THE MANILA TIMES
Monday, August 25, 2003
LEARNING AND INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
Sifting through tons of data for useful information
Author Richard Pascale warns that when the world around you changes, maintaining your equilibrium is a threat to your future existence. There is a need to continuously do strategic thinking and rethinking part of which is scanning your internal and external business environment.
Previously, in our Journey on Entrepreneurship, we brainstormed on your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats or what we call SWOT, in and around your internal and external environments. Are you overwhelmed by so much data? What do you do with all these valuable information? You actually only need just enough data to make good decisions toward where you want to bring your business in the short-, mid- and long-term horizon.
First, you convert those data into useful information. Pass them through a sifter to separate what is important from what is noise. What are your filters?
If you are a big company, you probably need to focus on strategic and corporate issues. But let your functional or geographical units you are presently structured do the subsequent downstream planning. Thus, you need to identify your priorities in the areas of organization development and change, market leadership, competition, competitive positioning and measure of customer satisfaction.
If you are a small company, you will probably do better to focus on innovation and creativity to overcome the tendency to think day-to-day. Keep an eye on unproductive organizational elements like people, costs, systems and resources. Being small means you have limited resources that you need to maximize. Being small does not mean to have small ideas. You need to watch out for improving profitability of your existing business, penetrating new or other markets and sourcing new funding.
If you are a rapidly growing company, sift through issues that will help you consolidate or increase market share and gain competitive advantage in your present and target market segments. It will also help to further analyze your operations, cost and quality to stay in business in the long haul. Sharpen your analyses for issues on broadening your market base, developing new products, expanding distribution. Is there a window for you to open your business to franchising?
If you have been in business for quite a while and now feeling comfortable and smug, what is your situation analysis telling you? Are you a mature and stable industry? What are the contribution and profit margins of individual products or operational areas in your company? Are your facts and figures showing you organizational incompetence, complacency and lethargy? Where can you be more efficient and make more money? What is competition doing?
If you are a troubled company, there is no time to lose in over analysis. Focus on management, leadership processes and styles for telltale signs of poor management. Zero in immediately on your operations, financials, products and services, people and marketplace problems. At the same time be sure to be very clear about future targets and objectives. Ask yourself what are your organizational strengths that you could capitalize on to assert your competitive presence in the market?
If you are a family company, you can be any of the above companies. Your problem, though, is the nature of your being a family corporation. This might hamper you from doing a real, honest-to-goodness business analysis because your organization might be internally oriented, paternalistic, dominated from the top. Your thinkers probably presented you with a sanitized SWOT analysis to please or to protect you. You may not have the mechanism to allow flow of information from below because of your "ever loyal and protective" cordon sanitaire or your army of AVPs (alalay ng vice president), FOBs (friends of the boss), COBs (children of the boss), FOSOB (friends of the sons/daughters of the boss) and others. You may also be slow in bringing in outside people and ideas that are "contrary" to your internal culture. My advise to you is that before you even say think or plan, hire professional operations persons first. You can continue to be chairman or chief executive officer anytime.
Garen Staglin of Staglin Family vineyard reminds you that when you're in your car looking straight ahead, you miss a whole lot of the beauty of the valley.
1st Congreso Internacional 2003 Panama. Do you know that you could travel from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in eight leisurely hours? Join us at the ASTD Global Network Panama Conference and Expo on September 17 to 19, 2003, at the Hotel Riande Continental, Panama City, Panama. Conference languages are both Spanish and English. Speakers from Africa, Australia, India, the Philippines, United States, Europe and Central and South American countries will truly give this conference an international perspective. This columnist will be speaking on the topic "Leadership and Development." For details and brochures, please call Grace Victoriano at 715-9332.
Call 7890 or 027890. This is the 24-hour hotline to report erring or abusive drivers of taxis, FXs, buses, jeepneys and tricycles. I assure you the men and women manning this government service are doing their job well.
Ms. Moje Ramos-Aquino is president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corp. and helps companies develop and implement strategies and plans. She could be reached at moje@mydestiny.net
Monday, August 25, 2003
Monday, August 18, 2003
Questions to ask in assessing business opportunities
THE MANILA TIMES
Monday, August 18, 2003
LEARNING AND INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
Questions to ask in assessing business opportunities
Federico “Poch” Macaranas, dean of Asian Institute of Management’s Center for Development and Management, suggests that all enterprises need to have at least one person doing nothing else but scan the Internet and other sources of data, gather relevant information and send them to the leaders of the organization and to other relevant users of such information in the organization. There is such a wealth of information outside of your organization waiting for you to tap for the success of your enterprise.
