Improve Profitability And Reduce Risk
Now you CAN "have your cake and eat it too"--improving profitability and reducing risk--both at the same time.
- Read THE COMPLEXITY CRISIS and follow the principles outlined in it. That is a great start; simple, low cost, and easy to do.
- Visit the Ontonix site, (or simply try it yourself--click on the Rate A Business icon below) and take the next steps.
Ontonix has developed a simple, effective and very economical on-line tool to evaluate the level of complexity and risk in any business. Using their on-line self-rating service, any business can clearly see where complexity exists and how to begin managing it, and reducing risk at the same time.
Simply click on the "Rate a Business" logo and follow the easy steps. You can analyze your Balance Sheet, your Income Statement, and nearly any other aspect of your business that can be expresses in columns and rows of data showing results, status, etc. Then use the output to direct your action, to manage and reduce complexity, to reduce risk and finally, to improve your overall profitability. Try it. It really works.
Critically Acclaimed! Get It Now: The Chinese Conspiracy
You can get it at amazon.com.
"The book starts off strong and never stops. This is a techno thriller with action that spans two continents. There are over 100 short chapters in the book which should provide the reader a convenient place to stop reading. With a suspenseful end to each chapter, the reader is drawn to the next. This was a very difficult book to put down. John Mariotti's easy to read writing style combined with excellent plot, colorful characters, and realistic technology make The Chinese Conspiracy a book that lovers of action thrillers will really enjoy." -- James Hutchings of The Book Review
"John, what a masterpiece! A real wake up call for those around the world. You put much thought in to this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it... " Cy Hilterman, (Reviewer)
The Complexity Crisis
Why Too Many Products, Markets & Customers Are Crippling Your Company—And What To Do About it
By John L. Mariotti
Order signed copies of THE COMPLEXITY CRISIS by email (mariotti@usit.net) at $9.99 per copy plus $4 shipping and handling. Or buy from Amazon.com.
The Problem: Where have all the profits gone?
Businesses must compete in more complex markets than ever before. Companies are seeking growth at double-digit rates in markets that are growing at single-digit rates, or not at all. This quest for growth has led to runaway complexity and proliferation in products, customers, markets, suppliers, services, locations and more. All of these add costs, which go untracked by the best of modern cost systems. All of these fragment management focus, waste time and money and reduce shareholder value. And all of this goes on under the radar of management or board attention. The Complexity Crisis is arguably the most insidious profit drain in modern business.
The Challenge: What can we do about it?
First, recognize that rampant proliferation adds to costs in a manner that goes untracked. Then track it down. Where it adds value, alter processes to accommodate it. Where it doesn't, which is most places, stop it. Reduce or eliminate it. And institute safeguards—systems and metrics—to prevent its unnoticed return. Most of all, find quick and easy ways to describe The Complexity Crisis so it is recognized as a potential profit drain, and managed like the critical business consideration it has become.
The Premise: What Gets Measured, Gets Managed.
To understand the success factors in business is critical. To understand the obstacles that get in the way is equally important. This is the purpose, indeed, the job of management. The tools used that allow management to do this job are metrics and then the actions that result when the metrics expose an area for management attention. The good news—many of the necessary tools already exist, and may be in use. The bad news—complexity is, by its very nature—"complex" and thus it defies many existing measurement techniques.
The Approach: Find it; Fix it; "Use It or Lose It" (and Keep It Simple)
First, recognize what constitutes complexity and the hidden costs it creates; the places it siphons off profit into blind alleys and hidden corners of the business. Next, find it in your business and decide if it creates or destroys value for customers. Then, decide to either " Use It"—change structure and processes to accommodate value-added complexity for competitive advantage, or "Lose It" and reduce or eliminate non-value added complexity wherever it has crept into your business. Finally, institute new metrics and modifications to existing cost and management control systems to choose when to keep it out, and when to capitalize on complexity. Last, and most important: Keep the management of The Complexity Crisis as SIMPLE as possible, so whether you "use it or lose it" you solve the problem and keep it solved.
The Author:
Experienced executive—15 years—President, Huffy Bicycles & Rubbermaid Office Product Group
Accomplished author—8 books and hundreds of columns/articles in leading publications, web sites
Director on six corporate boards, and an advisor to several others
Consultant & keynote speaker: Titleist, Colgate Scotts, Southern Co., Emerson, Deere, etc.
Guest lecturer for several major universities business schools
Contributor, Business—the Ultimate Resource, Encyclopedia of Health Care Management
M. S., M. E. University of Wisconsin, B. S. M. E. Bradley University
John Mariotti's newest book The Complexity Crisis-Why Too Many Products, Markets & Customers Are Crippling Your Company-And What To Do About It IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR ORDERING from (click on your choice) Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million and other leading booksellers or in larger quantities from 
. You can also request the book at leading bookstores nationally, which should be getting it shortly.
The Complexity Crisis, TABLE OF CONTENTS
