Operations Management 10.12.08

Sunday morning. I woke up at 5am in Napa and was in class at 8am in San Rafael. Operations Management. 

Apparently we are suppose to really get into the meat of our main book. Note: Get this Lean Book. I thought I had it but don't.

Value stream= Provision Stream + Consumption Stream

E.g. airlines, internet retailer, automobile purchase, restaurant.   

If there is a system don't fight the system. Render a new system to make the old system obsolete. 

Value Generation - If you are a customer focus entity this is where you are looking

Customer value drives business model considerations

Business model consideration drive shareholder value

Requires a careful design and management of :

• Demand Chain
  
• Supply Chain 
  
• Value Network

You want to put your money into not stabilizing your organization but growing your organization.  

Tacit/Experiential Value

• emotional experience
  
• physical experience- 
  
• intellectual experience- universities
  
• spiritual experience - spas
  

Consumer Criteria for Value

• Asset management- financial advisors
  
• time management- mechanic
  
• cost management- Walmart
  
• performance management- taking your car in for a tune up 
  
• information management - 
  
• risk management - insurance, security alarm systems

Prosumerism

• IKEA - customer participates in product assembly  (my teacher says this weird)
  
• DIY Kits
  
• Threadless.com - customers design, select, market, and buy T-shirts "Classic example of crowd surfing" people vote for the best design and they sell it. Web 2.0 like 
  
• Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 - full participation and integration of customer and business
  
• crowdsourcing
  
• social networking
  

Enterprise Value

Value of Assets

• Facilities
  
• Inventory

Premium Value

• competitive advantage of product/service
  
• barriers to entry created
  
• market share - first to market, greater market share

Latent Value

• Future value of business model and products - crowd sourcing and social networking can increase your value to 10x, want can be done in the future. What are you doing to bring value to your customers.  

Consulting firms are typically 1x, one times revenue. You are going to be valued at 1x, if someone buys you it will be for 1x your revenue. You are also looking at premium value. 

Adding value to your business can help you attain credit during financials during down turns.

Asset Management Migration

• Recent expansion from purely owned assets to accessible, or total managed assets
  
• Focus on value net vs. value chain assets
• Partnerships & Alliances
  

Dell Computer

Cisco

Nelson Staffing - temp agency  

YourEncore

 

David Maister - "Managing a professional service firm" "True Professionalism" Note: Look up these two to learn more about my energy division contractors. These are some of the main books relating to consulting. Don't keep consultants on the bench, keep them out in the field. 

Value is one of our most important drivers. 

Knowledge as an Asset

Knowledge - information, context, access, timelines

Knowledge Types:

• Tacit - get to know who is good in the field
  
• Process
  
• Technology - add web 2.0 
  
• Relationships - 
  

Ability to generate new knowledge (Autopoiesis) - develop knowledge towards your mission statement. Learning/teaching organization. 

Customer vs Product Focus

• Customer focus (focused on customer experience)   e.g. 

Threadless.com

Spas

• Product Focus 
  

BASF - "you dont know us but we make your plastics better"

Weyerhauser - wood cutter

7-10 consumers know about sustainability to brand. And the others just are behind. 

Energy policy will proactively drive countries towards war. Russian China is buying oil companies right now to get over peak oil bridge. 

People want better choices they want more sustainable options but they don't know how and they don't have choices. You must give them a choice and options. Marketing is best at oil and coke companies, why not bring this knowledge to the main stream. 

Lighter Side Date with Joe

When I spoke to my best friend Jamie about my actions she paused and said, "That was so mature of you." Now I take this as a positive sign because my actions were in relation to a guy. When provoked, I am not as mature around them that I would like. 

Hello, my name is Caroline and I am registered on Match.com. Internet dating is such a odd social taboo to admit. Sure, you can brag about how your picked up a complete stranger in a bar while in a drunken stoop and your friends will commend you. But tell someone that you met someone online and you had a cup of coffee with them and instantly you are dating Charles Manson.

I wasn't dating Charles Manson. I was dating Joe, a sweet, sharp guy from Wisconsin who could pass for Matt Damon's brother. Our first date was in a dive bar and lasted from 10:30pm to 2am with the conversation never ceasing. It was nice. Joe ended it with a hug. Nice. He asked me to call him sometime. A bit odd.. but whatever, woman can ask men out, no biggie. I waited a few days and then asked him out. He jumped at the opportunity and we made plans to meet at the 515, a nice fancy-ish lounge. I got all dressed up nice and was really looking forward to the date. The date was just as nice as the first, it lasted from 9pm to 12 midnight. He was all smiles and telling me how much he enjoyed the place I picked. As we left the lounge, I expected, well... a kiss or something... hell it was at this spot that Daniel grabbed me on our first date and went in for a kiss.. but here was Joe just waving me goodbye and telling me to call him again to hang out. I gave him an odd stare and he gave me a nice friendly hug. I walked to my car, pissed and confused. Was this just a midwest thing, wanting to take it slow and be a gentleman? Why was he asking me to make plans again? 

