the ceos guide to strategic thinking vol.26, no · pdf filethe ceos guide to strategic ... at...

T H E C E O s G U I D E T O S T R A T E G I C T H I N K I N G V O L . 2 6 , N O . 1

t

Patrick Dlamini

CEOAir Traffic &

Navigation Services

The World in 2020The DOs and

DON’Ts ofStrategic Alliances

The Three Keysto Success in

Uncertain Times

I N T E R V I E W

Patrick Dlamini

CEOAir Traffic &

Navigation Services

The Strategist is a publication by Decision Processes International,

a worldwide consulting firm and originators of the

Strategic Thinking Process

Supremacy, not adequacy, is the goal of a successful strategy.Does your current business strategy put you so far ahead of your competitors that you look over your

shoulder to measure the widening distance between you and them? Or do you find yourself looking from side to side in a day-to-day battle to get ahead today, only to fall behind again tommorow? Is your biggest problem choosing between many opportunities to enhance growth, profits, and shareholder value, or are yousimply struggling to find them? Do your managers, board, and shareholders understand, agree with, andsupport your strategy? Or do you find yourself having to explain it over and over again?

At DPI, we believe that a clearly stated, distinctive strategy will create a steady stream of unique opportunities, enabling you to continuously build value while you force competitors to play your game byyour rules. In other words, the goal of any company’s strategy should be competitive supremacy — not adequacy!

Strategic Thinking –The key to supremacy.DPI’s Strategic Thinking Process can be the catalyst to position you for supremacy in your industry,

as it has for hundreds of winning companies around the world. Strategic Thinking will help you tounlock the hidden potential in your business as you discover your company’s unique “Driving Force”— the one component of the business that is the “heartbeat” of your enterprise. Understanding that“Driving Force” will help you identify the crucial strategic capabilities that must be nurtured togain insurmountable competitive advantage. Strategic Thinking will also enable you to uncoverpotential “stealth competitors” that could enter your markets, causing unforeseen and possiblydisastrous disruption.

DPI’s Strategic Thinking Process differs dramatically from other management consulting concepts. At DPI we believe that the answers to your company’s strategic questions reside in the heads of you, the CEO,and your key management group. We bring a focused and disciplined approach—a formal process — that willenable you to develop your own, not a consultant’s, strategy. Your management team brings the businessknowledge and industry expertise. We bring you the right questions, providing the framework to debate theissues and make the critical strategic decisions yourselves. The results? Agreement and focus on a game-chang-ing strategic direction and total commitment to effective deployment. Discover the power of having one common vision for the future of your business.

Discover the Power of Strategic Thinking.We invite you to read this issue of The Strategist and consider beginning a relationship with DPI in

the same way that most of our clients have. Read one of our books or, better still, arrange for a DPI partner to provide a ninety-minute executive overview of our process. Let’s explore together how we mayhelp your organization define a strategy that will bring lasting supremacy over your competitors.

Dear Executive:

Welcome to The Strategist, a

publication which offers you articles by

some of today’s leading thinkers on the

subject of corporate strategy.

DPI’s core technology is our

Strategic Thinking Process which enables

corporate management to create and

implement strategy. A common sense

approach to strategy, Strategic Thinking

is making traditional strategic planning

obsolete. This process enables a compa-

ny’s management team to reason out a

strategy as a group, assuring thorough

understanding, consensus, buy-in, and

effective implementation. In the “war

rooms” of more than 1,000 companies

throughout the world, global companies

such as 3M, FedEx Custom Critical,

Caterpillar, Prudential, Lubrizol and

Motorola as well as regional companies,

such as Rand Merchant Bank, Ascendas,

SATS Group, Cancer Treatment Centers

of America, as well as hundreds of small

to medium sized emerging companies—

this methodology has been refined and

validated by DPI for more than 30 years.

We hope you enjoy this issue of

The Strategist.

Good reading,

The Strategist is published by Decision ProcessesInternational, 4 Cranbrook Road, Shrewsbury, MA 01545 (508) 842-9291. Subscription information appears elsewhere in this issue. Submissions, subscriptions,address changes, and other correspondence should be sentto the above address. All reprints are published with permission, as noted. All other material is copyrightDecision Processes International © 2012, all rightsreserved. No material in The Strategist may be reprintedor reproduced in any form without written permission.

Visit DPI on the Internet at

www.dpi-asia.comD e c i s i o n P ro c e s s e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l

The Strategist

3

TheStrategistTM

4Interview:Patrick DlaminiCEO, Air Traffic & Navigation Services

8 The Worldin 2020by David Wilkins & Greg Carolin

13The DOs &DON’Tsof StrategicAlliancesby Andrew Sng

16The Three Keysto Success inUncertain Times

http://www.dpi-asia.com

The Strategist

4D e c i s i o n P ro c e s s e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l w w w. d p i - a s i a . c o m

ATNS is the sole provider of air traffic control services to SouthAfrican airports, directing flightsarriving and departing from morethan 20 aerodromes within the coun-try. As such, their challenge was tobuild up their capabilities to assurethe safety of the unprecedented number of air travelers, athletes andspectators alike.

“We are an air navigation serviceprovider, primarily to the SouthAfrican aviation industry,” says CEO Patrick Dlamini. “We supply air traffic management for South Africa,as well as the oceanic airspace, cover-ing all the way to Brazil, halfway toAustralia, and down to the South Pole,which is the equivalent of about 10% ofthe world’s airspace.”

The company’s main business istraining, and managing air traffic, butATNS also offers a strategicallyimportant range of related servicesthroughout South Africa and morethan two dozen other African nations.These ancillary services, such as air

traffic control training, proceduredesign, consulting and sophisticatedsatellite communications technology,leverage their specialized expertise,

and enable ATNS to generate important revenue both inside and outside South Africa. Becausecompensation for air traffic controlservices within South Africa is regu-lated in a manner similar to a utility,this additional, unregulated interna-tional business is essential to the company’s growth. These serviceshave also helped to position ATNS asa leading transnational supplier of airtraffic expertise and technology.

When Dlamini joined ATNS asCEO in 2009, the firm was grapplingwith several major challenges. First,the world was in the throes of the infa-mous economic downturn. Add rapidlyrising fuel prices, and the aviationindustry was in turmoil, looking tocontrol costs as air travel and revenues were diminishing globally.

To make matters worse, wealthiercountries in the Middle East and Asiawere luring away much of their toptalent—controllers and technicalstaff—leaving them short of air traffic controllers.

t

I N T E R V I E W

Patrick DlaminiCEO | AIR TRAFFIC & NAVIGATION SERVICES

Patrick Dlamini CEO, ATNS

A few years ago, South Africa was gearing up for the largest sporting event in the nation’s history, the 2010 World Cup football competition. The world watched as the country prepared for what wasundoubtedly the largest infrastructure project in its history. One of themost crucial, but largely unseen, players in the massive preparationswas an organization called Air Traffic and Navigation Services.

