So this Chinese guy, a Brit and an Okie go into a bar...

Today's headline in the NY Times Business section says it all:

"A Chinese Company Intends to Build MG's in Oklahoma"

Ha! Being an Okie myself, I was particularly drawn to this. Wow... I don't mean to wax political, but we're spending a lot of time worrying about outsourcing on one hand, and immigration on the other. And here we see a company who is finding that building stuff in the US, big stuff, like cars, is more efficient for them to reach their foreign markets (ie. The US).

Well, I imagine what Nanjing Automobile Group will find is that, properly run, a car plant in Oklahoma can be VERY efficient. It's what Toyota is finding in places like North Carolina. In fact, one has to assume that they find this to be MORE efficient - all things considered - than building those cars anywhere else. I mean, the lessons of capitalism haven't been lost on the Chinese.

And the backbone of this better management is better PROCESS management. This isn't about heavy IT expenditures (Toyota, like Dell, Wal-Mart and others find that better business process management leads to lower IT costs as a percentage of revenues compared to their peers)... It's not about SOA... It's not about Java vs .Net... It is about inculcating a process mentality throughout the organization, from top-to-bottom and from bottom-to-top!

Socializing all this into your culture isn't easy, but it is a key part of the difference between winners and lsoers. We have one customer who has "stock ticker" signs in the cafeterias that only reflect the amount saved or made that day from process projects! We have other customers who socialize the process drawing throughout every part of the organization.... Increasing the velocity of communication about processes throughout your organization is a big part of BPM. When you hear business leaders of great companies speak, they typically speak highly of their people, and their processes.... These go hand in hand.

The point is that instead of looking outside at the factors of why you aren't as good in some area as your competition, look instead inside at all the areas you could improve... And it will almost always get down to a process. Your people aren't as good? It's the hiring process. Too many returns? It's probably in large part due to your returns logistics process (or quality processes). Whatever area it is... It's probably your _approach_ to the problem that most directly impacts your ability to compete and grow market share (not always... There are, of course, structural issues that affect your ability to compete... Toyota has roughly the same revenues as GM with about 40,000 fewer workers - but this is in part due to process excellence itself, although in large part due to legacy business conditions).

Well, anyway, I'll wager that Nanjing Automobile Group has pretty good hiring, onboarding, development and logistics processes. If they do, then all those US citizens will have long, productive careers building British cars for the Chinese.

Phil

- Phil Gilbert (via mobile)