Sugar … Rubber … Onions? As per this recent piece over on BBC News, food price rises put onions out of reach in India where food inflation has risen for the fifth straight week to 18.32% — the highest in more than a year!
This just goes to show that we are in a time where no price should be considered predictable over the long term.
As proof, consider the top 50 news stories of 2010. While most of the big stories were related to the economy, election, and terror (because the three major news networks that reach over 3/4s of the US population love to promote terror), the 3rd biggest story of 2010 was the BP Oil Spill (that will still be talked about in decades to come just like the Exxon Valdez oil spill is still talked about today) and the 10th biggest story of 2010 was the Toyota (Gas Pedal) Recall that affected most of the Toyota Vehicle Line-Up, including the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, ES 350, Highlander, IS 250, IS 350, Lexus, Matrix, Prius, RAV4, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra, and Venza. While the recall may have been limited to components manufactured by one supplier, it had devastating effects across the Toyota line.
In comparison, not one of the top 50 new stories revolved around a supply chain success. In fact, only the continued debate on the economy and the Toyota recall revolved around business. The majority of the top stories revolved around politics (28), and the rest were rather evenly split between bad news (7), natural disasters (6), and culture (7). The media doesn’t care about your success, only your failures. Make this the year your organization gets those risk management systems and processes in place so that it doesn’t end up being the top news story of 2011.
A couple of weeks ago I penned a post on Finding the Right Site where I discussed a recent article in Strategy + Business on five factors for finding the right site and noted that I thought there were at least six critical factors. It wasn’t long before Dick Locke corrected me and upped the count to seven. However, after reading this recent article in Global Services on “Location Selection Best Practices”, I am now convinced that there are 9 Cs of site selection.
In addition to the five Cs, outlined in the Strategy + Business article, of:
And the two additional Cs identified by myself and Dick Locke of:
I now believe the following two factors are equally important:
Selecting the wrong site will cost you tens, if not hundreds, of millions, so take your time and use the 9 Cs to select the right one.
Apple has a bit of a reputation as being pricey. High quality, but pricey. However, when compared to the cost of the items mentioned in the Twelve Days of Christmas, you could go overboard on Apple products for 12 days for less than half of the cost. According to a recent article from the Associated Press (found on Yahoo! News), the cost of the 12 days of Christmas has increased 10.8% to $96,824 (according to the annual Christmas Price Index compiled by PNC Wealth Management). Yowzers!
So, for those of you on a budget, I give you the twelve days of Apple.
On the first day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
an iPad in a gift case
On the second day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
On the third day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Three Macbooks,
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
On the fourth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Four Mac Minis,
Three Macbooks,
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
On the fifth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Five Macbook Airs,
Four Mac Minis,
Three Macbooks,
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
On the sixth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Six iMacs Shining,
Five Macbook Airs,
Four Mac Minis,
Three Macbooks,
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
On the seventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Seven Mac Pros Humming,
Six iMacs Shining,
Five Macbook Airs,
Four Mac Minis,
Three Macbooks,
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
On the eighth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Eight iPhones Ringing,
Seven Mac Pros Humming,
Six iMacs Shining,
Five Macbook Airs,
Four Mac Minis,
Three Macbooks,
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
On the ninth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Nine iPod Touches,
Eight iPhones Ringing,
Seven Mac Pros Humming,
Six iMacs Shining,
Five Macbook Airs,
Four Mac Minis,
Three Macbooks,
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
On the tenth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Ten iPod Classics,
Nine iPod Touches,
Eight iPhones Ringing,
Seven Mac Pros Humming,
Six iMacs Shining,
Five Macbook Airs,
Four Mac Minis,
Three Macbooks,
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
On the eleventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Eleven iPod Nanos,
Ten iPod Classics,
Nine iPod Touches,
Eight iPhones Ringing,
Seven Mac Pros Humming,
Six iMacs Shining,
Five Macbook Airs,
Four Mac Minis,
Three Macbooks,
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
On the twelfth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Twelve iPod Shuffles,
Eleven iPod Nanos,
Ten iPod Classics,
Nine iPod Touches,
Eight iPhones Ringing,
Seven Mac Pros Humming,
Six iMacs Shining,
Five Macbook Airs,
Four Mac Minis,
Three Macbooks,
Two Macbook Pros,
And an iPad in a gift case.
And it only costs you a mere $45,942!
| Product | Base Price | Units | Total |
| iPod Shuffle | 12 | 49 | 588 |
| iPod Nano | 11 | 149 | 1639 |
| iPod Classic | 10 | 249 | 2490 |
| iPod Touch | 9 | 229 | 2061 |
| iPhone | 8 | 99 | 792 |
| Mac Pro | 7 | 2499 | 17493 |
| iMac | 6 | 1199 | 7194 |
| Macbook Air | 5 | 999 | 4995 |
| Mac Mini | 4 | 699 | 2796 |
| Macbook | 3 | 999 | 2997 |
| Macbook Pro | 2 | 1199 | 2398 |
| iPad | 1 | 499 | 499 |
| Grand Total | 45942 |
A recent article in Strategy + Business on “five factors for finding the right site” (registration required*) hit the mark when it said that many companies choose particular locales as the homes of new engineering, R&D, and design sites for all the wrong reasons. For example, as the article points out, executive proximity, factory location, and global trends are not necessarily good examples. Neither are unemployment rates (which could signal large available labour pools, but which could also signal a lack of necessary skills and education), favorable currency exchange (as currency fluctuates over time, or climate (as being warm year round doesn’t mean anything unless you’re building a tourist resort).
Choosing a future engineering or R&D location should not be a seat-of-the-pants decision. Since sites can’t be spun up or shut down quickly, these decisions have long term consequences and must be made with care. Each of the relevant C’s need to be carefully considered before a decision is made. According to the article, there are five (5) C’s that need to be considered, but I believe that there are six (6).
While I wholeheartedly agree that the following five factors need to be considered:
I believe that this factor is equally important:
The authors might argue that “competition” is taken into account by the other factors, and capacity and capability in particular, and that, for this reason, it does not need to be considered on its own, but I would have to disagree. It’s true that capacity and capability will be affected by competition, because more competition will create more demand which will likely result in more educational programs being tailored to meet that demand, but the creation and customization of these programs takes time. As a result, competition can exist before there is capacity to serve it. Plus, once these programs are established, educational institutions are slow to change or discontinue them. As a result, some programs will continue to churn out large number of graduates in a certain field long after the demand for those graduates has subsided. Thus, there is no direct correlation between capacity and competition, as there is no direct correlation between capacity and demand for that capacity, and competition must be considered separately.
Finally, if one uses these six Cs (the five Cs in the article augmented with competition), it is reasonable to expect that her chances of finding the right site for expansion are greatly improved. For more details on the first five C’s, including some good examples of how to apply the principles in practice, read the S+B article on five factors for finding the right site (registration required*) in its entirety. There’s a lot more information in it than one can summarize in a short blog post and it is definitely worth your time.
* or subscription required