As many companies have struggled intoday’s harsh economic environment, some,such as South Africa’s ATNS, have thrivedthrough smart, well-executed businessstrategies. In this interview with TheStrategist, ATNS CEO Patrick Dlaminiexplains how he employed the DPI StrategicThinking Process to forge a strategy that has transformed the company, enabling it toprosper despite seemingly overwhelming odds.

Copyright © 2012 Decision Processes International.All rights reserved.


5D e c i s i o n P ro c e s s e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l S t r a t e g i c T h i n k i n g C o n s u l t a n t s

As if that were not enough, thehuge, anticipated jump in air trafficfrom the 2010 World Cup wasapproaching and a major new airport,King Shaka International Airport,was under construction. And to top it all off, the organization had beenstruggling to get its financial ship in order.

“ATNS was technically bankruptand we had challenges in terms ofkeeping our staffing levels where weneeded them to be,” Dlamini says.“We had in place the skills, the tech-nology, our Aviation TrainingAcademy, and important internationalpartners, many of the things we need-ed to succeed. What we did not havewas a strategy that everyone under-stood and agreed to, so we coulddecide on the issues we needed toresolve as a group and drive themrelentlessly to success.”

In his former position as ExecutiveVice President and General Managerof South African Airways CargoDivision, Dlamini had used DPI’sStrategic Thinking Process to craft astrategy that turned out to be verysuccessful. So he decided once againto use the DPI process to chart a newstrategic direction for ATNS, to meetthe immediate needs of the WorldCup and the new airport, and also toassure sustainable progress in thelong term. He also knew that theprocess would produce a new strategyand action plan in a matter of days,not weeks or months, which was

essential given the urgency of the sit-uation and the time demands alreadypressing on the executives.

“I found the DPI process to bequite unique and extremely success-ful,” Dlamini says. “At my previouscompany, South African AirwaysCargo Division, we saw clearimprovements for three years in arow after developing a strategythrough this process. Companies thatdo this have a huge advantage. I cansee the difference in the companieslisted on the Stock Exchange that usethe DPI process. They are very successful—it’s amazing.

“With DPI, it is the organizationthat puts the strategy together. Itcomes from the organization, not thefacilitator or consultant. The wordingcomes from the people who work inthe organization. It’s a highly sophis-ticated process that helps your peopleto think strategically, and to geteverybody to agree. It makes surethat your people analyze all the issuesthat affect the organization. You can’tavoid tough questions. It is your prob-lem to figure out. It makes sure thatyou cover the bases, and then move onfrom there. And the DPI facilitator,in this case Greg Carolin, keeps youon track.

“What I found most important isthat their methodology has a uniqueway of downloading your own people’s thinking in such a way thatthere is nothing left unsaid. And whenyou leave the strategy session you are

all in unity as to why you have chosenthe particular route or trajectory youwill take, and what each person is then expected to do. And then once you have done this process as agroup from across your organization,you have all the units and regionswith their own business strategieslinking to what the whole group hasagreed upon.”

This alignment between the mainoffice and operations in other Africannations would be essential to ATNS’growth as an international player, and would enable the firm to betterfocus and synchronize activitiesinvolving its own people and manynecessary partners—airlines, govern-ments, technology providers, aviationregulating agencies and others.

Selecting The Driving Force—The Compass of The ATNSStrategy

A pivotal point in the DPI process is selecting the Driving Force the company will pursue in the future.The Driving Force, as defined by DPI, is a clear set of skills and capabilities which will guide futuredecisions on the products, customersand markets to be pursued and not pursued. Among the possibleDriving Forces considered wereProduct/Service (Air NavigationService), Technology (the develop-ment of Air Traffic ManagementTechnology), and Market Category(meeting the diverse needs of the AirTraffic Management community).

“We had a hell of a debate overthat,” Dlamini says. “We selectedMarket Category. We concluded thatwhat drives us is meeting the diverseneeds of the Air Traffic Management(ATM) industry and delivering ontheir expectations. How well we identify and meet those needs aroundsafety, efficiency, cost effectivenessand other critical factors determinesour successes. That goes well beyondtraining and managing air traffic,involving many other services and

“What I found most importantwas that their methodology has aunique way of downloading your

own people’s thinking in such a way that there is nothing

left unsaid.”—Patrick Dlamini


The Strategist

technologies, but all relate to therequirements of that specialized community.”

Had ATNS opted for a ServiceDriving Force—limiting their busi-ness to training and managing airtraffic—they would have had to de-emphasize a set of lucrative con-sulting and technology products andservices that would enable them,importantly, to continue to growinternationally in unregulated areasas well as in their home market.

“In a lot of countries on theContinent we offer consultative services such as surveying airportprocedure designs. We offer technolo-gies, such as our satellite communica-tions networks, in 28 countries. Thistechnology supports our inter-con-nectivity which is very important if we want to be a leader acrossAfrica,” Dlamini says.

Yet, a Technology Driving Forcewould have similarly limited theirbusiness, although developing andadopting advanced technology isessential to their competitiveness.

“With a Technology Driving Force,we would have been less effective inmaking sure that competence, safety,efficiency, cost and other require-ments are all driven to their highestlevel because we would be too narrow-ly focused on only technology andinfrastructure, as opposed to sayingwe are bigger than that. The technol-ogy piece is very important, but that

becomes one of the Critical Issuesthat support our Market—the ATMcommunity as a whole,” Dlamini says.

Each Driving Force requires adop-tion of specific Areas of Excellence—capabilities that must be masteredand given resources above all others.

“We identified three Areas ofExcellence. One is Market Excellence.Two is Customer RelationshipManagement. The third is BusinessIntelligence. We believe these arevery, very critical, because they arewhat makes us competitive. We mustunderstand what is going on in themarket and when we do, give theseareas our utmost, to be certain thatthe competence acquired, whichunderpins our service delivery, is dri-ven by very highly competent staffing.

“We look very carefully at our cus-tomer relationships to make sure that

we are arriving at a future that keepsus very close to the ATM community,as well as our employees. So we alsoidentified the critical needs of ourstaff, our traffic controllers, all of ourpeople, as they are quite a key ele-ment of what we do. And we mustthen manage our list of CriticalIssues, to drive ATNS into the future,to maximize our opportunities in othermarkets, to make sure we are fullyprepared to make the most of themand pursue them on a sustainablebasis,” Dlamini says.

Over the past 4 years, ATNS haspressed relentlessly forward toresolve its list of Critical Issues orStrategic Imperatives (see inset) with exceptional success. To further connect the various units with the corporate strategy, DPI conductedOperational Planning Sessions with

Air Traffic & Navigation Services Radar Control Room

“We look very carefully at our customerrelationships to make sure that we arearriving at a future that keeps us very

close to the ATM community, as well asour employees. So we also identified the

critical needs of our staff, our traffic controllers, all of our people, as they are

quite a key element of what we do.” —Patrick Dlamini



each, assuring that their operationaldeliverables would match up with corpo-rate objectives.

