Four Pillars Promotional Video.
What is your business missing that makes Jack Ma, Bill Gates, & Jeff Bezos companies so successful?
Yet another inspiring video. And the message was really clear. It seems such an obvious thing once it is said, but there are so many businesses that focus on just a couple of areas. Some do this because they don't recognise other aspects of their business as being important, or even existing. While others plan to review them some day, but are always too busy dealing with current issues.
While I was obtaining a development grant for a business through a state government in Australia, they sent out a business analysis team to do an audit. I was really impressed with their scope and approach. They didn't just look at the product, its production, and its marketing. The looked at all of the other supporting systems with in the business. To do this they had a set of questionnaires that had checkbox answers. This allowed them to include this company's answers in a body of data which it then used to benchmark our performance in every area. I learnt so much through this process.
Since then I've been watching technology facilitate more and more integration and automation of business processes. So while I agree that every part of the business needs to be running at optimum performance, I like Alan's analogy of a car because that is a fantastic example of how the integration of these parts into a seamless whole is just as important. A great purchasing department should not only get its job done well, it should provide market information, and news to the marketing team. For example, the purchasing department receives an innovative brochure from a supplier. It should go to the marketing team to learn about this new design trend.
The purchasing team should also be linked to the Human Resources team so that it can use its buying power to benefit the staff. I've seen suppliers offer goodies to companies like wholesale teabags at half price. The offer should go out to staff so that they can benefit. Or you've got a great deal to upgrade your work laptops, offer the staff to buy-in at that price as well.
And each part of the business should be looking for new ways to use its unique position so that it benefits as many other parts of the company as possible.