Chapter 9 ACTING SMALL Whether you are large or small it is better to act small no matter how big you get including international comps Employees need to be able to access everything Helps customers feel like you can help them with anything and spend time with them Acting small examples Miller SQA indoor street in its headquarters building where office and factory workers mingle Midwest Express rst name culture Container Store daily employee huddle in its stores and distribution center Charles Schwab Corporation town hall meetings USAAs application of information technology enabling service providers to immediately access a members integrated and complete le and provide quick customized seamless service Dana Commercial Credit employees assuming total responsibility for the 25 square feet around their desks Special Expeditions having the power to change course or make itinerary adjustments based on customers to seize opportunities without having to call home office for approval Ukrop s offering individual customers targeted specials on speci c products they buy regularly and sending employees bday cards signed by Bob and Jim Ukrop w 50 check inside 2 2 3 ENTERPRISE STAYING SMALL The Manns couldnt remember which car company they book rental w called other comp 1 but on hold for long time Enterprise was fast and polite waited after closing for women to go back for license Tones Of Entrepreneurial Hunger Empower your employees so they feel responsibility and ownership Act Fast Flexible Responsively girl in book is trying to nd her appt window nally does with enterprise a front like employee was responsive when the associate went and got the other book at Barleys Know Your Customer Custom Fit you have to know your window of operation and tell people to take a hike HOWEVER this is a con ict for this book know when its worth it to custom know your customer customers that want something else other than what you offer they are not truly your customer you want a customer with long term relationships with your business not someone just there for the deal for a loyal customer it is appropriate to custom t A Shared Vision shared vision with ALL aspects of your business front line corporate customers 5 4 ACTING SMALL Miller SQA Indoor Street Mingling in Miller down the middle of their corporate office the mainstream employees are in the middle of the building to give an acting small concept so that top employees hang with oor employees Midwest Express 1st Names Container Store Huddle like a pep rally talk about recent experiences congratulate employees for recent success Charles Schwab Town Hall CHANGE IT have to change things that dont t goes with acting small nd out there are problems act quickly USAA encourages employees to continually ask these fundamental questions and take charge of the answers Is it Easy For Customers To Do Business is it easy for customers to buy merchandise from us some times you look on a website for hours for just a piece of info and then give up make sure its easy for people to access your business and not get frustrated Is it Easy To Do Business W Ourselves sometimes its hard to do business within your own company example work at blockbuster as manager you cant simply check a movie out yourself have to nd another manager or if you work at walmart and trying to order new things and have to nd right department If Not Why Change It if there are issues gure them out create a better central The Sample companies are not immune to creeping scale growth in their businesses but they take steps to make sure they are remaining small Company bigness has its competitive virtues including more complete service lines broader geographic coverage operational support infrastructure bargaining strength with suppliers bigger promotion budgets The issue with scale is the SIDE EFFECTS that come from these positives the KEY is to maintain size so that you have these above advantages but remain acting small among employee and esp to customers and minimize the disadvantages Starbucks has an issue with this They compromise quality for quantity They were once known for the most personal employees and now they are loosing the small business feel 6 Dont confuse acting small with business that are actually small Some small businesses try and act big Small offices in large chains often re ect chainlike behaviors like including soulless by the book homogenized services You will nd employee saying That is against our policy Never use the P word Policy Enterprise has many small branches all over the country each run by entrepreneurs that do not try and act big Enterprise likes to seek out new management on college campuses for talented young people who want to run their own business They want a blend of values driven leadership innovative strusture customer and employee focused info technology and ownership attitudes in each small chain location No hill I can t climb attitude They want high tech yet simple refer to their crazy computer system as simply Ralph which enables employees in tracking the repair of a customers car determining insurance company billing instructions knowing every cars location at all times but does not haggle customers for information to look this stuff up all is needed is a phone number to recall info already saved which customers love 7 KEEP IT SIMPLE Doing Business W Customers do not complicate these two Doing Business W Each Other Economies Of Scale Minimize The Disadvantages as starbucks has grown and expanded they went from roasting their own beans and selling to coffee shop to now huge chain they have sacri ced quality for expansion they dont have the fresh beans roasting anymore they are less personal with their customers seen as possibly cold target for media scrutiny Maximize The Advantages great to be big market share power nancial stability you can buy things cheaper at bulk better equipment many employees name recognition to go along with coffee Reaping Smallness Bene ts A Blend Of Value Driven Leadership staying strong with your own chosen values Innovative Structure USAA has a policy of calling one time to x everything enterprise hires young students out of college and gives them ownership values take a smaller segmented area IT Customer Employee Focused call in to the technology help services and they Ownership Attitudes managers out of college for enterprise fresh ready to start x everything ownership CUSTOM RESEARCH Sustained Success Apply For Baldrige