“To drive these Critical Issues we aremaking sure we link all the necessaryareas, identifying the people responsibleand identifying the contributors,” saysDlamini. “For example, in the area ofmanaging the pipeline that our air trafficcontrollers go through before they qual-ify as successfully validated air trafficcontrollers, we meet about twice amonth to monitor progress and see howwell we are getting people passingthrough. We are also developing systemsthat help us in the assessment, and mak-ing sure that the people that we acceptare the right type to meet the demandsof this profession.”

The result of this laser-like focus onstrategic objectives is an organizationthat now has the skills and renewed con-fidence needed to meet its toughest chal-lenges. Among the important milestoneswere the seamless opening of KingShaka International Airport and thehighly successful managing of the great-ly increased air traffic resulting from theWorld Cup. Better recruitment andretention strategies, as well as extensiveemployee support programs, have led torecord levels of essential staffing.

“We also now have very good financialperformance,” Dlamini states. “As Isaid, before DPI came to work with us,ATNS was technically bankrupt. Andwe were never able to envision havingenough air traffic controllers in all of thesectors. After the DPI process, we are asolid and stable organization. And wecan see a high level of happiness on thepart of our employees. We are gettingahead of all our target numbers in allareas. People who had left ATNS haveeven asked me, ‘How did you do this?’And I can say the DPI StrategicThinking Process enabled us all to agreeon our strategy. You need the right peo-ple to help you craft and deploy yourstrategy, get all your people in agree-ment, select the right people to followthrough, and make sure you deploy it successfully.”

The result of this laser-like focus on strategic objectives is an

organization that now has the skillsand renewed confidence needed to

meet its toughest challenges.

FUTURE DIRECTION• Vision—To be the preferred supplier of Air Traffic Management

solutions and associated services to the African Continent andselected international markets.

• Mission—To provide safe, expeditious and efficient Air TrafficManagement solutions and associated services.

STRATEGIC IMPERATIVES• To deliver continuous improvement of our safety performance

• To become a transformative organization which invests in its people

• To provide efficient Air Traffic Management solutions and associat-ed services which meets the needs and expectations of the AirTraffic Management Community

• To maintain long term financial sustainability

• To play a leading role in the development of Air TrafficManagement solutions and associated services in Africa and selected international markets

• To deploy and use leading technologies to the benefit of the AirTraffic Management Community

Copyright © 2012 ATNS. All rights reserved.

onfronted by change, the firstquestion to be answered by anyleader is, “Where are we going?”This question is becoming

increasingly more difficult to answer.Or is it?

During one of his final lectures,Peter Drucker, the founder of modernmanagement thinking, was asked,“Professor Drucker, you seem to havethis incredible ability to predict thefuture. How do you do that?” To whichhe replied, “I cannot do that. What I dois to look out of the window and seethings that others do not see.”

So how can one gain more insightthrough one’s own window into thefuture? Some research will help.

One trove of observations and fore-sight is the excellent Future Agendaopen insight initiative led by Vodafone,the largest provider of mobile commu-nications in Europe and Africa. Thisambitious project convened collabora-tions of experts from a wide range ofbusiness, scientific, and economic disci-plines to assemble a broad view of pos-sible futures around the world. Manyof the trends uncovered by the FutureAgenda project and described in the

organization’s report, The World in2020, have often cropped up during ourclient assignments. Here is some ofwhat we see.

The Four Certainties Peering out through the window of

the future can be a daunting task if onedoesn’t know where to look. The firstthing to look for are future certaintiesthat can be clearly separated fromspeculative events. Future certaintiesare trends in which “the train has leftthe station” and the destination isknown and is virtually certain. Obviousexamples are the rise of China andIndia as political and economic powers.Other examples are changing demo-graphics, such as developed nationsgetting “older” and developing nationsgetting “younger.” According toFuture Agenda, there will be fourmacro certainties developing in thenext decade:

1. A continued imbalanced population growth

2. More key resource constraints 3. An accelerating Asian wealth shift 4. The achievement of universal

data access

Ten Broad Trends The next level of inquiry can be built

around these certainties. In our viewthe following 10 broad trends willimpact almost all industries and orga-nizations on the planet.

Trend 1. Wealth CreationFuture Agenda has described it this

way: “How wealth is created, valued,shared, and used over the next decadeis subject to a number of possiblechanges.”

We agree. Powered by globalization,an unstoppable yet not fully under-stood force, previously unseen methodsand centers of wealth creation willemerge. One could argue that thewealth creators of recent history werethe Europeans (Industrial Revolution)followed by the United States (theAmerican Century). There are clearsigns that this is changing. China,India, and other emerging markets areoperating on new definitions of capital-ism that make hefty research anddevelopment investment more palat-able. So-called state capitalism is char-acterized by state-owned or family-con-trolled firms that don’t have the short-

The World in 2020by David Wilkins & Greg Carolin — PARTNERS, DECISION PROCESSES INTERNATIONAL

From the new book, Leadership Pure & Simple

The Strategist


To be sustainable, corporate strategies mustanticipate changes in the business land-scape far into the future. In this openingchapter of the “must-read” new book,Leadership Pure and Simple, the authorsprovide an overview of likely shifts in theglobal economy, energy, information management and other factors that willaffect how—and where—business leadersdrive their companies into the future.

Excerpted from Leadership Pure and Simple, How Transformative Leaders Create WinningOrganizations by David Wilkins and Greg Carolin.Copyright © 2013, David Wilkins and Greg Carolin,published by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

t

C



term, “beat the analyst forecasts” men-tality of their Western counterparts. Inthe future, leaders will no longer beable to plan without considering thelonger-term global marketplace.

Trend 2. Wealth Distribution The wealth gap between the rich and

poor will continue to expand, fueled bywidening differences in wealthbetween and within urban and ruralcommunities. But, Future Agenda pre-dicts that the rich and poor will stillneed each other: In recent years thegap between richer and poorer house-holds has widened in most parts of theworld despite strong economic growththat has created millions of jobs. Thishas applied not only in the gapsbetween some rich countries and somepoor ones but also within many nations.The rich-poor gap in the United Stateshas increased, just as it has in Brazil,India, and Africa.

We would agree with many in sayingthat urbanization is perhaps the mostsignificant issue. However, there are noclear signs of governments making sig-nificant changes to taxation and spend-ing policies to redress the imbalance.Access to good education will remain thecatalyst to breaking through the divide.

One analyst put it bluntly: “If it wassimply a matter of robbing Peter to giveto Paul, humanity would have solved it[wealth redistribution] years ago.”

According to Future Agenda, “Overthe next decade, the gap between the“haves” and the “have-nots” will grow,even though there will be ever moreinterdependence, in some areas,between wealth-generation across thesocial spectrum.”

Which raises the question: Whateffects will this richer-poorer trendbring for your particular industry andcompany?

