In the late 1990s, business strategist Michael Porter argued that clusters make business more competitive by increasing the pace of innovation and stimulating new business formation. National and regional governments quickly embraced the idea and immediately supported its development by providing the necessary funding support. As expected, good things started to happen: businesses became interested […]
Tag Archives | operational excellence
The COSO Framework: An Organization’s Guide to an Effective Internal Control System
As the business and operating environment changes, there has been a greater demand for transparency and accountability as to the integrity of internal control. This has become very critical today as businesses drive to enhance the likelihood of them achieving their objectives and be able to adapt to changes in the global business environment. The […]
Organizational DNA: The 4 Building Blocks to Effective Execution
The most resilient and consistently successful companies have discovered that the devil is in the details of the organization. No company may ever totally master the enigma of execution. But for them organizing to execute has truly become a competitive edge. Execution only becomes effective when the company’s DNA is holistically integrated. This means weaving […]
Revisiting a Strategy Classic, the Value Disciplines Model – How Are You Creating Value?
Many Strategy frameworks are based on the premise: we can’t be everything to everyone. An organization that pursues too many strategies usually ends up stuck in the middle offering average products for average prices. Thus, much of strategic thinking is focused on prioritization of resources, so we can make the greatest, timeliest impact given our […]
The Power of the 5 Cost Management Strategies in Reducing Costs
A commonly quoted statistic is that 80% to 95% of the cost of a product is determined by its design and is therefore set before the item enters manufacturing. This assumption suggests that the dominant focus of Cost Management should be during Product Development and not during Manufacturing. However, contrary to a widely held assumption, […]
The 12 Areas of Post-merger Integration (PMI): Your Guide to Starting PMI the Right Way
Post-merger Integration is a highly complex process. It requires swift action as well as running the core business activities simultaneously. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to a successful PMI Process. However, careful planning focusing on the strategic objectives of the deal and the identification and capturing of synergies will help maximize deal value. Because of […]
The Devil is in the Details: Your Primer to a Lean Culture
Culture is essential today in helping employees and management survive in today’s environment. Survival has become a strong word today. Without culture, everyone in the organization would act or behave differently. No one would be able to anticipate someone else’s behavior, and no one would understand why people behave the way they do. When this […]
Developing an Organizational Design that Works: The Galbraith Star Model
“A problem well framed is a problem half-solved.” — Jay Galbraith Organizational Design is more than just structures. It is having policies and strategies that are aligned with one another. When this is achieved, it allows organizations to operate at maximum efficiency and achieve Operational Excellence. The Galbraith Star Model™ is the foundation on which […]
Objectives and Key Results (OKR): Your Management Strategy to Achieving That Goal
Peter Drucker, one of the first managerial thinkers, introduced MBO or Management by Objectives. This eventually paved the way for the birth of the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) management philosophy. Andy Grove, known as the “Father of OKRs”, introduced the approach to Intel during the 1970s. This was further popularized by John Doer by […]
A Startling Fact about Analytics-driven Organizations
Enterprises invest in Analytics to improve Decision Making and outcomes across the business. This is from Product Strategy and Innovation to Supply 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 […]
The 4 Tactics our Board Should Adopt for a Long-term, Strategic Mindset
When things go wrong on a grand scale, often we direct our attention to the role of the Board. Debate exudes and often gets heated up and intensifies. This often happens when the Board spends more time looking in the rearview mirror and not enough scanning the road ahead. When this happens, governance suffers. Often, […]
Making it Right the First Time: The Road to Operating Model Transformation
Lean Management plays a significant role in putting in place processes, capabilities, and tools to improve how businesses operate. But, the Digital Age has increased both the opportunities for businesses who know how to react and the difficulty of getting it right. Tasks performed by humans are now more complex be it accessing information in […]
