When America stopped importing from China, China stopped importing from the rest of the world. This affects Asian countries as well as Australia, Brazil, and other suppliers of raw materials.
The lack of available credit and loans is having a severe impact on small businesses in particular, but also their suppliers and the bigger companies too.
Big companies often use their leverage to take stakes in would-be suppliers, especially in the technology business.
A smart manager will establish a culture of gratitude. Expand the appreciative attitude to suppliers, vendors, delivery people, and of course, customers.
We hear a lot about rebuilding Detroit, and we just spent $70 billion to bail out the auto industry - well, they need to be cost competitive, too. If they have high-cost energy, those suppliers are going to move to Japan or Mexico instead of Michigan and Tennessee.
At a time when we are dealing with unpredictable suppliers of energy abroad and higher gas costs at home, the decision to increase domestic energy exploration is integral to a balanced, common sense energy policy.
We can provide beta software to our developers in advance of the general public. We can easily link up with external partners, customers, and suppliers.
So much business is based on the belief that we should do whatever we can within legal limits to make as much money as we can. Ben & Jerry's was based on values, and we try to operate a business that not just sells ice cream but partners with all our stakeholders - whether that's suppliers or customers - to bring about a more sustainable world.
Chains do more than bargain down prices from suppliers or divide fixed costs across a lot of units. They rapidly spread economic discovery - the scarce and costly knowledge of what retail concepts and operational innovations actually work.
GM is a highly collaborative organization; we rely on a whole tier of suppliers for everything that we do.