Trend 3. The Future of Globalizationand the Myth of a Single Market

Accelerated globalization will haveimpacts and consequences on all organi-zations and therefore must be an input

into leaders’ strategic thinking andplanning. Decisions affecting productdesign, manufacturing sites, marketingapproaches, distribution systems, andcustomer service will vary greatly fromone market to another. The reason issimple. Although the marketplace willbe global in scope, it is not now, nor willit be, homogeneous in character. InEurope, language and culture differ ineach country. Customs and traditionsvary greatly from one Asian nation tothe next. Yet local market strategies,while adapting to the nuances of indi-vidual markets, must also ensure thatthe underlying basis of a corporatestrategy remains the gyroscope thatkeeps the various units in sync.

The need for executives to becomeglobal strategists, able to work as deftly in Beijing as in Toledo, Cape Townor Singapore will accelerate exponen-tially. Businesses will have to learn glob-al strategies and tactics in order to com-pete successfully. In the light of globalexpansion, leaders will need to competewith new international rivals, many ofwhom play to a different set of rules.

Which raises the question: How willyou and other leaders within yourorganization craft agile strategies andbusiness models that are built around acentral core yet are reflective of localstrategic variables?

Trend 4. The Future ofDifferentiated Knowledge

We couldn’t put it better thanThomas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The World Is Flat, inwhich he said: “As information is sharedglobally and insight is commoditized,the best returns go to those who canproduce nonstandard, differentiated

knowledge.” This is the essence of inno-vation and can be generated only byfinely tuned critical thinking skills thatenhance the ability of managers to syn-thesize information—many leadersmay stare at the same set of facts butnot all are equipped to draw “winning”conclusions. Friedman has made a con-vincing case that quicker and easierknowledge sharing has flattened theworld. Through his multiple examplesfrom India and China, in particular, hehas highlighted how the alignment ofincreasing globalization, high-speedInternet connections, and new businessmodels have all helped the likes ofInfosys, Wipro, and Tata to becomeknowledge engines.

He makes the point that the steadytransfer of know-how from the devel-oped to the developing world has givenrise to a greater need for innovationthan has ever before existed in indus-trialized history.

Which raises the question: How willyou harness the insights of leaderswithin your organization and channelthese insights toward greater degreesof innovation?

Trend 5. The Innovation Race 3M has a standard by which it mea-

sures the performance of all its busi-ness units. Twenty-five percent of eachunit’s sales must come from productsthat did not exist five years before.This criterion has caused 3M to intro-duce some 200 new products each yearand has given it a reputation as one ofAmerica’s most innovative companies.Unfortunately, the same cannot be saidfor many companies in the UnitedStates. In general, U.S. companies arelosing their innovative edge.

The need for executives to become globalstrategists, able to work as deftly in Beijing as in Toledo, Cape Town or Singapore will

accelerate exponentially. Businesses will haveto learn global strategies and tactics in

order to compete successfully.


The Strategist

Many of these firms’ market lossescan be attributed to a lack of emphasison product and process innovations.Product innovations create new mar-ket opportunities, and in many indus-tries are the catalyst behind growthand profitability. Process innovations,on the other hand, enable firms to pro-duce existing products more efficiently.As such, process innovations areamong the main determinants of pro-ductivity growth. In this technological-ly dynamic era, without a continualstream of product and process innova-tions, firms soon lose their ability tocompete effectively.

Which raises the question: How willinnovation change competitive behav-ior in your particular industry?

Trend 6. The Information Explosion “Data, data everywhere … informa-

tion has gone from scarce to super-abundant. That brings huge new bene-fits, but also big headaches,” saysKenneth Cukier in a recent article inthe Economist: When the SloanDigital Sky Survey started work in2000, its telescope in New Mexico col-lected more data in its first few weeksthan had been amassed in the entirehistory of astronomy. Now, a decadelater, its archive contains a whopping140 terabytes of information. A succes-sor, the Large Synoptic SurveyTelescope, due to come on stream inChile in 2016, will acquire that quanti-ty of data every five days.

Such astronomical amounts ofinformation can be found closer toEarth too. Walmart, the retail giant,handles more than 1 million customertransactions every hour, feeding data-bases estimated at more than 2.5petabytes—the equivalent of 167times the books in America’s Libraryof Congress. Facebook, the social net-working website, is home to 40 billionphotos. And decoding the humangenome involves analyzing 3 billionbase pairs—which took 10 years thefirst time it was done in 2003 but cannow be achieved in one week.

So what are the implications of thisinformation explosion? There is nodoubt that more accurate informationcontributes to better decision making.It is also true that too much informa-tion can paralyze decision making.Waiting for more, or perfect, informa-tion can delay a decision and cause thedecision maker to “miss the boat.” Inthis decade, people will require moreacute skills and thinking processes tobe able to separate relevant from irrel-evant information more quickly andthus make better and timelier deci-sions. There will also be less room forerror since most wrong decisions willhave greater and more far-reachingnegative consequences. A minor deci-sion gone wrong may have repercus-sions around the globe.

Which raises the question: What arethe implications of the informationexplosion and real-time communica-tions in your company and industry,and how best can you use this universeof information to your advantage?

Trend 7. The Future of Energy As defined by Future Agenda, one of

the implications of the aforementioned“certainty,” key resource constraints, isits impact on energy, and in particular,our over-dependency on fossil fuels.

The Future Agenda report states:[With] the increasing global suscepti-bility to the impacts of climate change,momentum for change is building.However, we are not yet at a stagewhere either global agreement willtake effect or where technologicalbreakthroughs will provide new solutions; nor are there credible alternative pathways on the table fordeveloping economies.

Despite the lack of global consen-sus on climate change, legislation isfast being introduced in local jurisdic-tions, driving a need for companies toaccept the reality and adopt pro-grams that if properly conceived andimplemented can deliver real benefitsto their businesses. The most impact-ful will be programs where the

revenue benefits will substantiallyexceed the costs, with the overwhelm-ing benefit of preserving our beauti-ful world for the future.

That’s why many CEOs are nolonger looking at the topic as an oper-ational headache to be managed but asa strategic opportunity to be exploited.

Which raises the question: Whatimplications will climate change and energy constraints have in yourparticular industry and company?

Trend 8. The Future of HumanHealth

The tiny state of Singapore—unlikeGreat Britain, its former colonial ruler,which seems to view health costs as aneconomic millstone—is one of manycountries that has bet significant sumson human health as a major driver ofeconomic growth. The Singapore gov-ernment has invested hundreds of mil-lions of dollars to establish a dedicated,built-from-scratch biomedical researchcommunity, known as Biopolis, and ithas enticed the best and the brightestresearchers and research organiza-tions in the field to the country. Due toits renowned efficiency and highlydeveloped health sector, Singapore isalso a major beneficiary of “medicaltourism” in Asia.

As we move toward 2020, the gener-ally larger, older, more overweight pop-ulation, at least in developed countries,will necessitate a number of major pol-icy decisions around food supply, healthfunding, and even end-of-life manage-ment. Admittedly, some of these will bemore relevant to certain countries thanothers, yet at the same time, we mustnot lose sight of the fact that somehealth issues connect us all. Fears overnew global pandemics, such as bird flu,are good examples. In response, newbusiness models will also move rapidlyaround the world to make healthcaremore efficient.

