Speech Summaries

Colin Dyer Chief Executive Officer WorldWide Retail Exchange (WWRE)

Supporting CPG Collaboration

Colin Dyer, Chief Executive Officer, WorldWide Retail Exchange, talked about how his background as a manufacturer sparked his appreciation of the importance of efficiency in the supply chain. "WWRE is all about supply chain efficiency," Mr. Dyer said, and "collaboration is critical to anyone who wants to succeed in the Wal-Mart world."

The Internet has had a huge impact on the way business is done, both allowing and forcing retailers and partners to collaborate. But getting the most from collaboration requires looking at an entire business -- designing products, sourcing and procuring, planning, and tracking goods -- and making once proprietary information available to trading partners.

Wal-Mart understands the advantage of using online business processes and has made a longstanding commitment to IT. "So how do you respond to Wal-Mart?" Mr. Dyer asked. You can copy it and build a private exchange of your own, he said, which is technically feasible but resource-consuming. Or, you can let a collaborative exchange do the heavy lifting for you, not only gaining standardized data models and common data analysis tools, but also sharing risks and costs with other members.

The biggest challenge is building enough trust to break down barriers to collaboration with the competition. It's difficult, Mr. Dyer said, and requires cross-functional leadership from the highest levels of an organization. To begin, ask yourself and answer four questions: When will you Web-enable your business? What are your competitors doing, and how quickly? Will you participate in an exchange? And how long are your lead times to get things done? When it comes to supply chain efficiency, Mr. Dyer concluded, Wal-Mart is five years ahead of almost everyone, with no signs of slowing. "So get going."

Questions And Answers

Q: Are you going to announce a merger with Transora this week or next week? What are the obstacles to this merger taking place?
A: The exchanges themselves don't decide, the owners of the exchange do -- the retailers working with us and the manufacturers working with Transora. I believe it should happen, it will happen. I believe in the collaboration story very strongly.

Q: What does it mean to have Campbell's Soup on board? Did they get a special deal?
A: Before it was like trying to clap with one hand. Until we get both sides of the divide together, we don't have useful information. They got the same deal as everyone else. Retailers and manufacturers pay off the same scale, from $300K to $900K annually.

Q: Is it possible to catch up, given the lead Wal-Mart has?
A: If you don't try you won't stand a chance. And if you don't get engaged, your disadvantage will grow, with respect not only to Wal-Mart, but all others.