How They Did it: The Purpose-Driven Supply Chain
LEGACY Supply Chain Services has made company culture the centerpiece of how it drives innovation, efficiency, and the creation of value for its customers. Is it a model that others should replicate?
Corporate culture is much in the news, and not in a good way. Ron Johnson’s disastrous tenure as CEO of JCPenney has been described as a clash of cultures between Johnson’s lieutenants from Apple and Penney’s old guard. More recently, a scathing internal report cited culture as the culprit behind GM’s failure to address problems with defective ignition switches that led to more than a dozen deaths. “GM Takes Blame, Vows Culture Shift” read the headline in the Wall Street Journal.
Culture is often a convenient boogey man for failure. When a company, or its supply chain, is at the top of its game, management gets the credit. When things go awry, as they did at Penney and GM, culture takes the blame. But what happens if the two are aligned? What happens if management takes the core values and mission statements hanging in every board room to heart? What if management translates those values into demonstrable behaviors that “form the foundation of their company” and are used to measure the performance of its leadership team? Can something as soft, fuzzy, and intangible as culture be a force to improve conventional supply chain metrics and deliver a competitive advantage?
The answer to all of those questions is yes, according to LEGACY Supply Chain Services, a privately-held North American 3PL with more than 2,700 employees. Headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H., LEGACY offers a full complement of warehousing, distribution, transportation, and customs brokerage services to companies in a variety of industries. In 2009, LEGACY refocused its mission to place an emphasis on a sustainable and measurable company culture model that serves as the foundation of the company, is the basis for management reviews, and is a force that can be shaped to drive performance (See Exhibit 1). While financial measurement typically drives most organizations, “culture comes first” at LEGACY, according to CEO Ron Cain.
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Corporate culture is much in the news, and not in a good way. Ron Johnson’s disastrous tenure as CEO of JCPenney has been described as a clash of cultures between Johnson’s lieutenants from Apple and Penney’s old guard. More recently, a scathing internal report cited culture as the culprit behind GM’s failure to address problems with defective ignition switches that led to more than a dozen deaths. “GM Takes Blame, Vows Culture Shift” read the headline in the Wall Street Journal.
Culture is often a convenient boogey man for failure. When a company, or its supply chain, is at the top of its game, management gets the credit. When things go awry, as they did at Penney and GM, culture takes the blame. But what happens if the two are aligned? What happens if management takes the core values and mission statements hanging in every board room to heart? What if management translates those values into demonstrable behaviors that “form the foundation of their company” and are used to measure the performance of its leadership team? Can something as soft, fuzzy, and intangible as culture be a force to improve conventional supply chain metrics and deliver a competitive advantage?
The answer to all of those questions is yes, according to LEGACY Supply Chain Services, a privately-held North American 3PL with more than 2,700 employees. Headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H., LEGACY offers a full complement of warehousing, distribution, transportation, and customs brokerage services to companies in a variety of industries. In 2009, LEGACY refocused its mission to place an emphasis on a sustainable and measurable company culture model that serves as the foundation of the company, is the basis for management reviews, and is a force that can be shaped to drive performance (See Exhibit 1). While financial measurement typically drives most organizations, “culture comes first” at LEGACY, according to CEO Ron Cain.
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About the Author
Bob Trebilcock Bob Trebilcock is the editorial director for Modern Materials Handling and an editorial advisor to Supply Chain Management Review. He has covered materials handling, technology, logistics, and supply chain topics for nearly 40 years. He is a graduate of Bowling Green State University. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at 603-852-8976.Subscribe to Supply Chain Management Review Magazine!
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