initial testing before you go on an all out campaign, find out what works, make sure that whatever campaign you run, be it PPC or otherwise, try things out on a small sample, see if it brings you interest before making a full scale campaign. Validating a marketing idea is much harder than validating a product. With a product, you can simply ask your target audience if they would buy it, if it does what they need. You cannot ask a person if they like a marketing method. This means that validation of a marketing idea comes down to testing.

Minimum Viable Product

Minimum viable product is quite simply the least amount of work you can do before launching a product. Finding a way to create a minimum viable marketing campaign is difficult, it doesn’t fit in to the product model, but there are some things you can learn. The simplest form of a minimum viable marketing product is to take your validated marketing ideas, and form them in to a campaign focused only on those validated idea. Don’t over-complicate things, just implement what works.

Goals

Setting goals gives you an aim, something to shoot for. Goals are often misunderstood, but they perform an important role.
• They let you plan for a future what you want to achieve.
• They give you an aim, something to achieve.

Improvement

Once you have a minimum viable product, and you have goals, it is time to start reaching and exceeding your goals. Improving a product to customer’s needs is the focus of a lean company, in marketing we improve based on response to our advertisements. This might be test bed campaigns, A/B testing, backlink types, landing page optimization, or social interaction; by improving your campaign, you can extend your goals based on testing, and see continual ongoing improvement.

Scale-ability

So you know what works, and you can improve it. Now it’s time to expand. Again, scaling a product is very different to scaling a marketing campaign. Scaling a marketing campaign is difficult, and varies wildly from case to case. Despite this, it is something you must learn to do, especially if you find a profitable marketing technique that offers a consistent Return on Investment.

When FTSE 100 CEO’s were polled and asked the question, “Are your sales people calling on the right customers, at the right time, with the right offer?” 99.3% responded, “I don’t know.” Which shouldn’t surprise. Sales and Marketing are still the last bastions of protected turf, limited management scrutiny and lack of accountability. Unfortunately, the important lessons learned and the gains in effectiveness and efficiency derived from lean manufacturing have not been successfully translated to the Sales and Marketing environments. And, it’s understandable.

Sales involves people doing business with people, not people doing activities with machines and processes. Sales is perceived to be more of an art form than a science. Yet, ironically, Sales is virtually a pure science and, as such, is both measurable and predictable. If we are correct, the disciplines of Lean can easily be applied to the Sales and Marketing functions resulting in significant increases in effectiveness and bottom line results.

Why should we apply lean practices to Sales and Marketing?

The litany of reasons is familiar to anyone who operates in those environments. Existing response times are woeful. Customer service practice continues to decline. The concept of “zero-defect” performance, which has been successfully incorporated into the manufacturing cycle, seems to have escaped the notice of many sales and marketing types. Quality in delivery and performance varies significantly from sector to sector and company to company. But worst of all, sales and marketing productivity has never been known for its improvement gains. In truth, we are a sloppy profession that has been able to evade accountability for too long.

How might we apply lean techniques? Companies interested in applying “lean” techniques to the Sales and Marketing functions can begin the journey by:
• Asking whether or not a certain step is necessary, thereby reducing habitual behaviour.
• Determining how necessary steps can be done better, thereby demanding continuous quality improvement.
• Asking who else could perform the step if necessary, thereby building team performance while improving results.
• Determining how each step can be done better, faster and cheaper, thereby forcing sales and marketing personnel to start focusing on cost of sales. (COS)

Like the folks in manufacturing who examine each individual element associated with building the product, professional sales and marketing people are going to have to sit down and apply the same rigorous scrutiny to their own processes.

Lean handbook’s intention is to gather into a single reference the information related to lean tools, system and implementation. This book will enhance your understanding of the lean principles as a whole and give you a more holistic look at lean.

This comprehensive handbook covers all the topics included in all of our lean books. Written with contributions from a team of lean experts with years of experience in the field, it will be indispensible to anyone interested in implementing and sustaining a lean initiative.

