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All about the book > Book/chapter summaries > Section 5: Functional Drivers: The Importance of Operational Excellence   What FusionBranding will do for you   Section 1: Branding Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow   Section 2: Fusionbrand: The New Face of Branding   Section 3: Emotional Drivers: Creating FusionBrand Relationships   Section 4: Experiential Drivers: FusionBranding on Customer Terms   Section 5: Functional Drivers: The Importance of Operational Excellence   Section 6: Facing the Future: The Challenges of the Now Economy Section 5: Functional Drivers: The Importance of Operational Excellence     One word links almost all marketing books, seminars and online discussion: "Awareness."     Everyone discusses how to get it, increase it, leverage it, pay for it. Yet a key point is missed. "Awareness" is not branding. It has as much to do with branding as inserting the key into an automobile ignition has to do with driving. It's a necessary first step, but it doesn't address the complexities of driving from one place to another.     In other words, "awareness" is not a goal. It's only a door-opener to opportunity. "Awareness" may get you an initial purchase, but it won't create a FusionBrand. A FusionBrand is only created by the response to that opportunity over time. Without the response prospects and customers seek, combined with how well the offering meets expectations for economic and other value, no brand can be created. It doesn't matter how much "awareness" exists.     The key to delivering that response and meeting requirements is operational excellence - every day. Everyday operational excellence is the engine that powers the ability to do business on customer terms, builds customer equity and, ultimately, differentiates leading firms from competitors. It's more difficult than simple "awareness" - yet much more critical to a FusionBrand.     Emotion draws prospects to a FusionBrand, and helps ensure positive feelings. Experience turns prospects into customers, and customers into FusionBrand advocates. However, neither emotion nor experience are enough without the power of operational excellence.     A good example is the Volkswagen "bug:" ugly, underpowered and even lacking air conditioning. Yet it became a FusionBrand with iconic power that lingers today. A key reason can be seen in one Popular Mechanics survey: 96% of Volkswagen owners rated their car as "excellent;" none rated it as "poor."     Anyone who has worked at a company with warring departmental camps or waited on hold for a sales person knows that operational excellence is neither easy nor common. And it's getting harder, too. Customers are growing more demanding. The interdependency of relationship enterprises adds complexity. International efforts face numerous obstacles. The only way to meet these challenges is through operational excellence that's defined on customer terms.     Operational excellence can be achieved in various ways, and each firm must seek its own path. However, several functional areas must be addressed, no matter which path is chosen.     Section 5 covers the five areas that form the functional backbone of a FusionBrand:       Chapter 15 - "No-excuses" operations: Operational excellence is characterized by fast, effective and flexible core processes that deliver quality offerings in response to specific market and customer requirements. The key elements of operational excellence include responsiveness, reliability and innovation. Companies must also seek ways to speed their decision-making.       Chapter 16 - Supply chain management: Companies devote extensive resources to improving operations within their enterprise. While that's important, the gains will be minimal until supply chain operations across the relationship enterprise are also improved. Even the most efficient factory can grind to a halt if a required shipment of screws doesn't arrive on time. Supply chain excellence requires coordinating production, delivery and forecast information with suppliers, ensuring accurate fulfillment and working cooperatively with customers to determine current and future requirements.       Chapter 17 - Enterprise orchestration: No company can FusionBrand alone. It takes collaboration, consolidation, communication and customer orientation among a network of suppliers, retailers, affiliates and even customers. FusionBrands excel at helping partners do business more effectively.       Chapter 18 - Accountability: Operational excellence is impossible unless performance can be measured, tracked and used for improvement. Many firms, however, make the mistake of using the wrong data, or applying data for the wrong goals. Activity-based costing, Balanced Scorecards and customer equity measurements are becoming primary tools for accountability.     What is hard to convey, however, are the intangibles that are behind operational excellence. Vision. Leadership. Commitment to customers and employees. Attention to detail. Trust. Quality. Each intangible is intrinsic to every aspect of operational excellence. But those are more appropriate to the "why" of FusionBranding. What follows is the "how."   Preface   Section 1   Section 2   Section 3   Section 4   Section 5   Section 6 Accountability Press - 3340 Peachtree Rd., #1800 - Atlanta, GA 30326 USA - (001) 770-582-6791 © 2003 Nick Wreden. All rights reserved. Technical contact: webmaster @ fusionbrand.com - Design and layout: Joanna Erbach, Graphic Designer