IBM's former CEO, Thomas J. Watson Jr., once said, "Good design is good business." This idea has come to embody the concept of Best Demonstrated Practices (BDPs)—a guiding principle for successful leaders and organizations worldwide. In a highly competitive business environment, it is crucial to leverage BDPs in areas like Strategic Planning, Digital Transformation, Risk Management, and more. PwC simplifies BDPs as the "systematic use of the collective knowledge and experience of an organization to create value." Let's explore how adopting BDPs across three pillars—Strategy Development, Culture, and Innovation—can significantly enhance an organization's performance.
Best Demonstrated Practices in Strategy Development
Strategic Planning is vital to the life cycle of any competitive organization. A survey by McKinsey & Company revealed that 80% of executives consider their strategy development processes effective. However, a study by Harvard Business Review indicates that fewer than 30% of strategic decisions are typically made within its process. To bridge this gap, BDPs suggest implementing continuous and adaptive strategy development—keeping strategies dynamic, measurable, and actionable. This ensures that decision-making is firmly rooted in the strategic planning process, thereby increasing the effectiveness of strategy implementation.
Best Demonstrated Practices in Culture
The influence of Culture on business success is often underestimated. Deloitte emphasizes that a robust organizational culture can drive performance, engagement, and innovation. However, according to a survey by Bain & Company, only 28% of executives believe they understand their company culture. BDPs suggest prioritizing communication—promoting transparency, consistency, and trust to retain talent and increase engagement. Furthermore, enforcing accountability and fostering a learning environment can help to shape a stronger, more adaptable company culture.
Best Demonstrated Practices in Innovation
Innovation is the cornerstone of maintaining a business's competitive edge, a fact backed by 63% of CEOs in a PwC study. Unfortunately, Gartner suggests that many businesses struggle with moving from ideation to execution. BDPs in Innovation recommend leveraging Design Thinking—a human-centered approach to innovation that integrates the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success. This approach encourages teams to iterate, experiment, and learn rapidly, helping businesses bridge the gap between initial concept and successful execution.
Deploying Best Demonstrated Practices
To effectively deploy BDPs, it's vital to establish an ongoing mechanism for identifying and capturing these practices. This can include internal audits or external benchmarking through reputable firms like Accenture or EY. One feasible approach is creating a centralized Knowledge Management system, which allows for the systematic gathering, organization, and dissemination of key best practices globally.
However, the adoption of these practices should not be seen as an end in itself. As management guru Peter Drucker pointed out, "Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things." BDPs offer a set of tested solutions, but true leadership understands the importance of flexibility, adaptation, and context when applying best practices to their unique organizational environment.
Benefits of Best Demonstrated Practices
The benefits of leveraging BDPs range from improved operational efficiency and increased market share to enhanced customer satisfaction and better risk management. A survey by BCG found that companies that systematically apply BDPs outperform their competitors by 45% in terms of sales growth, and 70% in terms of profit growth.
Increased Market Share: BDPs can help identify untapped opportunities, enabling expansion and securing a larger share of the market space.
Enhanced customer satisfaction: Adopting customer-focused BDPs can significantly improve customer experience and satisfaction, ultimately leading to improved customer retention and loyalty.
Better Risk Management: Effective risk management BDPs help organizations identify, assess, and prepare for any risks that may interfere with their objectives and operations.
Indeed, adopting the Best Demonstrated Practices across business functions is a strategic advantage that enables organizations to stay agile and resilient in an ever-changing business environment. It's a journey that transforms an organization from good to truly great.
CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS
"If you are looking for great resources to save time with your business presentations, Flevy is truly a value-added resource. Flevy has done all the work for you and we will continue to utilize Flevy as a source to extract up-to-date information and data for our virtual and onsite presentations!"
– Debbi Saffo, President at The NiKhar Group
"As a consultant requiring up to date and professional material that will be of value and use to my clients, I find Flevy a very reliable resource.
The variety and quality of material available through Flevy offers a very useful and commanding source for information. Using Flevy saves me time, enhances my expertise and ends up being a good decision."
– Dennis Gershowitz, Principal at DG Associates
"[Flevy] produces some great work that has been/continues to be of immense help not only to myself, but as I seek to provide professional services to my clients, it give me a large "tool box" of resources that are critical to provide them with the quality of service and outcomes they are expecting."
– Royston Knowles, Executive with 50+ Years of Board Level Experience
"FlevyPro provides business frameworks from many of the global giants in management consulting that allow you to provide best in class solutions for your clients."
– David Harris, Managing Director at Futures Strategy
"FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it's like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead."
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
"I have used Flevy services for a number of years and have never, ever been disappointed. As a matter of fact, David and his team continue, time after time, to impress me with their willingness to assist and in the real sense of the word. I have concluded in fact that it is not at all just a repository of documents/resources but, in the way that David and his team manage the firm, it is like dealing with consultants always ready to assist, advise and direct you to what you really need, and they always get it right.
I am an international hospitality accomplished senior executive who has worked and lived during the past 35 years in 23 countries in 5 continents and I can humbly say that I know what customer service is, trust me.
Aside from the great and professional service that Flevy's team provide, their wide variety of material is of utmost great quality, professionally put together and most current.
Well done Flevy, keep up the great work and I look forward to continue working with you in the future and to recommend you to a variety of colleagues around the world."
– Roberto Pelliccia, Senior Executive in International Hospitality
"As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value."
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
"As an Independent Management Consultant, I find Flevy to add great value as a source of best practices, templates and information on new trends. Flevy has matured and the quality and quantity of the library is excellent. Lastly the price charged is reasonable, creating a win-win value for the customer, Flevy and the various authors. This is truly a service that benefits the consulting industry and associated clients. Thanks for providing this service. "
– Jim Schoen, Principal at FRC Group
SELECT CUSTOMERS
Since 2012, we have provided best practices to over 10,000 businesses and organizations of all sizes across the world—in over 130 countries.
Below is just a very small sample of our customer base.
Did you know?
The average daily rate of a McKinsey consultant is $6,625 (not including expenses). The average price of a Flevy document is $65.
Download our free compilation of 50+ Strategy & Transformation slides and templates. Frameworks include McKinsey 7-S Strategy Model, Balanced Scorecard, Disruptive Innovation, BCG Experience Curve, and many more.
Download our free compilation of 50+ Strategy & Transformation slides and templates. Frameworks include McKinsey 7-S Strategy Model, Balanced Scorecard, Disruptive Innovation, BCG Experience Curve, and many more.