Executives have a golden opportunity to orient strategy around organizational design and thus to make companies thrive no matter how market and competitive conditions change.Organizational-design work is hard and time consuming, but its payback—in profits, costs, and risks—surpasses that of investments in product design and other traditional strategic initiatives.Building strategy around organizational design represents an evolution away from the organizational structures of the 20th-century industrial age, when capital was the scarce resource and vertical, hierarchical structures were the key to efficient performance.The key ingredients of progressive corporate strategy in the 21st century are “one-company” governance structures, knowledge and talent markets, and organizational designs intended to maximize collaboration among the talented workers who create today’s wealth.
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_abstract_visitor.aspx?ar=1991&l2=18&l3=30&srid=17&gp=0
Courtesy: McKinsey
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
REQUIREMENTS Specifications
Requirements Specification is a description of what you want the system to do. This document may also be called a Business Needs Specification. The Requirements Specification should generally not be written in computer terms or contain assumptions about how the system should be written (unless these are part of the requirements). Requirements Specification should cover topics like:
1.Introduction: Your introduction, location, your market and target customers, contact details and the service your offer.
2.System Overview: Potential users of the system, number of users, kind of users according to their work, the problems they face, hardware and environmental constraints etc. This also includes the deliverables, business rules that needs to be included in the system, back up for the system, security needed for the system, technical support required.
3.Functional Requirement: This includes your requirements, importance of the requirements, design or implementation issues.
4.Data to be held: The kind of data that the system should held
5.Operational Scenario: The kind of scenarios that an user might face while using the system.
6.Budget and Schedule: Timescale required, management constraints, critical deadlines and the budget.
7.Appendices and Contact Number: Any acronyms or abbreviations.
1.Introduction: Your introduction, location, your market and target customers, contact details and the service your offer.
2.System Overview: Potential users of the system, number of users, kind of users according to their work, the problems they face, hardware and environmental constraints etc. This also includes the deliverables, business rules that needs to be included in the system, back up for the system, security needed for the system, technical support required.
3.Functional Requirement: This includes your requirements, importance of the requirements, design or implementation issues.
4.Data to be held: The kind of data that the system should held
5.Operational Scenario: The kind of scenarios that an user might face while using the system.
6.Budget and Schedule: Timescale required, management constraints, critical deadlines and the budget.
7.Appendices and Contact Number: Any acronyms or abbreviations.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Forming a CLIENT CONSULTANT Relationship
In consultancy, understanding the Client- Consultant relationship is very important. It forms the basis of the Consulting process. Generally, there are three major form of relationship exists between a Client and a Consultant
1)Contractual Relationship: It’s a kind of social agreement where rules of engagement and firm boundaries are defined and formed.
2)Idealized Relationship: It’s a kind of abstract or imaginary level of engagement where each person transfers in prior learning and desires and proceeds to act these out.
3)Authentic Relationship: It’s a level ahead of Contractual Relationship where you witness yourself, very clear about your stance and share your stance with others where appropriate.
The focus is more on Management Consulting as it involves a lot of aspects to it like economical, financial, marketing, IT, People Management and the list goes on. The expertise of the consultants depends on either the task or the process. Task centered Consultants focus more on the problem and minimize the people aspect whereas the Process centered consultant tend to focus more on people and relationship and the leave the problem to the client to solve.
Well, we will discuss the phases of Consulting in the next post. Keep watching the space.
1)Contractual Relationship: It’s a kind of social agreement where rules of engagement and firm boundaries are defined and formed.
2)Idealized Relationship: It’s a kind of abstract or imaginary level of engagement where each person transfers in prior learning and desires and proceeds to act these out.
3)Authentic Relationship: It’s a level ahead of Contractual Relationship where you witness yourself, very clear about your stance and share your stance with others where appropriate.
The focus is more on Management Consulting as it involves a lot of aspects to it like economical, financial, marketing, IT, People Management and the list goes on. The expertise of the consultants depends on either the task or the process. Task centered Consultants focus more on the problem and minimize the people aspect whereas the Process centered consultant tend to focus more on people and relationship and the leave the problem to the client to solve.
Well, we will discuss the phases of Consulting in the next post. Keep watching the space.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Working on your MIND
Mind is the driver of your persona. It allows you to visualize, think, analyze and take decisions. An individual’s level of success or failures depends on his mind. How to make your mind work to your benefits? Yogis and Sadhus have shown us the path of meditation to control the mind and make your mind work in sync with the body. Even science asserts the benefits of meditation. Here are some ways which you can help you to condition your mind and achieve success.
