Abstract No matter how brilliant the business has been, sooner or later, there will be no room for growth. Faced with this unpleasant reality, the company had to reshape its business periodically. This ability to self-sustain, that is, the ability to jump from the stage of maturity to the next stage of development, is exactly...
No matter how brilliant the business once, it will lose space for growth sooner or later. Faced with this unpleasant reality, the company had to reshape its business periodically. This ability to self-sustain, that is, the ability to jump from the stage of maturity to the next stage of development, is the key to distinguishing high-performance businesses from the short-lived flow. Organizations that cannot successfully reshape their business often end up suffering. As Matthew S. Olson and Derek van Bever said in the book Stall Points, once the company encounters major obstacles in the ascent, Then the probability of its recovery is only 10%. After publishing the odds of this monk, they continued to explain why two-thirds of the companies were later acquired, delisted, and even forced to go bankrupt.
Why are companies stagnation? In this regard, the industry's explanations are varied, such as the inability to stick to the core (or stay too long), the execution of the problem, the judgment of the consumer's taste is wrong, or the one-sided pursuit of large-scale and unhealthy development. What these explanations have in common is that the stagnation of the company stems from the failure to correct the obvious malfunction of the company's operations.
We have spent most of the past decade researching the nature of high-performance businesses and recognizing one of the key points overlooked by existing interpretations: companies spend a lot of effort to extend existing lines of business (ie, financial S-curves: a business After the successful launch, sales first slowly rose, then surged, and finally slowed down.) And failed to put enough energy to lay the foundation for the creation of a successful new business.
For this reason, these companies have only been able to fight when the market begins to shrink. Studies have shown that companies that can successfully reshape their business have one thing in common: they have a broader vision, not limited to the financial S-curve, but also focus on three hidden but vital S-curves and manage them well. They know how to track the competitive base within the industry, renew their capabilities, and stock up on a talent supply. Fundamentally, they have abandoned traditional business wisdom and are deeply concerned about the importance of preventing problems before they happen.
It is not easy to plan ahead. In fact, on the eve of the downturn, the data is still quite optimistic on the surface: the income of the existing business model has soared, the profits have stabilized, and the company's stock price has risen steadily. However, this is the key moment when managers need to take action.
Hidden competition curve
The competitive base is no longer applicable until a business reaches its peak in revenue. Take the mobile phone industry as an example. Whether it is for mobile phone manufacturers or service operators, the competition in the industry has undergone many changes. The basis of competition has changed from price to signal coverage, to service value, and finally to design, brand and application. The first hidden S-curve traces the process of the transfer of the competitive base in a certain field. Even if the existing business has not yet reached its peak, high-performance companies can accurately analyze customer needs through this method to determine the next competitive point in the industry.
Take Netflix as an example. It first shifted from the DVD rental competition and introduced a new mail rental model. At the same time, it quickly mastered a new technology that could replace the optical disc business, digital streaming technology, which almost immediately reshaped the existing business. Today, Netflix is ​​both the largest mailing DVD supplier and a major contender for online streaming. In contrast, Blockbuster (which has gone bankrupt) reached its top with its successful CD-ROM model, but failed to respond in a timely manner when the competition base shifted.
Hidden ability curve
While building a star product and driving the financial S curve to climb, high-performance companies have created differentiation capabilities without exception. There are many outstanding cases in this regard: Dell is known for its PC direct sales model; Wal-Mart is known for its unique supply chain; Toyota not only has a lean production model, but also has strong engineering capabilities. However, the difference in capabilities is likely to be as fleeting as the basis of competition. Therefore, in order to smoothly jump the S curve of the ability, the manager needs to invest heavily in the development of new capabilities. However, business managers are always aware of the fact that they have lost their fighters when they discovered that the ability curve has reached the end.
High-performance businesses continue to find ways to reinvent themselves and the market. Procter & Gamble recognized the broad prospects of disposable diapers very early. As a result, the company used five years to improve its technical capabilities and eventually produce disposable diapers at a reasonable cost. Users only need to pay the same price as laundry services or traditional diapers.
Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, once stressed that it takes five to seven years for a new business to “sow†to “results†in order to generate economic benefits for the company, for example on the basis of media products. Expansion, cooperation with third-party vendors, and expansion overseas. In addition to the need for foresight and early investment, this process requires a firm confidence in the R&D department.
Hidden talent curve
Companies often pay insufficient attention to the cultivation and retention of professional talents. When the original business is running smoothly, but it has not yet reached its peak, these talents have the ability and vision to drive new business. At this point, companies that are already at the end of the learning curve believe that operations should be streamlined and streamlined. Therefore, in order to increase profits, they will reduce personnel or reduce the investment in manpower training. The consequences of this approach to the enterprise are unimaginable; it is likely to drive away a large number of useful talents, and they are the main force in reshaping the business.
