It's 3:24 a.m., and Mark Ryan is wide awake. That darn digital clock. It glows brightly in the dark and displays the time to the nearest minute.

Since Mark's laser surgery, he no longer has to put on glasses to see the clock in the middle of the night. He wonders how he lived without this technology.

It is not surprising that Mark is having another sleepless night. Ever since his promotion nine months ago to general manager of Universal Products, a division of Global Products and Services, Inc., Mark feels like he is in over his head. He has never failed at anything that he seriously attempted, but he is failing now.

Universal Products makes a wide range of products. Some are made to stock for quick delivery to customers, some are made to order with a wide range of options, and others are engineered specifically for individual customers. The division has been under significant pressure from its customers to improve on-time delivery and to shorten delivery lead times. Key customers are also pressuring Universal Products for lower prices, and the competition is nipping at the division's heels for every major account. Most troubling to Mark is that the division has not been hitting its sales and profit budgets for the year.

Of course, the customers and the competition are not really to blame. We haven't been helping ourselves, Mark observes as he rearranges the pillow in hopes of catching at least a few more winks before sunrise. Since...