6 Posts found for Author: Timothy M. Laseter

At first glance, what Honda of America does to develop its products, sustain its supply base and manage its purchasing function seems little different from what most other car makers do. But the results that Honda achieves are often remarkably superior.

Content: Case Study | Author: Timothy M. Laseter | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Management, Operations | Industry: Automotive | Company: Honda Motor Company

At the heart of best practice in purchasing is a set of skills. One of the most important is the one that enables managers to understand what determines cost.

Content: Article | Authors: Julie A. Ask, Timothy M. Laseter | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Best Practices, Finance

Many purchasing organizations are being challenged to increase the level of “global sourcing” to tap into promising opportunities and to fend off competition. Unfortunately, many companies are ill equipped for the challenge: though global sourcing employs the same set of activities as domestic sourcing, there is also greater complexity. Based on our experience, most companies need to enhance the skills of their purchasing organizations to … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: C.V. Ramachandran, Timothy M. Laseter, Tonya M. Leary | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Operations, Strategy

Capturing the full potential from suppliers has always been a challenge. To pull it off, successful companies have devised ways to effectively integrate the right suppliers into their business processes. In so doing, they have created powerful supplier relationships that simultaneously encourage cooperation and competition. The results of these best-practice relationships are demonstrable. But how are such relationships achieved? This article, a follow-up to ‘Balanced … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: C.V. Ramachandran, Keith H. Voigt, Timothy M. Laseter | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Operations

Short article centers on a traditional 2×2 consulting matrix for purchasing, with the price as the x-axis and cooperation as the y-axis. This high-level analysis is interesting in that it was published in early 1996 before the huge SCM craze.

Editor’s Note: This is part 1 of a 3-part series.
Part 2: “Systems, Modules or Components? New Light on Purchasing”
Part 3, “Setting Supplier … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Timothy M. Laseter | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Operations

The inefficient, tradition-bound, $4 billion trade-book industry is using the Internet to unlock an additional $2 billion-plus.

Editor’s Note: this article claims to identify a number of Internet axioms worth consideration by dot-com startups and traditional retailers alike. I didn’t find those at all persuasive or helpful. What I did find interesting was the detailed description of the publishing industry.

Content: Article | Authors: Joshua L. Wright, Juliana Y. Park, Patrick W. Houston, Timothy M. Laseter | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Industry Specific | Industry: Publishing