◗ The Little Black Book of Strategic Planning for Distributors
Brent Grover
Modern Distribution Management/Gale Media, 128 pages
Grover’s “Little Black Book” covers the critical pieces of creating a strategic plan for a wholesale distribution company, including case studies, exhibits and end-of-chapter questions for the wholesaler-distributor’s management team. These days companies are almost always focused on “the now,” and the recession exacerbated that tendency. This book will help shift that mindset. Its insights will help distributors organize a strategic planning project, gather the needed information and build a one-page plan. Execution is the final step, and that is where many distributors fail. This book gives distributors what they need to put their plan into action.
◗ 5 Fundamentals for the Wholesale Distribution Branch Manager
Jim Ambrose
Amazon Digital, 149 pages
“5 Fundamentals” is a guide for wholesale distribution branch managers to help improve their business and leadership skills. Ambrose asserts that the branch manager is the key to success for wholesaler-distributors. Expectations for managers’ performance are higher than ever, and the traditional advancement from inside sales to outside sales to branch manager is no longer the assumed track. The branch manager who follows this track with no leadership skills will struggle as companies push for improved performance at the branch level. Regardless of the company’s structure, the branch manager will need the fundamentals outlined here to keep the company profitable and provide the best value for customers.
◗ 2012 Wholesale Distribution Economic Factbook
Modern Distribution Management
Gale Media, 192 pages
MDM’s “Wholesale Distribution Economic Factbook” is widely regarded as the best source for accurate statistics about the wholesale distribution industry, including segment and overall industry revenue trends, inventory levels, 2012 sales forecasts and other critical benchmark data. Executives who manage, sell to or invest in wholesale distribution companies can use this report to stay on top of key economic and market trends. The report is produced by MDM, which has been researching and reporting on the wholesale distribution industry since 1967. MDM uses that experience to compile an accurate, comprehensive picture of the wholesale distribution industry in this report.
