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Architecture & Engineering


Clive Shearer
Management
by Design
By Clive Shearer
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June 13, 2007

Management by Design: Successful changes start with benchmarks

By CLIVE SHEARER
Special to the Journal

“What! The competition is producing x widgets an hour!” ranted the boss. “We have to make at least x+1 right away!” The next day, news filters into the office that another rival organization had a profit margin of y percent. “No way!” said the boss. “From next month we will make a profit margin of at least y+1 percent. Find out what they are doing, and start doing it too,” he shouted down the hallway.

Can we simply transplant another company's methods to our operation? A slavish transfer of techniques might open the door to disaster because your corporate culture might be quite different from their culture. What might succeed with their management style, might flop with yours. What they tried and rejected, might be the magic ingredient for you.


 
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