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Agility Benchmarking
By:
Victoria Arnold
Tammy Kieper
Kendall Tupper
Diane Vavrasek
ALDI’s Discount
Supermarket
 ALDI (ALbrecht-Discount)
opened its first store in 1948 in Essen
 The two brothers wanted to offer high quality
products at non-compete prices
 Today, there are 7,544 ALDI (Nord/SUED)
outlets on 3 different continents
The geographical division
ALDI’s Principles
 ALDI’s guarantee is INCREDIBLE VALUE EVERY DAY
 "Top quality at incredibly low prices"
 "Spend a little, live a lot"
 The discount supermarket is specialized in staple and other
inexpensive household items (labeled own brand)
 Special weekly offers include electronic devices, clothing … to
diversify the assortment
 Aldi's "strictly no frills" approach keeps costs low
 Aldi's minimal staffing levels compress expenses
 The discount stores are kept small shops to avoid high RE prices
Agile Aspects of ALDI:
“When attacked, a decentralized organization
tends to become even more open and
decentralized.” (page 21)
∙ ALDI long time accused of selling low-quality products found its way
into mainstream by diversifying its assortment (cook books,
electronics …)
∙ ALDI feels strongly that the company’s success can be attributed to
its decentralized organizational structure
∙ According to some sources, every week an ALDI store opens
somewhere in the world reinforcing its market presence and agility
Source: Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005 & Brafman, O., Beckstrom, R., 2006
Agile Aspects of ALDI:
“An open system doesn’t have central
intelligence; the intelligence is
spread throughout the system” (page 39 & 40)
∙
ALDI’s flat hierarchy gives open space to local store
management and ALDI N/S are independent organizations
∙
The main objective of the Albrecht brothers was and is to
improve the system (catalysts)
∙
”Konsequent einfach” (by consequence, simple) is one of ALDI’s
principals: there are no concepts longer than one page to keep
the system simple
Source: Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005 & Brafman, O., Beckstrom, R., 2006
Agile Aspects of ALDI:
“Open systems can easily mutate” (page 40)
∙
ALDI, among Germany’s top five supermarket discount chains, has
managed to become one of the 8 biggest textile distributors, and gained a
18% market share in the “health-product” industry
∙
Entry barriers are low however, ALDI’s thirst for innovative projects
(Yesss…) keeps them ahead of their main competitor Lidl
∙
ALDI has proven its adaptability to political and economic decisions
(Euro-Teuro, open hours, wages …)
Source: Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005 & Brafman, O., Beckstrom, R., 2006
ALDI’s Mission:
ALDI’s mission is to stay loyal to its principle, as to
know providing customers with high quality
products for very low prices
“They will always stay leaders because they trust in their people”
“The concept of simplicity and discount of ALDI has been imported into other
industries (Porsche)” (Page 4)
Source: Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005
Digium’s Asterisk *
∙ Asterisk Software was developed in 1999 by Mark
Spencer while he was working for Digium
∙ He wanted to provide his customers with 24-hour
technical support
∙ He created telephony system that could connect via
software to the CPU that interfaced with a telephone
circuit
Source: (www.digium.com) & (Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005)
PBX System Example:
Source: www.quintum.com/images/Remote-Office-PBX.jpg
Digium’s Values:
∙
Asterisk was built with the customer’s ideas in mind
∙
Open source development
∙
Offers free downloadable software
∙
Customers include small, medium, or large sized
organizations, & individual home owners
∙
Provide customers with consulting and
technological support
Source: (www.digium.com) & (Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005)
Agile Aspects of Digium:
“When attacked, a decentralized organization
tends to become even more open and
decentralized.” (page 21)
∙ Many organizations fear computer hackers because they of the
potential degradation of computer systems
∙ Digium feels their success is attributed to employees’ ability to hack
into different systems
∙ Digium encourages these abilities – feel hackers built the internet and
the Apple computer & they will continue to play a large role in creating
future telecommunication services
Source: Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005 & Brafman, O., Beckstrom, R., 2006
Agile Aspects of Digium:
“An open system doesn’t have central
intelligence; the intelligence is
spread throughout the system” (page 39 & 40)
∙
Digium does not assign employees specific tasks
∙
Promotes idea sharing amongst workers with diversified industry
and experience backgrounds
∙
Digium employees are equipped with advanced problem solving
skills and are highly motivated by innovation
∙
Digium’s culture - customers having total say in the design of
their telecommunication service
Source: Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005 & Brafman, O., Beckstrom, R., 2006
Agile Aspects of Digium:
“Put people into an open system and they’ll
automatically want to contribute” (Page 74)
∙
Digium’s competitors (AT&T and Verizon) utilize small work teams to
develop new products whereas Digium creates work teams that
consist of hundreds of employees contributing in brainstorming
sessions
Source: Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005 & Brafman, O., Beckstrom, R., 2006
Agile Aspects of Digium:
“Open systems can easily mutate” (page 40)
∙
With the development of Asterisk, Digium wants and encourages
others to enter into the market
∙
Very low barriers to entry
∙
“It is now possible for someone with an old $200 PC to develop a
communications system that has intelligence to rival the most
expensive proprietary systems.” (page 208)
Source: Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005 & Brafman, O., Beckstrom, R., 2006
Digium’s Mission:
To encourage the telecommunications
industry to evolve into an era of
flexibility and creativity
“These people (the Digium community) all share
a common belief: that the telecommunications
industry needs a proper revolution.
Asterisk is the catalyst.” (Page 4)
Source: Van Meggelen, Madsen, Smith, 2005
Google: Overview
 Google, first officially established in 1998, was the
brainchild of Larry Page and Sergey Brin
 Page and Brin developed a new approach to online
search out of a Stanford dorm room
 The new type of search had the unique ability to
analyze the “back links” in a website
 Two short years after conception, in 2000, Google
became the world’s largest search engine
Google: What is it?
 Google is named for the mathematical term “Googol” or
a 1 followed by 100 zeros
 The term was coined by Milton Sirotta and made
popular in the book “Mathematics and the
Imagination”
 Company lore states that the name Google was
chosen because Googol reflects the company’s
mission to organize the enormous amount of
information on the web
Google: Products
 Google generates revenues through two venues:
 Targeted advertising
 AdWords, AdSense
 Online search services
 Google Search Services
 Google hosts a large number of “Google Domains”
 Finance, News, Images, Video, Earth
Google: Mission
 Google’s mission is “to organize the world’s information
and make it universally accessible and useful”
 Continuously thinking about ways technology can
improve existing ways of doing business
 Exploration of new areas and ideas
 Nurture the new areas and make them prosper
Google: Philosophy
 Never settle for the best
 Google still remains committed to providing the best
level of service to those who seek information
regardless of where they are located
 Continuous commitment to innovation, trailblazing and
the creation of the perfect search engine
10 things Google has
found to be true
1.
Focus on the user and all else will follow.
2.
It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
3.
Fast is better than slow.
4.
Democracy on the web works.
5.
You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
10 things Google has
found to be true
6.
You can make money without doing evil.
7.
There’s always more information out there.
8.
The need for information crosses all borders.
9.
You can be serious without a suit.
10. Great just isn’t good enough.
Google: Agile