I spoke to a few friends about it and one girl commented that her husband didn't kiss her for the first two months they were dating. I winced. Great. But all my friends agreed that him asking me to make plans was weird. 

Yesterday I pretty much had my fill. Here was labor day weekend, three days of free time for the both of us and he didn't want to make any plans. I wrote him a polite email saying goodbye, that I think he is great but I prefer to date men who show more initiative. I wasn't sure how he would take it, maybe he was super interested but just shy. Maybe he is just bad at dating and more used to being a boyfriend. His answer... 

"I think I am just not at a point in my life where dating and such things are clear priorities for me. Just trying to have more fun and do whatever strikes me at the moment." There it was my answer. No long drawn out conversations with my girlfriends about, "I wonder what Joe is thinking." I just put my cards on the table and he answered. Joe is thinking fun. Joe just wants to strike his fancy with whatever. I have a lot of guy friends who don't want to date and just want to have fun. It is ok, no harm no foul.. but know what they do? They sit their asses on the couch with a beer in their hand and not spend $$ on a friggin *dating* website! 

End of Summer - Most Life Changing Summer of My Life

So I didn't write during this summer. Fitting though that I write again on Labor Day weekend, the end of summer. 

This has been one of the most life changing summers of my life, unfortunately filled with more downsides than upsides. 

It was on Easter morning that I got a call from my sister-in-law. I was spending that morning relaxing with my boyfriend Daniel and we were joking how much we wanted bagels on Easter morning. (He's Jewish and I am not). When the phone call came and my sister in law told me what hospital my brother Jon had been admitted to the night before, both bagels and Daniel vanished from my thoughts, and I raced to Jon's bedside. That day began my summer from hell. Three months of driving to the hospital, waiting in ICU rooms, watching my big brother slowly fall apart due to Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma cancer. He died on July 1st 2008. 

While that main plot line was going on in my life, I had several subplots of stress. I was still in school for my green MBA, full time and I was working full time. While I had Daniel during all those months, we broke up a week and a half before my brother died and Daniel removed himself completely from my world as he moved to London. My heart was broken in several ways and I don't know how I made it through the month of July 2008. 

Everyone tells me that I am stronger as a result of this past summer. But I think I am strong enough and would be happy to just be allowed to be the scared, weak, girl that I am inside and show very little of on the outside. I can tell cancer stories that I know no one wants to hear. But as I went through my own cancer tale I found that cancer and death is a part of many lives, most people keeping it a secret for the social taboo it is. I get angry at this and want to shout out the stories for the benefit of others that either don't know how to talk to someone in my place or to the people holding their cancer secret stories feeling alone. 

At the end of the day though, I am just a typical 27 yr old girl trying to get started in life. 

Summer Starting Over

I wanted to write because there is an air of starting over in my life. Not in any sort of dramatic change, but more wanting to assume more mature level in life. What a bore, this must seem but there is some meat to it. I have three things going on: starting summer school, boyfriend moving, and wanting to reform my tush.

This Saturday I will start the summer session of my Green MBA. Since the Spring semester ended, I have worked on a number of community activities to promote a more sustainable lifestyle. I co-organize Green Drinks for Santa Cruz, holding large events where green business owners, climate change scientist, and civic leaders have a chance to discuss their work. Despite all the work, it pays off in experience.

Another change is the fact that my boyfriend will be moving to London in a few weeks and we will break up as a result. It is a sad story, one where two people fell in love at the wrong time. I am constantly anonyed though when people tell me to follow him. Don't they remember I have a graduate program I adore?

Finally, I got to get my bod back. I have had a hell of a summer so far and as a result, I gained twenty pounds. That needs to come off ASAP.

I hope to address these events and more on my blog. yay.

Back to School - Homework Due April 12

Critical Thinking For Business ReDesign

On Saturday, April 12th, you will be given 10 minutes to present your portfolio and preliminary grade to a group of 3-4 students. Plan 5 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for Q&A. Your final presentations may/may not modify your preliminary grade

On Saturday, April 26th you will submit your portfolio: You need to have a Title Page, Table of Contents, Calendar of the Semester with the Assignment Due Dates plotted, and a one page summary that documents all the assignments and the date of completion of each. Then each assignment needs to be in the binder and paginated.

Based on your methodology, you will give yourself a letter grade and as your teacher, I will review your portfolio and witness your process. Obviously, this is a model for how you will work with performance review systems in the businesses you plan to start or work in. Hopefully, your direct experience will inform your future capacities in this field in general. My purpose is to awaken you to the possibilities and challenges of any methodology of assessment, and to be able to identify effective criteria and standards that you will continue to refine throughout your professional career. (Relax…we'll talk!)

1. Identify seven areas from You Are the Message that you want to focus on for your final presentations. Cite the page numbers, your reason for choosing it, and the specifics of how you want to improve in that dimension. Submit this as a seven-paragraph paper.

