Foreword

This probably isn’t the first supply chain book on your shelf. But this ought to be the first you read all the way through. Bill Peace has produced a text that reminds me of Richard Feynman’s book, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! He has deftly combined a memoir and textbook into something that is approachable and sensible. Moreover, the thinking and tools can be applied across industries and at any level within a customer service or supply chain function.
Throughout the book, Bill provides commentary salted with years of experience and links them to actual working documents and exhibits based on his thirty-two years with Procter & Gamble (P&G). What’s important is that this book traces many of the seminal events in the evolution of P&G’s supply chain. Most readers think about P&G this way:
• Excellence in marketing
• Reliability in manufacturing
• Critical consumer understanding
• Consistent financial growth
Bill’s writing not only brings to life a lot of the hidden personality of P&G, but the manner in which it moved from internally focused metrics to one in which the supply chain view was extended through to the customers’ shelves.
This book is structured in a four-part modular format. Each module can be read independently, and all are related.
• It’s Alive: Global Supply Chain Evolution
This module outlines four strategic approaches that help turn an internally focused supply network to a responsive competitive weapon while delivering shareholder value across trading partners.
• Measuring and Managing Supply Chains
This module focuses on the capital M management aspects of transformational change. Regrettably, all grand strategic platforms devolve into real work, and Bill does a nice job of keeping it simple.
• Developing Markets: What They Really Are and How You Can Be Successful in Them
This module paints a picture of the complexities of managing supply networks in markets that represent about two-thirds of the world’s population and most of its growth. Bill discusses a number of important concepts, but none more critical than shelf back pricing, low-cost network solutions, and managing and leading in a culture that is not your own.
• What It Takes to Win in Business Today … No Kidding!
Bill’s guidance and approach really combines Eastern and Western thinking and balances both the need to create change while existing in an ever-changing world.
Please enjoy and use this book. I’ve known Bill for years, and the person I know and the personality on the page are the same. Bill and those around him have prospered using these methods, and I commend them to you.
Andrew F. Buteux

Andrew F. Buteux worked for P&G for almost twenty-eight years. He had a very successful career in sales and supply chain management, specifically in the area of customer management. He is currently a supply chain management consultant with the Partnering Group and lives in New Jersey.