Scanning your external environment for opportunities and threats is not only a must for planning, reviewing or revising plans and for inputs to day-to-day managing and leading. It helps you to focus your efforts on the most important external issues impacting your business.
One main external factor changing the rules of business is globalization. Whether you like it or not, globalization is affecting your business. How, where, why, when, who, what, what for, what else, so what, my goodness, gracious? Yup!
There was a commentary recently about how cheap and well-styled shoes from abroad has surely routed, if not already fatally demolished, our local shoe industry. The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome is wrecking havoc to tourism and business in the whole of Asia until now. The war in Iraq forced countries to take solid stands to protect their economies. Computer worms and viruses can wreck havoc to entire organizations and countries in a matter of hours. The recent scandal in corporate America is still sowing fear among unscrupulous business executives, finance officers and auditors worldwide. Giant malls bring death threats to small business.
Franchising is the new marketing plan in this knowledge economy.
What are these factors that might bring opportunities or threats to your business? I gathered these from my book sources such as: The Northbound Train (Amacom) by Karl Albrecht, Team-based Strategic Planning (Amacom) by C, Davis Fogg and Strategy Pure and Simple (McGraw-Hill) by Michel Robert.
Customer Environment
Who are your current and target customers? What are their experiences and how are they reacting to changes around them? What are their identity, wants, needs, behaviors, habits, values and life situations? Which demographic factors such as gender, age, marital patterns, economic situations, buying habits, religious patterns, mobility and the like, influence your access to them? How do social values, i.e. styles and trends, health concerns, attitude toward institutions like the government, family values, influence the life environment of your customers? What are the common characteristics of exceptionally successful markets?
Competitor environment
Who are your direct and indirect, current and potential competitors? What are their identity, motives, strengths, weaknesses, apparent and potential strategies that compete with your business? Who are the dominant and/or big players in your industry? How are they affecting your business? Who are merging or forming alliances? What new products or technology are they bringing to your industry? How is global competition affecting your business? What are new forms of competition? Who are your suppliers and customers who may become your competitors soon or later?
Economic environment
What are the trends worldwide? How are you affected by the dynamics of markets, capital, critical resources, costs, prices, currency, state of the national economy, state of international trade? What are the immediate and long-term effects of the continuing fall of the peso to your prices and costs? What affects demand for your products and services? How are global economic changes affecting your industry and your enterprise?
Technological environment
What technological trends, events, hardware and software can improve your capabilities for creating value? How are technological changes affecting your customers? Which technologies are coming, dying or here to stay for a while longer? What technological breakthrough could change your industry, your own products and processes? Should you develop your own technologies? What are the current benchmarks for excellence?
Social environment
What are the cultural patterns, values, beliefs, trends, styles, preferences, heroes, villains and conflicts that form the reference system of people’s behaviors? What social issues or changes in attitudes might make certain products in demand or out of style? What are problems of public life, e.g. law and order, medical ethics, role of media, religious issues, affect your business environment? Do you have a continuing corporate social responsibility program? How do people feel about your industry, your enterprise?
Political environment
What are the processes of national, regional and local governments affecting your business? How are you affected by tax policies, government intervention and expenditures, legislations at all levels, regulation or deregulation of industries and trade practices? How other factors in your political environment, e.g. informal pressure groups, non government organizations, trade and church organizations, media, affecting your enterprise? How are you affected by international standardization such as ISO, OCHAS, Baldridge, and the like?
Legal environment
What pattern of laws, lawmaking activities and litigation can affect the very life of your enterprise? How can patents, copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property; employment issues, sexual harassment and employment law and litigation; and others influence your enterprise? How is the “smoking ban”, for example, affect the way you conduct business?
Physical environment
What are the physical surroundings of your enterprise’s facilities and operations? How are the ecosystems and natural resources, availability of raw materials, transportation options, proximity to major population centers and sources of competent talent, susceptibility to environmental disasters like earthquakes and typhoons and the effects of crime in the near environment affect your enterprise?
Take note that all these factors are interrelated in many ways. For example, the rise of the call center industry is provoking our lawmakers to revisit our laws on women in employment. It is forcing call center enterprises to locate in areas where there are well-educated and English-proficient population. Stiff competition for investments in call centers is coming mostly from India.
Three cheers! Finally I have something good to say about our government and government employees. I am particularly impressed by the people manning the ISLES/Action Center, DOTC Complaint and Public Assistance, 7890 Hotline.
Call 7890 (landline) or 02-7890 (if you are using a cell phone) to report drivers and operators (taxi, FX, jeepney or bus) who are abusive, overcharging, “nangongotrata,” who do not give change, who refuse to bring you to your destination, dirty and unkempt driver and vehicle, defective or intentional no air-conditioning, You may also call 727-1710 or 715-0459 for inquiries. I couldn’t believe it, but those people at 7890 do help. At walang lagay.
