Viewpoint: Strategic Repositioning for Success

By Hershel Schabel (BBA ’01)

Marketing Specialist
WMEP
2601 Crossroads Drive
Madison, WI 53718
Phone: 608/240-1740
Email: schabel@wmep.org
Web site: www.wmep.org

Schabel is a marketing specialist for WMEP, a company that provides technical expertise and hands-on implementation assistance to small and midsize manufacturing firms on advanced manufacturing technologies and business practices.

that successfully position themselves to leverage their strategic competencies and stay exceptionally close to their customers not only survive but thrive in these increasingly difficult times. Strategic repositioning focuses on expanding a company’s internal and external knowledge and capabilities to compete more successfully in today’s marketplace.

The Five Keys to Strategic Repositioning

1. Recognizing that success involves change
2. Understanding what your company does well
3. Discovering unarticulated customer needs
4. Exploiting your company’s strengths to meet customer needs better than everyone else
5. Building a culture around market intelligence and customer focus

Here are some examples of how U.S. companies successfully implemented these key steps.

Success Involves Change

When Keith Peterson bought Humane Manufacturing in 1997, he knew he had to make some big changes. The 90-year old company was known as a steel fabricator of cow stanchions and stalls on dairy farms, but also made rubber mats for the dairy industry. By 1998, Peterson had sold off the less profitable steel division and bought an additional production facility. To bring in new customers and new work Peterson realized that he needed more information about his customers and markets and he needed to let customers know where the company was headed. He became intimately involved with his customers and his sales process, sending a strong message to his customers and his employees that Humane was changing.

Know What You Do Well

Titan, Inc., of Sturtevant, Wis., uses its considerable engineering and technical talents to design and build complex equipment to test electrical, hydraulic and mechanical manufacturing quality. President Greg Petro knew that Titan’s growth strategy would require finding new ways to add value for customers. Petro formed a cross-functional team which identified strategic competencies that added value to the customer, differentiated the company from the competition and were difficult to copy. After an internal team agreed on a dozen strengths, key customers were asked to evaluate Titan’s competencies. The result was a clearer understanding of what Titan does well.

Discover Unarticulated Needs

When Debbie Simmons, president, started Kelle Company in Minneapolis, she had little experience with the dance performance/dance costume industry. Knowing that she needed more information to be successful in design and marketing of her products, she made a bold decision. She called the customers.

“You would be surprised at how much the dance studio owners and teachers appreciated talking directly to the owner of the company,” Simmons now says, “Of course, I was even more appreciative as it was really informative and helped me understand how to help our customers be more successful at their business.” By listening to customers, Simmons made Kelle one of the fastest-growing companies in the industry.

Exploiting Strengths and Meeting Customer Needs

Thermal Spray Technologies, Inc. of Sun Prairie, Wis., grew out of a desire to improve durability of lawn mower blades. Richard Wilkey, began working with researchers at UW-Madison’s College of Engineering in the late 1980s. Research indicated that thermal spray coating demonstrated a dramatic increase in wear resistance. Realizing a wide potential for thermal spray coatings in other industries, Thermal Spray Technologies was established in 1992. Today, the company serves many industries, including aerospace, agriculture, automotive, food processing, marine and medical devices. A coating for electro-surgical devices used by surgeons eliminates the need for suturing and promotes faster recovery times. Thermal Spray Technologies, which started with three people in 1992, now employs 50, and has tripled its plant size.

Build a Culture Around Customer Focus

There are few better examples of building a company culture around customers than Harley-Davidson. The longest continuous manufacturer of motorcycles in the United  States, the company has outlived nearly all of its competitors. Since its near demise in the early 1980’s, the Milwaukee-based firm has focused almost completely on creating a company with an unparalleled customer-focused culture. In the 20 short years since Harley-Davidson started its Owners Group programs, it has grown to more than 500,000 members, each owning at least one motorcycle. Customers and employees alike take great pride in their affiliation with the company and this continues to make Harley-Davidson one of the great success stories of our time.

Companies that take the initiative to leverage strategic competencies and get closer to customers will continue to successfully compete in the global marketplace.

If you would like to submit a short article for the "Viewpoint" section of Wisconsin Business Alumni's electronic newsletter, please contact WBA at 608/265-0575 or alumni@bus.wisc.edu. The information appearing in this column is the opinion of the author, and is not endorsed by Wisconsin Business Alumni or the School of Business.