HR Corner Letting the customer set the agenda by Charles Mak One major retailer has recognised that staff and customers are the best source of knowledge about the business The natural inclination of many senior managers is to regard themselves as the source of all wisdom in their own companies and the only people qualified to think strategically. In the opinion of Philip Fung, director of human resources and knowledge management for Bossini International Holdings Limited, they could not be more wrong. He knows they should be listening more closely to the views of their own staff and applying knowledge management (KM) initiatives to turn those ideas into business success. With more than 20 years' management experience and currently pursuing a doctoral degree in KM, Mr Fung is doing just that to enhance the company's competitiveness on an international scale. "We have about 4,000 staff in more than 20 countries," he says. "Every day we are competing with major brands which have an array of talent and excellent management practices. In this fast-changing international environment, knowledge always wins." Behind the company's success is the ability and insight to detect what customers want and match this with Bossini's brand characteristics. As Mr Fung stresses, "Knowledge is the source of creativity as it gives birth to product designs and sales and marketing strategies. Our staff have a great deal of customer-related information about tastes and buying habits. Collecting this and then transferring it to the design and merchandising departments is a crucial process." Into practice This is where Mr Fung's KM expertise can be applied. "One common practice for refining skills and knowledge is the 'after action review' (AAR)," he explains. This differs from the usual kind of business review which concentrates on identifying mistakes, who made them and why. Instead, it teaches openness and not blaming others, through focusing on learning and a review of processes. As KM principles have been adopted, traditional shop meetings have also been changed. Smaller discussion groups now review issues arising from the daily operations. Useful information and suggestions are then collected and shared with other retail outlets. In this way, important details about how to improve the business are quickly relayed to frontline staff and are not held up by the deliberations of top-level executives. The result is that a stronger and more supportive team spirit has been created. "In the past, senior executives would often employ market research firms to find out the views and preferences of customers," says Mr Fung. "It cost a lot and the process took a long time, but the major downside was that no frontline staff were involved. Now we recognise that their observations are what keep the research real." As a result, customer knowledge management (CKM), which involves frontline staff collecting customer feedback, has been introduced to complement formal market research. Mr Fung believes that Bossini is moving towards being "a KM company" and regards the concept as being deeply rooted in the corporate culture. In particular, it helps in linking together the fashion brand's international retail network. "We operate in many countries which have different ways of doing business," he explains. "Therefore, community of practice (COP) has been adopted to enhance the synergy and shared interests." Managers within the region share information and experiences about everything from sales and marketing techniques to retention policies, training, remuneration, and understanding customers. Tools used This principle of sharing is, though, just a starting point. In a bid to achieve greater efficiency, the company has entered an era in which IT and KM are combined. A sophisticated intranet system has been devised to help staff understand and analyse sales information relating to their own stores. Sales patterns and new trends can be spotted, and decisive action can be taken within a short period of time. In addition, new systems have been set up for merchandising and QA activities. Sales performance per style is displayed in colour charts, enabling staff to monitor in-season performance and use the information in planning the following year's sales. "Goods delivery is critical," Mr Fung adds, "and our suppliers can now access our system through a web browser to coordinate delivery dates, times and quantities much more efficiently. We have achieved better business alignment and smoother operations for frontline staff, the back office team and suppliers." Also in place is a sophisticated and user-friendly tool for handling quality control. It accelerates the process between Hong Kong and factories in the Guangdong area and offers online scheduling, checking, and QC status updates by means of a mobile phone SMS function. As the next step, the company is already planning to implement an online quotation system that will reduce paperwork and boost productivity. When these activities are tracked and recorded by the IT system, the information can be further analysed and become useful knowledge. "Using the principles of KM and linking it to advances in IT has definitely helped staff and improved the business," says Mr Fung. "It also means that, even if there is a turnover of employees, the knowledge stays behind." Salient points Principles of knowledge management have enhanced overall efficiency Constructive group discussions help staff to refine skills and knowledge Customer knowledge management is used together with formal market research Relevant information readily shared among all managers and staff Intranet system helps shop staff obtain and analyse sales information New systems have helped to speed up merchandising and QC processes Taken from Career Times 4 February 2005, p. 16 Your comments are welcome at [email protected]