P U B L I S H E R ’ S D E S K BACK A WINNER AND RIDE THE RELATIONSHIP ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK Greg Robertson Publisher It’s a little different, this issue of Engineering News. A little different to what you’re used to, anyway. I’ll get to that. The business landscape isn’t changing – it’s changed. Having relationships with your suppliers is no longer what you need to be having. Today, it’s about collaboration and ensuring that every company that your company does business with returns a win:win. I remember the days of my editorship within the hardware and construction industries – some 20 years ago – just before the big box retailers had truly set up their (massive) shops. Bunnings was then only a rumour of being on the move here, there was a MEGA thing going on with Mitre 10 and I was seeing potential schematics, and The Warehouse had outlets, but nowhere near the footprints you see today. So, off I went to the land of Stars & Stripes to see what this big box retailing was all about – and what impact there could be. I did the usual tours… met a million suits, got the big American grins which felt like they were in competition with the shop floor sizes themselves, and fully delved into the corporates that sung the praises of big being better. Then I hit the small towns. I saw the empty mainstreets. I saw what was left of the edge of town box shells that had been quickly outgrown as ‘big’ exploded to ginormous; the big was just not big enough anymore. But it’s a story about pickles that left its mark most. Vlasic pickles, an anti-Walmart campaigner told me, was the perfect example of how you can have a relationship between supplier and on-seller which on the surface seems sensational, but delve deeper and it can turn out to be an absolute disaster. Although ‘collaboration’ has only being bandied about more recently, it was my first taste of how a relationship – in this case via a nationwide distribution – can be destined to fail because both parties were not intent on growing each other’s business. And that’s the difference with a collaboration when compared to a relationship… a relationship is purely an interaction between two parties while a collaboration works toward mutually beneficial scenarios - the win:win. Back to Vlasic’s, the then premium American pickle brand (whole pickles mostly). A small jar – about $4-6 dollars (from memory), and through niche supply and quality product the brand built itself strong. The best next step, management thought, was the obvious relationship with the nation’s biggest retailer, Walmart. And off into the sunset they would ride, together, right? Unfortunately for Vlasic’s, and some of you out there who have done business with big boxes in past lives will know, the horse hadn’t yet begun to be flogged. Walmart buyers demanded better pricing. Whole pickles were cut (a big no-no in the pickle land back then) and suddenly Vlasic’s pickles were being sold cut, and by the gallon jar, for $2.97. The brand had been bastardised. A gallon – or 12 pounds – was enough pickles for any American for a year and in an instant the decades of work that Vlasic’s had undertaken to convince its customers to spend top dollar for its top-end pickles was undone, now just pennies per gallon jar in profit. The brand, it seems, has since bounced back. But it is a strong reminder to align your company with others that have no hidden agendas, and business processes implemented that benefit both. The companies highlighted in this issue of NZ Engineering News – under the Profiles of Success banner – are intent on collaboration. They are successful business units in their own right and want to help build your business through mutually beneficial collaborations. They want that win:win so you continue to do business with them long into the future. I use the following term in business plenty… “If we both walk away feeling as though we have gotten 55% of the deal then we both win, right?” Pick up the phone and chat with the companies involved in the Profile of Success section and see how they can help your business in 2018. There is no guarantee in business, but by having the right attitude toward the win:win you (both parties) can ensure that no one ends up in a pickle. www.engineeringnews.co.nz 3
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