Design manufacture service (DMS): definition and characteristics

Design manufacture service (DMS) is a business model that combines contract product design with contract manufacturing as a service to other companies that have insufficient or do not possess the required resources. Often the customer is focused on other aspects of their business or their existing resources may simply be overloaded. DMS providers may also provide other services such as order fulfillment, logistics and aftermarket service.

Because of the high skill-levels required in each field, DMS firms specialize in different product categories. These might include medical devices, medical instruments, automotive, communications, etc. Typically, these are areas that require a relatively higher level of internal infrastructure or regulatory controls than the customer possesses. Certain industries including aviation and medical devices require special development and manufacturing practices required by international, Federal and local regulations.

One of the key differences between the DMS model and other contract manufacturing such as original design manufacturer (ODM), is the way intellectual property (IP) is treated. In the DMS model, IP comes from three basic sources. These include (a) IP previously owned and contributed by the customer, (b) IP previously owned and contributed to the product by the DMS and (c) new or original IP created at the request of and paid by the customer. The latter (c) is commonly referred to as "work for hire". With DMS, the customer ultimately has rights to all of the IP embodied in the product. This is especially important in industries like medical devices where customer owned IP is critical. Some contract product development models, including Original Design Manufacturing (ODM), allow the developer, instead of the customer, to retain IP rights. Read more...

Deployment flowchart defintion

A deployment flowchart (sometimes referred to as a cross functional flowchart) is a business process mapping tool used to articulate the steps and stakeholders of a given process.

"Deployment flowcharts consist of a sequence of activity steps and also the interactions between individuals or groups.". Each participant in the process is displayed on the map (which is constructed as a matrix) - tasks/activity are then articulated in sequence under the column corresponding to that stakeholder.

As deployment flowcharts highlight the relationships between stakeholders in addition to the process flow they are especially useful in highlighting areas of inefficiency, duplication or unnecessary processing. Often utilized within Six sigma activity, completed flowcharts are commonly used to examine the interfaces between “participants” which are typically causes for delays and other associated issues. Deployment flowcharts are useful for determining who within an organization is required to implement a process and are sometimes used as a business planning tool.

While deployment flowcharts can be drawn by hand using pen and paper – various software tools include functionality to construct the flowcharts on computer, these include products such as Microsoft Visio.

As with other process mapping techniques, deployment flowcharts require a certain degree of detail (and accuracy) to provide useful benefit. Care and attention is required to ensure that the correct stakeholder is attributed to the correct parts of the process. Complex flowcharts may be difficult to interpret, especially where a flow is unclear, or many stakeholders are identified. Consistent terminology throughout the map is also important to provide clarity to the reader. Read more...

What is delivery in business? Types

Delivery is the process of transporting goods from a source location to a predefined destination. There are different delivery types. Cargo (physical goods) are primarily delivered via roads and railroads on land, shipping lanes on the sea and airline networks in the air. Certain specialized goods may be delivered via other networks, such as pipelines for liquid goods, power grids for electrical power and computer networks such as the Internet or broadcast networks for electronic information.

The general process of delivering goods is known as distribution. The study of effective processes for delivery and disposition of goods and personnel is called logistics. Firms that specialize in delivering commercial goods from point of production or storage to point of sale are generally known as distributors, while those that specialize in the delivery of goods to the consumer are known as delivery services. Postal, courier, and relocation services also deliver goods for commercial and private interests. Read more...

Debtor-in-possession financing

Debtor-in-possession financing or DIP financing is a special form of financing provided for companies in financial distress, typically during restructuring under corporate bankruptcy law (such as Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US or CCAA in Canada). Usually, this debt is considered senior to all other debt, equity, and any other securities issued by a company — violating any absolute priority rule by placing the new financing ahead of a company's existing debts for payment.

