The New Profit Imperative

Go Downstream: The New Profit Imperative in Manufacturing.
Why Go Downstream?Smart manufacturers are creating new business models to capture profits at the customer's end of the value chain. Despite the long economic expansion-and despite their own rigorous focus on improving productivity and quality-most large manufacturers have struggled during the past decade. Smart manufacturers are moving downstream for a very simple reason: that's where the money is. U.S. economic growth has slowed dramatically over the past 30 years. At the same time, the installed base of products has been expanding steadily in many industries.
Weak product demand and the growing installed base have pushed value downstream from manufacturing. …