The New Profit Imperative.

Go Downstream: The New Profit Imperative in Manufacturing. Why Go Downstream? Smart manufacturers are creating new business models to capture profits at the customer's end of the value chain. Despite the long economic expansion-and despite their own rigorous focus on improving productivity and quality-most large manufacturers have struggled during the past decade. Smart manufacturers are moving downstream for a very simple reason: that's where the money is. U.S. economic growth has slowed dramatically over …

…for customers. 3) Integrated Solutions: A third effective business model is to combine products and services into a seamless offering that addresses a pressing customer need. 4) Distribution Control: This entails entering the customers' business-moving forward in the value chain to gain control over profitable distribution activities. Conclusion Managing downstream business requires looking at new variables such as profit per installed unit, share of customer's total downstream-activity spending, and total customer return over the product life cycle.