A Startling Fact about Analytics-driven Organizations

Leave a reply

Enterprises invest in Analytics to improve Decision Making and outcomes across the business. This is from Product Strategy and Innovation to pic 1 Analytics-driven OrganizationSupply Chain Management, Customer Experience, and Risk Management. Yet, many executives are not yet seeing the results of their Analytics initiatives and investments.

Every organization putting on investment in Analytics has experienced several stumbling blocks. This differentiates the leaders from the laggards. Analytics-driven Organizations have clearly established processes, practices, and organizational conditions to achieve Operational Excellence. Their commitment to Analytics is creating a major payoff from their investments and a competitive edge.

What It Takes to Be Analytics-driven

The Harvard Business Review Analytic Services conducted a survey of 744 business executives around the world and across a variety of industries. Their focus was on the performance gap between companies that have struggled to get a return on their Analytics investment and those that have effectively leveraged their investment.

The survey showed that Analytics-driven Organizations get sufficient return on investment in Analytics. In fact, they have been highly successful in gaining a return on Analytics investment. This is gainfully achieved as organizations use Analytics consistently in strategic decision making. Executives of Analytics-driven Organizations rely on Analytics insights when it contradicted their gut feel.

Essentially, Analytics-driven Organizations have reduced costs and risks, increased Productivity, Revenue, and Innovation, and have successfully executed their Strategy. Yet, in evolving the organization’s Analytics approach, there can be 4 core obstacles that can affect their drive to getting a greater return on investment in Analytics.

The Core Obstacles to Finding Return on Analytics Investment

There are 4 core obstacles to being an Analytics-driven Organization.

Let’s briefly take a look at the first 2 obstacles:

  1. Communication and Decision-making Integration. The lack of Communication and Decision-making Integration limits the integration of Analytics into workflows and decision processes do not reach decision-makers. As a result of these core obstacles, the use of Analytics is limited in specific areas.
  1.  Skills to Interpret and Apply Analytics. A second core obstacle is the inadequate skills of business staff to interpret and use Analytics. In fact, the survey showed that only one-quarter of frontline employees use Analytics with only 7% using Analytics regularly.

The other two core obstacles are siloed and fragmented Analytics and time delay. These are two equally important core obstacles that can hinder the use of Analytics to maximize return on investment. Further, the 4 core obstacles are barriers to analytic success.

Are You Ready to Be an Analytics Leader?

Leaders use Analytics consistently in decision making. In fact, based on the survey, 83% of executives use it in business planning and forecasting. On the other hand, laggards only use it 67% of the time. Even in various aspects of the organization such as Marketing, Operations, Strategy Development, Sales, Supply Chain, Pricing and Revenue Management, and Information Technology, laggards use Analytics only half the time compared to Analytics Leaders.

Analytics Leaders always ensure that they establish the processes and organizational conditions to allow them to successfully deploy Analytics. In fact, to increase return on Analytics, organizations must undertake the use of four interrelated initiatives that will drive greater return on investment Analytics. These are four initiatives essential to building an Analytics-driven Organization.

One is building an organizational culture around Analytics. To achieve this the organization must have clear, strategic, and operational objectives that are set for Analytics. Second is deploying Analytics throughout all core functions of the business.

Starting with an Analytics-driven Culture can greatly facilitate cross-functional deployment of Analytics.

Interested in gaining more understanding of Analytics-driven Organization? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Analytics-driven Organization here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Are you a management consultant?

You can download this and hundreds of other consulting frameworks and consulting training guides from the FlevyPro library.

Stop Making Unreliable Human Judgments: The Science of Strategic Decision Making

Leave a reply

Human judgment can be unreliable as these are all susceptible to errors. In Strategy Development,  organizations make a lot of strategic pic 1 Strategic Decision Makingdecisions.  These strategic decisions share a common feature: they are evaluative judgments.

In making these tough calls, a large amount of complex information must be weighed down and evaluated.  While some management decisions are made without weighing quite so much information, yet strategic decisions involve the distillation of complexity into a single path forward.