The high-performance businesses defined in our research are dedicated to cultivating talent, and oilfield service provider Schlumberger is such a company that is good at mining and cultivating talent. It has sent a large number of talents to engineering schools around the world for further study. These expatriates include senior managers who are not only responsible for managing the company's budget, but also have the power to decide on donations for equipment and research funding. By establishing close ties with higher education institutions, companies are given priority in recruiting talent. Schlumberger not only keeps the talent pipelines smooth, it is also an industry model for employee development. In fact, being able to deliver a large number of talents to the industry is one of the characteristics of high-performance businesses.
How to actively manage the "competition curve"?
---Edge-centric strategy
The traditional strategic planning model only applies to extending the income S curve of existing businesses, and does not help companies detect changes in the competitive base in the market.
To achieve business reshaping, companies need to build on a traditional model that is complemented by a parallel strategy that focuses the competitiveness of marginal and marginal organizations on the center. With this edge-centric approach, strategy development becomes a continuous behavior without the need for a fixed structure or process.
--- Move the market edge to the center
With a margin-centric strategy, companies can continually explore undeveloped consumer needs or unresolved issues in the marketplace. For example, Novo Nordisk successfully seized the edge market when it detected changes in the competitive base. The pharmaceutical giant realized in the implementation of a key plan that the future medical business will go beyond solving the problem of physiological health problems. Therefore, it advocates the “Diabetes, Attitudes, Desires, Needs (DAWN)†project, bringing together hundreds of doctors, nurses, medical experts, patients, and representatives from the World Health Organization to bring patients together. The demand, rather than the concern for the treatment itself, is at the heart of diabetes treatment.
The research carried out by DAWN opened another door for Novo Nordisk, and they noticed the psychological and social needs of diabetics. For example, the company learned that more than 40% of patients suffer from psychological problems, and about 15% suffer from depression. Recognizing this, the company began to reshape its business ahead of time; it weakened the development and production of drugs, and paid more attention to the process of disease prevention and treatment, based on the future development of the company itself and the disease. attention.
--- Move the edge of the organization to the center
Frontline employees, rear research teams, and line managers are key individuals who are aware of important shifts in the market. High-performance businesses can always aggregate and integrate different voices into the strategy development process.
How to actively manage the "capability curve"?
---High-level changes often new
Some managers are long-term in business operations, such as increasing production scale, expanding business scope, and extending product lines. In addition, some managers are more entrepreneurial and they are good at creating new markets. It is difficult to determine which of the two is better. What is important is that the capabilities of the front-end team need to meet the organizational needs of the S-curve. If the front-end team is in the same position as the financial S-curve, and cannot change the ability to create future differentiation, the company often encounters difficulties.
In a way, this is contrary to human nature. Which executive is willing to choose to step down when the business is booming? High-performing companies realize that the key to creating the ability to jump into the next financial S-curve is to deliver fresh blood early to the leadership and reorganize the executive team.
---High-level management reorganization
Let's think about the evolution of Intel's executive team. Throughout the history of the company, the semiconductor manufacturer has experienced five CEO changes: Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, Andy Grove, Craig. Craig Barrett and today's Paul Otellini (as of 2011). More than once, the company turned its attention to the outside and looked for the talent it needed, and the transition of executive power was usually done with careful deployment. David Yoffie has served on Intel's board of directors since 1989. He said, "We generally start discussions in the first ten years of the transition to recognize the gap."
The purpose of Intel's replacement of senior management is not simply to find successors, but to change business. For example, when Grove stepped down in 1998, he was still a fruitful leader. If pure continuity is Intel's concern, then Grove can work for three years and then retire until the legal 65-year retirement age. However, he promptly gave way to Barrett, who succeeded in adopting a strategy to promote business growth by extending the product line.
Indeed, every Intel CEO has left a unique mark in the company's history. Grove made the decision to transfer the company's business from storage chips to microprocessors. This decision laid the foundation for Intel's leading position in the global high-tech field. Since Otellini began to take the helm in 2005, the company turned to the development of Atom mobile chips, which has been widely used in almost all connected products, including mobile phones, navigation systems, and even sewing machines that can download patterns.
Through an orderly succession plan, Intel ensures that it not only chooses the next successor, but the CEO who best responds to future challenges. In addition, early replacement of the CEO gives the newly-elected leadership team sufficient time to carry out business innovations, without waiting for the profit to fall, and the crisis is imminent.
--- Balanced in short-term plans and long-term planning
Another key to building a competency curve is to ensure that the team strikes a balance between current and future concerns. In 2005, Adobe acquired Macromedia. The then CEO, Bruce Chizen, scrutinized his management to ensure they were able to help the company achieve its annual revenue of $10 billion. He found that many executives lack both ability and motivation to achieve their goals. So Qi has selected talents from Macromedia's leadership team to take on important positions, and the number of executives has been selected by Adobe. These decisions are based on Adobe's future development requirements, not on which executives can meet the capacity needs of the time.
Qi Zeng’s hard heart is not just for others. At the age of 52, he handed over the CEO's power and gave the throne to his longtime deputy, Shantanu Narayen. He was still young at the time and only worked for 7 years in this position. This timing is somewhat ridiculous to others, but it is very sensible for Adobe: At the time, the company was planning to face competitors stronger than themselves, such as Microsoft, so they faced a series of new challenges and needed to develop new capabilities.