The first and foremost thing is to NURTURE your mind. Fill your mind with things, which influences you a lot. It could be a motivating book, a dance form or a mere jogging. Relaxing body sometimes relaxes your mind. Make a habit of doing something everyday that you feel can relax your body and mind.
Stay away from NEGATIVE. Negativities can make your mind work in a way, which can be harmful to you. Do not think negatives. Be positive and Stay positive is the ultimate mantra. Make a practice of saying to yourself something, which you want to do infront of the mirror. If you want to achieve something, make sure you repeat it as many times as you can so that it makes your mind think accordingly and you take appropriate actions to achieve that.
MEDITATION is always the key to increase your concentration.
Stay ALONE with yourself everyday and make a note of the things, which you did in that day which you feel relevant and whether it was good or bad. Again, there is nothing good or bad in this world. It’s all in your perception. So, it’s always better to justify why the things done by you is good or bad. That will help your mind take decisions in an appropriate way.
Watch CARTOONS. It seems funny but it helps your mind to relax and also to be imaginative and creative. It could be a reason why children like cartoons to watch. Its because its at this stage they start to be creative and desire to do things which might seem impossible to others.
The first and foremost thing is to NURTURE your mind. Fill your mind with things, which influences you a lot. It could be a motivating book, a dance form or a mere jogging. Relaxing body sometimes relaxes your mind. Make a habit of doing something everyday that you feel can relax your body and mind.
Stay away from NEGATIVE. Negativities can make your mind work in a way, which can be harmful to you. Do not think negatives. Be positive and Stay positive is the ultimate mantra. Make a practice of saying to yourself something, which you want to do infront of the mirror. If you want to achieve something, make sure you repeat it as many times as you can so that it makes your mind think accordingly and you take appropriate actions to achieve that.
MEDITATION is always the key to increase your concentration.
Stay ALONE with yourself everyday and make a note of the things, which you did in that day which you feel relevant and whether it was good or bad. Again, there is nothing good or bad in this world. It’s all in your perception. So, it’s always better to justify why the things done by you is good or bad. That will help your mind take decisions in an appropriate way.
Watch CARTOONS. It seems funny but it helps your mind to relax and also to be imaginative and creative. It could be a reason why children like cartoons to watch. Its because its at this stage they start to be creative and desire to do things which might seem impossible to others.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
MERGERS and ACQUISITIONS
Mergers and Acquisitions are the most strategic decisions taken by the organizations and it requires a lot of understanding and expertise before a firm decided to acquire another firm. There are some crucial points that a firm needs to focus before going for the deal as a single wrong decision may make or mar the M&A.
1)Be clear about the transaction structure. Whether a firm is interested in Asset purchase, Stocks purchase or Merger. And, if it’s a merger, whether it’s a Direct, forward or triangular. Direct merger is one where the acquirer acquires the firm and the asset id transferred to the acquirer by the operation of law. Forward is one where the subsidiary of acquirer acquires the firm and Triangular is one where the firm, which is acquired by the subsidiary of the acquirer, gets wholly merged in the subsidiary.
2)Clear understanding of the mechanisms of value creation process in Mergers and Acquisitions. Over-valuation of costs and under-valuation of costs and risks should be avoided. The similarities and the differences of the two firms should be analyzed properly so that it would help in clearly understanding the aftereffects of M&A.
3)Employee Stock Options and Valuation is one area which the acquirer and the firm getting acquired should look at before going for a M&A deal.
4)Paying premium if the synergies not realized can turn to be a major turn off for the acquirer.
5)Two companies should properly get integrated with high level planning and design, which will help in successful implementation.
6)Due diligence is the most important factor or rather defined as the watchdog of a successful M&A.
1)Be clear about the transaction structure. Whether a firm is interested in Asset purchase, Stocks purchase or Merger. And, if it’s a merger, whether it’s a Direct, forward or triangular. Direct merger is one where the acquirer acquires the firm and the asset id transferred to the acquirer by the operation of law. Forward is one where the subsidiary of acquirer acquires the firm and Triangular is one where the firm, which is acquired by the subsidiary of the acquirer, gets wholly merged in the subsidiary.
2)Clear understanding of the mechanisms of value creation process in Mergers and Acquisitions. Over-valuation of costs and under-valuation of costs and risks should be avoided. The similarities and the differences of the two firms should be analyzed properly so that it would help in clearly understanding the aftereffects of M&A.
3)Employee Stock Options and Valuation is one area which the acquirer and the firm getting acquired should look at before going for a M&A deal.
4)Paying premium if the synergies not realized can turn to be a major turn off for the acquirer.
5)Two companies should properly get integrated with high level planning and design, which will help in successful implementation.