With the unreliability in judgment, particularly in decision making, there is a need for a practical, broadly applicable approach to reducing errors. This approach is called the Mediating Assessments Protocol (MAP).

 Why Human Judgment Can Be Unreliable

Human judgment can be unreliable as evaluations are susceptible to errors. These errors stem from known cognitive biases. There can be a tendency to give more weight to information that comes to mind easily because it is recent or striking than other more important facts.  We have the tendency to notice, believe, and recall information selectively which confirms our preexisting hypotheses and beliefs.

Making decisions can also be affected by the Mental Model we have formed. This is an impression of a complex situation that is often less nuanced and more coherent than the reality it represents. When decision making is influenced by biases, there will be errors in decision making.

The 3 Core Elements of MAP

MAP or Mediating Assessments Protocol is a structured approach to Strategic Decision Making. It consists of 3 core elements.

  1. Advanced Assessment Definition. The first core element requires the identification of mediating assessments. Mediating assessments are key attributes critical to the evaluation.
  1. Independent Assessments. The second core element is grounded on the evidence available. It uses fact-based independently made assessments.
  1. Final Evaluation. The third core element is undertaken when the mediating assessments are complete. The final decision is discussed only when all key attributes have been scored and a complete profile of assessments is available. However, the final evaluation may not be undertaken if a deal breaker fact has been uncovered.

Understanding the Importance of MAP

Any organization is a decision factory. Many decisions made can shape the future of organizations. At the same time, many decisions have caused organizations to fail. Decisions, unlike physical products, cannot be quality checked. However, it can be improved by working on processes by which they are made.

Mediating Assessments Protocol (MAP) is an approach that can bring quality assurance to complex decisions. One of its strategic application is in structuring one-off decisions.

Structuring one-off strategic decisions is a type of strategic decision that makes use of explicit assessment as a basis for the decision. It requires leaders to make separate, explicit assessments of each aspect.

The use of MAP in structuring one-off decisions can limit the risk that a compelling narrative will sway board discussions and affect quality decisions.  When there is a rigor of formal structure in strategic decision making, it has the benefit of sequencing the process resulting in more quality decisions.

The use of MAP requires very trivial extra effort yet it can bring a lot of benefits. Board discussions are more organized and focus than the usual process, but is not necessarily longer or more contentious. Important facts are less likely to be overlooked and thoughtful, self-critical consideration of trade-offs is more likely to occur.

Most importantly, the use of the MAP can lead to producing strategic outcomes when used in structuring recurring decisions.

Interested in gaining more understanding of Strategic Decision Making? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Strategic Decision Making here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Are you a management consultant?

You can download this and hundreds of other consulting frameworks and consulting training guides from the FlevyPro library.

When Physical Office Becomes Passe, Are We Ready for Virtual Teams?

Leave a reply

Richard Branson, British business and philanthropist once said: “One day, offices will be a thing of the past.”pic 1 Virtual Teams Challenges & Benefits

While organizations still need to travel to reach their physical offices, the rapid changes in the world are requiring business

Virtual Teams work well for an organization and is effective even from a communication perspective. In fact, it is known to complement well the Lean Management approach used by organizations. Studies from previous years have shown that well-managed, widely spread, Virtual Teams have been outperforming those that share office space. In fact, it has shown that using Virtual Teams can improve employee productivity by 45%.es to form Virtual Teams. A Virtual Team refers to a group of individuals who work together from different geographic locations and rely on communication technology such as email, voice conferencing services, fax, etc.

In today’s highly competitive global economy, to be able to work smarter, organizations must be able to leverage the manifold benefits of a remote workforce. Likewise, organizations must also be able to manage challenges that come with working with Virtual Teams.

The 4 Core Challenges of Going Virtual

More organizations are opting to work with virtual teams. Virtual teams may have their benefits but it also has its challenges. Being able to manage these challenges will enable organizations to seize the benefits of remote workers.


There are 4 core challenges that organizations face when working with Virtual Teams. Let us take a look at the 2 core challenges.