Which raises the question: What arethe implications of changes in thehealthcare arena for your particularindustry and company?



Trend 9. Economic Downturns andUncertainty

Unfortunately the mantra “Historyrepeats itself ” applies to economictrends, especially downturns. Themajority of DPI clients worldwide, eventhose in Asia, foresee shorter and moreunpredictable economic cycles. Sadly,recessions are here to stay and will prob-ably raise their ugly heads more often.

Savvy leaders realize that every cloudhas a silver lining. Rex Glanville,Chairman, DPI Africa, recently said inexploring what it takes to survive andthrive in hard times: “While the discus-sions on how the world may look over thenext decade are interesting and valid,many CEOs’ major concern right now issurvival in the worst local and global eco-nomic conditions since the GreatDepression.” However, CEOs shouldconsider that economic downturns areoften opportunities to launch unique newproducts while their competitors are inretreat. What do successes such as MTV(launched in 1981), the iPod (2001), andGoogle’s Android (2008) all have in com-mon? Well, they were all launched in themidst of recessions.

Successful companies such as Sony,3M, Canon, Microsoft, Johnson &Johnson, Caterpillar, and Schwabmaintain their control of their turf notby introducing “me-too” products butrather by focusing their resources onthe creation of new-to-the-marketproducts and/or improved processes.

Spending needs to be carefully plannedand targeted, of course. The key is to domore with less and to do it creatively,thoroughly examining market strategiesand revising messages if need be.

Which raises the question: How areyou avoiding a batten-down-the-hatchesmode and looking ahead to take actionsnow to exploit new opportunities wheneconomic conditions improve?

Trend 10. The Battle for HumanCapital

Many of our clients (including ATNSCEO Patrick Dlamini in our coverstory) talk of a “war for talent” in

their industries. Good employees havealways been a scarce resource, and withthe ever-increasing mobility of labor—especially highly skilled labor—HRmanagers face a challenging future. Yethiring is not the sole responsibility ofthe HR function. The list of “best companies to work for” frequent-ly lists the usual suspects, such asApple, Google, Marriott, Allianz, andAccenture. It is not a coincidence thatthese companies are among the world’smost successful, meaning that they haveexcellent business strategies in place.As Mike Robert, DPI’s founder, has putit: “The best employees want to workfor the best companies, those with dis-tinct game-winning strategies. After all,who would have followed Alexander theAverage or Frederick the Mediocre?”

Furthermore, as the world gets “flat-ter,” it is common to find smart peopleworking for companies that can enablethem to move to more prosperous geo-graphic regions. For example, manyIndian workers in the IT sector see theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) as a stepping stone toSilicon Valley. How long until they stepto China instead?

Which raises the question: Whatstrategy and business model willenable you to attract, retain, and mosteffectively deploy the right people?

The One Thing That Won’tChange!

Amid all the changes facing leaders,there is one thing that will remain con-stant: formulating and executingstrategies and plans that will ensuresurvival and generate future sustain-able growth and wealth for organiza-tions have always been, and always willbe, the primary and most importanttasks of C-level leadership. A vital inputinto this process is obtaining the bestavailable view of what the future social,political, and economic global environ-ment will look like in relation to the spe-cific sandbox the organization intendsto compete in. Only then can the leaderbe confident that plans are relevant to

the anticipated conditions. Developingthe best possible understanding of thevarious possible future playing fieldscenarios demands the leaders’ atten-tion so they can achieve the following:• Protect their organizations fromfuture threats • Pursue future opportunities • Attain that desired but elusive goalof sustainable organizational growth

In a business context, therefore, thefirst task of the leadership team is todefine the particular shape and natureof their industry’s future playing field,what we at DPI call the FutureBusiness Arena. Once this is defined,various game plans can be constructed.

Summary What do these trends mean for cor-

porations everywhere as they head for2020? What will it take to answer theresultant questions?

In our view this environment willrequire strong leadership. It will bevery good for people and organizationsthat develop and practice leadershipskills. Proactive leadership will requirethe ability to detect, assess, and exploitthese trends for an organization’sgreatest benefit. Leadership, however,is an elusive word that has differentmeanings to different people.

To us, leadership has a very specificmeaning and requires the mastery ofvery discrete and deliberate skills andmanagement processes—the process-es of Strategic Thinking, InnovativeThinking and Situation Management.

As Peter Drucker put it: “Effectiveleadership is not only about makingspeeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results, not by personalattributes.” Note: We would encourageour readers to visit the Future Agenda website for more detail:www.futureagenda.org.

Savvy leaders realize that every

cloud has a silver lining.

http://www.futureagenda.org

Seize control of your company’s future — even in times of business disruption and market turmoil!

In Leadership Pure and Simple you and your management teamwill learn how to adapt your company to the upheaval going on

around it and lead it to ultimate, sustainable success.

By approaching leadership in a number of ways—as astrategist, innovator, decision maker, and process manager—you can lead your company to profitability and growth no matter what the global economy throws your way.

Leadership Pure and Simple offers you a fresh perspective, describing the crucial thinking processes that will enable you to:

• Empower your management team—not consultants—to develop your business strategy for maximum buy-in, understanding and commitment to successfuldeployment

• Identify your company’s Driving Force—the core of your distinctive strategy

• Make innovation a powerful repeatable process

• Enable your people to employ its “Strategic Filter” to make decisions every day that support your strategic direction

• Avoid defensive “batten down the hatches” strategies and look ahead to exploit new opportunities when economic conditions improve

Leadership Pure and Simple—your strategic guidebook to transforming your company.

“DPI’s process has been a key catalyst of our growth.”

— THOMAS CHUA, CHAIRMAN, TECKWAH INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION

“The DPI process requires the organization and all its key managers to quite extensively draw on their collectiveknowledge and experience to formulate answers to the challenging questions framed. We found it easier to do[innovate and change the game] based on DPI’s methodology, because the leadership itself had crafted the new strategy and the new business concept.”

— CHONG SIAK CHING, ASCENDAS

*Or a FREE copy when you invite aDPI Partner in for a complimentaryExecutive Overview Session of ourconcepts to you and/or your team.

SPECIALOFFER!

onlyS$50.95

Delivery Postage S$12.00 excl. GST

Contact:• Alice Goh +65 6235 1733

• email: [email protected]

NEW FROM

MCGRAW-HILL!

D e c i s i o n P ro c e s s e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l w w w. d p i - a s i a . c o m12

excl. GST

mailto:[email protected]



tIn an age when organic growth appearsto be hard to come by, many firms areturning to mergers and alliances to boosttop and bottom lines. Yet, any executivecan rattle off numerous failed alliances.In this article, Andrew Sng explores thekey ingredients behind a successfulstrategic alliance.Copyright © 2012 Andrew Sng. All rights reserved.

he worlds of academia, financeand law have very specific defin-itions for strategic alliances,mergers and acquisitions.

However, in this article we are usingan all-embracing definition of the termas in our work with clients around theworld. The list of “Dos & Don’ts” hasproven to be a useful guide regardless of whether you are going for a time-definite, short-term alliance or an all-out acquisition.

