CHICAGO — Two teams, one question.

During the late Wednesday session at GAAS, two Leadership 2.0 teams described in detail their plans to help answer the question: How to survive in a changing aftermarket?

Leadership 2.0 is an executive leadership education program designed specifically for the aftermarket. It consists of two five-day sessions, as well as a team project. The top two teams are annually invited to present their projects at GAAS.

Team I tackled the concept of data standardization and its effect on electronic cataloging. This is an important issue in the aftermarket since the majority of GAAS attendees indicated that they are unhappy with the service provided by e-cat providers.

Team I members were: Jeff Blocher, Affinia Group; Aaron Fisk, APH Warehouse; Don McEntee, SKF and Michael Schwab, NGK.

According to Team I, there are several reason for this. Specifically:

• Not all manufacturers comply with industry cataloging standards.

• Duplication of research efforts and cost.

• Unequal distribution of research costs.

• Information is distributed by limited sources.

In its full project, Team I examined several areas, but for the GAAS presentation, it only looked at the lack of timely updates and data formatting.

Team I’s solution was to create a non-profit organization, managed by AAIA, that would provide the data. This would ensure timely and standardized data, which would make the cataloging process quicker and more accurate.

Teams II’s project looked at the problem of dealership competition, and provided ideas to usurp “the dealer as king” in the auto parts and service channels.

Team members included Brian Funke, R.L. Polk; Gerald Kottke, Delphi; Dan Rader, CARQUEST; David Redeker, Federal-Mogul and current AWDA Chairman Tim Sturdevant, S.A.E. Warehouse.

Team II posed a question to the audience: Where was the last place they took their vehicles for service? Although the audience was comprised of 100 percent aftermarket professionals, half of them took their vehicles to the dealership. This, said Team II, clearly illustrated a problem: the dealership is king and the aftermarket needs to do something to change that.

The team backed up this position with data that showed that dealers are winning the battle of the bays. For example, a graph demonstrated that among dealerships, parts and service business is growing, even as the number of dealerships falls.

To combat what the team called a “deep-rooted perception problem” it proposed an on-line aftermarket repair shop rating and listing service, using the Zagat Guide as one possible model. This on-line service would list participating shops, areas of technical specialty and customer comments.