Always report the plate number (inside the taxi and on the plate itself–sometimes they differ) and the nature of your complaint to 7890. Best is to report it immediately as it happens. One rainy and dark evening, I was going from Sta. Mesa, Manila to Antipolo, Rizal. The driver refused to convey me and told me to go down. I immediately called 7890 on my cell phone. The courteous lady manning the hotline talked to the driver and ordered him to bring me to Antipolo. Still, the driver insisted that I pay an extra P50.00. I said, “No, you can’t order me to give you extra. It is my decision to give you tip if I am satisfied with your service.” Suddenly the air-conditioning conked out. I told him that if he does not turn on the cold air, I would call 7890 again.
Immediately cold air filled the cab and I reached Antipolo in due time. 7890 Hotline is hearing the case and will impose the corresponding punishment to the driver and operator.
Let us stop such drivers and operators from continuing to victimize seemingly helpless taxi riders. With 7890, we have all the help we need. God bless their soul.
I do miss the honest taxi drivers of Davao City.
1st Congreso Internacional 2003 Panama. You are invited to attend the ASTD Global Network Panama Conference and Expo on September 17 to 19, 2003, at the Hotel Riande Continental, Panama City, Panama. Conference languages are both Spanish and English. Speakers from Africa, Australia, India, the Philippines, United States, Europe and Central and South American countries will truly give this conference an international perspective. This columnist will be speaking on the topic “Leadership and Development.” For details and brochures, please call Grace Victoriano at 715-9332.
(Ms. Moje Ramos-Aquino is president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corp. and helps companies develop and implement strategies and plans. She could be reached at moje@mydestiny.net)
Monday, August 18, 2003
LEARNING AND INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
Questions to ask in assessing business opportunities
Federico “Poch” Macaranas, dean of Asian Institute of Management’s Center for Development and Management, suggests that all enterprises need to have at least one person doing nothing else but scan the Internet and other sources of data, gather relevant information and send them to the leaders of the organization and to other relevant users of such information in the organization. There is such a wealth of information outside of your organization waiting for you to tap for the success of your enterprise.
Scanning your external environment for opportunities and threats is not only a must for planning, reviewing or revising plans and for inputs to day-to-day managing and leading. It helps you to focus your efforts on the most important external issues impacting your business.
One main external factor changing the rules of business is globalization. Whether you like it or not, globalization is affecting your business. How, where, why, when, who, what, what for, what else, so what, my goodness, gracious? Yup!
There was a commentary recently about how cheap and well-styled shoes from abroad has surely routed, if not already fatally demolished, our local shoe industry. The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome is wrecking havoc to tourism and business in the whole of Asia until now. The war in Iraq forced countries to take solid stands to protect their economies. Computer worms and viruses can wreck havoc to entire organizations and countries in a matter of hours. The recent scandal in corporate America is still sowing fear among unscrupulous business executives, finance officers and auditors worldwide. Giant malls bring death threats to small business.
Franchising is the new marketing plan in this knowledge economy.
What are these factors that might bring opportunities or threats to your business? I gathered these from my book sources such as: The Northbound Train (Amacom) by Karl Albrecht, Team-based Strategic Planning (Amacom) by C, Davis Fogg and Strategy Pure and Simple (McGraw-Hill) by Michel Robert.
Customer Environment
Who are your current and target customers? What are their experiences and how are they reacting to changes around them? What are their identity, wants, needs, behaviors, habits, values and life situations? Which demographic factors such as gender, age, marital patterns, economic situations, buying habits, religious patterns, mobility and the like, influence your access to them? How do social values, i.e. styles and trends, health concerns, attitude toward institutions like the government, family values, influence the life environment of your customers? What are the common characteristics of exceptionally successful markets?
Competitor environment
Who are your direct and indirect, current and potential competitors? What are their identity, motives, strengths, weaknesses, apparent and potential strategies that compete with your business? Who are the dominant and/or big players in your industry? How are they affecting your business? Who are merging or forming alliances? What new products or technology are they bringing to your industry? How is global competition affecting your business? What are new forms of competition? Who are your suppliers and customers who may become your competitors soon or later?
Economic environment
What are the trends worldwide? How are you affected by the dynamics of markets, capital, critical resources, costs, prices, currency, state of the national economy, state of international trade? What are the immediate and long-term effects of the continuing fall of the peso to your prices and costs? What affects demand for your products and services? How are global economic changes affecting your industry and your enterprise?