Lean handbook was written to give a simple explanation of Lean for anyone to understand. It is meant for engineers, purchasing agents, company clerks, newspaper reporters, schoolteachers, or anyone else who wants to find out about Lean.

It is by no means a complete text on Lean, but does include an addendum that will point the way to further Lean knowledge for anyone who is interested.

Lean is a large area of expertise, and no book could possibly cover it all, but it is my hope that you will gain an understanding of Lean principals and be motivated to find out even more about this quiet revolution that is transforming worldwide manufacturing.

We should not forget that Lean handbook materials are from several lean practitioners with differing backgrounds and experience therefore, it serves as an ideal starting point for practitioners who want a holistic view of lean in general.

Finally Lean handbook is oriented towards:
• Those people who want to increase their Lean level and to understand better what Lean can offer.
• Those people interested to start with Lean philosophy.
• Lean Experts who are looking for a different way to teach or to communicate about Lean.

There are some people who think there is no place for 5s Lean at home. Just like those who say you can’t bake without ovens!

The 5S process of Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain is a lean manufacturing process in use by the Toyota Production System for decades. The premise of 5S is to help organize and improve the work conditions of a workplace. Yet this process can also be used for home as well. These steps can help you get your home organized now and keep it that way in the future.

Sort: The sorting process requires getting everything in your home up and out of the place of clutter. Probably the best thing to do here is use a 3 bin or bag system. The 3 bags to sort your clutter is 1) Throw away 2) Storage 3) Keep handy. Start with one room at a time. Quickly put clutter things into each of these 3 containers.

Set in Order: Next step is taking those containers and putting back the contents in an orderly manner. This means that everything useful has a place. Put it in a proper place that is easy to access. If it is storage use proper boxes and containers. You may find that you are throwing away most stuff in this step and have a lot of new room in your home now.

Shine: Now that everything is picked up and orderly here is the cleaning step. Clean everywhere in the rooms. This will get your home nice and new feeling. The fruits of your labour are really showing here.

Standardize: The next two steps deal with making sure your home doesn’t get cluttered again in the future. Standardize deals with defining the places for your Keep Handy and Storage things in your home. Use labels here to keep things organized. Colour code common used items. Peg boards are handy for hanging garage artefacts and washroom items. The idea here is that all of your items have a home within the home for easy location and more importantly easy place to be set up when done using it.

Sustain: To sustain 5S is making sure that things are kept up on a regular basis. Here you may want to jot down some daily, weekly, and monthly things that are required to keep the home in order. For instance you may want to jot down SHINE a different room on each day, or weekly chores or monthly maintenance of household heating and cooling. Write down your tasks and keep it in an easy to access place. Perhaps a clipboard so that you can track your progress.

Do you want to be the slave of your working environment, or its master?

Do you want your working area to help you to do your job, or to hinder your efforts?

Do you want to be rushing to complete your tasks, or have time to take pride in them?

5S is a Workplace Organisation system that enables you to be the master of your work area, a work area that helps you to do your job instead of hindering you, so that you have time to take pride in your efforts. It is there to enable you to get each activity right the first time, every time.

Don’t get caught up in the message that 5S is a discipline of managers over workers. If you have been taught that, then the teacher didn’t know what they were talking about.

5S involves everyone, from directors to the guy who sweeps the floor. It benefits everyone. It depends on everyone.

For the system to work, no-one can hide. Everyone has to be involved, everyone has to contribute.

Every work area should be a shop window to show off the benefits of 5S. Factory shop floors that are untidy, dirty and disorganised have to go. Managers’ offices that are disorganised, filled with filing cabinets that contain nothing of worth, these have to go. Director’s offices with files lining the walls that contain irrelevant information from years past have to go.

Who should clean the factory floor? The people who work there. Everyone accepts that.

So who should clean the director’s offices? The directors. Managers should clean their own offices.

You did be surprised how clean and tidy areas are kept when the user is responsible for cleaning them.

If you are a director or manager looking to introduce 5S, you need to start thinking like a Royal Marine where the men have to complete a forced march in a certain time with a certain weight in their backpack. The officers have to complete in a faster time. In the famed obstacle course the officers must complete the course faster than the men.

