The peripatetic nature of my construction career has taken me all over the world. From Cornwall to China and any number of places in between. So many cultures, so many different ways of achieving the same result. One evening, in Loveland, Colorado, after polishing off a steak as large as my leg and a few surprisingly good beers from a local microbrewery , I retired to my rather bland hotel...

Organisations that invest in supplier development outperform their competitors and quickly gain competitive advantage Make a list of all the companies and organisations that you truly admire. Then do some research (thank you google) on how they develop their strategic suppliers. I dare say the stuff they do is pretty impressive (understatement alert!). How about if you could go further than them? Right now. What if you could jump way ahead of...

        Based on the Kingsland Road, Hackney, Wootten Consulting is a player in the rapidly expanding Silicon Roundabout community. Our brands Consulti, MyTeam and CreativeFund are growing fast and disrupting the markets they are in. These brands are just the starting point – we’ve got further projects taking shape and we need good people and partners to support their development. Due to our rapid expansion,...

        The device you are reading this post on was probably manufactured or assembled in China. It might have been designed in California or Seoul, components may well have come from a variety of sources, but a Chinese factory brought it all together, tested it and put it inside the pretty packaging. What if the device was designed in China, sold by a well respected innovative Chinese brand, with excellent marketing, with...

  “We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.” ― Steve Jobs   When was the last time you looked at a piece of finished work and felt proud that you had achieved something very special ? That you had achieved excellence ? Perhaps not as often as you would like. There are always reasons – I will not say excuses. Time constraints, budgets, other people....

“Cost reduction is easy, cost optimisation is hard.“ It does not surprise me  that a lot of people think this. It all seems so obvious and straight forward and the language does not help; often you will hear talk of ‘easy wins’ and ‘low hanging fruit’.  Cost reduction is something that happens when the corporate belt needs tightening or investors start asking questions. Action plans are put in place and...