Isn’t It Obvious?

This book does for retailing what Goldratt’s international bestseller The Goal did for manufacturing.

A breakthrough solution is exposed when some unexpected events force Caroline and Paul, a married couple working for their family’s retail business, to make a few small changes in the way things are done. A solution that propels the family’s regional chain of stores into a very profitable, rapidly growing, international enterprise. If there is a hint of Jonah, from The Goal, reappearing in this novel, it is Henry, the soon-to-retire president and majority owner of the company who logically states that, "if you do not deal directly with the core problem, don’t expect significant improvement." Eli Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints is woven throughout this book but answers are not handed to you. The reader and the characters in the book work through the process together to discover solutions.

Dr Goldratt deals with core problems inherent in the retail industry:

• The inability to forecast future demand accurately enough
• A very long supply time (often much longer than anyone thinks it is)
• Retailers purchasing too few of some items and too many of others
• The way today’s approach to logistics is forcing the inventory that is in the supply chain to be unavailable where and when it is needed

The elegant but simple solutions give the reader that sensation that followers love about Goldratt: "Ah-ha! Now I get it!" And that’s when Goldratt says: "Isn’t It Obvious?"