Over the years in Japan, I have worked for both large and small corporations. In spite of less expertise in many disiplines, I'm finding that small companies can be more competitive. They use SPEED as an advantage. Notice this presentation I put together to keep me on track as well.

1. Big and Famous
Or
Fast and Mobile
Speed may be more important, and
you can use it to your advantage.
1Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

2. Not true!!!!!!
Use speed not size as a competitive advantage
Old Harvard University study………
1. Big companies have cost advantage.
2. Big companies get the best customers.
3. Big companies get the best employees.
2Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

3. Note: In the United States, larger corporation do not protect smaller ones.
Use speed not size as a competitive advantage
Based on research of companies in the United States
several years ago…
Big corporations…………
Had less profit growth 3 out of 4 business
terms than smaller competitors
Grew slower 8 out of 10 business terms than
smaller competitors
Routinely fail to execute their own business
strategies more often than smaller competitors.
Source: Laurence Haughton (http://www.laurencehaughton.com)
3Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

4. Use speed as a competitive advantage
If you can say “yes”,
it will be a company
with a good future.
Whether when looking for a job or evaluating a
company, consider these three things:
Do they make decisions quickly?
Do they anticipate trends so they can respond
quickly?
When putting in a strategy, do they execute
quickly?
4Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

5. Use speed as a competitive advantage
Is there a faster
way to do things?
Most companies suffer with three problems:
1. They have old processes & old ideas.
2. They only do what they are used to.
3. They have people and products that have
past expiration dates.
5Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

6. Is the company evaluating
their methods regularly to
make sure they are not old?
Use speed as a competitive advantage
Learn how to stop doing things.
1.Old Processes – Old Ideas
1. Use methods that worked well once.
2. Confidence was built in that method.
3. Comfort comes from years of doing the same thing.
4. Times change and there are faster ways to do things,
but people ignore them.
6Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

7. Use speed as a competitive advantage
Learn how to stop doing things.
1.Old Processes – Old Ideas
2.Only doing what they are used to
1. Better to change too fast than too slow. Let go
of ideas early and before others do (not after).
2. Continually determine if there is a faster way.
7Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

8. Use speed as a competitive advantage
Learn how to stop doing things.
1.Old Processes – Old Ideas
2.Only doing these they are used to
3.People and products that have past
expiration dates
Product-Employees-Customers
• Old products get in the way of new products coming in.
• Older employees get in the way of newer employees.
• Old customers get in the way of new customers.
• Older suppliers get in the way of new better suppliers.
8Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

9. Rational, data based thinking about the market
Only one in 25
people (4%) are
happy with us. We
must change the
product.
9Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

10. Emotional thinking about the market
Sometimes we get too emotional and too close to the market to see
change. CEO pride is often the greatest expense on a P/L statement.
10
I love our
products.
They have a
long history
of success.
I love our
company.
It has a great
reputation and
has for years.
I am proud of what I
have achieved over
the years. The
market loves us.
Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

11. Use speed as a competitive advantage
Anticipating trends
1.A company must find out what people
are complaining about.
2.A recession is a good time to learn
opportunities as more people are
complaining.
Today’s complaints are tomorrow’s opportunities.
11Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

12. Use speed as a competitive advantage
Anticipating trends
I’m asking a lot of
question and listening
carefully to learn his
worries, future needs and
prospects for the future.
By doing this, a company
can react fast when any
new request is made.
12Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

13. If a company gets too big, it stops asking questions.
It thinks it knows everything and stop listening.
Fast companies routinely spend time with the
customers that use their products.
Use speed as a competitive advantage
13Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

14. Use speed as a competitive advantage
Fast Execution
14Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

15. Use speed as a competitive advantage
Fast Execution
1. Put action-plan in place quickly.
2. Follow through on it regularly and learn where help is needed.
3. The manager always has responsibility for progress.
4. There will always be people who want to slow things down and
should be kept away from the project as long as possible.
15Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

16. Examples of Fast Execution
On March 31, 2008, a country & western music band was traveling
from Halifax, Canada to Omaha, Nebraska and changed planes in
Chicago .
Halifax
Omaha
Chicago
16Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

17. Examples of Fast Execution
The band looked out the window in Chicago and noticed the
United Airline’s ground crew throwing their guitars and
instruments.
The guitar was damaged and the musician made a claim to United
Airlines.
The musician, Dave Carroll, continued to claim damages of
US$1,200 which were always rejected, until July 6, 2009. So, he
decide to write a song about it, and put it on YouTube.
17Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

18. Examples of Fast Execution
The song, “United Breaks Guitars” by Dave Carroll was a big hit
going from six viewings on July 6th to 2 million by July 12th. Still
United did nothing.
http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/
18Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

19. Examples of Fast Execution
In the song a highly professional “Taylor” Guitar was mentioned.
As soon as Bob Taylor, President of Taylor Guitars, learned of this,
he made a short video on how to pack and travel with his guitars
and put it on YouTube.
He also helped Dave Carroll in any way he could to repair his
guitar.
http://www.taylorguitars.com/
19Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

20. Examples of Fast Execution
CALTON CASES
Furthermore, Jim Laffoley, President of Calton Cases, saw the
video. He knew this was his chance, if he acted quickly, so with
Dave Carroll’s permission, he developed and promoted a special
“Dave Carroll Traveler’s Edition” Guitar Case.
With this “United Breaks Guitars” song, Dave Carroll’s music
business exploded, along with Taylor Guitars and Calton Case’s
sales.
With very little investment, profits skyrocketed because they acted
and executed fast. United Airlines is one of the largest airlines in
the world, and they finally responded, but it was too late.
http://www.caltoncases.com/
20Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

21. Need for speed in crisis
Today, with the speed of mobile devices, internet blogging, messages on
Tweeter, Facebook, LinkedIn and uploading videos on YouTube, fast
response is more important than ever. Here is the best approach to a crisis:
Acting
fast in a
crisis
First response
Responds in
minutes after
hearing of crisis.
Says more detailed
information to come.
Ask for
information
On all social media,
blogs, etc. asks for
up-to-date
information by
anyone on the
scene.
Crisis manager
This position has
been assigned and
has authority to
respond to any
crisis quickly.
Response
Manager prepares
response based
on current
information.
Internal data
The manager gathers
as much internal
information as
possible.
Visual data
Gathers and presents
up-to-date
information with
visual images.
Next update
The manager
continues to
present updates
until there is no
more interest in the
crisis.
In the past, response
was in days after
consolations with PR
managers and lawyers,
but the speed of
response in minutes or
hours is required in
today’s fast, “real-time”
marketing and PR
working environment.
21Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

22. Use speed as a competitive advantage
Identifying Fast Companies
1. They want to get things done quickly.
2. They like the boss, the company, the products and the customers.
3. They look for ways to change things for the better.
4. They like learning new things and solving problems.
5. They do not worry greatly about making mistakes. The environment
encourages trying new things.
22Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

23. -They make quick decisions.
-They anticipate trends.
-They execute very fast.
Use speed as a competitive advantage
Fast Companies are more competitive.
Source: Laurence Haughton (http://www.laurencehaughton.com)
1. There has been hundreds of studies on fast companies
directly and internally that shows fast companies are more
competitive.
2. There has been thousands of case studies showing how
competitive they are.
23Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan

24. Thank you
Use speed as a competitive advantage
If you would like to learn more….
24
Ron McFarland, Tokyo, Japan