Is The Platform Of Wholesale Distribution Burning?

By: Dirk Beveridge

• When Stephen Elop took the helm of struggling Nokia in late 2010, he was tasked with accelerating the execution of Nokia’s transformation

• Part of Elop’s leadership style is to spend an enormous amount of time listening with the belief:

"The truth is out there, if you listen for it, you can hear it.”

He found the truth at Nokia.

Is The Platform Burning?

• This truth was then communicated to Nokia’s employees with Elop’s “Burning Platform” memo

• This 1,200 word manifesto begins with the following story:

Is The Platform Burning?

“There is a pertinent story about a man who was working on an oil platform in the North Sea. He woke up one night from a loud explosion, which suddenly set his entire oil platform on fire.

In mere moments, he was surrounded by flames. Through the smoke and heat, he barely made his way out of the chaos to the platform’s edge. When he looked down over the edge, all he could see were the dark, cold, foreboding Atlantic waters.

As the fire approached him, the man had mere seconds to react. He could stand on the platform, and inevitably be consumed by the burning flames.

Or, he could plunge 30 meters in to the freezing waters. The man was standing upon a “burning platform,” and he needed to make a choice.

He decided to jump. It was unexpected. In ordinary circumstances, the man would never consider plunging into icy waters. But these were not ordinary times – his platform was on fire.

The man survived the fall and the waters. After he was rescued, he noted that a “burning platform” caused a radical change in his behaviour. We too, are standing on a “burning platform,” and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour.”

Nokia, And Now Best Buy & BlackBerry’s Burning Platform

Best Buy is being bested by:

• New forms of competition• Changing buying habits• A sluggish economy• And MORE

Nokia, And Now Best Buy & BlackBerry’s Burning Platform

• After decades of big-box retail putting mom and pops out of business, a seismic shift is underway

• Consumers armed with price-comparison technology are visiting more stores seeking deals or exclusive merchandise rather than making one-stop, fill-the-cart excursions

They are also buying more products online

Best Buy’s platform is burning

And so is Research In Motion’s

At Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, the flames are engulfing its business platform Adam Thierer writes: “Just five years ago, ‘BlackBerry’ was virtually synonymous with ‘smartphones. Today, however Research In Motion...is a financial basket case that has come to symbolize just how turbulent life in the modern digital economy can be.”

Is The Platform Burning?November 14 - 15, 2012 - Chicago, ILCreated by some of the most forward-looking wholesale and distribution leaders, no event will do more to spark courage, innovation and a positive, profitable future for distributors.

An Industry Event With No Industry GurusBy design, Unleash will break a few rules that have long-governed industry events. For one it’ll feature no industry gurus. Instead, we’re inviting some of the world’s most provocative storytellers with the power to transform the way people think, lead and act.

Every element of the Summit will foster an environment where innovation, collaboration and provocative thought can flourish.

Learn More & Register At:

www.unleashwd.com

Which brings me to a central question

If industry titans like Nokia, Best Buy, and Research In Motion can be brought to their

knees in today’s new normal,

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR COUNTRY’S 300,000

DISTRIBUTORS?

Is the Platform Of Wholesale Distribution Burning?

• 70% of distributors are small and mid-market businesses

• Certainly these business don’t have the capital and human resources of Nokia, Best Buy, and Research In Motion

• Even large billion dollar plus distributors are feeling the foundation of their platform, if not beginning to burn, certainly heating up

Is the Platform Of Wholesale Distribution Burning?

Distributors of all sizes are facing transformational market forces that have the ability to bring once strong and proud businesses to their knees:

• Does the industry have the will and ability to, as Jack Welch says “face reality straight in the eye and act on it with as much speed as possible?”

• Can the distribution industry, which employs 1 in 20 private sectors workers, find the inspiration and courage to innovate despite the gravitational pull to remain within the success models of yesterday?

Is the Platform Of Wholesale Distribution Burning?

These and other questions are yet to be answered. As Stephen Elop said above, “the truth is out there, if you listen for it, you can

hear it.”

While we will be writing more about and offering solutions in coming posts, here is a glimpse of what we are hearing - here is a

glimpse of truth:

A Glimpse Of Truth“Many distributors are already out of

business. They just don’t know it.” CEO“Much of the industry is working off business

models that are 50 years old.” CEO

“Less than 10% of the distribution population is prepared, or is preparing for the future.” CEO

“How can I do this? There is so much to do. I’m not sure I know how to do it, or even where to start. I’m scared.” CEO

And from the CEO of an industrial distributor looking across the wholesale and distribution landscape:

“We need something that creates a call to action. If we don’t change we die. People don’t react until someone says - ‘Hey you have to close these branches.”

My observations are pointing to a certain percentage of distributors who are closer than they care to be, to jumping into “the

cold, foreboding Atlantic waters.”

What do you think? Is our wholesale and distribution platform burning?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section, on my blog post,

Twitter or on Linked In

http://www.unleashwd.com

November 14 – 15, 2012Chicago, IL

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