Strategic Review at Egon Zehnder International
Strategic Review at Egon Zehnder International
Strategic Review at Egon Zehnder International
Strategy Implementation
Strategy is the path taken by people in the company on its way to becoming an effective economic performer .
Competitiveness is born in the gap between a companys resources and its managers goals.
Intended strategies might be executed exactly as envisioned if three conditions are met.
First, those in the organization must understand each important detail in managements intended strategy. Second, if the organization is to take collective action, the strategy needs to make as much sense to each member of the organization as they view the world from their own context, as it does to the management. Third, the collective intentions must be realized with little unanticipated influence from outside political, technological or market forces. Since it is difficult to find a situation where all three conditions apply, it is rare that an intended strategy can be implemented without significant alteration.
Bower suggests that generally, proposals go through a process comprising four components:
Competitiveness is born in the gap between a companys resources and its managers goals.
We can analyze companies in mindnumbing detail, perform autopsies, and render verdicts, but we are still addressing the what of competitiveness, not the why.
Abundant resources alone wont keep an industry giant on top when its hungrier rival practices the strategic discipline of stretch.
Convergence: Have we created a chasm between resources and aspirations that will compel creative resource leverage? Have we been loyal to our strategic goals and consistent in their pursuit?
Focus: Have we clearly identified the next competitive advantage that we must build?Is top managements attention focused firmly on the task until it is accomplished?
Extraction: Are we willing to apply lessons learned on the front line, even when they conflict with long-held or thodoxies? Have we found a way to tap the best ideas of every employee?
Borrowing: Are we willing to learn from outsiders as well as from insiders? Have we established borrowing processes and learning goals for employees working within alliances and joint ventures?
Blending: Have we created a class of technology generalists who can multiply our resources? Have we created an environment in which employees explore new skill combinations?
Balancing: Have we pursued high standards across the board so that our ability to exploit excellence in one area is never imperiled by mediocrity in another? Can we correct our imbalances?
Recycling : Do we view core competencies as corporate resources rather than the property of individual businesses? Have we created lateral communication to ensure that ideas arent trapped?
Co-option: Have we identified the industry players who are dependent on us for some critical skill or for their very livelihood? Do we understand how to enroll others in the pursuit of our goals?
Shielding: Do we understand competitors blind spots and orthodoxies? Can we attack without risking retaliation? Do we know how to explore markets through low cost, low-risk incursions?
Recovery: Have we shortened productdevelopment, order-processing, and product-launch times? Have we built global brands and distribution positions that allow us to prempt slower rivals?
Filters
Intended Strategy:
Analytical project followed by
implementation
Emergent Strategy:
Response to unforeseen opportunities and crises
Personal Character
IPOs by competitors
Internet Competition
Zehnders retirement
Strategic review Exercise . How to conduct ? Who does it ? How much time it takes? What are the deliverables ?
Was skeptical of walking blindly down the path that could throw all the balls in the air and could lead to a complete revamping of the inner workings , values and ideals of the firm. The firm was too precious to risk changing everything .
Exercise
Bold Strokes:
by a commanding
Long marches:
leaders
SRP should tell if we were doing right things or if we should change things . Provide an outlet for people in the firm to ask questions and seeks answers Be a therapeutic process for equal partnership .
4 member team
Participative , bottom up July 2000 survey to all consultants 90% response rate Nov 2000: Five buckets Positioning
People
Internet Structure/process./client service
Productivity :Technology/support
Measure growth
Invest in the US by hiring and developing people ( v buying a firm)
Reactions to the Brussels conference Deeply introspective Validating that our alignment was strong Open debate and discussion Gave us an opportunity
Our entire partnership understood that our strategy lies in aligning our value system with our operational system .
Not to invest in the Internet just because everyone else was doing it .
Subsequent events have taught us that the partnership as a body is a very wise animal Austerity measures : IT,Infrastructure,expenses, number cut 10% without destroying our value system and culture .
Navigating difficult Times. 2001 ( Sept 11, SARC scare , Afghanistan and Iraq wars)
C-5