Browse

The three big motor companies (the Big 3) – General Motors (GM), Ford & Chrysler almost dominated the global market in early twentieth century. In 1994, Toyota replaced Chrysler, and it became the global No. 2 motor manufacturer by squeezing out Ford in 2003. Since 2008, Toyota has replaced GM to be the largest automaker globally. How did Toyota achieve its success?

One of the world’s major airlines has an ongoing problem, and even though their management is populated by some pretty smart people, they don’t even understand what the real problem is. The problem relates to how they treat their Business and First Class passengers in flight.

Based in Denmark, Novo Nordisk, is a leading company in the pharmaceutical industry. It is characterized by a value-based, holistic approach to business, facilitated by an ownership structure that is unique to the industry. The company, with headquarters in Denmark, is active in 179 countries, with production facilities in six countries and affiliates in 178 countries. Novo Nordisk has over 21,000 employees and a sales turnover of over 3,900 million euros.

Total quality management (TQM) and supply chain management (SCM) have both played an increasing role in strengthening organizational competitiveness. In the continually changing global market, quality products alone are no longer enough. New challenges now include a focus on supply to determine the right time and place for product delivery.

We need to have duplicate systems in some cases to avoid loss of data. We need to have duplication of processes in order to avoid gaps in production. We need to have duplication of systems to avoid catastrophic failures. And some organizations believe that they need to have duplication of efforts to ensure success. I can understand the first three rationales for duplication, but duplication of efforts raises more questions that they might answer.