Contributing Editor's Feature

To date, “Just-In-Time†(JIT) prescriptions have been limited primarily to larger organizations and the functional area of production. Rudy Winston and Lance Heiko begin a discussion of JIT that badly needs starting … and continuing. Their focus in this article is to hypothesize, based on their real world experiences, how JIT can be used by new and smaller businesses. Those thinking of using JIT techniques will find their analysis and discussion thought provoking and instructive. But we need to continue and extend the discussion. I'd like to start by suggesting we need to apply the basic notions of JIT to non-production issues within newer enterprises. For instance, the notion of proper timing is at the core of both JIT and new venture creation. When, precisely, do you need to bring aboard key members of an entrepreneurial team? Drucker and others assert, before you truly need them. JIT suggests otherwise. When do you need the next round of financing? … the new office? … the additional employees? Again, JIT provides very specific advice about these questions … answers that are consistent with proponents of bootstrapping and those who warn to “always run your new venture on a high variable cost basis.†But when is this advice really right? And when is it dead wrong? These and related questions remain unanswered. But perhaps, just perhaps, Winston and Heiko have started a line of inquiry that may lead one day to some answers … just in time.