--- Reasonable management to avoid overload
Finally, through the rational organization of the executive team, high-performance businesses can more effectively allocate and perform their duties. The main tasks of the top leadership of the enterprise include three aspects: information sharing, decision making consultation and decision making. In many companies, these three tasks are usually done by the same team, but doing so can easily make the process messy and inefficient.
From the high-performance business we observed that another model is to separate the three tasks, in fact, to create a team in the team. The highest level is the decision maker, which consists of about 3 to 7 people. Other teams will contribute to these decision makers and participate in hundreds of important decision making processes.
How to actively manage the "talent curve"?
---Guarantee talent reserve
Business reshaping requires not only flexible high-level, but also a large number of talents who are ready to meet the challenges and help the new business take off. The path taken by high-performing companies may be as difficult as replacing high-level executives before the business declines: they train a large number of talents to ensure that the supply of talent exceeds the needs of the current business. They are particularly focused on cultivating people who are able to start new businesses on their own, rather than working as talent. This strategy is not easy to understand when the business is going smoothly, which explains why many companies have not taken this approach.
If employees can think independently about their work while completing their work, then the company has sufficient talent. Many high-performance businesses give employees time to freely control (such as Google and 3M). In addition, companies need to reserve a replacement team so that managers can participate in self-development business, rather than sending them only when they need it urgently. High-performing companies are often proactive in finding suitable candidates and taking practical actions to help them face the challenges of the future.
---Select a suitable talent
When screening talents, high-performance companies will first consider long-term benefits. This perspective can fundamentally change the nature of hiring and human development. These companies are not just filling the current vacancies; they recognize that in the long run, the fit of employees and corporate culture can guarantee the outstanding performance of employees.
Four Seasons Hotel is a model in this regard. The purpose of the hotel is to hiring, that is to find employees who can regard the customer as the king, because maybe there will be a royal hotel staying in the day. Isadore Sharp, CEO of the luxury hotel chain, wrote in his book Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy: "I can train anyone. Be a waiter, but I can't change the attitude of rooted people. We want to hire employees who are proud of being guards."
--- Give employees room to grow
After completing the screening and testing of employees, the company must give space for talent development. In order to be able to truly ensure that they excel in their positions, companies need to carefully consider how to arrange the daily work of their employees.
Companies can also take advantage of organizational structures to provide space for employee growth. The global industrial products and equipment manufacturer Illinois Tool Works consists of more than 800 commercial units. As long as one of the units is too large (up to a sales of $50 million), ITW will separate the business. In this way, young employees have the opportunity to enter management. In fact, at ITW, we can easily see that employees in their early 20s manage new business.
In addition, high-performance companies dare to break the rules of promotion for seniority. After Lafley took over Procter & Gamble, he needed to find a competent manager for the struggling North American baby care department. He did not look for candidates from 78 senior general managers, but chose Deborah Henretta from lower-level managers. This measure by Lafley has gained real benefits. Dai Bihan reversed the loss situation of the department in the past 20 years and was promoted to be the president of the Group's Asia Pacific region, responsible for over 4 billion yuan of business operations.
There are many ways to break the inherent situation, but it is critical to creating a rich talent pool within the organization. The leaders of ITW and Procter & Gamble set an example for us to not only retain key talents, but also to send a signal to the organization that the company will not compromise in the face of valuable talents in order to reduce short-term costs.
Even the best organizations become vulnerable when the business declines. In fact, even in the most optimistic economic situation, companies will encounter threats from time to time, including new competitors, newer technologies, or natural declines in industries and companies. In the face of all challenges, companies can manage the basis of competition, the difference in capabilities, and the talent pool based on three hidden S-curves. Only with such self-management can the company take a favorable position in reshaping the business and jump relatively easily to the next S-curve.
Paul Nunes Tim Breene | Wen Kang Xin Ye | Translated An Jian | The school is abridged, the original text see Harvard Business Review, January 2014, the mystery of the company's escape from life and death : Crossing the S curve.
Ultra Plantâ„¢ Grow Light offers One Chip Technology aimed to meet your indoor growing expectation such as improve plants' quality, increase yield, or better the margin, etc., all for helping you realize a higher return on your crops.
Ultra Plantâ„¢ Grow Light is combined our advanced All-In-One technology with patented optical design and customized light full spectrum supported from our experienced LED engineers, plant specialists and other partners working on horticulture.
From Ultra Plantâ„¢ APP, you are able to schedule the growing process including photoperiod, brightness and spectral in advance. The lighting system will help you grow smarter, easier and better.
Ultra Plantâ„¢ is the most versatile horticultural grow lighting fixture for indoor plants with flexible full spectrum, brightness control and uniform, wider light distribution, suitable for top lighting of all types of crops. No matter it applies to anywhere for any crop, Ultra Plantâ„¢ can do perfect work for you.
600W Led Grow Light,Led Plant Lights,Led Grow Light,600W Led Grow Light For Sale
Feton Corporation , https://www.fetongrowlight.com