6)Due diligence is the most important factor or rather defined as the watchdog of a successful M&A.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
The Crux of Marketing: PRICING
Wondering how to price a product or service? How much to charge from your customers? It’s easy to price a product by analyzing the existing similar products in the market but what about a new product or a service. Though there are some industry accepted figures but still it’s your business and pricing plays an important role in your business. Not everytime RFPs will help you in deciding the pricing. Sometimes we literally get a big idea written down on a small pice of paper. While other times we may get 30-page RFPs that provide excruciating detail.
Regardless of how the client writes down what they need, they often only know the rough strokes of the how to reach their goal, not the specific nitty-gritty details, which are often where the majority of costs lie. But why should they? That should be what they are hiring us for, to help them find what they want, and more importantly, what their users want.
Budgeting plays a major role in deciding the price. Vendors always want them, clients never want to reveal them. We ask every client if they have a budget that they need us to work within, every agency I’ve ever worked on the other side of the fence with has asked the same. Very very few clients ever reveal this crucial detail. The budget reveals a lot about the client and the project. We use it as a barometer of how serious the client is, if they have given their project serious consideration, how much they understand about the project, to evaluate possible return on investment scenarios, to help define scope, whether it is cost-efficient for us to pursue, and to see if we can even do the project within their budget. When we price out a project we not only price out what we know about the project, but also detail what we don’t know. We come up with worst-case scenarios, address risks, point out all the things we think could impact meeting the goals of the project. There are two major methods of billing for projects, Per Project, Hourly. Traditionally most projects are charged on a Per Project rate. The idea here is that the vendor can accurately guess the scope and attach a fixed price at the beginning of the project. This in invariably never the case, so scope and price is often padded and margin added to protect the vendor from additional scope.The problem is one way or another somebody loses, either the client pays too much, meaning paying more than it’s market value, or the vendor eats into their profit. One benefits to hourly billing is the client is responsible for increases of scope, protecting the vendor and the customer. If the project is completed early the client pays less, protecting the client. This puts the onus on both parties to communicate regularly and work more effectively. Rather, budgets and requirements should be defined, watched and met. If the hours start to go over, this should be called as soon as possible, ideally before the hours are committed. Regardless of billing per project or per hour, we believe that any project is a partnership between client and vendor. That in order to mutually achieve a goal we must work together every step of the way. Communicating expectations of scope and cost is always crucial.
Courtesy: BlueFlavour
Regardless of how the client writes down what they need, they often only know the rough strokes of the how to reach their goal, not the specific nitty-gritty details, which are often where the majority of costs lie. But why should they? That should be what they are hiring us for, to help them find what they want, and more importantly, what their users want.
Budgeting plays a major role in deciding the price. Vendors always want them, clients never want to reveal them. We ask every client if they have a budget that they need us to work within, every agency I’ve ever worked on the other side of the fence with has asked the same. Very very few clients ever reveal this crucial detail. The budget reveals a lot about the client and the project. We use it as a barometer of how serious the client is, if they have given their project serious consideration, how much they understand about the project, to evaluate possible return on investment scenarios, to help define scope, whether it is cost-efficient for us to pursue, and to see if we can even do the project within their budget. When we price out a project we not only price out what we know about the project, but also detail what we don’t know. We come up with worst-case scenarios, address risks, point out all the things we think could impact meeting the goals of the project. There are two major methods of billing for projects, Per Project, Hourly. Traditionally most projects are charged on a Per Project rate. The idea here is that the vendor can accurately guess the scope and attach a fixed price at the beginning of the project. This in invariably never the case, so scope and price is often padded and margin added to protect the vendor from additional scope.The problem is one way or another somebody loses, either the client pays too much, meaning paying more than it’s market value, or the vendor eats into their profit. One benefits to hourly billing is the client is responsible for increases of scope, protecting the vendor and the customer. If the project is completed early the client pays less, protecting the client. This puts the onus on both parties to communicate regularly and work more effectively. Rather, budgets and requirements should be defined, watched and met. If the hours start to go over, this should be called as soon as possible, ideally before the hours are committed. Regardless of billing per project or per hour, we believe that any project is a partnership between client and vendor. That in order to mutually achieve a goal we must work together every step of the way. Communicating expectations of scope and cost is always crucial.
Courtesy: BlueFlavour
Monday, April 2, 2007
Know your Market: Conduct Research
To know your market, research is essential. And, there is a lot to talk about research. The research methodology generally adopted by the organizations is qualitative or quantitative. Generally, for a quantitative research, sample size is determined based on the segmentation done and for qualitative research; group or one-to-one interview is conducted and the interview guide is developed. For both the research, it is important to set the overall objectives of the research. Conducting group interviews can create problems if the participants selected are not homogeneous and the moderator is inexperienced and lack the objectives of the research. And during, quantitative research, its always advisable to avoid jargons, biased questions etc.