  1. Virtual Communication. Having different time zones can be a challenge. This can lead to layers of complexity to the logistics of everyday communication. When time zones do not match, it can lead to less and less information being transmitted and can cause miscommunication. When working in a different time zone, there is a tendency to exchange information using email or instant messaging. But these may not be enough as it cannot convey as much meaning compared to vocal tone, facial expression, and physical gestures.
  1. Virtual Project Management. When working with virtual teams, the business must have a proper system and people in place. Virtual Project Management may cause some confusion and even delays. While digital tools are in place to facilitate remote project management and collaboration, it can be difficult at times to tell what each person is contributing. In fact, organizations need to put up a system to track whether the members of the virtual team are doing their required tasks.

In this digital era, Virtual Teams are becoming the new face of business operation and aligning itself with Digital Transformation. This is a global reality that businesses must accept. However, working with Virtual Teams brings a lot of challenges not only in Project Management and Virtual Communication but also in Talent Development and Technology Support. Talent Development and Technology Support are two other core challenges that can make an impact on the Virtual Team. How it is managed will define the success of your Virtual Team.

In hindsight, Virtual Teams can also bring so many benefits. Hence, it is not surprising that despite the challenges, a lot of businesses still prefer to work with Virtual Teams.

One core benefit is increased access to top talent. The world has become a global market for expertise and talents. Businesses can extend their reach to other countries in their search for needed expertise. In fact, working with virtual teams will open opportunities for businesses to work with experts in various fields with various experiences. Being able to employ the best and the brightest is more than enough for businesses to continue working with Virtual Teams and conquering challenges. Businesses just need to have appropriate support programs to give Virtual Teams a home-field advantage.

Interested in gaining more understanding of  the challenges & benefits of Virtual Teams? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Virtual Teams: Challenges & Benefits here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Are you a management consultant?

You can download this and hundreds of other consulting frameworks and consulting training guides from the FlevyPro library.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Best Practices: Your Guide to Driving Performance Improvements

Leave a reply

More sophisticated managers explicitly use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to promote cross-functional–not just vertical–alignment. For pic 1 Key Performance Indicatorsthem, KPIs are the means and methods for rigorously defining and measuring the fundamentals that matter.

Why are KPIs important? If used effectively, KPIs can clearly track value creation and deliver value for its stakeholders – customers, employees, and investors.

KPIs are being used by organizations in different ways. Yet, there are clear and measurable differences that exist in terms of how it is being used. There are organizations that use KPIs to monitor and assess performance while there are those that use KPIs to guide and drive performance improvements. Data-driven and customer-oriented leaders use KPIs in practicing Customer-centric Design, while those more concerned with hitting their numbers remain focused on efficiencies.

There are 4 primary best practices for Key Performance Indicators that organizations should follow. These best practices are every organization’s guide to using KPIs to drive performance improvements.

The 4 KPIs Best Practices

The 4 KPI Best Practices can demonstrate the effective use of KPIs to reflect and illuminate the strategic priority of organizations.

  1. Focus on Customer Experience (CX). The first KPI Best Practice, Focus on Customer Experience is focused on an increased understanding of customers’ wants and needs. There is a renewed emphasis on learning more about users of products. The main objective of focusing on customer experience is turning customers into brand advocates and evangelists. When KPIs are focused on customers beyond the sales funnel, this encourages an organization to realign itself around sharing, coordination, and collaboration.
  1. Identify Top KPIs. When top KPIs are identified, it is basically identifying the priority KPIs. Doing this requires identifying the appropriate number of KPIs to prioritize. There are guide questions than can help organizations in the prioritization of the KPIs. One of the questions can be “Is there a consensus on how KPIs affirm and support strategy? Another significant question can be one that points to how directly the functional KPIs contribute to enterprise success. When going through this process, it is important that leaders understand how KPIs interrelate and align.
  1. Foster Enterprise-wide Discussion of KPIs. A very critical Best Practice, the third KPI Best Practice is focused on reinforcing the company’s culture. In fostering enterprise-wide discussion of KPIs, KPIs must be central to leadership conversations around driving organizational behavior and change. It is not merely an assessment tool. If KPIs are not front and center at a management meeting, there is something wrong with the meeting, the management, or the KPIs.
  1. Treat KPIs as Special Class Data. Treat KPIs as Special Class Data is the fourth KPI Best practice that is essential in process transformation and automation. Organizations must understand that data and analytics are the raw ingredients of KPIs. KPIs special class as a data asset will become even more important as they become an input to ML algorithm and process automation. In the years to come, organizations can expect that data capability that supports more complex KPIs will become a source of competitive advantage.