Technological environment
What technological trends, events, hardware and software can improve your capabilities for creating value? How are technological changes affecting your customers? Which technologies are coming, dying or here to stay for a while longer? What technological breakthrough could change your industry, your own products and processes? Should you develop your own technologies? What are the current benchmarks for excellence?
Social environment
What are the cultural patterns, values, beliefs, trends, styles, preferences, heroes, villains and conflicts that form the reference system of people’s behaviors? What social issues or changes in attitudes might make certain products in demand or out of style? What are problems of public life, e.g. law and order, medical ethics, role of media, religious issues, affect your business environment? Do you have a continuing corporate social responsibility program? How do people feel about your industry, your enterprise?
Political environment
What are the processes of national, regional and local governments affecting your business? How are you affected by tax policies, government intervention and expenditures, legislations at all levels, regulation or deregulation of industries and trade practices? How other factors in your political environment, e.g. informal pressure groups, non government organizations, trade and church organizations, media, affecting your enterprise? How are you affected by international standardization such as ISO, OCHAS, Baldridge, and the like?
Legal environment
What pattern of laws, lawmaking activities and litigation can affect the very life of your enterprise? How can patents, copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property; employment issues, sexual harassment and employment law and litigation; and others influence your enterprise? How is the “smoking ban”, for example, affect the way you conduct business?
Physical environment
What are the physical surroundings of your enterprise’s facilities and operations? How are the ecosystems and natural resources, availability of raw materials, transportation options, proximity to major population centers and sources of competent talent, susceptibility to environmental disasters like earthquakes and typhoons and the effects of crime in the near environment affect your enterprise?
Take note that all these factors are interrelated in many ways. For example, the rise of the call center industry is provoking our lawmakers to revisit our laws on women in employment. It is forcing call center enterprises to locate in areas where there are well-educated and English-proficient population. Stiff competition for investments in call centers is coming mostly from India.
Three cheers! Finally I have something good to say about our government and government employees. I am particularly impressed by the people manning the ISLES/Action Center, DOTC Complaint and Public Assistance, 7890 Hotline.
Call 7890 (landline) or 02-7890 (if you are using a cell phone) to report drivers and operators (taxi, FX, jeepney or bus) who are abusive, overcharging, “nangongotrata,” who do not give change, who refuse to bring you to your destination, dirty and unkempt driver and vehicle, defective or intentional no air-conditioning, You may also call 727-1710 or 715-0459 for inquiries. I couldn’t believe it, but those people at 7890 do help. At walang lagay.
Always report the plate number (inside the taxi and on the plate itself–sometimes they differ) and the nature of your complaint to 7890. Best is to report it immediately as it happens. One rainy and dark evening, I was going from Sta. Mesa, Manila to Antipolo, Rizal. The driver refused to convey me and told me to go down. I immediately called 7890 on my cell phone. The courteous lady manning the hotline talked to the driver and ordered him to bring me to Antipolo. Still, the driver insisted that I pay an extra P50.00. I said, “No, you can’t order me to give you extra. It is my decision to give you tip if I am satisfied with your service.” Suddenly the air-conditioning conked out. I told him that if he does not turn on the cold air, I would call 7890 again.
Immediately cold air filled the cab and I reached Antipolo in due time. 7890 Hotline is hearing the case and will impose the corresponding punishment to the driver and operator.
Let us stop such drivers and operators from continuing to victimize seemingly helpless taxi riders. With 7890, we have all the help we need. God bless their soul.
I do miss the honest taxi drivers of Davao City.
1st Congreso Internacional 2003 Panama. You are invited to attend the ASTD Global Network Panama Conference and Expo on September 17 to 19, 2003, at the Hotel Riande Continental, Panama City, Panama. Conference languages are both Spanish and English. Speakers from Africa, Australia, India, the Philippines, United States, Europe and Central and South American countries will truly give this conference an international perspective. This columnist will be speaking on the topic “Leadership and Development.” For details and brochures, please call Grace Victoriano at 715-9332.
(Ms. Moje Ramos-Aquino is president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corp. and helps companies develop and implement strategies and plans. She could be reached at moje@mydestiny.net)
Monday, August 11, 2003
Journey on entrepreneurship: Using the SWOT analysis
THE MANILA TIMES
Monday, August 11, 2003
LEARNING AND INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
Journey on entrepreneurship: Using the SWOT analysis
Now you know where you want to bring your business in the future by defining your enterprise vision, mission and values. The next thing to do is to ascertain where you are vis-à-vis your desired future state. This is what is called situation analysis. After this, you will determine your priorities, strategies and plans on how to reach your dream from where you are in the present.
