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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS the sequential structure of the supply chain so that the global plant
produced a completely standardised product which did not include the
region-specific components. The final assembly steps were moved to the
regional distribution centres.

‘Global’ production centre Final assembly & distribution centre

Supplier A North American
market
Supplier B
Supplier D
Supplier C
Final assembly & distribution centre

European
market

Supplier E

Final assembly & distribution centre

Asian
market

Supplier F

Figure 4.6 Reconfigured supply chain for the HP DeskJet printer

The business benefits included lower inventory levels at the global
production centre because demand was smoothed across the whole
global market, and increased market responsiveness because the
regional plants could ship work-in-progress between each other to
match the peaks in regional demand.

transferring a business process Sometimes the approach to

analogies will focus on a specific business process. We saw in the
previous chapter how a services company had created a first-class
luxury hotel environment for its demanding and pampered guests. The
twist was that the guests were all pets. Best Friends Pet Resorts and
Salons perceived an opportunity to offer first-class service to guests and
had drawn a ready analogy between premium hotel service and luxury
accommodation for pets.