What Matters Most

It is very clear that KPIs play a vital role in directing the priorities of organizations. With the changing global economy, organizations have been recognizing the importance of Customer Focus. In fact, it has taken a priority seat and identified as the top KPI by executives.

But does this hold true to all organizations? Identifying top KPIs is important but organizations must know the right way to identify the appropriate number of KPIs and prioritize them. It is important to note that KPIs must align well with the organization’s internal processes with its external customer behaviors.

Customer Focus is a priority, but is it also your priority KPI?

Interested in gaining more understanding of the KPI best practices? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Best Practices here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Are you a management consultant?

You can download this and hundreds of other consulting frameworks and consulting training guides from the FlevyPro library.

The 3 Effective Tests of Assessing Human Dynamics of the Board

Leave a reply

Many Boards have improved their structures and processes. Yet, despite all the corporate-governance reforms undertaken, many Boards failed pic 1 Board Excellence Human Dynamicsthe test of the financial crisis. This shows that even if the Board of Directors is stacked with high qualified members and best practices, these are not enough.

Human Dynamics has come to fore in today’s highly volatile business environment. Without the right Human Dynamics, there will be a little constructive challenge between independent Directors and Management, no matter how good the Board’s processes are.

Without Human Dynamics, the Board’s contribution to the company’s fortune is likely to fall short of what it could and should. This is also a concern for executives who are not Directors but report to the Board. Without Human Dynamics, it makes it difficult for them to develop healthy and productive relationships with their Boards. This can have a dire effect on Strategy Development or when organizations are undergoing Business Transformation.

The Importance of Human Dynamics

Human Dynamics is an organizational state where collaborative CEO and Directors think like owners and guard their authority. Without the right Human Dynamics, there will be a little constructive challenge between independent Directors and Management.

Why is Human Dynamics important? When there is a lack of Human Dynamics between CEO and Directors, this can lead to an ineffective performance in the Boardroom. Board’s contribution to the company’s fortunes will fall short of what it could and should be. Non-director executives will have difficulty developing a healthy and productive relationship with the Board. Most importantly, aspiring Directors will be unable to learn what it means to be a good corporate Director.

This can be detrimental to the organization and can direly affect its competitive advantage. However, achieving the right Human Dynamics is not easy. Understanding and identifying the contours of such a fluid interpersonal exchange can be a challenge to both the Board and the CEO.

The 3 Tests in Assessing the Board’s Human Dynamics

While it may be a challenge, building the right Human Dynamics between the CEO and the Directors is essential.  There are 3 Tests executives can use to guide them in assessing the Board’s Human Dynamics.

  1. Board Ownership Mindset. Currently, outside Directors continue to be passive participants. They do not challenge Management beyond asking a few questions during Board meetings. This test is focused on building Boards to be vital stewards of the organization.
  1. CEO Collaborative Mindset. CEOs nowadays are failing to inform or involve the Board on critical developments such as merger discussions. As a result, there can be a breach of trust which can cost the CEOs their job. The second test ensures that a collaborative CEO is in place.
  1. Board Authority & Independence. The third test is focused on enabling the Board to protect its stand and independence. This is necessary when the authority of the Board is being chipped away as the CEO experiences greater success. There is also less robust questioning of Management’s proposal or worst, the readiness of the Board to agree to unreasonable demands on executive remuneration.

The 3 Tests for Boards is an effective guiding principle in developing the right Human Dynamics between the Board and the CEO. When it comes to well-functioning Boards, best practice structures are not enough. It is essential that the right Human Dynamics exists as it can help the Board and Management to fulfill their potential.