It’s always good to use free or low cost online survey packages like Surveymonkey.com, Zoomerang.com and Perseus.com/express. The survey length should not be more than 10mins. If the survey is more than the time frame mentioned, then the participant might lose interest. The open-ended questions should be limited.
It’s always good to use free or low cost online survey packages like Surveymonkey.com, Zoomerang.com and Perseus.com/express. The survey length should not be more than 10mins. If the survey is more than the time frame mentioned, then the participant might lose interest. The open-ended questions should be limited.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Know your MARKET
Well, are you wondering to start a firm and sell products/service? Starting a business is not easy especially when there are so many aspects to Business. And, the most important aspect to your business is your market. It’s always better to have certain facts infront of you before starting your business.
1.Is there a demand for your product/service in the market? Who are the key players in the market?
Answer: Research is the only answer to the question. The research could be primary or secondary. There are a lot of website who sell information and research reports pertaining to the business and the location. The total sales of the products in that location and the growth of the sales of the product, demand for certain services are the key figures important to you. If you think of primary research, certain websites will help you. Preparing a questionnaire and targeting potential customers will definitely add a value to the research. If you are selling a service, lets say Consulting, then it’s very important to know what kind of Consulting you are going to provide. It’s always advisable to start with Niche Consulting and then expand your services. Starting a service business needs a more prepared research. You need to know your competitors. Competitor analysis is of utmost importance. You need to research on the following:
1.Who are your competitors?
2.Kind of pricing they do for their services?
3.The list of clients of the competitors and the untapped clients in the market
4.Differentiation strategy of your services. It’s always better to add a product to your service so that you can win the clients of your competitors. The question arises, if I have a consulting firm, what kind of products I can sell? Well, products need not be tangible. It can come in the form of newsletters, white papers or industry insights.
Its also essential to know whether the market is saturated or in its infant stage. Depending on this, you will be able to know your scope and reconsider your decision to cater to the market you have decided to.
The information required can be gathered from a various of sources like Trade information, Demographic and Economic Data, Business groups, Management Universities who conducts a lot of research during their project etc.
To Be Continued...
1.Is there a demand for your product/service in the market? Who are the key players in the market?
Answer: Research is the only answer to the question. The research could be primary or secondary. There are a lot of website who sell information and research reports pertaining to the business and the location. The total sales of the products in that location and the growth of the sales of the product, demand for certain services are the key figures important to you. If you think of primary research, certain websites will help you. Preparing a questionnaire and targeting potential customers will definitely add a value to the research. If you are selling a service, lets say Consulting, then it’s very important to know what kind of Consulting you are going to provide. It’s always advisable to start with Niche Consulting and then expand your services. Starting a service business needs a more prepared research. You need to know your competitors. Competitor analysis is of utmost importance. You need to research on the following:
1.Who are your competitors?
2.Kind of pricing they do for their services?
3.The list of clients of the competitors and the untapped clients in the market
4.Differentiation strategy of your services. It’s always better to add a product to your service so that you can win the clients of your competitors. The question arises, if I have a consulting firm, what kind of products I can sell? Well, products need not be tangible. It can come in the form of newsletters, white papers or industry insights.
Its also essential to know whether the market is saturated or in its infant stage. Depending on this, you will be able to know your scope and reconsider your decision to cater to the market you have decided to.
The information required can be gathered from a various of sources like Trade information, Demographic and Economic Data, Business groups, Management Universities who conducts a lot of research during their project etc.
To Be Continued...
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
PERFORMANCE Management: Leveraging competitive advantage
Most of the organizations believe in lateral thinking and take every possible measure that can give them competitive advantage. A market where stringent regulatory rules, changing market scenario, technology upgradation, investor pressures exists, there is a need to revamp the strategy and keep on improving the processes critical to the organization. Performance Management answers all the questions, which seem critical for the success of an organization.
It starts with strategy formulation keeping the corporate mission, vision and objectives in mind. The roadmap is clearly set and targets are set for each objective. The drivers accelerating the growth of an organization and those hampering the growth are defined. Measures are taken for each objective. The topics covered below like Scenario Planning, Risk Management are taken care of in the first step of Performance Management.
Once the objectives are defined and measures are taken, its important to communicate the same with the key people in the organization. The business units of the organization are made aware of these objective and the BU Head of each business unit sets operational plan for achieving these objectives. Key strategic initiatives and allocation of effective people lay to the foundation of successful implementation of the operational plan. Key performance indicators are set for each objective.
