Building the Value Machine: Transforming Your Business through Collaborative Customer Partnerships

This book responds directly to some of the most significant issues in today’s business environment: How can we identify the right key accounts, and how can we work more closely with them? How can we become a key supplier, chosen to collaborate on the customer’s future plans? How can we align our internal functions to the demands of those customers? How do we do this profitably?

The "value machine" represents the type of business able to align its internal functions with its key customers' needs to create value for mutual benefit. This book guides readers through three imperatives to building a customer-backed value machine: leadership that is involving, inclusive, coaching-based, and focused on a clear strategic vision; a carefully targeted group of key accounts; an ability to create value from within the supplier company’s operations. It also shows how to meld these imperatives into a whole by matching capabilities with customer needs and aligning all functions behind one business strategy.