Interested in gaining more understanding of Board Excellence through Human Dynamics? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Board Excellence: Human Dynamics here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Are you a management consultant?

You can download this and hundreds of other consulting frameworks and consulting training guides from the FlevyPro library.

How to Achieve Board Excellence? Here’s a Guide to Engaging Your Board

Leave a reply

The business has become more challenging as the global market becomes more demanding. This change in the global market is putting pressurepic 2 Board Excellence Engagement not only on Management but also on the Board. Strategy Development now demands that organizations should not only be effective but there should also be Board Excellence.

Today, the demand has ceased to be about spending more time. Boosting the effectiveness of the Board is not anymore about spending more time. The urgent call now is to focus on changing the nature of engagement between directors and the executive teams that they work with.

The Importance of Board Engagement

Changing the nature of the Board Engagement will lead Directors and CEOs to make effective use of their limited time. It will build the capacity of the Board Members to bring disparate points together. This is critical when keeping a Board functional rather than dysfunctional.

There are no shortcuts to building and maintaining a well-attuned Board and executive mechanics. These require hard work from the Board Members and a CEO with a thick skin. But a good Director will provide the extra effort, and an effective CEO will make the most of an engagement board’s limited time.

Achieving Board Engagement

Board Engagement can be built and it can be improved. The nature of engagement between the Directors and Management need not remain at a standstill. There are 5 areas to improve Board Engagement.

pic 1 Board Excellence

  1. Engagement between Board Meetings. This is more than just meetings. It is about touching based between meetings. When this is undertaken, it keeps Board Members informed and strengthens the Board’s hand on the company pulse. Engagement between Board Meetings minimizes the background time that slows up regular Board meetings.
  1. Engagement for Strategy Formulation. This area of improvement enables the Board to actively participate in the formation of strategy and be proactive. Participation is already encouraged right at its early formation and stress-testing of strategy.
  1. Engagement for Talent Development. When this is put in place, Board Members get to act like a highly effective search firm. This happens as a result of a change in focus from simply observing talent to actively activating them. This area of improvement raises the bar to actively cultivate talents.
  1. Engagement in the Field. This area of improvement may be something that may be new to Board Members. Often, the Board has been used to taking a role in policy making however they have not been part of operations. Engagement in the field is focused on assigning Directors specific operational areas to engage on. This will require the Board to visit at least one business site every 12 months. Doing this will bring a load of advantages as the Board gets to be more knowledgeable about the organization.
  1. Engagement on Tough Decisions. The main focus of this area is on the value of probing difficult, strategic decision making. One may wonder how can this build Board Engagement. Every Board Member need not have industry experience. Yet, they must have the courage to ask difficult questions. When this happens, you get to raise your Board from being dysfunctional to being functional and involved.

Board Engagement is very crucial at this point in time. It is not enough that they spend more time in Board meetings. It is not enough that they continue to assume roles that they have been doing before. The changing business environment has raised its spectrum when it comes to performance and effectiveness. And this does not only include Management or its employees. This now also involves the Board. Hence, the Board of today more be more engaged and take an active part in areas that are crucial to the organization to remain competitive.

Interested in gaining more understanding of Board Excellence through Engagement? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Board Excellence: Engagement here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Are you a management consultant?

You can download this and hundreds of other consulting frameworks and consulting training guides from the FlevyPro library.

The Burke-Litwin Change Model: Today’s Most Influential Model on Organizational Change

Leave a reply

Organizations are continually searching for innovative ways of enhancing competitiveness. This is brought about by evolving external factors pic1 Burke-Litwin Change Modelsuch as changing demographics, globalization, and technology. Because of changing dynamics, it has required managers to rapidly rethink and retool their organizational management strategies.

Coming up with the appropriate strategies calls for an increasing need for organizational diagnosis in developing and maintaining a competitive advantage. Researchers believe that in conducting organizational diagnosis, organizational effectiveness must be viewed from a systems perspective using a multidimensional approach in assessing the factors affecting enterprise performance management.

