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more emphasis on how the product can solve
customers' problems, and how the manufacturer can
provide superior service and advice. Communications
counselors can exploit that advantage.
The fact is that most companies, whether they're
manufacturers of products or providers of services, are
basically service operations. About 75% of all U.S.
workers are employed in what are considered service
businesses—transportation, health care, communications,
wholesale and retail, financial services, and
various professions. And within the manufacturing
industries, at least 75% of the workers are engaged in
performing services, in research, marketing, customer
service, design, accounting, finance, and so on. As
production costs have steadily decreased in proportion
to total costs, there has been a steady increase in the
value of peripheral services offered by companies that
are nominally manufacturers. The trouble is that the
managers of these companies are still inclined to think
that they're makers of products rather than providers
The key questions are:
How are we different
from our competitors?
How do we do a better job
of serving customers?
of solutions. What they should be doing is continually
redefining their businesses and rethinking their competitive
strategies.^
PPG has provided a classic case. This company is a
leading producer of paints and coatings, and it has
taken the idea of service to a new level. PPG not only
supplies its products to General Motors but also runs
paint shops in GM plants.
These are examples of integrated actions in a brilliant
strategy. The company is obviously very
custom ...