Strong sense of corporate values and mission aligns
all employees in the organization
 Strong employee engagement
 Employees incorporate values into everyday life at
Google

Google continuously looks to extend its reach
 Translating web pages
 Customizable ads
Google: Agile

Small managerial hierarchy
 Little to no communication barriers

Employees wear “several hats”
 Hiring is based on ability and not experience
“Because everyone realizes they are an equally important
of Google’s success, no one hesitates to skate over a
corporate officer during roller hockey.”
Google: Continuing on…
“The perfect search engine would understand exactly
what you mean and give back exactly what you want.”
–Larry Page
W.L. Gore
 Founded in 1958
 Currently 7,500 employees
 45 Locations around the world
 Revenues of over $1.98B
 Profitable for 35+ consecutive years
 Best known for Gore-Tex fabric
Gore’s Competitors
 Belden CDT Inc- cable and wire products
 Burlington Worldwide- manufactures barrier fabrics
 Sustained competitive advantage lies in the
organizational culture and structure
Gore’s Culture
 Team based environment
 Fosters personal initiative
 Encourages innovation
 Promotes person-to-person communication among
all associates
 No formal mission statement
Lattice Structure
 No chains of command or predetermined channels of
communication
 “Associates” & Sponsors
 Leaders emerge through “followership”
 Compensation tied to individual’s contributions
 Outcomes
Common Themes
Or
Unique Differences?