Strategic Alliances are quite ubiquitous in businesses nowadays, but most of them often go unsuccessful.

A Strategic Alliance is referred to as “an agreement between 2 organizations to share resources to carry out a mutually beneficial initiative.”  The arrangement differs from a Joint Venture (JV) given that both firms in a Strategic Alliance remain independent.  Whereas, in a JV, 2 organizations share resources to create a separate company.

Strategic Alliances are typically formed to:

• Better compete in a market
• Venture into a new market
• To improve service or product portfolio.
• Allow the 2 entities achieve a common goal for mutual benefit.

The undertaking may be formal or informal and there isn’t any requirement for merging capital.  However; the role of each entity—in the arrangement—has to be clearly laid out.

The strategy of creating strategic rivals into Strategic Alliance partners has benefited organizations immensely.  This strategy enables:

• Procuring the much-needed cash
• Access to manufacturing facilities and know-how
• Ability to plan production
• Gaining knowledge of industry best practices
• Removing any initial “budding” issues.
• Each business entity to realize growth far more quickly than what they can achieve individually.

To cash in on these benefits, leading organizations endeavor to manage their Strategic Alliances worldwide—assigning executives to oversee multiple alliances.  However, the competencies required for Strategic Alliance Management aren’t well-known and are a bit convoluted.

Multiple research studies by MIT Sloan, spanning several years, suggest that a number of alliances fail to achieve their desired objectives.  In fact, the arrangement shows diminishing R&D performance, marginal returns, and declining absolute learning with subsequent partnerships between the same companies.

A major reason for this failure is the incompetence of alliance managers in handling the alliance portfolio and their tendency to make 3 misguided assumptions:

1. Assumption to always field the best strategic partners
2. Assumption to generate sufficient economic value from the alliance
3. Assumption to get incessant value from the partnership.

The old-school approach to managing alliances concentrated on individual alliances without appreciating the challenges involved in such a deal.   In today’s competitive environment—with factors such as globalization, innovation, and disruption constantly influencing businesses and partnerships—leaders need to have the ability to simultaneously manage multiple partners scattered across various parts of the globe.

Strategic Alliance Management entails understanding the intricacies involved in generating value from such transactions and devoting the attention and preparedness required to do that.  A holistic approach to Strategic Alliance Management encompasses 5 distinct, yet interrelated, phases that are required to be executed to form effective partnerships:

1. Partner Selection
2. Deal Negotiation
3. Execution
4. Exit
5. Portfolio Management

Let’s discuss the phases of approach in a bit detail.

Partner Selection

Strategic Alliances are deliberate partnerships between organizations to expand their existing product / service offerings.  A potential partner’s prior experience in forming and maintaining alliances is a key constituent of selecting the right partner.  This experience supplements internal capabilities and add value to the processes, knowledge, as well as portfolio of services / products.

A detailed assessment of a partner’s experience assists in highlighting the benefits of partnership and negotiating with the partners.  The assessment should measure effectiveness of internal communication, adequate resources, and prioritized management’s attention essential for a viable partnership.

Deal Negotiation

In this stage, the alliance partners outline the conditions of the relationship, roles and responsibilities, and potential returns from the partnership.  Negotiators typically tend to focus on capturing the bulk of potential value without any regard for the other partner.  This damages the partnership and leverages no value at all.

The partners should be quite open and thorough about defining the scope of work for each affiliate.  Appointing a project steering committee assists in information sharing and coordination.  Proactively planning the deal exit terms and procedures at the outset aid in later stages.

Interested in learning more about the other phases of the Strategic Alliance Management approach?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on Strategic Alliance Management framework here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

Business and technology resources are aligned using Enterprise Architecture (EA) in order to achieve strategic results, make organizational performance better, achieve Cost Optimization, and guide departments to fulfill their central missions more efficaciously through Operational Excellence.

Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) does that for any U.S. federal agency and helps systems transcend interagency boundaries.  FEAF offers a shared approach for the consolidation of strategic, business, and technology management as a component of Organization Design and Performance Management.  The Enterprise Architecture methodology introduced under FEAF transcended several interagency boundaries.