Our references for this leg of our Journey on Entrepreneurship are: Team-based Strategic Planning by C. Davis Fogg; The Northbound Train by Karl Albrecht; Strategy Pure and Simple (How winning CEOs outthink their competition) by Michel Robert; The Strategy-Focused Organization (How balanced scorecard companies thrive in the new business environment); by Robert Kaplan and David P. Norton, Business Think; by Dave Marcum, Steve Smith and Mahan Khalsa; and Strategy Safari by Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel. These are all available from my favorite bookstore, Fully Booked at Rockwell Powerplant Mall. We will also borrow quotes from various sources.
Situation analysis is commonly known as the SWOT, or analysis of organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It pushes you to think outside fixed boundaries of your traditional operations and organization. You cannot manage and grow your business from and within the inside alone. There are new ways of deploying knowledge, technology, people and resources and arranging your processes. Karl Albrecht refers to it as the shift from self-contained organization to value-creating enterprise.
Strengths refer to the positive attributes, inherent assets, that allow your enterprise to endure, survive, perform, to be efficient, and effective, to grow and to eventually lead. Weaknesses refer to negative areas that beg for improvement and loopholes in your plans and programs that hinder your enterprise from performing effectively
The areas to assess your strengths and weaknesses are: Culture, organization structure, policies, systems, processes, management and leadership practices and people. You will also look at your enterprise or business operations such as cost efficiencies, financial structure and performance, quality service delivery, technology, market segments or performance, innovation, asset condition and productivity.
To do this, you need to look back and examine the history of your enterprise with the purpose of establishing a perspective for considering its possibilities for success in the future. Bill Moyers once said: “The past is no row of bare facts waiting to be memorized by school children. Nor does it stand in our backyard like an old picket fence, slowly and silently rotting. The past is a real world, inhabited by villains and heroes and regular folks passing this way on swift journeys. Their story is our story–the tie that binds each generation to all the others.” In Tagalog, we simply say, “ang hindi lumingon sa pinangalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan.” There is also a saying that your reputation precedes you. But no matter how difficult or hurting those experiences have been, examining the past is a good starting point and perspective for thinking about the future.
Our past is our future to a large extent. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Of course, you could always take a quantum leap to go to a totally new future. That’s a different topic altogether.
Your answers to these questions will give you a good view of your enterprise’s organization and functional strengths and weaknesses. You need to make full use of your whole brain, and not just your logical, mathematical brain, to answer the questions from different perspectives honestly.
Who are your intended clients or customers?
What are you good at?
What are your outputs, products and services?
What are your performance indicators or outcomes?
Where you are vis your targets?
Where are you vis best performers (benchmarks)? Where could you improve?
How do you manage and think?
What is your cost-benefit ratio?
What is your input-output ratio?
How do you optimize your resources?
Which resources have created the greater impact on clients or customers?
What are helpful and hurting leadership practices and behaviors?
How are your planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, evaluating, monitoring, leading, directing, coordinating, orchestrating, controlling, compensating and rewarding processes?
How is your marketing functioning: Positioning, products and services, packaging, location, people, promotion and advertising?
How are your operating factors: Manpower, service facilities, equipment, fixtures, tools, materials, supplies, methods and processes, floor operations?
How are your human resource programs: Recruitment, job-fit, training and development, career and succession, rewards and recognition, punishment and condonation?
How are your finances: Fund management practices, cash flow, liquidity and solvency, investments and financing?
How are your long-term cross-functional programs and projects?
How are your ad-hoc programs and projects?
Are your physical facilities and set-up helping optimize productivity?
Are your environmental surroundings safe and secure for your employees and your company?
Are you a team?
How do you measure team functioning and performance?
How do you measure individual productivity and effectiveness?
How do you measure the efficient and effective use of resources and information?
Are the working conditions conducive?
Are your employees happy? Are they having fun?
What are your organizational linkages?
How are you optimizing your benefits from your networks and partnerships?
Finally, do we learn and develop? Why do we keep on repeating the same mistakes over and over?
Next column, we shall help you scan your external environment and identify opportunities and threats to your enterprise.
1st Congreso Internacional 2003 Panama. You are invited to attend the ASTD Global Network Panama Conference and Expo on September 17 to 19, 2003, at the Hotel Riande Continental, Panama City, Panama. Conference languages are both Spanish and English. Speakers from Africa, Australia, India, the Philippines, United States, Europe and Central and South American countries will truly give this conference an international perspective. This columnist will be speaking on the topic “Leadership and Development.” For details and brochures, please call Grace Victoriano at 715-9332.
(Ms. Moje Ramos-Aquino is president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corp. and helps companies develop and implement strategies and plans. She could be reached at moje@mydestiny.net)
Monday, August 11, 2003
LEARNING AND INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
Journey on entrepreneurship: Using the SWOT analysis
Now you know where you want to bring your business in the future by defining your enterprise vision, mission and values. The next thing to do is to ascertain where you are vis-à-vis your desired future state. This is what is called situation analysis. After this, you will determine your priorities, strategies and plans on how to reach your dream from where you are in the present.