At this point wherein the role of organizational climate in business performance has become significant, there is a need for a business model that is most influential. To date, the Burke-Litwin Change Model is the best known and most influential model suitable when it comes to organizational climate.

A Quick Look at Burke-Litwin Change Model

The Burke-Litwin Change Model is seen as a conceptual framework that can best describe the relationships between different features of the organization, as well as its context and effectiveness.

According to Burke and Litwin (1992), Change Management models are not meant to be prescriptive. They are meant to provide a means to diagnose, plan, and manage change. Using the Burke-Litwin Change Model will provide organizations an effective diagnostic tool to improve overall organizational performance. It is a useful model for understanding the organizational change process.

The Burke-Litwin Change Model, as a change management tool, assumes 12 organizational elements that determine a change within an organization.

The Burke-Litwin Change Model 12 Drivers

The 12 key drivers of the Burke-Litwin Change Model interact with and affect each other. The change in the 12 key drivers brings about a series of changes in the structure, practices, and the system of the organization.

The 12 key drivers have been organized based on their specific roles within the organization.

pic 2 Burke-Litwin Change Model

Input.

  1. External Environment.  The External Environment is the external influences important fo organizational changes. These are the economy, customer behavior, competition, politics, and legislation.

Throughput: Transformational Drivers. Transformational Drivers are those that make up the fundamental structure of an organization. It relates to the organization as a whole. There are 3 Transformational Drivers.

  1. Mission and Strategy Development
  2. Leadership Development
  3. Corporate Culture

The 3 key drivers have over-riding importance of dealing with a change that is intended to share up “the way things are done around here.”

Throughput: Transactional Drivers

Transactional drivers are drivers that are more easily changed, but rarely have the same kind of impact on organization-wide performance. This concerns daily activities that take place in organizations and their mutual cohesion. There are 7 Transactional Drivers.

  1. Structure
  2. Systems
  3. Management Practices
  4. Work Climate
  5. Task and Individual Skills
  6. Individual Needs and Values
  7. Motivation.

The Transactional Drivers can affect performance.  However, performance can only be long-lasting if these key drivers are aligned. The 7 key drivers are critical in their role of supporting the change process.

 Output

Individual and Organizational Performance is the 12th key driver. It is the outcome of the change.

The 12th Key Driver: The Individual and Organizational Performance

The only thing that is constant is change. As output changes, so does the input and the factors of change. Individual and Organizational Performance is the measure of the effectiveness of the change. It measures the performance levels of both the individual employee and on the departmental and organizational level.

Individual and Organizational Performance can be measured on the basis of turnover, productivity, quality requirements, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. This is the key driver that impacts on the external environment.

Interested in gaining more understanding of the Burke-Litwin Change Model? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about the Burke-Litwin Change Model here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Are you a management consultant?

You can download this and hundreds of other consulting frameworks and consulting training guides from the FlevyPro library.

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Implementation Guidelines: Preventing the Risk of Failure

Leave a reply

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) can be a great success but it can also be a great failure.

After months or years of careful redesign, organizations can achieve dramatic improvements in individual processes.  However, a paradoxical outcome has become almost a commonplace. Organizations suddenly find themselves watching the overall results decline. Process costs were reduced by 34% yet operating income stalls.  Claims process time cut by 44% yet profits drop. It seems that organizations are squandering management attention and other resources on projects that look like winners but fail to produce bottom-line results for the business unit as a whole.

Reengineering can actually deliver revolutionary process improvements and many organizations have been undertaking major reengineering effort.   However, like any major change program, a reengineering project can produce lasting results only if it is designed and implemented the right way.

 Implementing Business Process Reengineering

BPR implementation is a series of waves that can wash over the organization for years, leaving a system for continuous improvement. It must be undertaken with a clean slate approach to process design. Only then can companies avoid a classic reengineering pitfall of focusing on fixing the status quo.

