Child of Depression remains debt-shy: "Let the customers dictate how fast we can grow".
If your largest customers dictate your entire roadmap then you'll never do anything strategic – you become their R&D department.
"We've always said that customer response dictates what we buy and sell," said John Bresee, Backcountry.com's president.
"Customers almost dictated this to us," said Paul Gainer, above, vice president of Disney Shopping, a division of Disney Consumer Products.
Back at Marcus, Wareing says the customer will dictate how his staff behave: "If they want the wine on the table, that's what we'll do.
"The issue of public safety and customer preference dictates that the doors be unlocked on trains where it is safe for them to be unlocked," Mr. O'Leary said.
Another change is taking place in the big rig business in the U.S. Traditionally, the American manufacturers were assemblers; the customer could dictate the engine and other components he wanted on his truck.
Red Hat and Microsoft have worked together in the past to provide interoperability on the hypervisor and guest operating systems and we will provide additional services and offerings as customer demands dictate.
The problem lay in offering low-margin products, inefficient customer-dictated routes and the fact that, from a basic perspective, the world simply wasn't ready yet — there weren't any remote controls for placing orders (smartphones), and Internet connection was limited.
Rather than wait for customers to dictate cutbacks, leading suppliers have gone on the offensive, making factories more efficient and operations more flexible.
"I want my artists to translate trends for customers, not dictate them," he said, adding, "There is also the pleasure principle.