Our references for this leg of our Journey on Entrepreneurship are: Team-based Strategic Planning by C. Davis Fogg; The Northbound Train by Karl Albrecht; Strategy Pure and Simple (How winning CEOs outthink their competition) by Michel Robert; The Strategy-Focused Organization (How balanced scorecard companies thrive in the new business environment); by Robert Kaplan and David P. Norton, Business Think; by Dave Marcum, Steve Smith and Mahan Khalsa; and Strategy Safari by Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel. These are all available from my favorite bookstore, Fully Booked at Rockwell Powerplant Mall. We will also borrow quotes from various sources.
Situation analysis is commonly known as the SWOT, or analysis of organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It pushes you to think outside fixed boundaries of your traditional operations and organization. You cannot manage and grow your business from and within the inside alone. There are new ways of deploying knowledge, technology, people and resources and arranging your processes. Karl Albrecht refers to it as the shift from self-contained organization to value-creating enterprise.
Strengths refer to the positive attributes, inherent assets, that allow your enterprise to endure, survive, perform, to be efficient, and effective, to grow and to eventually lead. Weaknesses refer to negative areas that beg for improvement and loopholes in your plans and programs that hinder your enterprise from performing effectively
The areas to assess your strengths and weaknesses are: Culture, organization structure, policies, systems, processes, management and leadership practices and people. You will also look at your enterprise or business operations such as cost efficiencies, financial structure and performance, quality service delivery, technology, market segments or performance, innovation, asset condition and productivity.
To do this, you need to look back and examine the history of your enterprise with the purpose of establishing a perspective for considering its possibilities for success in the future. Bill Moyers once said: “The past is no row of bare facts waiting to be memorized by school children. Nor does it stand in our backyard like an old picket fence, slowly and silently rotting. The past is a real world, inhabited by villains and heroes and regular folks passing this way on swift journeys. Their story is our story–the tie that binds each generation to all the others.” In Tagalog, we simply say, “ang hindi lumingon sa pinangalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan.” There is also a saying that your reputation precedes you. But no matter how difficult or hurting those experiences have been, examining the past is a good starting point and perspective for thinking about the future.
Our past is our future to a large extent. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Of course, you could always take a quantum leap to go to a totally new future. That’s a different topic altogether.
Your answers to these questions will give you a good view of your enterprise’s organization and functional strengths and weaknesses. You need to make full use of your whole brain, and not just your logical, mathematical brain, to answer the questions from different perspectives honestly.
Who are your intended clients or customers?
What are you good at?
What are your outputs, products and services?
What are your performance indicators or outcomes?
Where you are vis your targets?
Where are you vis best performers (benchmarks)? Where could you improve?
How do you manage and think?
What is your cost-benefit ratio?
What is your input-output ratio?
How do you optimize your resources?
Which resources have created the greater impact on clients or customers?
What are helpful and hurting leadership practices and behaviors?
How are your planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, evaluating, monitoring, leading, directing, coordinating, orchestrating, controlling, compensating and rewarding processes?
How is your marketing functioning: Positioning, products and services, packaging, location, people, promotion and advertising?
How are your operating factors: Manpower, service facilities, equipment, fixtures, tools, materials, supplies, methods and processes, floor operations?
How are your human resource programs: Recruitment, job-fit, training and development, career and succession, rewards and recognition, punishment and condonation?
How are your finances: Fund management practices, cash flow, liquidity and solvency, investments and financing?
How are your long-term cross-functional programs and projects?
How are your ad-hoc programs and projects?
Are your physical facilities and set-up helping optimize productivity?
Are your environmental surroundings safe and secure for your employees and your company?
Are you a team?
How do you measure team functioning and performance?
How do you measure individual productivity and effectiveness?
How do you measure the efficient and effective use of resources and information?
Are the working conditions conducive?
Are your employees happy? Are they having fun?
What are your organizational linkages?
How are you optimizing your benefits from your networks and partnerships?
Finally, do we learn and develop? Why do we keep on repeating the same mistakes over and over?
Next column, we shall help you scan your external environment and identify opportunities and threats to your enterprise.
1st Congreso Internacional 2003 Panama. You are invited to attend the ASTD Global Network Panama Conference and Expo on September 17 to 19, 2003, at the Hotel Riande Continental, Panama City, Panama. Conference languages are both Spanish and English. Speakers from Africa, Australia, India, the Philippines, United States, Europe and Central and South American countries will truly give this conference an international perspective. This columnist will be speaking on the topic “Leadership and Development.” For details and brochures, please call Grace Victoriano at 715-9332.
