Leonardo da Vinci was once quoted as saying , "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". If he were alive these days he would realize how we have strayed from this few point. Perhaps Thor Heyerdahl is correct when he states "Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity".
Look around you. From cell phones to restaurant menus we are being inundated with too much choice, which complicates an already complicated life!
In a Harvard Business Review Article from 2006 entitled More Isn't Always Better, it shows that there have been studies done that as choices increase, customer satisfaction decreases! Go figure!
Why does a supplier need to give me a 100 pens to chose from? Or do I need technology that does everything but walk the dog?
If you look at this from the supply chain perspective, every new version of a product adds costs . Warehousing, transportation, well you know the drill. Not to mention the marketing material costs, and different packages for only slightly different offerings. Is it good business practice to cannibalize your own products?
Wouldn't it be nice if a supplier came to us and said "You know, I realize that my competitors are going to bring you 15 different options with this product, but our intention is to provide you with what you truly need at the best total
cost you can imagine!"
It goes back to the Saturday Night Live skit with John Belushi and Bill Murray -- not matter what anyone came into the restaurant to order it was just Cheeseburger and Pepsi! Now if we could only get corporations to understand the sophistication and benefit to this simplicity!
Now give me a Cheeseburger and Pepsi please!
Look around you. From cell phones to restaurant menus we are being inundated with too much choice, which complicates an already complicated life!
In a Harvard Business Review Article from 2006 entitled More Isn't Always Better, it shows that there have been studies done that as choices increase, customer satisfaction decreases! Go figure!
Why does a supplier need to give me a 100 pens to chose from? Or do I need technology that does everything but walk the dog?
If you look at this from the supply chain perspective, every new version of a product adds costs . Warehousing, transportation, well you know the drill. Not to mention the marketing material costs, and different packages for only slightly different offerings. Is it good business practice to cannibalize your own products?
Wouldn't it be nice if a supplier came to us and said "You know, I realize that my competitors are going to bring you 15 different options with this product, but our intention is to provide you with what you truly need at the best total
cost you can imagine!" It goes back to the Saturday Night Live skit with John Belushi and Bill Murray -- not matter what anyone came into the restaurant to order it was just Cheeseburger and Pepsi! Now if we could only get corporations to understand the sophistication and benefit to this simplicity!
Now give me a Cheeseburger and Pepsi please!
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