The Ledger
Curated content foranalytical business leaders
To be Successful, Focus on Productivity Over Efficiency
May 31, 2017
Often times, strategy and efficiency are seen as synonyms. When it comes to strategy, however, efficiency and productivity are very different. At a time when so many companies are starved for growth, senior leaders must bring a productivity mindset to their business and remove organizational obstacles to workforce productivity. This view differs substantially from the relentless focus on efficiency that has characterized management thinking for most of the last three decade, but it is absolutely essential if companies are going to ignite profitable growth and innovation.
Read More at The Harvard Business Review >
Empower Your Workforce with Automation
May 25, 2017
There has been a lot of hype around automation these days, but executives may not be focusing on the most important changes that come along with it. Instead of questioning which jobs will be replaced by these new technologies, they need to be thinking about how their workforce will be redefined by them. To start, it is important to realize the difference between the “work” and the “job”. Automation will make the tasks of a job more fluid but more work will create more work outside of the traditional borders of the job. The end goal is to completely re-envision your organization and work flows. Automation has the potential to empower your workforce but not without some significant disruption.
Read More at The Harvard Business Review >
Don’t Get Lost in Your Strategy
May 24, 2017
While finance executives can easily answer the question, “What is your strategy?”, they tend to struggle with answering, “How do you make decisions about changing your strategy?” This can be an issue since the process for creating the strategy impacts the strategy itself. An article from Harvard Business Review, The Different Approaches Firms Use to Set Strategy, states, “Making a strategy without knowing your process is like sailing without a compass. You are setting yourself up for a long, stressful journey. Even worse, if you eventually reach your destination, you may not realize that you’re in the right place.” There are four different approaches to strategy- Ad hoc, collaborative, unilateral and administrative. The approach that works best for you depends on your organization’s specific context.
Read More at The Harvard Business Review >
The Dark Side of Innovation
May 16, 2017
Finance heads have become addicted to innovation. Many companies are in a hurry to be the first to market the newest product or catch up to the competition. This focus tends to blind companies to the potential downside of adding a new product, like costs and added complexity. Excess innovation like this leads to little value being added to the company and eventually a downward spiral of profits. An example of this when the Netherlands based company, Royal Philips’, revenue decreased 40% in a span of 10 years. This happened because executives at the company expanded the company’s product portfolio so quickly that they could not handle the business complexity and the expenses that came along with it.
Read More at The Harvard Business Review >
