Starting a Small Business

I was listening to a business podcast from the BBC recently. The chief executive of Miele, the German manufacturer of domestic appliances and suchlike was talking about how his company was still able to manufacture in Western Europe, and still be competitive on price.

I know it is a cliché of a national stereotype, but what the man was saying was really all about a dedication in the subject of efficiency. The factory had the vast majority of its suppliers within 20 miles of its factory. This means a very close contact with the day to day issues of quality and supply of the vital parts required.

I have no doubt that every part of this company, from accounts to sales is run on ultra efficient principles. The end products are a bit more expensive than the mainstream products, but they will invariably be of a much more durable quality.

Currently, in the UK, we are just now waking up to the fact that we need to start manufacturing again (because the financial services industry has collapsed). We really ought to be looking very closely at how to be more efficient.

Inefficient business

There are just too many awful examples of inefficient businesses. The worst ones can simply be cafes that don't write down orders. How often do those places just forget to deliver the basic things to the customer? Obviously, all the time..... Or they don't quite remember a smaller detail of the order, and then have to do it all over again.

A skill desperately needed in the UK

Efficiency is a skill that we in the UK are desperately poor at. There will of course be exceptions, but on the whole, we are fairly hopeless......this has got to stop. We need to learn from other cultures and “plagiarise” the best that we see.

Without wanting to sound over the top, I really fear for the future of the UK due to our desperately inefficient ways. Our car industry was decimated in the seventies and early eighties and only rescued by investment by the big Japanese motor corporations such as Nissan in Sunderland who showed us exactly how to run an efficienct business. This Sunderland plant is now one of the most productive in Europe and is also due to produce the new Nissan all-electric vehicle to be named Leaf.

Another more everyday example of great efficiency...Most of us have visited a Chinese restaurant at some point. I am always amazed as to how amazing most of these restaurants are in the job of getting hundreds of diners served with a minimum of fuss. The linen, cutlery, napkins and suchlike will be immaculate and ready for people to be seated. The simple act of providing a reference number for each dish makes ordering quick and easy (even if the waitress cannot speak fluent English).

The food tends to be extremely consistent in its portion size and quality. And these businesses are very successful. Many of these restaurants opened up in the seventies and eighties and are still going strong. Compare these establishments to what happens on the high streets around England.

The lesson

Businesses open and close almost before you know they've even existed. There's many a lesson to be learned from the everyday Chinese restaurant, and I admit entirely to not having practised what I have now taken to preaching, about being consistent, steady, focussed on quality, reliable and altogether professional.

My excuse for not always doing this (though thankfully the great staff at my only decently profitable business have got these qualities) is that I'm a maverick and I don't get a kick from behaving in these ways. So the uber lesson I suppose is: If you can't live up to these standards personally, then jolly well make sure you hire people who do and can!...End of sermon.