In Bryce Courtney's book, "The Power of One," set against a backdrop of hatred that was taking root in the country in which he lived and indeed across the world in 1939, the main character Peekay embarks on an epic journey through a land of tribal superstition and modern prejudice where he learns the power of words, the power to transform lives, and the mystical power that seems to sustain him even when it appears that villainy would rule the world. The message being that one man can make a difference. But, no - this is not a post of someone's epic journey, but rather it poses the question "if villainy did rule the world of business, what form would it take?"
One word - "Greed." History is littered with stories of corporate leaders that have wrecked havoc upon companies because of their greed. They chased executive payloads that were simply obscene. Generally, we can often see and smell such greed because, like a festering wound, it is there for all the world to see. And generally, we are able to act on it. But what if that greed is not so obvious to us? What if it is so subtle that we actually support it through our acceptance of it, because we know no better?
Allow me to explain by way of a recent event. A leading supermarket chain approached a supplier and said that it was going to remove all of its products from its shelves. The Chain knew that this would lead to a major loss of revenue to the supplier which it could not recover through other channels. But, to its credit, the supermarket chain did offer a life-line. The supplier could reduce the impact of the loss in revenues, if it co-packed those same lines under the supermarket's private label. However, should the supplier refuse to do so, it would be out of all its stores within 4 weeks.
What is the motivation here? There is only one that I can see - Greed. The supermarket may argue that it wants better margins (and I have no problem with that). Better margins means more profits; more profits means bigger payloads and bigger payloads means ....!
I do not have a problem with companies chasing margins. They need to to survive and certainly we work with many of our clients to improve their margins. I just don't like the way this particular supermarket chain went about it. May be it's just me, but I found this whole thing distasteful. The decision was not driven by any consumer research. It was not driven by any lack of advertising or promotion support on the part of the supplier. Neither was the decision driven by product quality or distribution issues. Rather, it was simply a supermarket chain flexing its muscle (because it knew it could) and saying, "I want what he has," and then using its power - the Power of One - to get it.
I still shop at its outlets. But I do not buy its private label.
May be it's me and may be, I am being a touch paranoid and villiany is not taking root in my local supermarket aisles - and may be, just may be it isn't greed - but I would love to know your thoughts.
ian
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