(Ms. Moje Ramos-Aquino is president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corp. and helps companies develop and implement strategies and plans. She could be reached at moje@mydestiny.net)
Monday, August 4, 2003
Not just token statements for survival but growth
THE MANILA TIMES
Monday, August 4, 2003
LEARNING AND INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
Not just token statements for survival but growth
Do companies exist and can they survive without those set of vision, mission and values statements?
Surely. Many companies do exist and survive without those modern buzzwords vision, mission and values. Their owners don’t even have these words in their vocabulary. Look around you and you’ll find lots of them. Liza’s Sari-sari Store, Fatimah Jewellery, Trendy Trinkets and Gifts, Siony’s Restaurant, San Juan Funeral Homes, New World Pharmacy, Bobson Bakery, Well Star Trading and Fortune Hardware are just a few examples.
Yes, companies do exist for the longest time without bothering about their vision, mission and values. But often they remain small, community-based and are barely surviving. They could not compete or lead in their respective industry. The moment a big mall is constructed in their area, they wobble and gasp for breath and resign into being small or altogether perish.
Notice the products and services they offer–the same de lata, cultured pearl choker, CD case, menudo, over-the counter medicine, ensaymada, used TV set from Japan, nails and paints. It is the same buy-and-sell kind of business. The day-to-day concern is profit.
Actually, these companies do have a dream and ideas about realizing this dream or they would not have lasted so long. Michel Robert wrote in his book, Strategy Pure and Simple, “It is also our view that every organization originates and perpetuates itself around a key idea or business concept. However, in many organizations that business concept is not always clear or well articulated. It usually resides in the mind of the leader–rather then being explicit so members of the organization get a “feeling” of the concept and the direction of the firm from the nature of the decisions that are accepted or rejected by the leader over a period of time. Most organizational leaders have great difficulty verbalizing their business concept to their colleagues, and it is reflected in the nature of their actions.”
We have helped a number of companies over the last few years verbalize and formalize their visions, mission and values statements. Unfortunately, often after the strategic thinking workshop, this documentation of their business concept are consigned to the filing cabinet or are typed in beautiful paper, framed and displayed all over the premises. Then they go back to “business as usual” and fighting daily bush fire.
Here are two situations reported by Jim Clemmer and Art McNeil in their book, Leadership Skills for Every Manager. Dr. Edward Lindaman, former director of program control for manufacture of the Apollo spacecraft, repeatedly said: “A fundamental determinate of how we choose to behave today is our conscious or below-conscious expectation of what the future could hold in store. Before you get into telling me your troubles, what would it look like to you if the problem is resolved?” Dr. Lindaman demanded their work teams and more than 100 contractors to visualize and verbalize what the moon landing would be for them.
This consuming passion echoed all over the United States and further strengthened by the words of President John F. Kennedy: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth before this decade is out. No single space project will be more impressive to mankind or more important to the long range exploration of space . . . but in very real sense it will not be one man going to the moon, it will be an entire nation.”
From http://www.hq.nasa.gov. “So on July 20, 1969, the human race accomplished its single greatest technological achievement of all time when a human first set foot on another celestial body.
The late-dictator Ferdinand Marcos had “the nation will be great again” agenda. But his subsequent actions and those of his co-leaders in government and business changed the word “nation” to “self” and the rest is bleak history for our country. Former president Corazon Aquino toiled toward the restoration of democracy and its machineries. She almost didn’t succeed because of some who tried to perpetuate their selfish agenda. I am not certain what the dreams of former presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada were during their leadership but our country did not seem to move forward in real terms.
Now we are supposed to rally behind “a strong republic.” But our top government executives, business, academic and spiritual leaders and their underlings, with the exception of very few, do not seem to be serious about the dream. The dream has not filtered down the ordinary citizen. And so . . . (you can draw your own conclusions).
Book Shelf: If you want to know how much of your vision, mission and vision have been cascaded down the line and is serving your business and customers well, I recommend the book Delivery Quality Service (Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations) by Valerie A. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman and Leonard L. Berry (The Free Press, ISBN 0-02-935702-2).
1st Congreso Internacional 2003 Panama. You are invited to attend the ASTD Global Network Panama Conference and Expo on September 17 to 19, 2003, at the Hotel Riande Continental, Panama City, Panama. Conference languages are both Spanish and English. Speakers from Africa, Australia, India, the Philippines, US, Europe and Central and South American countries will truly give this conference an international perspective. This columnist will be speaking on the topic “Leadership and Development.” For details and brochures, please call Grace Victoriano at 715-9332.
