|
News and notes section: February/March 2001 issue
Distributors acknowledge end-users hold advantage
Most companies fail at employee evaluations
Uncle Sam wants your company
Many B2B sites fail to deliver long-term value for customers
Distributors acknowledge end-users hold advantage
Think youre powerless in your relationship with suppliers? Think again. Distributors are well aware of the power you hold.
Case in point: the recent Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA) convention, which prominently focused on the increasing power held by end-users in the power transmission/motion control supply chain.
Featured speakers hammered home that factors such as customer consolidation, supplier reduction programs, and national and global purchasing contracts are allowing end-users to negotiate from a position of increased strength.
PTDAs solution is a seven-point program that caters to the needs of end-user customers. Its "rules for the new millennium" include: be fast; be open; become true partners; focus on total cost; add value; give customers what they want; and, get paid for what you do.
back to top
***************************************************************************
Most companies fail at employee evaluations
Annual employee evaluations at most companies are, at best, ineffective and, at worst, an atrocity, states a report by Knight-Ridder Newspapers. Its reasoning?
" Many managers dont know how to give constructive feedback.
" "One size fits all" appraisal forms make a mockery of individual assessments.
" It takes time to do appraisals well, and most managers are too busy to devote that time.
" Once a year is not enough to provide usable job improvement guidance to a worker.
" Appraisals should be self-improvement tools. Instead, theyre often interpreted as punishment and justification for tiny raises.
" Evaluations shouldnt be one-way communication. The best ones foster dialogue.
The report asserts that an ideal evaluation is individualized, forward-looking rather than historical, career-building and supportive.
back to top
***************************************************************************
Uncle Sam wants your company
The armed forces are looking for a few good manufacturers.
The United States Army, Navy and Air Force are offering opportunities to jointly develop technology that can be utilized by the military and general public. The Dual Use Science and Technology Program will fund up to 50 percent of the cost of selected projects.
The U.S. Department of Defense is currently seeking technologies in the areas of advanced materials and manufacturing, advanced propulsion, affordable sensors, distributed mission training, environmental technologies, information and communications systems, medical and bioengineering technologies, power and fuel efficiency, and weapons systems sustainment.
Visit www.dtic.mil/dust for more information on this program.
back to top
***************************************************************************
Many B2B sites fail to deliver long-term value for customers
While business-to-business Internet sites continue to spring up, replacing others that have gone under, a new study by the Center for Advanced Purchasing Studies found that the majority of leading sites still fail to deliver substantial, long-term economic value to users.
The study indicates the greatest value B2B sites have produced and will likely continue to deliver stems from knowledge building and the removal of supply chain waste, further undermining the assumptions of many users that the value of marketplaces is driven by shifting or squeezing supplier profits.
The study concludes that a rapid retooling of site capabilities and a major industry consolidation are likely the best options to deliver value to buyers and returns to electronic marketplace investors.
This article appeared in the February/March 2001 issue of
MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 2001.
back to top
back to News and notes section archives
|
