by Christina Lee on November 25th, 2008
Al Bates spent almost 25 years being wrong before he turned himself right. In fact, he admits that as a University of Colorado professor, he even passed along incorrect business strategies to his students.
What he was passing along seemed to be common sense: Attack new accounts, because they only bring incremental volume and their margin goes “straight to the bottom line.” Tighten restrictions on credit to offset even a small bad debt loss. But years later, with his own research and executive educational firm, he found data that seemed to dispel all he had learned and taught.
Gee, that... Read more »
by Christina Lee on October 23rd, 2008
Q: How will the bailout plan affect wholesalers?
A: Financial suffering is bound to trickle down the supply chain because of unstable credit conditions. As a result, “many wholesale distributors will be affected by the government’s efforts to stabilize the credit markets,” said Brent Grover, managing partner at Evergreen Consulting and National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors author (“Official Guide to Wholesaler-Distributor Success”).
The extent of that effect depends upon how quickly the government can stabilize the banking system. Because of economic times like these, the bailout plan – or, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 – implemented discount rates to... Read more »
by Christina Lee on October 11th, 2008
Each day this week, Wall Street investors watched in astonishment as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted at unprecedented rates. Very few, if any segments in the wholesale-distribution industry are safe, experts say — but every day that passes is an opportunity to optimize the market.
“What it comes down to is making the best strategic decision, under any circumstances,” said Chuck Miller, vice-president of marketing communications firm CommCentric Solutions, “and when you have fast-changing conditions that occur with the challenges of today, you have to be able to respond quickly and appropriately.”
The most recommended solution in times like... Read more »
by Christina Lee on October 9th, 2008
As some sort of business nutritionist, Dr. Perry Daneshgari has prescribed to over 300 companies a diet of lean operations – cutting out wasteful activities that drive up internal costs. More than ten years after he founded his company, MCA Inc. , distributors are finally catching on and demanding to know how they can also cut that “fat.”
In a phone interview, he shared wih goWholesale a few of his lessons:
Managing inventory is becoming more crucial than having it. Distributors recognize that bottom lines are disappearing, because they’re carrying more inventory. To reduce cost of inventory, you need to... Read more »