(Ms. Moje Ramos-Aquino is president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corp. and helps companies develop and implement shared vision, matched missions and congruent values. She could be reached at moje@mydestiny.net)
Monday, August 4, 2003
LEARNING AND INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
Not just token statements for survival but growth
Do companies exist and can they survive without those set of vision, mission and values statements?
Surely. Many companies do exist and survive without those modern buzzwords vision, mission and values. Their owners don’t even have these words in their vocabulary. Look around you and you’ll find lots of them. Liza’s Sari-sari Store, Fatimah Jewellery, Trendy Trinkets and Gifts, Siony’s Restaurant, San Juan Funeral Homes, New World Pharmacy, Bobson Bakery, Well Star Trading and Fortune Hardware are just a few examples.
Yes, companies do exist for the longest time without bothering about their vision, mission and values. But often they remain small, community-based and are barely surviving. They could not compete or lead in their respective industry. The moment a big mall is constructed in their area, they wobble and gasp for breath and resign into being small or altogether perish.
Notice the products and services they offer–the same de lata, cultured pearl choker, CD case, menudo, over-the counter medicine, ensaymada, used TV set from Japan, nails and paints. It is the same buy-and-sell kind of business. The day-to-day concern is profit.
Actually, these companies do have a dream and ideas about realizing this dream or they would not have lasted so long. Michel Robert wrote in his book, Strategy Pure and Simple, “It is also our view that every organization originates and perpetuates itself around a key idea or business concept. However, in many organizations that business concept is not always clear or well articulated. It usually resides in the mind of the leader–rather then being explicit so members of the organization get a “feeling” of the concept and the direction of the firm from the nature of the decisions that are accepted or rejected by the leader over a period of time. Most organizational leaders have great difficulty verbalizing their business concept to their colleagues, and it is reflected in the nature of their actions.”
We have helped a number of companies over the last few years verbalize and formalize their visions, mission and values statements. Unfortunately, often after the strategic thinking workshop, this documentation of their business concept are consigned to the filing cabinet or are typed in beautiful paper, framed and displayed all over the premises. Then they go back to “business as usual” and fighting daily bush fire.
Here are two situations reported by Jim Clemmer and Art McNeil in their book, Leadership Skills for Every Manager. Dr. Edward Lindaman, former director of program control for manufacture of the Apollo spacecraft, repeatedly said: “A fundamental determinate of how we choose to behave today is our conscious or below-conscious expectation of what the future could hold in store. Before you get into telling me your troubles, what would it look like to you if the problem is resolved?” Dr. Lindaman demanded their work teams and more than 100 contractors to visualize and verbalize what the moon landing would be for them.
This consuming passion echoed all over the United States and further strengthened by the words of President John F. Kennedy: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth before this decade is out. No single space project will be more impressive to mankind or more important to the long range exploration of space . . . but in very real sense it will not be one man going to the moon, it will be an entire nation.”
From http://www.hq.nasa.gov. “So on July 20, 1969, the human race accomplished its single greatest technological achievement of all time when a human first set foot on another celestial body.
The late-dictator Ferdinand Marcos had “the nation will be great again” agenda. But his subsequent actions and those of his co-leaders in government and business changed the word “nation” to “self” and the rest is bleak history for our country. Former president Corazon Aquino toiled toward the restoration of democracy and its machineries. She almost didn’t succeed because of some who tried to perpetuate their selfish agenda. I am not certain what the dreams of former presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada were during their leadership but our country did not seem to move forward in real terms.
Now we are supposed to rally behind “a strong republic.” But our top government executives, business, academic and spiritual leaders and their underlings, with the exception of very few, do not seem to be serious about the dream. The dream has not filtered down the ordinary citizen. And so . . . (you can draw your own conclusions).
Book Shelf: If you want to know how much of your vision, mission and vision have been cascaded down the line and is serving your business and customers well, I recommend the book Delivery Quality Service (Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations) by Valerie A. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman and Leonard L. Berry (The Free Press, ISBN 0-02-935702-2).
1st Congreso Internacional 2003 Panama. You are invited to attend the ASTD Global Network Panama Conference and Expo on September 17 to 19, 2003, at the Hotel Riande Continental, Panama City, Panama. Conference languages are both Spanish and English. Speakers from Africa, Australia, India, the Philippines, US, Europe and Central and South American countries will truly give this conference an international perspective. This columnist will be speaking on the topic “Leadership and Development.” For details and brochures, please call Grace Victoriano at 715-9332.
(Ms. Moje Ramos-Aquino is president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corp. and helps companies develop and implement shared vision, matched missions and congruent values. She could be reached at moje@mydestiny.net)
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