Strategic tools for the practising manager

KIT

The total value of the belts market in urban India for youth is estimated at Rs 840 crore a year.

The market for fabric belts is 16.6 per cent of the total belts market and is valued at Rs 140 crore.

The total volume of the fabric belts market in urban India is estimated at 0.37 crore units a year, which is 27.4 per cent of the total market for belts.

On an average, men spend Rs 250 a unit on fabric belts, while women spend Rs 235 a unit.

Most consumers prefer buying fabric belts from street hawkers (31 per cent) or unorganised multi-brand outlets (24 per cent).

Thirty-one per cent consumers prefer buying fabric belts while shopping at big shopping markets/streets.

*Age group 15-25 years (SEC A & B of urban population) in India.

NUGGETS
Selections from management journals

We all know that people "hire" products and services to get a job done. Surgeons hire scalpels to dissect soft tissue. Janitors hire soap dispensers and paper towels to remove grime from their hands.

To find ways to innovate, it's critical to deconstruct the job the customer is trying to get done from beginning to end, to gain a complete view of all the points at which a customer might desire more help from a product or service.

A methodology called job mapping helps companies analyse the biggest drawbacks of the products and services customers currently use and discover opportunities for innovation.

It involves breaking down the task the customer wants to accomplish into the eight universal steps of a job: (1) defining the objectives, (2) locating the necessary inputs, (3) preparing the physical environment, (4) confirming that everything is ready, (5) executing the task, (6) monitoring its progress, (7) making modifications as necessary, and (8) concluding the job.

Job mapping differs substantively from process mapping in that the goal is to identify what customers are trying to get done at every step, not what they are doing currently.

For instance, when an anesthesiologist checks a monitor during a surgical procedure, the action taken is just a means to the end. Detecting a change in patient vital signs is the job the doctor is trying to get done.

Within each of the discrete steps lie multiple opportunities for making the job simpler, easier, or faster. By mapping out every step of the job and locating those opportunities, companies can discover new ways to differentiate their offerings.

The customer-centred innovation map
By Lance A Bettencourt and Anthony W Ulwick
Harvard Business Review, May 2008
Read this article at www.hbr.com

Chinese computer maker Lenovo's 2005 acquisition of IBM's PC division created a giant operational challenge for Qiao Song, Lenovo's chief procurement officer. The task? Manage the rapid integration of two purchasing groups with different processes, management systems, and cultures