Following the global economic crisisof 2008, Thomson Reuters andFreeman Consulting Services in a jointstudy predicted that M&A activitieswould surge by 36% to some $3 trillion.Forbes also predicted in an article writ-ten by Hilary Kramer in December

2010 that, “2011 Will Be The Year OfM&A.” The Nanyang Business Schoolof the Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity in Singapore opined in anoverview of a program that it promot-ed on M&A for 2012 that “the level ofMergers and Acquisitions activities inAsia is expected to increase substan-tially with the economic recovery andreturn of Asian economies to their pre-financial crisis growth paths.” Figureson broad trends relating to the narrow-er form of strategic alliances involving “looser” arrangements are harder tocome by given that such alliances can take many, many forms—with competitors, customers and suppliers.

Regardless, management gurus areon the bandwagon espousing the need

to form strategic alliances in order tosurvive. The concept is simpleenough—if you can’t or won’t fightthem, join them. In other words, it’seasier to form an alliance with a com-petitor than to fight that competitor.In some industries, such as pharma-ceuticals, where research and develop-ment into a potential new productcould run into billions with no guaran-tee of ending up with a winner, itmakes rational sense to work with oth-ers to spread the risk. In Asia, onesees more of such multi-billion invest-ments in large infrastructure and realestate deals.

Many of these alliances will fail, we believe, because they are beingformed for the wrong reasons. Failure

T

The DOs & DON’Tsof Strategic Alliances

by Andrew Sng — SENIOR PARTNER, DECISION PROCESSES INTERNATIONAL (ASIA)

Strategic alliance involves two or more firms coming together to worktowards certain common objectives.

The Strategist


rates in excess of 50% have consistent-ly been cited by many researchers.(An aside observation, if I may: thereare some who do not favor alliances.Alliances generally reduce competi-tion, and reduced competition is notgood for the consumer or the compa-nies involved. Alliances usually pro-duce higher prices for the consumerand breed complacency in the joinedcompanies.)

However, if you feel your companymust enter into such a venture, hereare some dos and don’ts drawn fromyears of experience in our strategyconsulting work.

Let’s start with the DON’TS . . .

• DON’T Form an Alliance toCorrect a Weakness

Many companies form alliances tocorrect a weakness they possess. Thisis not a good start. The reason is sim-ple. The party that brings a weaknessto the alliance will be, from that day for-ward, at the mercy of the other partnerand subservient to that other party.Even though the alliance may be 50-50,the weak partner will never be an equalpartner because weaknesses don’tbring leverage in the marketplace.

• DON’T Form an Alliance With aPartner That Is Trying to Correcta Weakness of Its Own

The rationale, again, is simple. Yourcompany will inherit that weakness!You may end up worse off than youwere before if you became the domi-nant partner in the alliance.

The worst of all worlds is an allianceof two partners, each of which is tryingto correct a weakness. This type of marriage is doomed to failure from the start. After all, tying two non-swimmers together will not yield aMichael Phelps.

Two plus two sometimes equalsthree or less!

• DON’T License ProprietaryTechnology

One only needs to look at what hashappened to the United States overthe last several decades to understandthis rule. Sony acquired its transistortechnology from Bell Laboratories for$25,000. A few years later, there wereno more manufacturers of radios inthe United States. Unless you havevery tight control of its use, licensingproprietary technology will alwayscome back to haunt you!

We may be in 2012, but it might be useful to go back to an article“Use a Long Spoon” written by C.K. Prahalad (Forbes, 1986), whostudied eight such alliances and con-cluded that Western companies hadtoo easily given up control of key tech-nologies to the Japanese. Prahaladsuggested that Western companiesshould think of these deals not as“strategic alliances” but as “competi-tive collaboration.” (The new wordthat has been coined since then is “Co-opetition”). He explained, “Thatwould alert the organization to

what they should protect.” He alsosuggested, “Don’t let your partnerunderwork your core technology andskills.” If you do so, “Japanese compa-nies will build an ever more complexcompetency base and Western compa-nies will surrender ever more controlover their own competitiveness.” Onemight add that what Prahaladobserved in Japanese companies hassince been repeated in companies inSouth Korea, Mainland China, Taiwanand elsewhere.

We would certainly agree withPrahalad. While working with owner-managed companies, we have noticedthat these companies never licensetheir key skills or expertise to any-one. Much more than publicly runcompanies, the CEO strategist inthese organizations has a very clearunderstanding as to what area of thebusiness drives the organization’sstrategy and what Areas ofExcellence make that strategy work.And control over this strategicweapon is never relinquished!

Many multinationals are currentlylosing sight of that notion. The latestfad is to embark on “strategicalliances” with, in particular, emergingAsian companies in an attempt toimprove their competitiveness andaccess the booming “middle class.”Unfortunately, many of these compa-nies are losing sight of their DrivingForce and are entering into allianceswhere they are giving up control oftheir strategic weapon.

• DON’T Form Alliances AroundProducts or Markets

Most alliances fail because compa-nies form alliances in order to exploitthe similarity of certain products ormarkets. This rarely works. As proof,one only needs to review the multi-tude of broken alliances between com-panies that have attempted this,whether these be car companies ortelephone handset firms.



Let’s now look at the DOs . . .

Rule 1: FORM an Alliance toExploit a Unique Strength

When forming an alliance, bring tothe table a strength that you possessthat is unique to you. In other words,no other competitor has this uniquecharacteristic. The rationale? Onlyunique strengths can be sustained anddefended over time. Even relativestrengths—those that you have to agreater extent than a competitor butshare with that competitor—are notthe best upon which to build a suc-cessful alliance. Relative strengthscan be acquired or duplicated but cannot be sustained over time.

Rule 2: FORM an Alliance With aPartner That Has a UniqueStrength of Its Own

The marriage of unique strengths isthe ideal. Looking to build a relation-ship by combining the synergy ofstrengths that are unique to eachpartner represents a venture with thehighest probability of success.

Rule 3: FORM an Alliance WhenNeither Partner Has theAbility nor the Desire toAcquire the Other Party’sUnique Strength

This is the key rule of successfulalliances. If one of the parties has theintention of acquiring the other part-ner’s unique strength, there will be notrust in the relationship from thebeginning!

A good example of one such suc-cessful alliance is 3M’s venture withSquibb. 3M brings some polymerchemistry technology that can beapplied to the development of drugsthat Squibb cannot duplicate, andSquibb brings a distribution system todoctors and drugstores that 3M hasno intention of replicating.

Corning is a premier example of acompany that has engineered a seriesof successful alliances over the lastfew decades. The formula it has fol-lowed is the one just described. Toeach alliance, Corning brings itsunique strength – its technology – andthen seeks a partner that has a uniquestrength of its own. The other party isnot usually in a position to duplicateCorning’s technology, and Corningdoes not intend to acquire or duplicatethe other party’s unique contributionto the venture. The result? A string ofsuccessful ventures.

