Now that I'm back on the job market (you can read the full announcement here, if you didn't see it already), I've been doing quite a bit of thinking about the type of company I want to work with. That has led to an analysis of what types of companies even exist today.
Lloyd Dobler, in Say Anything, said, "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a
career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy
anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or
processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a
career, I don't want to do that."
My own variation now, is I don't want to work in an unstable industry. I realize in today's market, that's a near-impossibility; but I think there are some warning signs I've learned.
My second-to-last job was with a window and door distributor. The company distributed luxury products, and -- when the recession hit, harder and faster than anyone expected -- business dried up. In fact, they really haven't even fully recovered. People's priorities changed, and suddenly, buying a world-class luxury window wasn't nearly as important as it was in 2005.
The company had experienced meteoric growth, prior to that. And, to be sure, they were absolutely identified as experts in their field ... the salespeople and support personnel were among the most knowledgeable in the industry.
But, all they sold were windows and doors (eventually the product line opened up a little bit), and -- when a recession hits -- people are looking at one-stop shopping more than anything.
Think about it: If you wanted to make a sandwich, but you had to go to a bakery to buy the roll; a deli to buy the coldcuts; a farmstand for the produce/veggies; and a grocery store for the condiments ... or, you could go to a WalMart and get everything (albeit the roll, coldcuts and veggies were *guaranteed* to not be as fresh or tasty if you'd purchased them separately), which would you do? Most of us, I submit, would head to WalMart (or, quite possibly, Subway, instead), sacrificing quality for convenience.
So, now we head to my most recent position, with an educational technology distributor (again, with the distributors!). Unlike the previous company, this company had a value-add built in to the product offering. Since the technology was so new (and was being sold to school districts, nearly exclusively), the company offered a world-renowned professional development program, to help instruct teachers on the use of the equipment (initially; this eventually increased into become trusted partners with teachers with a goal of improving the quality of teaching, in general).
Sounds good, right? We have the one-stop shop. The district doesn't need to purchase the equipment from one company and then seek out training elsewhere. We've appeased that culture of convenience (and, best of all, the training really was the best around, and the pricing on the hardware was certainly competitive).
One catch. As a distributor, you're almost always at the mercy of the manufacturer and the vendor controls the pricing.
So - if for example - you're accustomed to selling Equipment Piece A
for $100 to the marketplace, and you're paying $75 for it to the
vendor; and the manufacturer decides to raise the price to $85, you
have a choice to make: Do you pass that increase on to the customer (up
to $110) and risk them going elsewhere (even if they love your
training program -- and, worse yet -- since we already discussed above
with the sandwich metaphor, maybe they take *all* their business with
them!); or do you eat the increase and see your profit margin suffer?
Tough choice. And, suddenly, things are unstable.
As a jobseeker, this is the type of industry I'm now leery of. Knowing consumers are so interested in the one-stop shop mentality; that culture of convenience that's been bred into us; it's imperative for companies to be able to satisfy that desire. But, it's equally important for a company to control its own destiny. Do any such companies exist? I'm not entirely sure. Look at Apple - certainly they're a consumer favorite; but do they really control their own destiny? Could any of their suppliers suddenly raise the rates on their materials? Or, is Apple so much the 800-lb gorilla that no vendor would dare do that?
Are there any companies that are truly "stable" today?
Friday, February 15, 2013
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1 comments:
Chris as in "a loaded question" this is a loaded blog with many different scenarios and possibilities. People should never sacrifice quality for convenience because they will lose a lot of $$$$$ in the end. For example if you go to a deli or Italian Super Market and buy a large stick of Venetian Salami (which is award winning Salami and made here in Hamilton by my cousins,available in the USA)that cost's you say $10, say $20 if you want, you go and buy Wonder Bread for $5, in that stick of salami you get 250-300 slices if you know how to slice properly. So that day alone you spent 15-25 bucks on quality meat. You go to Subway or any other shop you spend $8 on a sub with 6 slices, you have already lost. Now the wording you used about vendor manufacturer is different than what I'm used too. When Sab had the restaurant it went like this...Manufacturer to Vendor but 90% of the time it was Manufacturer Distributor Vendor(restaurant) Yes, the vendor (the restaurant)sets THE FINAL PRICE to the customers. Many many many times from 2004 to 2011 the price of produce was through the roof (remember Wendy's and McDonald's stopped adding tomatoes in 05-06ish years because of the shortage and price of tomatoes due to weather in California)well we bit the bullet and did not pass it along to our customers. Eventually over the years we changed the prices on the menu to give us a better profit but we were forced to do so because the market place kept raising pricing and adding gas surcharges etc...something new every week as in excuses. Our customers never left because my wife served great food and was THE BEST IN CUSTOMER SERVICE, THEY ALL FELT LIKE FAMILY AND TO THIS DAY BEG HER TO RE-OPEN. So depending on the size of your business like Apple, they control the manufactures and if the makers of iPhone etc in China wanted to raise prices Apple would find the next Chinese Company that will work to Apples rules. The makers of Apples processors or lenses would be losing a BILLION dollar company with hundreds of millions of customers if they tried that too. So no, nothing is ever stable all the time, too many conditions and factors come into play. What I would try if I were you, with your experience and expertise in many fields, would be to start up a business from home where you advise companies and help them implement proper strategies in how to conduct and run their business. It will be slow and many hours at first but; not expensive on your end. And those companies will not have to deal with as many employees and will save on benefits too.
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