The Competitive Edges
  The Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership                                        April 2012 
Articles of Interest



Momentum is a Killer - The Demise of RIM, Yahoo and Dell
Adam Hartung
Blog post from Innovation Speaker Adam Hartung
Understand your core strength, and protect it. Sounds like the key to success, and a simple motto. It's the mantra of many a management guru. Only, far too often, it's the road to ruin.
The last week, 3 big announcements showed just how damning the "strategy" of building on historical momentum can be. 
Start with Research in Motion's revenue and earnings announcement. Both metrics fell short of expectations as Blackberry sales continue to slide. Not many investors were actually surprised about this, to be honest. iOS and Android products have been taking away share from RIM for several months, and the trend remains clear. And investors have paid a heavy price.
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CEO Leadership: Generac's Aaron Jagdfeld looks abroad
Jagdfeld tilt
Aaron Jagdfeld, Manufacturing Matters! keynote speaker
Interview with Manufacturing Matters! Afternoon Keynote speaker from InBusiness Magazine

IB: Last November, Generac announced that it had 400 job openings, and it held a job fair to attract candidates. You had a 90-day window in which you wanted to fill those positions. Where does that stand?

Jagdfeld: The 400 jobs that we announced last year are what we anticipated to hire over the next 12 months, with a good chunk of that being in the first 90 days. We actually did meet our plan. We brought in a combination of production-related employees as well as professional-technical staff like engineering, some sales, IT, finance, and other functions within the company as we've been growing. We've been fairly successful in filling some of those holes. There are some areas where companies like Generac are running into issues trying to find qualified candidates; engineering would be one of those areas. Engineering is a tough area to hire. There just simply are not enough engineers for the demand that companies in our industry or other industries have. 

Read full interview in InBusiness online
Designing the Perfect Website 
Amy Africa
Amy Africa, Manufacturing Matters!
e-business presenter
from the founder of Eight by Eight

Ninety-three percent of all web sites get enough traffic, they just can't convert it! 

The majority of e-commerce web sites get enough visitors to make them commercially viable, but fail to obtain contact information or convert sales.

Amy has saved customers thousands of dollars by helping them make the most of their existing e-commerce websites.  She'll provide practical tips at her session at the Manufacturing Matters! conference that will address the following critical points from a manufacturer's perspective:

1. Navigation that is intuitive and user-friendly
How many times have you left a web site in frustration because you couldn't find what you wanted? If you want to increase online sales, improve your web site navigation.

2. An entry page that quickly engages the user
60% of the people who visit your site will exit on the entry or home page. Get them to stick around and look through your site with the right entry page design.

3. Streamlined shopping cart
Is your shopping cart intuitive and easy to use? Are you recapturing sales lost in abandoned carts? Increase your order completion rate with the proper checkout process.

4. Search Engine Optimization
Search engines are the single most important source for new customer acquisition on the Web. Are you using the latest SEO techniques to improve your online visibility?

5. Proactive email marketing programs
The most successful Internet marketers use a full range of email marketing programs to generate sales, reactivate former customers, recapture abandoned cart orders, and respond to customer service issues.

Maximize these five critical features on your web site and ensure your e-commerce success.
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If three or more people from one company register for Manufacturing Matters!, the entire group will receive 20% off their registration.  

In addition, you can get another $25 off each registration by clicking here and requesting the code - this can be used with or without the group registration.
Offer Expires: May 4, 2012