The FEAF comprises of 6 interconnected Reference Models, linked through Consolidated Reference Model (CRM), each relating to a sub-architectural domain of the framework.

These Reference Models convey word-based abstractions of original architectural data and deliver a structure for relating significant elements of the FEA in a collective and uniform manner:

1. Strategy Domain -> Performance Reference Model (PRM)
2. Business Domain -> Business Reference Model (BRM)
3. Data Domain -> Data Reference Model (DRM)
4. Applications Domain -> Application Reference Model (ARM)
5. Infrastructure Domain -> Infrastructure Reference Model (IRM)
6. Security Domain -> Security Reference Model (SRM)

Discussed here is 1 of the 6 reference models of the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework—the Business Reference Model (BRM), its structure, framework, touchpoints with other reference models, and BRM Taxonomy.

BRM is employed to explain the type of business functions at the system, segment, agency, sector, Federal, national, or international levels rather than giving an organizational vantage point.

Cross-government cooperation between the Executive departments and subsidiary agencies—as well as external partners—is promoted by describing the Federal government in this manner enabling:

• Uncovering of possibilities for cost reduction.
• Collaboration.
• Shared services.
• Solution reuse in agency IT portfolios and collaboration between and within agency.

BRM elucidates the “what we do” of the organization via the delineation of outcome-oriented and measurable functions and services.

BRM’s real usefulness and worth is gained when it is put to use effectively in business analysis, design, and decision support that aids in improving the working of an agency, bureau, or program.

BRM classification is organized as a 3-layer order, embodying Executive Branch Mission Sectors, Business Functions, and Services.

• Mission Sector – Pinpoints 10 business functions of the Federal government in the Common Approach to Enterprise Architecture.
• Business Function – Defines the Federal government functioning at high level, by means of budget function classification codes.
• Service – Elaborates further what the Federal government does at a subsidiary or section level.

Mission Sector is exclusive to the executive branch of the Federal government.  This layer should be used appropriately for other organizations.

The 3 layers allow arrangement and analysis of IT investments and applications for an assortment of purposes.

All reference models are envisioned to work jointly.  BRM’s further mappings to other reference models contribute added context for the investment or activity.  Input for BRM is through Performance Reference Model (PRM) enabling BRM to feed other reference models.

BRM is intended to deliver agencies with a uniform means to classify their capital investments, detect areas for collaboration and reuse, centered on delivery of business capability.

BRM also aids in refining the general IT architecture to further improve mission outcomes. It extends decision-support abilities to stakeholders and various levels of staff, within and outside an agency, and across the Federal government.  From a Federal viewpoint, BRM permits discovery of prospects for joint effort and reuse of shared services, government-wide.  This collaboration takes 2 forms:

1. Inter-agency
2. Intra-agency

BRM is usable in combination with several architecture, development, or analysis methods to deliver all-inclusive standardized design, development, and governance abilities.  There are 3 primary types of BRM methods:

• Business Architecture for Decision Support
• Business Process Modeling
• Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

Interested in learning more about the FEAF Business Reference Model?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on FEAF: Business Reference Model here and FEAF associated series PowerPoint presentations on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library.  FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market.  They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.  I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.  For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

Data and Analytics, today, play a key role in competing with rivals.  Every passing day leads to creation of enormous amounts of data by organizations across the globe.  These huge data lakes often go unused, or are underutilized, by organizations.  This data, if utilized properly, is of great assistance in informed decision making.

Multiple data types and sources generated by discrete systems are often inconsistent, dispersed, and lacking integration, which makes them unworkable.  Such data results in inaccurate analysis and flawed insights.  Reliability and confidentiality of data can be ensured by stipulating rules and processes to govern access to data and its Metadata.

Metadata Definition

Metadata can be defined as “the Data in the context of Who, What, Where, Why, When, and How.” It’s the information pertaining to the data itself, its attributes, and elements.  Metadata provides searchable key attributes of information to the users e.g., Customer ID or Name.  Appropriate identification of Metadata is a major step in uncovering the potential locked in enterprise data assets.

