Burt's Bees

This week has been a rollercoaster in my life.  I had surgery this week and I’ve been recovering ever since.  As they say though, the show must go on.  This week in class we focused on process improvement and production, operation, and location. 

This week we also did a case study on Roxanne Quimby, one of the founders of Burt’s Bees.  It was an interesting story about how finding a business and doing well isn’t the end.  Quimby had made a great business making natural, handmade products out of beeswax and other natural products from Burt’s beehives.  She had grown it naturally and organically.  She used inexpensive local labor, and really had a love and a passion for what they did.  They were also growing at a steady rate, but it wasn’t enough.  She saw the writing on the wall and knew they couldn’t keep growing where they were.  She had to make a hard choice and move the company.  Was it the right decision?  What was the future of the company?  Many people in our class discussed how moving and changing what they made wasn’t in line with the vision of the company.  I disagreed.  Too often people think a company’s vision is what they make.  I think a company has to have a bigger vision than that.  A vision is about helping the customer, changing the world, and I think Burt’s Bees’ stayed to their vision and continued to be a successful company after the move.