This Focused Performance Weblog is a "business management blog" containing links and commentary related primarily to organizational effectiveness with a "Theory of Constraints" perspective. TOC is noted for its applications in Project Management and Multi-Project Management (Critical Chain) and Operations Management (Drum-Buffer-Rope), as well as in Marketing, Strategic Planning and Change Management (TOC Thinking Processes). If you are on an archive page, current postings are found here.
Friday, January 17, 2003
• The Coolest Small Company in America -- Yesterday, I gave a presentation to my local Chamber of Commerce, on the need for and an approach to planning the future of a firm in terms of its current issues. Today, I see (via the Creative Generalist) that I missed a great example to include in the presentation, based on this article in Inc.'s online edition. It's a great story of a small company that found themselves in a classic dilemma of such firms...
"Weinzweig and Saginaw had a choice. They could keep Zingerman's a small, local operation and run the risk that it would languish or atrophy. Or they could take it to the next level. But if they grew Zingerman's aggressively, they might sacrifice the very attributes that had made the deli extraordinary since its beginning -- close contact with a community, intimacy with customers, team spirit among employees, and exceptional quality of food and service."
Obviously, they needed to break that conflict, and find a way to grow without sacrificing their soul. It's a good story, still unfolding with new dilemmas, as every organization will face when they try to become more tomorrow than they were yesterday. But I get the sense that these guys "get it," and will succeed.
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