Tag Archives: business

The Value of Public Perception on Your Business

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The opponents of climate change do not seem to be as vocal, or numerous as they were.  The swing now is on the amount of media attention highlighting how little or how much change the climate is going through.

Whatever the cause or source for the focus on climate change, it has meant that all governments – local, state, national and international – are putting regulations and monitory in place.  One immediate benefit from this is that records are now being kept and as any Six Sigma proponent will tell you, it is only then that you can make informed decisions – either way. Without this information it is all emotion and hearsay.

BUT this will not absolve businesses from being aware of perception; a declining public perception will kill profits and eventually the business. I am not promoting or knocking Eviance, (a company that provides Environmental Enterprise Resource Planning software) but they have put out a white paper on this subject  “The Value of Public Perception: Transforming Environmental Efforts From Compliance-Driven to Risk Management”.

I like this paper as they are suggesting that following the regulations and making business calculations based on whether to comply or not, is like playing the game from the sidelines.  Customers, investors and competitors are now very savvy and review a companies environmental performance – and environmental plans – which means if you are perceived in the wrong light regards your environmental scorecard, you lose.

It is the pro-active steps that are taken regards the environment (not just climate change) that can push a company to the front of the pack. This is a common marketing theme – listen to your customer.  Even raising the awareness of customers, investors and competitors that your company is against particular regulations or perceived climate friendly initiatives will damage your reputation.

In summary, any SWOT analysis would indicate that it is in the company’s best interest – including long term financially – to go environmentally friendly, be ahead of the regulations, be perceived as being on the same side as other stake-holders. Yep, the tide is rising and as with the Danish King Canute, no commands or pleading will stop it.

Success via Creativity

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It is good to see companies making progress in creativity, despite the overall air of commercial trepidation still hanging around.

I would like to bring your attention to two fantastic “ideas” that are now being commercialized. The first is a new design by Tony Pike of Flat Technologies, who like the rest of us was rather annoyed at sitting in cafes with wobbly tables. He has put together a product that, once placed into position, will stay there. The really amazing part is that it is just hydraulics under the legs of a café table; there are four small interconnected cylinders with internal bladders. No seals, no locks, no electronics, no maintenance and it works. This product has a huge number of potential applications.

The second is a review of a current design then modifying this so it has nearly 30% reduction in parts costs and 50% reduction in labour costs. Sam Mikhail of IGT has used creativity and ingenuity along with the help of his team and use of DFMA software (taking the leg work out of standardising components and processes in manufacture) to re-design a gaming machine that is now versatile and customer friendly, with the “customer” in this case being everyone down-line from the engineer.

It is this type of creativity that needs to be found and encouraged in all aspects of business; real, live creativity. Improving the way things are done, how they are done and maybe even thinking about why they are done. It can be for a new or existing product, just as much, it can be for a new or existing process. As per my previous blog, use all the tools at your disposal – whether you have a huge tool box or a simple one – to help with your creativity.

Click on the links to see more about Tony and Sam.

Let’s celebrate real thought, real innovation, real action by acknowledging these people. We would love to hear of any great ideas for products or processes that you have heard of or even better come up with yourself.

Cheers
Mark