If you are a director or manager introducing 5S, you need to be better than the standard you expect from your reports. Don’t do it to them do it with them! Set an example. A director or manager implementing 5S must accept this. If you report into a director or manger you must expect it.

Historically when people think of manufacturing they do not think of green manufacturing because the thought of manufacturing is large companies, putting numerous emissions into the air to manufacture their products; this thought is changing and changing fast.

Green Manufacturing (Paradigm Shift to Sustainable Capitalism) So, what are companies doing in the way of green manufacturing?

In the last decade alone, the demand for the manufacture of goods worldwide has risen to a new level; resulting in tragic levels of C02 emissions being pumped into the world’s atmosphere. In 2010, there was 33,000 tonnes of C02 released into the atmosphere as a result of manufacturers. If we don’t reduce this number, these greenhouse gases will change the world for good through climate change. So, what are companies doing in the way of green manufacturing? This book Green Manufacturing (Paradigm Shift to Sustainable Capitalism) investigates this, whilst looking over the numerous positives of turning to a deeper shade of green.

Through this book you can find out what consumers are saying to green companies; their demands for greener products. The promise of safety, health and energy saving and even during an economic downturn they still demand green products are just some of the insights that Green Manufacturing (Paradigm Shift to Sustainable Capitalism) has revealed about consumers. By reading this book, you as the consumer will realise that you have the power to make companies more eco-friendly through your individual stance; for manufacturers are now realising that people respect eco-friendly companies, preferring to spend their money on them rather than a company without any green policies. Companies will learn the value of being greener and the benefits this brings to a more sustainable future.

Nowadays, it seems like “Going Green” and efficient manufacturing have become synonymous with one another. It makes perfect sense for this to be true though, since one of the primary goals for any manufacturer and also any environmentalist is minimizing waste and saving energy. Some will say that going “green” is just what companies should do because it is better for the world we live in or because we only have one planet. Without argument, both statements are entirely true; however, successfully implementing green manufacturing practices requires a business case. The European Union estimates that more than 80 percent of a product’s environmental impact is determined in the product conception phase. So then the question is, wouldn’t it make sense as a business case to build an optimized operation that not only achieves all manufacturing goals but also employs green practices in doing so?

For green manufacturing to succeed, industrial development needs to continue to progress and simultaneously needs to avoid foreclosing the needs of future generations. This relies on planning and the ability of designers, engineers, and manufacturers alike to take into account all costs of a product, both intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic to a product are costs that go into buying material, operating a machine; extrinsic to this product, however, are costs such as where a shop purchases its energy from coal-fired or renewable sources. Choices made in the planning of a product lifecycle can greatly minimize its impact on the environment.

Lean is a series of tools that can be used to improve almost any business process. Those tools are things like 5S, Kaizens, Kan Bans, and Visual Metrics.

Lean is not simply doing the same things, the same way, with fewer people. Lean is a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste by flowing the product at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection.

By designing processes to increase material and information flow, the velocity at which the materials move through the system to generate revenue vastly improves while using the same or fewer resources. The resulting operational improvements of cost, quality, delivery, productivity, and safety can then be leveraged to gain market share, increase profits, and increase customer and shareholder satisfaction.

Lean is not about cutting staff and resources. Instead, it is about:
• Focusing people’s efforts creating value for the customer and eliminating waste.
• Speeding up the operation by eliminating idle time created by paperwork and bureaucracy.

A friend of mine asked a great question in response to one of my recent Lean books. His question was in essence how do you keep Lean initiatives moving ahead and not going the way of another flavour of the month program. We have all seen managers with the best intentions launch new initiatives that were supposed to be the wave of the future only to see them fizzle out after a few weeks or months. Lean initiatives are no different. Many organizations have tried Lean and either abandon it completely or don’t take it very far. So what makes the difference between companies that tried Lean and those that are leading the pack?

A successful launch of Lean is in some respects like getting lean with one’s weight. There are no quick fixes. There are no easy solutions and it takes work. You cannot make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight then go back to your old habits after a few weeks or months and expect to stay Lean. It takes discipline over the long haul.