Implementation of the Business Process Reengineering requires that new infrastructures are planned and built to support this Business Transformation. The full commitment of senior executives on its redesign and implementation must also be present to ensure the success of the reengineering project.

It is essential that organizations have a good understanding of the success factors, as well as root causes of failure.  While reengineering projects can succeed, it can also fail.  There are 4 practices that are the most damaging.

The 4 Root Causes of Failure

The root causes of failure remain a challenge for organizations.  These are 4 causes they must watch out for to achieve a successful BPR implementation.

  1.  Assign average performers. This is the tendency of organizations to enlist average performers from headquarters. This often happens because of an existing belief that assigning top performers will affect the business unit’s performance.
  1. Measure only the plan. Measuring only the plan happens when there is a lack of a comprehensive measurement system.  The organization also fails to track whether the implementation is succeeding or failing.
  1. Settle for the status quo. Settling for the status quo is a very deadly decision or reaction. When this happens, aspirations are never translated into reality. There exists the inability to think outside existing skill levels, organizational structure, or system constraints. Further contributing to this is the existence of political infighting on incentives and information technology during implementation. When this exists, often the decision is to maintain a status quo that could be debilitating to the organization.
  1. Overlook communication. During BPR implementation, there is a tendency to overlook communication.  Probably due to a lack of proper understanding, the level of communication is underestimated during implementation. Often, communication is done using memos, speeches, or PR videos.  While these may have its purpose, at times these methods can be limiting.

BPR implementation requires a small group format where employees can give feedback and air their concerns.  This may be time-consuming but it is important. In fact, organizations must create a comprehensive communication program that uses a variety of methods of communication.  When this is undertaken, the chances of succeeding during the BPR implementation is high.

BPR implementation is most crucial.  Hence, organizations must have a keen eye, as well as strong leadership development and commitment, to pursue it despite its challenges. BPR implementation is a series of waves that can wash over the organization for years. Hence, a system of continuous improvement must be in place.

Interested in gaining more understanding of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Implementation Guidelines? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Implementation Guidelines here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Are you a management consultant?

You can download this and hundreds of other consulting frameworks and consulting training guides from the FlevyPro library.

The 21st Century Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The Shift to Circular Economy

Leave a reply

The global economy is currently producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, Half of these is for single use. With the population CSR Circular Economy pic2agrowing at a fast rate, we are requiring more resources than ever before. Yet, our finite resources are diminishing

Our economy has been built on the concept of a Linear Economy. This is Extract, Manufacture, Distribute, Use, and Dispose of. However, over the past few decades, we have transitioned to a disposable society as we generate waste at an unmanageable rate.

Today’s Business Transformation calls for a shift to a Reuse Economy or the Circular Economy.  Moving towards a more Circular Economic activity could deliver benefits such as reducing pressure on the environment, improving the security of the supply of raw materials, increasing competitiveness, stimulating innovation, and others. Moving into a Circular Economy also means that companies are considering sustainable approaches to balance out opportunities for business and the preservation of the environment.

The Shift to a Circular Economy

The Circular Economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. It employs recycling, reuse, remanufacturing, and refurbishing to create a close system. With Circular Economy, it minimizes the use of resource input and the creation of waste.

A Circular Economy has a great impact on sustainability. It maximizes the conservation of resources and the reduction of environmental pollution.

In a Circular Economy, industries can increase profitability while reducing dependence on natural resources.

Discovering the 6 Core Activities of a Circular Economy

The 6 Core Activities of a Circular Economy are stepping stones towards increasing productivity, cost savings, and generating greater economic benefits.

A Purview of Circular Economy in Action

Taking the 6-step journey to achieve greater sustainability can lead organizations to draw on the power of the Circular Economy to achieve greater value. Let us take a purview of a Circular Economy in action: The Waste Management Case Study

The Waste Management Case evolves in a scenario where the economic growth in emerging markets has raised living standards resulting in massive waste. As such, municipalities in these markets are spending up to half of the budget on solid waste management.

As a result of economic growth, there is massive consumer and industrial waste generated. In fact, metals extracted from tires in open backyard fires can cause great harm to human health and the environment.