2. TRIO – Develop your personal Ontology and Epistemology, as per Guba model. Interview at least three people close to you about their perspectives on your core gesture: compare and explore your earlier identification of your near and true gifts. Present as a paper and submit a sculpture or collage that reflects your ideas and impressions. The sculpture may take any form.
3. 30/60 Second Message Presentations as per Final Assignment Handouts (Tape) -
4. Interviews are due

• Handout Essays
• Complete You Are the Message
• PBR Complete

Eco Commerce Models
· Cradle to Cradle, all.
· Go to http://www.mcdonough.com/writings/design_for_triple.htm and read the article Design for the Triple Top Line
· Go to www.mbdc.com. Scan contents in the 3 major sections. Read the Cradle to Cradle Design Protocol under the Transforming Industry category, and read the Product Co-Marketing section under the Products and Services category.
Reading due: (Now prioritized)
· World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD): www.wbcsd.ch. "About the WBCSD": Read this section. Scan the pages for the main categories in the left margin.
· From reader, Walking the Talk: The Business Case for Sustainable Development, pp. 12-38, 83-102.
· Go to Center for International Regulatory Assistance (CITRA) http://www.citra.duq.edu/index.htm. The intent is to get a feel for the European mindset and env. regulations driving changes in product design and packaging globally. Read “about,” “CE Mark,” “Environment,” and click on CITRA's Handbook on European Environmental Initiatives. Once there read the main page, “The Administrative Framework” (note the goals and the use of the precautionary principle) “European Environmental Policy,” “Directives Implementing the EU Environmental Policy,” then check out specific standards: Packaging Waste, Hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products (RoHS), The EUP, Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), Chemicals (REACH) / Envoronmental Liability, Eco-design, Eco-Labeling, Eco-Management and Audit System (EMAS) , The European Energy Star Program.
· Corporate Ecosystem Services Review (ESR) tool: Got to http://www.wri.org/project/ecosystem-services-review and read the brief description, then download the ESR Complete Publication or download it from BlackBoard. Scan the entire document to get a sense of the business case being made and the actual process/tool available for organizations to use.
· Agenda 21: The goal is to get a feel for the scope of international thought that has gone into creating sustainable societies. Scan the full Table of Contents for Agenda 21 at http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/agenda21toc.htm. Download the Press Version from BlackBoard and scan it to get a feel for the depth of the initiatives.
· Peak oil: www.theoildrum.com, read Our Mission, Peak Oil Overview, Peak Oil Update
· The Oil Depletion Protocol: www.oildepletionprotocol.org, read The Protocol and scan sections in What Can I Do?
· Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare: Go to http://community.foe.co.uk/tools/isew/index.html, read: the intro: ISEW explained > See how these factors affect the value of ISEW > add item, until you get through all of them; View the Results; International Examples.

Assignment Check:
· Due dates coming up in next couple of days – Eco-matrix (4/22), final report (4/23), and presentation (4/27)!

The backstory

I'm adding some personal bits to this blog, perhaps it will be a good idea, perhaps I will one day be held liable for the content. :)

Am I single? Um no. Got the boyfriend, check. He cares about me ooddles. I think he is grand. Why does it sound like I am holding him at a distance? Well, on our first date he told me that for grad school he applied to Georgetown, University of Washington, and London School of Economics. I laughed to myself and though, "Sure, and I applied to the Moon. Hopefully I get in." I mean who actually gets accepted to those schools? Well, just before I went to bed after the end of the first date, he texts me, "I checked my mail on the way home. I got accepted into the London School of Economics" I yelled out, "Holy shit, he is for real."

So there goes it. I signed on for a maximun four month relationship. Will I keep it as a long distance relationship? He is a 26 yr old man who has never traveled Europe. I have and am well aware of hostels, hotties, and hang overs. I rather shoo him away to experience life than hold him down to some long distance mess.

It is certainly not without its challenges, he really likes me and hates the fact that he only just met now. He used to be the bouncer at the bar I went to, he had three years to notice that I was flirting with him then. He only figured this out just now.

We have two months to go and I guess I am just taking things for what they are. Enjoying the time while it is there. Already though I have met: his sister, his cousin, his aunts, his other cousins.... I keep getting introduced, shaking hands, and being asked what am I going to do when he leaves. "Um, carry on with my life and graduate school?"

Nickel and Dimed

I forgot what a quick read this book is. I am about halfway through it in one night. What I feel now is a unsettling sense of regression to the period in my life where I wasn't too far off from Barbara's experiences. I was 18 living on my own working three jobs living on $5 a week food money, best weight loss plan ever. Hot dogs, without those expensive buns, rolls, and cheese circles I stoled out of the fruit baskets I delivered at the flower shop I worked at.

I find this book a little condescending though. The author is fine but she talks about what anyone else would work worked in that environment. To read the "rewards" on the cover and the back of the book is ridiculously elite snobbery.

Im bummed