Some of us may remember Management by Walking Around. It was a buzz phrase from the 1980’s, credited to Hewlett-Packard executives and made popular from the book, In Search of Excellence, by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. Management by Walking Around (also known as Management by Wandering Around) or just MBWA for short, is essentiallyContinue reading “The Benefits of Management By Walking Around”
Author Archives: Ellery
“Where’s My Order?”
“Where’s my order?” I heard the lady say to the server at the diner. A family of four had been waiting for their food. Their appetizers and some entrees arrived but not all. The lady who was apparently the wife and mother of the family was impatient. “Please cancel the order if you cannot serveContinue reading ““Where’s My Order?””
Pursuing Productivity Amid Adversity
The year 2025 arrived and what many businesses dreaded came true. Newly inaugurated American President Donald Trump and his economic hawks swooped and threw global trade into turmoil. Arguing unfair trade practices from many nations, President Trump imposed tariffs on billions of dollars of imports from Canada, Mexico, China, and the European Union (EU), withContinue reading “Pursuing Productivity Amid Adversity”
The Benefits & Pitfalls of Commodities Trading
A commodity trader at a food company observed that prices of coconut oil, an ingredient in most of the company’s products, was forecast to trend higher. He, therefore, ordered more than two (2) months’ supply of coconut oil, buying from several vendors who offered the lowest prices. When the coconut oil price indeed increased daysContinue reading “The Benefits & Pitfalls of Commodities Trading”
Fast-Food Doesn’t Mean Available
Late one Sunday morning, while driving, I had a craving for an extra-long chicken sandwich from my favourite fast-food restaurant. I stopped by the restaurant’s nearest fast-food drive-thru only to hear the lady’s voice from the box say the sandwich is out of stock. When calling the hotline of another fast-food restaurant close to 12Continue reading “Fast-Food Doesn’t Mean Available”
Missing in Supply Chains: Productivity
If there’s one thing I find missing in every business news story I’ve read, it’s: productivity. If there is an article about productivity, it usually is in the context of labour efficiency or how much output workers churn out over a given period. Some media writers define productivity as to how many tasks we completeContinue reading “Missing in Supply Chains: Productivity”
Five (5) Lessons from an Elevator Story
A high-rise building (let’s call it Building A) has been fixing its nine (9) elevators for the last twelve (12) years. Several times an elevator would fail, and passengers would get stuck, causing trauma and panic. Fortunately, the building’s security quickly rescued trapped passengers and suspended access to the dysfunctional elevators. But for the building’sContinue reading “Five (5) Lessons from an Elevator Story”
Four Remedies to Mitigate Bias
I won’t lease an office to a Korean. Every Korean I did business with didn’t pay the rent on time. Many golf country clubs in the Philippines won’t accept Korean golfers as members. This is because Koreans don’t follow proper etiquette at the golf courses. They shout at other people, don’t wait their turns,Continue reading “Four Remedies to Mitigate Bias”
If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen
I went to a lunch with former high schoolmates I’ve not seen in years. Most of us were glad to see each other. One of my schoolmates, an esteemed cardiologist, however, didn’t want to make conversation with me; he seemed to prefer to talk to other schoolmates who were either medical doctors or scientists withContinue reading “If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen”
What Do We Do with ‘Bad Orders?’
One of the most irritating things in supply chain management is handling returned items from customers. We spend plenty of our precious time & resources trying to get rid of them. ‘Bad orders’ or BO for short are otherwise known as unsaleable merchandise or trade returns. BO is a commonplace term in the consumer goodsContinue reading “What Do We Do with ‘Bad Orders?’”
Ellery's Essays 