Competing on Analytics or What is Lean Six Sigma

Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning

Author: Thomas H Davenport

You have more information at hand about your business environment than ever before. But are you using it to "out-think" your rivals? If not, you may be missing out on a potent competitive tool.

In Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning, Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris argue that the frontier for using data to make decisions has shifted dramatically. Certain high-performing enterprises are now building their competitive strategies around data-driven insights that in turn generate impressive business results. Their secret weapon? Analytics: sophisticated quantitative and statistical analysis and predictive modeling.

Exemplars of analytics are using new tools to identify their most profitable customers and offer them the right price, to accelerate product innovation, to optimize supply chains, and to identify the true drivers of financial performance. A wealth of examples-from organizations as diverse as Barclay's, Capital One, Harrah's, Procter & Gamble, Wachovia, and the Boston Red Sox-illuminate how to leverage the power of analytics.

Thomas Davenport - Forbes

It's all about looking behind time-honored assumptions and ideas for what makes for good people and testing them instead of going on your intuition and your gut.

The Wall Street Journal

Competing on Analytics is hardly the last word on the matter, but it is a useful primer for a business field that seems likely only to grow in importance.

The Financial Times

...the traditional ways of seeking competitive advantage are redundant and...the future lies with the ability to analyse the very considerable volumes of data it amasses about itself.

CFO.com

That insight [you are searching for] is probably lying inside data you already have or could easily obtain. That's the key premise of Competing on Analytics.

Table of Contents:

Foreword   Gary Loveman     ix
Acknowledgments     xiii
The Nature of Analytical Competition
The Nature of Analytical Competition: Using Analytics to Build a Distinctive Capability     3
What Makes an Analytical Competitor?: Defining the Common Key Attributes of Such Companies     23
Analytics and Business Performance: Transforming the Ability to Compete on Analytics into a Lasting Competitive Advantage     41
Competing on Analytics with Internal Processes: Financial, Manufacturing, R&D, and Human Resource Applications     57
Competing on Analytics with External Processes: Customer and Supplier Applications     83
Building an Analytical Capability
A Road Map to Enhanced Analytical Capabilities: Progressing Through the Five Stages of Development     107
Managing Analytical People: Cultivating the Scarce Ingredient That Makes Analytics Work     131
The Architecture of Business Intelligence: Aligning a Robust Technical Environment with Business Strategies     153
The Future of Analytical Competition: Approaches Driven by Technology, Human Factors, and Business Strategy     175
Notes     187
Index     199
About the Authors     217

Interesting textbook: Nothing to Fear or Never Eat Alone

What is Lean Six Sigma?

Author: Michael L Georg

A quick introduction on how to use Lean Six Sigma toimprove your workplace, meet your goals, andbetter serve your customers.

Lean Six Sigma combines the two most important improvement trends of our time: making work better (using Six Sigma) and making work faster (using Lean principles). In this plain-English guide, you’ll discover how this remarkable quality improvement method can give you the tools to identify and eliminate waste and quality problems in your own work area.

Packed with diagrams, cartoons, and real-life examples, What is Lean Six Sigma? reveals the “four keys” of Lean Six Sigma and how they apply to your own job:

• Delight your customers with speed and quality
• Improve your processes
• Work together for maximum gain
• Base decisions on data and facts

You’ll see the big picture of what your company hopes to gain with Lean Six Sigma, how it may affect your work area, and what it can mean to you personally.

Michael L. George is the founder and CEO of George Group, the largest Lean Six Sigma consulting practice in the United States. He is the author of Lean Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma for Service.

David Rowlands is Vice President of Lean Six Sigma at Xerox Corporation. He's been using Lean and Six Sigma since 1988, and has practical experience working with teams to solve improvement challenges in sales, service, and manufacturing.

Bill Kastle is a Vice President at George Group and has helped guide Lean Six Sigma initiatives at major corporations. For 15 years, he has helped teams at all levels apply these tools toimprove performance and respond to customer needs.