Excerpts A Troubled President The Numbers Do Not Add Up Sleepless Nights Torn in Half! The Military Understands Already Beyond the Value Chain Aspirations and Opportunities Emboldening Customers and Strengthening Their Capabilities Boxes and Lines Distrust Bigger than the Boxes Rethinking the Model

Excerpts #1 of Chapter 2 Excerpts: Next | Previous Beyond the Value Chain "The traditional 'value-chain' model is often pictured as a series of horizontal boxes," explains Carol. "Marjorie, can you note this on the flip chart?" Marjorie draws the model. "Is this what you had in mind, Carol?" "Yes, and you have captured nicely the focus on transactions, and the way this model is driven by customer needs," responds Carol. Wesley sees his chance to show off a bit. "We've done extensive training within engineering to identify customer needs and turn them into concrete engineering specifications. All my engineers have been trained in the techniques of the 'House of Quality,' a rigorous process of defining, testing, and detailing engineering specifications that respond to our customers' needs. We then create 'integrated product development teams' that involve design, testing, manufacturing, product support, service, and whoever else is needed, to ensure the manufacturability and serviceability of our products through their life cycle." Vincent and Gregory are nodding their heads. Gregory adds, "This has made a big difference, because we're able to get the engineers to design in our service concerns. This is especially important as we're discovering the patterns of service problems." "This is the way it works," notes Vincent, "but we're still bothered by engineering's arrogance. Even though we're supposed to be working together on these teams, we still feel the heavy hand of the engineers and frankly they're still not listening as well as they should to learn from our experience and knowledge." As Vincent says this, he cannot help but wonder if he is not again playing the power game, trying to score points with Frank. Excerpts: Next | Previous