Dynamic Supply Chains, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 2

Customer conversations: looking from the ‘outside-in’

How to reduce complexity and associated costs

We have long pursued the Holy Grail of superior supply chain performance through the time-honoured art of customer segmentation. Over the years a myriad of customer segmentation regimes have been designed, deployed and cemented into place. Some frameworks have been successful, and a few remain useful, but as the often lacklustre performance has demonstrated, these regimes are no longer producing the results we need. The central message in this chapter is that segmentation must occur by analyzing customers along behavioural lines if we’re to achieve superior performance. It’s time for you to make customers, and customers alone, the ultimate ...