Successful transformation
Readers will know I’m no fan of the obsession with ‘transformation’ in strategy, but it’s sometimes essential or advanageous. In Corporate Transformation under Pressure, McKinsey report a less than 40% overall success rate, especially when used in an effort to get out of trouble – as they say, “this finding seems to contradict the common wisdom that it is hardest to transform a company when it lacks an acute and apparent need for change“. As I’ve said in previous posts, when you are in trouble is a bad time to reinvent yourself – most often better to focus on getting back to the basic, core business model that works.
Helpfully, the article goes on to offer tactics that, when used together, seem to make transformations more successful, depending on the purpose of the effort.
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Business case for sustainability
Michael Olson of Pleiades Technology Futures just pointed me to what looks some solid materials on how to make the business case for investing in sustainability from Bob Willard at Sustainability Advantage. This contrasts strongly with much of the well-meaning but mostly futile aspirations of many sustainability advocates.
Bob’s approach is extremely clear and expressed in terms that would likely grab exec attention – pointing out in particular that many substantial investments in sustainability offer a perfectly good financial return in conventional terms, even before adding the intangible value of external benefits. Read more
Get strategic planning right
Useful reminder to avoid flaws in strategic planning in HBP’s Management Essentials. Especially good to see the first item:
- Don’t skip rigorous analysis.
- Don’t think strategy can be built in a day.
- Take care to link strategic planning to strategy execution.
- Make sure to hold robust strategy review meetings.
This may all seem verypedestrian in these exciting times of strategic innovation and reinventing your business model – but no less critical than it always was.
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Corporate Portolio Management
Just been made aware of CPM – may be useful to strategic management. It seems to have come from the challenge of deciding and managing multiple, large-scale projects in sectors such as defence, IT and construction. Read more