It may be used to keep a business operating until it can be sold as a going concern, if this is likely to provide a greater return to creditors than the firm's closure and a liquidation of assets. It may also give a troubled company a new start, albeit under strict conditions. In this case, "debtor in possession" financing refers to debt incurred while in bankruptcy, and "exit financing" is debt incurred upon emerging from reorganisation under bankruptcy law. (Wikipedia)

Dashboard in business: definition, benefits, types

Definition of dashboard

Dashboards often provide at-a-glance views of KPIs (key performance indicators) relevant to a particular objective or business process . In the other, "dashboard" has another name for "progress report" or "report."

The "dashboard" is often displayed on a web page which is linked to a database that allows the report to be constantly updated. For example, a manufacturing dashboard may show numbers related to productivity such as number of parts manufactured, or number of failed quality inspections per hour. Similarly, a human resources dashboard may show numbers related to staff recruitment, retention and composition, for example number of open positions, or average days or cost per recruitment.

The term dashboard originates from the automobile dashboard where drivers monitor the major functions at a glance via the instrument cluster. Read more...

Daigou in Chinese Trades

Daigou (Chinese: 代购 dàigòu (English: /ˈdaɪˈɡoʊ/); also 海外代购 hǎiwài dàigòu) is a channel of commerce in which a person outside of China purchases commodities (mainly luxury goods but also groceries) for a customer in mainland China, since prices for luxury goods can be 30 to 40 percent higher in China than abroad. The phrase means "buying on behalf of". Daigou sales across sectors total $15 billion annually. In 2014 the value of the daigou business just in luxury goods increased from CN¥55 billion to CN¥75 billion yuan (USD $8.8 billion to $12 billion).

Daigou purchases are often from luxury brand boutiques in major fashion cities like Paris, London, New York City, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul. Some daigou operators use Weibo and WeChat to communicate with their clients. The large demand for daigou service is due to concern over unsafe products, especially food safety problems, and China's high import tariffs on luxury goods. Some daigou service providers intentionally sell counterfeit made-in-China products that have been altered to appear purchased abroad. A 2015 survey of Chinese online luxury shoppers found that 35% have used daigou to purchase luxury goods online, while only 7% used the website of the brand they are buying, or think they are buying. Approximately 80% of Chinese luxury purchases are made abroad. Asian-American sales associates at Macy's Herald Square sued Macy's for racial discrimination in September 2017, alleging that store managers instructed sales associates not to sell more than one unit to any single Asian customer, and that they were fired when they spoke up about the alleged discrimination. Read more...

What is Customer Switching or Consumer Switching?

Definition

In marketing and microeconomics, customer switching or consumer switching describes "customers/consumers abandoning a product or service in favor of a competitor". Assuming constant price, product or service quality, counteracting this behaviour in order to achieve maximal customer retention is the business of marketing, public relations and advertising. Brand switching—as opposed to brand loyalty is the outcome of customer switching behaviour.

Reasons

Variability in quality or market price fluctuations—especially a rise in prices—may lead customers to consult price comparison services where alternative suppliers may be offered. Declining customer satisfaction may be due to poor service quality but also—to a lesser degree—be a symptom of boredom with the brand of choice. Brand loyalty can be very strong, however, and the longer a commitment to a brand lasts, the stronger the ties will usually be.

According to 2013 Nielsen study on customer loyalty, brand switching can happen for 5 main reasons, but mainly based on price considerations. The overall global averages are:

• Better Price (41%)
• Better Quality (26%)
• Better Service Agreement (15%)
• Better Selection (10%)
• Better Features (8%)

Because of the dominant role of pricing, market tactics like penetration pricing have evolved to offer a convincing incentive for switching. Another approach is the advertisement of vaporware that seemingly will offer newer or better features than established products without actually possessing any innovation.

Affected sectors

Switching is a significant business factor affecting revenues for companies providing continuously delivered services, as is the case for the energy market as opposed to sectors providing products that stimulate non- or sparsely recurring purchase because of the durability of the product or a general orientation towards casual customers. Energy customer switching is a significant risk or success factor for energy suppliers. Read more...