The businesses are facing ever increasing competition. To beat your competition one has to be fast learner, innovative, responsive etc. Every one knows that stuff. Recently I came across a wonderful insight that is very obvious but gets ignored largely. It is my honour to share it with you. Though I have no doubt that most of you have already familiar with it.
The product design, price, features etc., every thing physical, is quickly either copied by the competitors. However, the changes that relate to policy matters take extraordinary long time to be adopted or bettered by the Competitor. Here is an example: Toyota's Just in time Practices took over a decade to get the attention of US Automakers. In "The Presence" Peter Senge narrates the story of a US Auto industry executive who had visited the Toyota facilities in Japan in 80s. He told Senge that the Toyota People had taken them for a "ride" and didnt show them the real plants. When Senge asked why he thought so. The executive replied that "The plants we visited had no inventories at all".
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