If you try to drive a wood screw using a hammer, the result is going to be disappointing. If you try to use a trenching machine without proper training and safety equipment, you are likely to cut off your foot. So it is with the Lean tools; one needs to have the right tool for each application and be adept at using the tool properly to enjoy the benefits.

Key part of CEO Guide to Doing Business in Russia is to make sure we realise a business legacy for companies all over the world before, during and after 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Are you a CEO, consultant or entrepreneur interested in entering or expanding your activity in the Russian market?

If so this book is for you!

CEO Guide to Doing Business in Russia will provide you and your business extra leverage for winning contract in Russia.

Sportsmen and women will descend on the Russia in search of glory in both the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup and, like its sporting counterpart, business networking events will not all take place in Russia’s capital city, hundreds of business summits, conferences will be hosted across Russia.

Away from the football field, Winter Olympics ground, another group of competitors will be aiming to capitalise on the greatest business networking opportunity at Russia 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup.

CEO Guide to Doing Business in Russia is a book that provide business guide to Russia’s 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup for those wanting to make the most of this opportunity.

CEO Guide to Doing Business in Russia will enable companies and individuals to build their networks, understand how to do business in Russia and connect with business partners worldwide, this book will increase your opportunities to meet and engage with potential partners during both Russia 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Russia has emerged from a decade of post-Soviet chaos and disintegration to reassert itself as a major player on the world stage both politically and economically. President Putin and Medvedev have restored public confidence in the country and vast oil and gas reserves have resulted in growing political and economic influence. Russia cannot be ignored; it needs to be understood.

Away from the football field, running track and swimming pool, another group of competitors will be aiming to capitalise on the greatest business networking opportunity at Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympics Games.

Sportsmen and women will descend on the Brazil in search of glory in both the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympics Games and, like its sporting counterpart, business networking events will not all take place in Brazil’s capital city, hundreds of business summits, conferences will be hosted across Brazil.

CEO Guide to Doing Business in Brazil, is a book that provide business guide to Brazil’s 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympics Games for those wanting to make the most of this opportunity.

CEO Guide to Doing Business in Brazil will enable companies and individuals to build their networks, understand how to do business in Brazil and connect with business partners worldwide, this book will increase your opportunities to meet and engage with potential partners during and after Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympics Games.

Reading CEO Guide to Doing Business in Brazil will place your firms in position to win sports contracts in the Brazil ahead of the games and it will help your firms in doing the Rio master-planning.

CEO Guide to Doing Business in Brazil will provide you and your business extra leverage for winning contract in Brazil.

Key part of CEO Guide to Doing Business in Brazil is to make sure we realise a business legacy for companies all over the world before, during and after these games.

South Korea has a motivated and highly educated workforce that leads the world in a range of high-tech disciplines. Seven per cent of the country’s GDP is spent on education and 74 per cent of South Koreans undertake post graduate-level education.

You will find workers in South Korea to be disciplined, hard working and keen to undergo training. South Korea greatly values its workforce highly and is keen to attract high-quality skills from overseas. It has recently relaxed restrictions on visas for overseas workers. The organisation Contact Korea has Korean Business Centres in 29 countries around the world, dedicated to attracting talented people to work in South Korea.

Before doing business in South Korea prior appointments are required and should generally be made a few weeks in advance. The most suitable times to arrange a business meeting are normally between 10am and 12pm or 2pm and 4pm.

In South Korea for both social occasions and business meetings, punctuality is essential. Your South Korean counterparts will expect you to arrive on time as a sign of respect; therefore it is advised to call beforehand if you will be delayed. You may find however, that top South Korean business executives may arrive a few minutes late to appointments. This is a reflection of their extremely busy and pressured schedule and should not be taken with offence.

South Korea is known for its vertical social structure based on age and social status. The organisational arrangement of South Korean companies is highly centralised with authority concentrated in senior levels.

