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BOSS’ OFFICE – The other day I was summoned to my boss’ office to review this very important power point presentation we’re preparing for our customer. He was a bit busy on the phone, so I just picked up this “quality progress” magazine on his desk.
I flipped to this page that talked about what companies should do during recession, and of course it started from the bad examples where companies cut costs in every single way possible to keep the cash flow going. It’s not wrong to try to cut costs, but the effect of the current activities could result in long-term effect that cannot be covered with, say, more cash investment. If the company picks a cheaper and lower-quality vendor because of cost concerns, its current customers might try it for a few times before realizing that the company’s products have decreased in quality. Or even if there are new customers because of the price advantage, these customers will leave you for the next cheapest vendor when it ever becomes available, resulting in more price wars. Either way, it’s short-term!
So of course I thought about how our company does it, and I would say we’re doing the right and the wrong things. Yes, we laid off 25% of the people since summer 2008, but at the same time we’re trying to stay lean by implementing 5S and other lean activities. I respect those executives who try their best to keep the company afloat, but at the same time I hope they also realize the potential impact in the near future. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and pray for the best~