At Corning, alliances are an integralpart of its strategy and its culture andnot something out of the mainstreamof business, which is usually the casein most other companies.

Yet another example of what hasturned out to be a winning combina-tion—the 1989 merger of Bristol-Myers and Squibb. Squibb’s strengthlies in its ability to develop and mar-ket ethical drugs, whereas Bristol-Myers’ strength is in over-the-counter, non-prescription drugs. Thecombination of these two firms’research budget might just prove thatsometimes two plus two equals five!

Rule 4: FORM Alliances aroundCapabilities

Rather than seeking a marriagearound products and markets, it is muchwiser to form alliances around uniqueskills, capabilities, know-how, or tech-nologies. Let the alliance develop prod-ucts and markets later. The probabilityof success will increase many times.

Profit Is No Replacement forStrategic Fit

Sometimes an alliance might eventurn out to be extremely profitable,but still these don’t necessarily rep-resent sound strategic fits. R. J.Reynolds, the cigarette giant, oncehad that experience. In an era whendiversification was a corporate craze,Reynolds purchased Aminoil, an oilexploration firm, and Sea-LandIndustries, an ocean shipper.Although both purchases turned outto be extremely profitable forReynolds, the company decided tosell these investments. T. J. Wilson,Reynolds’ ex-CEO, explained toBusiness Week subsequently thatReynolds was “consumer-driven” anddid not understand these two busi-nesses nor could it transfer theexpertise it had to these industries.“A marketing orientation is the com-mon thread running through ourbusiness,” said Wilson. As a result,Wilson decided to return to “con-sumer-driven” businesses whereReynolds’ area of excellence—marketing skills—can be appliedeven though these businesses may bemore competitive. Wilson obviouslyfelt that Reynolds’ marketing excel-lence is the edge that the companybrings to the market.

Lesson: Diversification is not necessarily good for everyone, andprofit alone should not be the driving force!

Looking to build a relationship by combining the synergy of strengths

that are unique to each partner represents a venture with the highest probability of success.

The Strategist


tAs the world moves uncertainly forward insome of the worst economic conditions of ourtimes, companies must make tough strategicchoices which may be the difference betweensurvival and disaster.

In this article, the authors provide guidance onhow to appraise potential future scenarios andwhat to consider in crafting strategies to takeadvantage of new opportunities created bychanging conditions.

Published by permission of the Gordon Institute ofBusiness Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa.www.gibsreview.co.za

rganisations need greater flex-ibility to create strategic andtactical options they canproactively and reactively use

as their conditions change; they needa sharper awareness of their own andtheir competitors’ positions, and theyneed to become more resilient.

This is according to Lowell Bryanand Diana Farrell, the authors of aMcKinsey Quarterly report entitled,Leading Through Uncertainty, urgingbusiness leaders to overcome theparalysis that dooms any businessand start shaping the future.

Bryan and Farrell say that takingstock of what senior executives knowabout the business environment is a

good starting point that will likelyrequire changes in strategy. Eventhen, many leaders will remain lost inthe fog of enormous uncertainty.

To avoid impulsive, uncoordinatedand ultimately ineffective responses,companies must first evaluate a broadset of macro-economic outcomes andstrategic responses; then act to becomemore aware, flexible and resilient.

Strengthening these business areaswill not just ensure survival, but allowcompanies to seize the extraordinaryopportunities that arise in periods ofgreat uncertainty.

Although executives won’t have anyreal answers in the short- or medium-term, the decisions they make now are

critical as they will determine howwell organisations perform now andtheir long-term competitiveness. Thewinners will be those that—despitethe complexity, confusion and uncer-tainty—make careful decisions, hon-estly assess the different scenarios,consider their implications and pre-pare accordingly.

In particular, companies must thinkexpansively about the possible out-comes. The range of potential outcomesregarding the uncertainty surroundingthe global recession is so large thatmany companies may not survive.

Bryan and Farrell outline the issuesexecutives need to consider in termsof flexibility, awareness and resilience.

O

The Three Keysto Success inUncertain Times:Business Flexibility, Awareness and Resilience

The future belongs tocompanies whose seniorexecutives remain calm,carefully assess theiroptions and nurture theflexibility, awareness andresilience needed to dealwith whatever the worldthrows at them.

http://www.gibsreview.co.za



Greater flexibility improvesstrategic and tactical options

Companies must now take a moreflexible approach to planning. Andeach should develop not just one, butseveral, coherent, multiprongedstrategic action plans. Every planshould embrace all the functions, busi-ness units and geographies of a com-pany and show how it can adapt in aspecific economic environment.

In fact, the plausible range of out-comes in today’s business environ-ment calls for senior executives toadopt a “just in time” approach tostrategy setting, risk taking andresource allocation.

A company’s 10 to 20 top managerscould, for example, have weekly oreven daily ‘all hands on deck’ meetingsto exchange information and makefast operational decisions.

Greater flexibility also means devel-oping as many options as possible thatcan be exercised when trigger eventshappen or when the future becomesmore certain.

The options companies consider willoften be proactive moves. For example:

• Which acquisitions are attractiveand on what terms?

• How much capital and managementcapacity would be required?

• What new products best fit different scenarios?

• If one or more competitors shouldfalter, how will the company react?

• In which markets can the companygain market share?

As companies prepare for suchopportunities, they should also createoptions to maintain good health underdifficult circumstances. If capitalmarket breakdowns make globalsourcing too risky, for example, com-panies that restructure their supplychains quickly will be in a much bet-ter position.

If changes in the global economycould possibly make a specific busi-ness unit obsolete, it is critical to finishthe preparatory work necessary todispose of it, before every company

with the same kind of business unitcatches on.

A crisis tends to surface options.Slashing structural costs while min-imising damage to long-term compet-itiveness is one of many optionsorganisations wouldn’t considerunder normal circumstances.

Unless executives evaluate theiroptions early on, they could later findthemselves moving with too littleinformation or preparation and there-fore make the wrong decisions, delayaction or forego options altogether.

“ The plans cannot beacademic exercises.

As the future unfolds,executives must beprepared to pursue

any of them quickly.”

“Any company that does not take all fourscenarios into account, is flying blind.”

HARD, HARDER, HARDEST TIMES

The Broad Grid of Possible Macro-economic Scenarios

*PIIGS = Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain

Severe

glo

bal re

cess

ion

Mo

dera

te g

lob

al re

cessio

n


The Strategist

More aware through informedbusiness intelligence

As problems with credit destroy andreinvent business models, and marketvolatility whipsaws valuations, compa-nies desperately need to understandhow their revenues, costs, profits, cashflows, risks and balance sheets will fareunder different scenarios.

This information will allow execu-tives to plan for the worst, while hopingfor the best. Be prepared to answerquestions like:

• If the recession lasted more thanfive years could the company survive?

• Is it prepared for the bankruptcyof major customers?

• Could it halve capital spendingquickly?

The answers to these questions couldhelp companies better prepare for andhelp them recognise, as early as possi-ble, which scenario unfolds. This is crit-ical knowledge in a crisis. When leadtimes disappear quickly, companies canseize the opportunity; but only if theyact before the entire world catches onto the probable outcome.

