While sustaining long term strategic relationships is critical for success, an ever more common response to the rapidly changing business environment is the formation of short term alliances designed to address specific tactical goals, projects or initiatives. In many instances these arrangements bring together people from different disciplines who may come from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Add in long distances and different time zones and the complexities and challenges of sustaining successful working relationships increase even more.
PatrickDaly
The Interface Crucible 2. Culture: An Evolutionary Strategy for Success
In his book Wired for Culture, The Natural History of Human Cooperation, Nigel Pagel describes the culture as the innovation that we call “culture” that has enabled Homo sapiens as a species to spread across the globe and adapt successfully in many different environments, climates and terrains.
The Interface Crucible
Forging International Supply Chain Relationships among Small and Medium Sized Businesses for Competitive Advantage in a Globalized Economy
Retail and Inventory Control
Retail’ as a word has its origins in late Middle English word retaille, re=”expression of force” tailler = ‘to cut’. So, simply put, retailers cut big pieces to small pieces for consumption rather than resale. Just like the butcher needs careful consideration to the art of providing small pieces of a large piece of meat to satisfy each of the numerous customers, retail is not an art unless inventory control is put into practice.
Leading Light
The recent announcement of Tesla’s new power storage systems got me thinking about the relationship between light, productivity, sustainability and the economy.The story of artificial light is a story of economic development. Before oil lamps and candles, people used to go to bed at sundown and slept in ‘two phases’ – first and second sleep. However, with the advent of artificial light, productivity patterns changed along with sleep patterns, as people’s activities became independent of the availability of natural light.
Patrick’s Monday Vista #10- The Most Precious Commodity in the World
What is the most valuable and precious commodity in the world? Oil? Gold? Saffron? Or perhaps some rare Earth metal? The correct answer is; none of the above. The most valuable and precious commodity in the world is trust. An abundance of trust lubricates and accelerates positive endeavour in business, politics and personal relationships. In extreme cases the absence of trust leads to war, pestilence and famine. Even in the best case the absence of trust acts as a brake imposing costs and delay on progress in any enterprise.
Patrick’s Monday Vista #9- Kicking On
It is wonderful to be successful, to win the game, to land the contract, to get the promotion. It gives you a warm glow inside, a feeling of satisfaction to savour and enjoy and that is how it should be. If you are successful you are entitled to that feeing – it is healthy and it is important to celebrate success.Winning again and again can reinforce our belief that we have been doing the right things, making the right decisions and getting the just rewards for our efforts in return. Logically we look to repeat the magic formula that has been working for as long as we can. “Happy days! Long may it last!” we might say.
Patrick’s Monday Vista #8-¡Viva México!
If you were asked where in the world there is most at stake geopolitically you might be inclined to point to the Middle East, Russia or the Korean Peninsula. However, none of these places has the potential to affect the world’s premier power the United States in the same way as does Mexico. Something that is overlooked by many is that the future success of Mexico as it endeavours to take its place among the most developed countries of the world will be one of unsuspected global impact.
Patrick’s Monday Vista #6- The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index
The globalization of total production systems from extraction of raw materials though to the recycling of waste has been made possible in recent decades by innovations in three main areas – transportation technology, information and communications technology, and financial deregulation.It is now commonplace for international businesses to carry on R&D, manufacturing and distribution in many different geographical locations around the world depending on which locations are most advantageous from a competitive point of view.
Patrick’s Monday Vista #5- Our Greatest Invention
No doubt the greatest human invention of all time is human language itself. Spoken human language emerged somewhere between 150,000 and 80,000 years ago and was fundamental in enabling human beings to work together and coordinate their actions for mutual benefit.Initially this involved communication among individuals in small bands for hunting and gathering, then later on a much more sophisticated level insedentary agriculture and the building of the institutions that ultimately led to the birth of civilization itself. In effect, the ability to use language is the essence of being human.
