This episode was originally published on March 1, 2021

Josué is originally from Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico and describes himself as: passionate, enthusiastic, adaptable, and creative, which he demonstrates in a friendly and clear way through his anecdotes, studies and professional research. In his self-appointed role of inspiring the community to solve humanity’s problems, Josué tells us how logistics, and in particular supply chains. play a very important role in the success of small and micro-businesses.

In a logical and passionate way, Josué shares with us the main characteristics of the success of micro and small companies in Latin America. And he acknowledges that although each segment, industry, and region has different variables, there are some similarities that successful companies share. From his studies, he identifies three and also one very common mistake.

1) Companies focused on growing, changing, learning, and evolving are more likely to be successful (you have to want to grow)

2) However, the immediate priority cannot be to grow your customer base (this is a strategic mistake of many companies, they want to grow and are launched to find more customers)

3) Studies show that the priority should be to focus on managing the quality of your products and/or services. Guarantee that when the customer asks for something you are able to prepare the product over and over again (replicate it) with the same quality and in an efficient delivery time.

4) After having that established, then the next step is: Grow customers

A first interview that leaves us with a lot of highly relevant information, and in some cases surprising, about how micro and small companies in Latin America fight for their survival in the face of an inefficient, and, in many cases, abusive system. The tenacity, determination, and hard-work of millions of entrepreneurs is admirable and the research results of Josué and his team at MIT are simply shocking.

Listen carefully to this episode, the first of Supply Chain Now in Spanish and many thanks to our guest of honor: Josué C. Velázquez