Better business intelligence also pro-motes faster, more effective decision-making. Companies often gain insightsinto potential competitor moves byweighing news reports about competi-tors’ activities, stock analyst reports,and information gathered by talking tocustomers and suppliers. Without thiskind of intelligence, especially in a cri-sis, companies could miss opportunitiesto snare assets in distress.

To get this kind of business intelli-gence, companies need a network typically led by someone with strongsupport from the top.

This executive’s mandate shouldinclude creating “eyes and ears” acrossbusinesses and geographies in specificfocus areas like, for example, competi-tors’ responses to the crisis as well asgathering and exchanging information.

A network is critical, because infor-mation is most useful if it moves

vertically as well as horizontally.Salespeople should exchange knowl-edge about what is working in econom-ically distressed regions, so thatemployees can help each other.

Assembling bits of information, factsand anecdotes helps companies makesense of what’s happening in an industry.

For example, a supplier says it has nodifficulties with funding, but first-handknowledge from other sources indicatesthat the company is struggling to meetits payroll. Such warnings allow execu-tives to get a full picture much morequickly than they could by sitting intheir offices and interacting only withdirect subordinates.

Being more resilient means losing energy-sapping structures and behaviours

A crisis is a chance to breakingrained structures and behavioursthat sap the productivity and effective-ness of many organisations.

Although such moves often take ayear or more to pay dividends, theyare valuable in any scenario and, ifhard times persist, can help companiessurvive.

Employees may dislike thisapproach, but most will understandmanagement’s aim to make the organi-sation more effective.

These structures often burden professionals with several competingbosses. Internecine battles and uncleardecisions are common. Turf warsbetween product, sales and geographicmanagers kill promising projects.Searches for information aren’t pro-ductive and countless hours are wastedon pointless e-mails, telephone callsand meetings.

Experience shows that streamliningan organisation to define roles and theway those who hold them collaborate,can greatly improve its effectivenessand decision-making.

When jobs must be eliminated, thecuts mostly reduce unproductive com-plexity rather than valuable work.

McKinsey’s report highlights Cisco’sapproach in shedding 8,500 jobs in2001. When the company redesignedroles and responsibilities to improveco-operation among functions andreduce duplication of effort, talentedemployees were more satisfied in amore collaborative workplace.

Many functional areas offer bigopportunities: greater effectiveness,lower fixed costs, freed-up capital andreduced risk. This could be the time toredefine and reprioritise the use of ITto increase its impact and cut its cost.

Other companies could seize themoment to control inventory, to re-examine their cash flow management,including payments and receivables orto change the mix of marketing vehi-cles and sales models in response to therising cost of traditional media and thegrowing effectiveness of new ones.

As customer preferences change,competitors falter, opportunities togain distressed assets emerge and governments shift from crisis controlto economic stimulus, the new industrydynamics that will develop in the nextyear or two will produce new leadersand laggards.

Experience showsthat streamlining an

organisation todefine roles and theway those who hold

them collaborate, cangreatly improve itseffectiveness anddecision-making.


DPI staff and offices are located around the world:

UNITED STATESWORLD HEADQUARTERS:Decision Processes International4 Cranbrook RoadShrewsbury, MA 01545Tel: 508-842-9291

1-800-336-7685 within the USA

ASIA (HQ)Decision Processes International(S) Pte Ltd, 1 Sophia Road#04-16 Peace CentreSingapore 228149Tel: +65 62351733E-Mail: [email protected]: www.dpi-asia.com

AFRICADecision Processes International8 Old Kilcullen RoadBryanstonSouth Africa Tel: +27 (11) 706 8118

+27 (11) 706 8119Fax: +27 (11) 706 0205

Engaging Us

All of our Pure & Simple™ critical thinking processes are available via a variety of means. Likethe Chinese Medicine Man who blends different ingredients to develop a specific herbal remedy foreach client, DPI Partners are skilled practitioners in unbundling our processes and their underlyingconcepts. The result: a tailored solution that exactly meets your needs. Our only “must” criteria — we must be convinced that the approach will meet the mutually agreed objectives.

Typical engagement approaches include:

• Consulting Projects: Where DPI’s role is to leverage our processes to help you and your people develop solutions to the particular concerns you face

• Application-based Workshops

• Skill-Building Programs: A hands-on approach to transfer our processes to your people

• Train-The-Trainer

• Licensing

For more information, please contact us.

Other offices within Asia are located in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Vietnam and major cities in Mainland China.



A Worldwide Consulting Organization Specializing in

Critical Thinking Processes

A Partial List ofDPI Clients

In Singapore call:

+65 62351733or

Email: [email protected]

In Asia:SATS LIMITEDFRASERS CENTREPOINTLEE KUM KEEABACUS INTERNATIONALLUBRIZOL CORPORATIONSINGTELPRUDENTIAL INSURANCETECKWAH CORPORATIONSLS BEARINGSMOTOROLA SOLUTIONSOCBC BANKAVAGO TECHNOLOGIESNTUC INCOMEKURNIA INSURANSADVANCED INFO SERVICESIAM CEMENTBEIERSDORFKASIKORN BANKMITR PHOLMAXTHONGSK

Worldwide:CATERPILLARFEDEX (CUSTOM CRITICAL)VOLVOSOUTH AFRICAN BREWERIESHARMONYHOWDENCOLUMBUS STAINLESSALTECHAUTOPAGESEALYALEXANDER FORBESMARLEYOLD MUTUALRAND MERCHANT BANKMETROPOLITAN LIFEORGANTEXCANANDAIGUA BRANDSVISTEONGATXCASTROLFIRSTRANDFLEXCONFIATMESTEK INC.LANDAMERICAPHELPS DODGESILICON LABORATORIESCANCER TREATMENT CENTERS

OF AMERICAHENKELAURUBIS AG

AU

ST

RA

LIA

•C

AN

AD

A•

CH

INA

•H

ON

G K

ON

G•

MA

LA

YS

IA•

NIG

ER

IA •

SIN

GA

PO

RE

•S

OU

TH

AF

RIC

A•

TAIW

AN

•T

HA

ILA

ND

•U

NIT

ED

STA

TE

S•

VIE

TN

AM

Decision Processes International is a worldwide consulting organizationbuilt on the belief that rational, or critical, thinking is essential to the survival and growth of every enterprise.

Our critical thinking processes are applied common sense. They weredeveloped and proven in the real-world laboratory of organizations likeyours. And they work, transforming the way our clients do business. Inhundreds of companies around the world, DPI processes are producingexceptional, measurable results every day, simply by improving people’s ability to make better strategic and operational decisions.

DPI Critical Thinking Processes

Strategic Thinking•

Strategic Product Innovation•

Strategic Business Model Innovation•

Strategic Sustainability Thinking•

eStrategy•

Strategic Information Management•

Strategy Deployment•

Situation Management


the ceos guide to strategic thinking vol.26, no · pdf filethe ceos guide to strategic ... at...

Documents