Influenced by Confucianism, South Koreans respect for authority is paramount in their business culture and practices. High-ranking individuals tend to have more power over their subordinates than in the West. Consequently, decision making in South Korea will follow a formal procedure in which senior approval is necessary.

Generally speaking, responsibility is delegated to trusted, dependable subordinates by their superiors. Therefore, it is imperative not to offend or ignore the lower ranks and to show the various managers the same respect as other senior levels.

Age is the most essential component within a relationship in South Korea. A person older than you automatically holds a certain level of superiority. This is particularly evident in South Korean business settings.

Personal ties in South Korea, such as kinship, schools, birthplaces etc, often take precedence over job seniority, rank or other factors, and have significant influence over the structure and management of Korean companies.

The exchange of business cards in Korea is vital for initiating introductions. Korean’s prefer to know the person they are dealing with. Therefore, it is important to emphasise your title so that the correct authority, status, and rank is established. It is advised to have the reverse side of your card translated into Korean. Cards should be presented and accepted with both hands and must be read and studied with respect and consideration before placing them on the table.

Like most Asian countries, South Koreans believe that contracts are a starting point, rather than the final stage of a business agreement and prefer them to be left flexible enough so that adjustments can be made. Although many Koreans now appreciate the legal implications regarding the signing of contracts, they may still be interpreted as less important than the interpersonal relationship established between the two companies. It is vital that you are aware of how your Korean counterparts view these documents in order to avoid any possible misunderstandings.

Supply chain competence affects your bottom-line in more direct ways than you might realize. In this book we reviewed the role of controlling cost of sales through supply chain competencies and its effect on the corporate financial statements.

The balancing act of maintaining a high level of service and low costs is becoming harder for supply chain directors as businesses try to meet the growing customer mantra of “more for less.” This pressure comes at a time when business is becoming more global, supply chains are lengthening, and competition is on the rise.

Although this challenge is not new, the outlook is that it will intensify as a number of factors; economic, regulatory and market-driven become more acute. Consequently, supply chain performance will have increasingly significant impact on overall business success.

Globally, forward-thinking companies are also redefining the way they do business with their customers and their suppliers, adopting innovative ideas to respond to market trends and developing new channels to meet consumer shopping preferences, many of which are being brought about by shifting lifestyles in Western economies.

Supply chain practitioners have emerged as a vital partner in the most strategic aspects of managing complex, global companies. In years past, the procurement function (the sourcing of essential products and services on the best possible terms) occupied centre stage. But more recently, the relentless focus on driving out costs has taken a backseat to such issues as supply market risk, revenue enhancement and managing complex supplier relationships.

Lean Procurement and supply chain management is for many companies. It is not just for manufacturers who practice lean management. It is also for non-manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers and others.

During the past few years, companies have focused on supply chain improvements with initiatives centred on operational excellence and cost cutting. But have they worked?

In today’s on-demand environment, companies are facing growing challenges around market volatility, costs, long lead times and unpredictable forecasts. Your inventory management decisions can make or break your firm’s financial bottom line. You will find strategies in this book that will let your company meet these daily challenges and optimize working capital efficiency.

Today, the buyer’s responsibilities have changed dramatically. Instead of simply finding the right materials and services at the best price, buyers must play a critical part in improving the flow of information and materials throughout the supply chain.

The old way of doing business consists of buyers managing MRP forecasts and communicating with suppliers via phone, fax and e-mail. Spreadsheets and manual reports are passed between the suppliers. These manual processes are slow and cumbersome. They cannot support today’s on-demand enterprises.

Supply chain procurement professionals spend too much time “managing the hot list” and reacting to short-term issues. They lack the data visibility to manage their operations strategically. They cannot seem to find the time to develop strategic plan with suppliers and deploy improved lean processes that are focused on eliminating the root cause of their procurement problems.

Without lean procurement, buyers spend the majority of their time on non-strategic processes like tracking down order status, expedite/de-expedite the same part from week-to-week, manual changing improper order quantities, and maintaining “private” spreadsheets for analysis. As a result, they lack the time to focus on realizing opportunities to create mutual benefits through supplier negotiations and process efficiencies.