Once the operational plan is in process, it is essential to monitor the progress and chart the improvement in the processes. Performance gaps are analyzed and measures are taken to fill the gaps and achieve the best fitting the corporate objectives. A macro view of the organization helps in deciding the appropriate plan of action.
Last but not the least, feedback is necessary for a successful performance management plan. The success and failures achieved in the whole cycle of performance management should be documented and communicated across the organization so that the learning occurs and opinions could be taken for improvement of the processes.
An effective tool to measure Performance Management is Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Score Card, which takes four perspectives into consideration critical to the organization keeping the objectives in mind.
a.Learning and Growth perspective
b.Business process perspective
c.Customer perspective
d.Financial perspective
It starts with strategy formulation keeping the corporate mission, vision and objectives in mind. The roadmap is clearly set and targets are set for each objective. The drivers accelerating the growth of an organization and those hampering the growth are defined. Measures are taken for each objective. The topics covered below like Scenario Planning, Risk Management are taken care of in the first step of Performance Management.
Once the objectives are defined and measures are taken, its important to communicate the same with the key people in the organization. The business units of the organization are made aware of these objective and the BU Head of each business unit sets operational plan for achieving these objectives. Key strategic initiatives and allocation of effective people lay to the foundation of successful implementation of the operational plan. Key performance indicators are set for each objective.
Once the operational plan is in process, it is essential to monitor the progress and chart the improvement in the processes. Performance gaps are analyzed and measures are taken to fill the gaps and achieve the best fitting the corporate objectives. A macro view of the organization helps in deciding the appropriate plan of action.
Last but not the least, feedback is necessary for a successful performance management plan. The success and failures achieved in the whole cycle of performance management should be documented and communicated across the organization so that the learning occurs and opinions could be taken for improvement of the processes.
An effective tool to measure Performance Management is Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Score Card, which takes four perspectives into consideration critical to the organization keeping the objectives in mind.
a.Learning and Growth perspective
b.Business process perspective
c.Customer perspective
d.Financial perspective
Friday, March 23, 2007
HOLISTIC APPROACH TO SOLVE A CASE: A CONSULTING EXPERIENCE
A consultant might come across a lot of complex situations where he is expected to deliver some tangible insights to the case so that the situations turn simple and the case is solved. In general, the problems rotate around making profits, market expansion, which includes merger and acquisitions, industry analysis, investing decisions, marketing decisions (pricing, branding etc.). A consultant should clearly set his road map to solve a case.
1.Facts and Facts: The best information which we will have before approaching a case is facts and figures which will clearly define the condition of the organization and its strategic goals. A macro view of the situation will help to analyze a lot of things.
2.See the solutions as problems: While looking into the problems from various perspectives, we might come out with a lot of solutions. It’s better to challenge the solutions and figure out the problems implementing the solutions. This will help us in narrowing down the solutions and come out with the most effective solution.
3.No problem is new. It might share some aspects with some problems, which happened for some other company. Knowledge has no alternative. Its always better to keep on reading various cases and talk to the senior management of the companies on the problems faced by them in the past and the way it was solved.
4.The client is always a way to another client. Rather than looking on new clients, its better to serve the existing one in a better way which might help us to get new clients. Networking is the key to consulting.
5.The crux is to build a case study on the client itself before building a case on client’s problems.
6.It’s the way a consultant understands a client and communicates with him. It’s always better to be in the shoes of the client while solving cases and treat the client as a consultant. The brainstorming might lead to amazing solutions.
1.Facts and Facts: The best information which we will have before approaching a case is facts and figures which will clearly define the condition of the organization and its strategic goals. A macro view of the situation will help to analyze a lot of things.
2.See the solutions as problems: While looking into the problems from various perspectives, we might come out with a lot of solutions. It’s better to challenge the solutions and figure out the problems implementing the solutions. This will help us in narrowing down the solutions and come out with the most effective solution.
3.No problem is new. It might share some aspects with some problems, which happened for some other company. Knowledge has no alternative. Its always better to keep on reading various cases and talk to the senior management of the companies on the problems faced by them in the past and the way it was solved.
4.The client is always a way to another client. Rather than looking on new clients, its better to serve the existing one in a better way which might help us to get new clients. Networking is the key to consulting.
5.The crux is to build a case study on the client itself before building a case on client’s problems.
6.It’s the way a consultant understands a client and communicates with him. It’s always better to be in the shoes of the client while solving cases and treat the client as a consultant. The brainstorming might lead to amazing solutions.
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