We are in this dilemma right now. With the application of the Circular Economy, we can better address these problems by creating infrastructures to organize and manage waste supply chains. This can include digital transformation.

What is the underlying Circular Economy Principle? It is AGGREGATION. With this principle, we can aggregate volumes substantial enough to justify the business investment. We can enable companies to build the business from waste.

Interested in gaining more understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility: Circular Economy? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Corporate Social Responsibility: Circular Economy here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Are you a management consultant?

You can download this and hundreds of other consulting frameworks and consulting training guides from the FlevyPro library.

Modernize Your Board’s Role in M&A and Achieve the Greatest Deals

Leave a reply

Many large corporations depend on M&A for growth and executives can boost the value that deals create. But poorly executed M&A can saddle pic 2 Board Excellence M&Ainvestors with weak returns on capital for details. In fact, the margin between success and failure is slim.

Many Boards are reluctant to cross the line between governance and management. The level of engagement is often outside the comfort zone for some executives and directors. As such, they miss opportunities to help senior executives win at M&A.

There is a need to modernize the Board’s role in M&A. Modernizing the role of the Board in M&A can result in the alignment of the Board and management on the need for bolder transactions with more upside potential. Further, this is essential in achieving a competitive advantage.

The 3 Core Opportunities in M&A

There are 3 core opportunities for the Board to play an impactful role in M&A.

  1. Potential for Value Creation. The first core opportunity, potential for Value Creation enables the Board to challenge the executive’s thinking on potential transactions. This is an opportunity for the Board to maintain constant touch with the company’s M&A strategy, the pipeline of potential targets, and emerging deals.
  1. PMI Plans. This is an essential core opportunity that enables the Board to boost value creation to as much as 2-3x the net value. Post-merger Integration (PMI) Plans representat an opportunity to pressure test against stretch growth and cost goals before and after a deal. Greater variation in the quality of post-merger plans exist compared to financial analysis and pricing of transactions.
  1. Competitive Advantage in M&A. Competitive Advantage is a core opportunity that is unrelated to a transaction’s deadline. This is an opportunity to create a competitive advantage through M&A skills. These are corporate assets that can be difficult to copy. Making that decision to create a competitive advantage through M&A can lead to bolder decisions with more upside results.

The 3 core opportunities can promote greater Board engagement. When this happens, discrete deals can be converted into ongoing deal processes and dialogues that can deliver greater value from M&A.

Maximizing Core Opportunities to Attain the Greatest Deal

The potential of the 3 Core Opportunities to embolden the role of the Board in M&A is great. Organizations just need to have a good understanding of each core opportunity and the underlying key areas or dimensions of each key area. Let us take a look at the 1st Core Opportunity: Potential for Value Creation.

The Potential for Value Creation has 3 critical key areas that can challenge that lead opportunistic transaction to succeed. One critical key area is Strategic Fit.

Strategic Fit is key to determining why a company is a better owner than competing buyers. Deals driven by strategy succeed more often when they are part of a stream of similar transactions that support that strategy. This is a key element in Strategy Development.

How can we enhance the role of the Board relative to this key area? The Board can play a vital role in clarifying the relationship between a potential transaction and strategic planning. They are also in the best position to define how the deal will support organic-growth efforts in target markets and provide complementary sources of value creation.

The other key areas under the Potential for Value Creation are Financial Statements and Risks vs. Rewards. The Financial Statements is a key area that can correct the Board’s tendency to put emphasis on price-to-earnings multiples which can be limiting. The Risks vs. Rewards, on the other hand, is a key area that challenges the Board to acknowledge uncertainties in pro forma.

The other 2 Core Opportunities also have their own essential points or dimensions the Board must focus on. Only then can these core opportunities be of the maximum potential of modernizing the Board’s role in M&A and gaining the greatest value.

Interested in gaining more understanding of achieving Board Excellence through M&A? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Board Excellence: M&A here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Are you a management consultant?

You can download this and hundreds of other consulting frameworks and consulting training guides from the FlevyPro library.