Metadata Management

Metadata Management relates to handling of data, its description, relationships, and lineage within an organization.Metadata enables a user to search and identify information on certain key attributes.  Context of data is of prime importance in managing Metadata.

Metadata isn’t all about identification of data.  With ever-increasing volumes and complexity of data, Metadata management is getting critical to identify informational assets and convert those into enterprise assets of high business value.  This entails setting up policies and ensuring efficient information management.  Metadata Management integrates all data at the enterprise level.

Benefits of Metadata Management

• An efficient Metadata Management system helps the business users to comprehend the source of the data characteristic and the calculated measure of that characteristic.
• It supports the technical users in mapping business Metadata with technical Metadata.
• Metadata Management provides a holistic view of the various data systems in an organization.
• It enables automated parsing and loading of variety of Metadata types.
• Building an Enterprise Metadata model based on the data generated from discrete systems—e.g. data warehouse, integration tools, and data modeling tools—is quite efficiently done through Metadata Management.
• Mitigation of any challenges in data accessibility and utility.
• Enhancement of data quality.
• Supporting Digital Transformation by creating data reporting and data analysis experts.

Metadata Classification

People in the same organization perceive Metadata differently. Difference of opinion in the identification of Metadata within the company results in inadequate visibility and access to data.  This is where a broader classification of the types of Metadata is helpful.  A thorough understanding of the different classes or categories of Metadata assists in developing a standardized perception of data across the organization.  These categories include:

Structured Metadata

Structured Metadata provides information on what the data looks like, e.g., data elements names mapped to columns, descriptions of data elements, data types, length of data elements, and the file layout.  This can include tags, primary keys, or foreign keys.

Supplier Metadata

Entails information associated with data origination point, directives, constraints, owners, service level agreements for consumption of data, demographic information about the data asset e.g., size, number of records, date of production, or source of origin of data.

Processing Metadata

Refers to data production processes, including data lineage, any 3rd-party sources of data, derivations of data elements, or the process flows related to data pipelines.

Query Metadata

Describes information on the context and classification of data.  It includes a glossary of business terms, definitions, taxonomies, master data, historical data, types of queries performed etc.

User Metadata

Provides data on Metadata consumers, their roles, data owners, and data stewards responsible for managing the quality and usability of data.

Interested in learning more about the other categories and classifications of Metadata? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Metadata Management here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library.  FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market.  They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.  I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.  For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

Enterprise Architecture (EA) denotes management best practices for lining up business and technology resources to realize strategic results, expand upon Organizational Performance, achieve Cost Optimization, and steer departments to achieve their core missions through Operational Excellence.

Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) was first introduced in September 1999 by the Federal CIO Council for evolving an EA within any U.S. federal agency.  FEAF assists through documentation and information that conveys a summarized outlook of an enterprise at various tiers of scope and detail.

FEAF offers a shared approach for the consolidation of strategic, business, and technology management as a component of Organization Design and Performance Management.  FEAF introduced a methodology for an Enterprise Architecture that transcended several interagency boundaries.

The Collaborative Planning Methodology suggested along with FEAF is envisioned as a complete planning and implementation lifecycle, for employment down all tiers of scope defined in the Common Approach to Federal Enterprise Architecture—i.e., International, National, Federal, Sector, Agency, Segment, System, and Application.

May 2012 saw a full new guide, called the “Common Approach to Federal Enterprise Architecture.”  The guide offers an overall approach to establishing and employing Enterprise Architecture in the Federal Government for expanding joint approaches to IT service delivery.  The Common Approach homogenizes the expansion and employment of architectures within and between Federal Agencies.

A 2nd version of FEAF was published in January 2013, meeting the criteria set forth by the Common Approach.  It underscores the importance of Strategic Planning and Strategic Goals as the source for driving business services, which consequentially provides the requirements for enabling technologies.  At the heart of it is the Consolidated Reference Model (CRM), which links 6 reference models and equips all departments with a shared language and framework to explain and evaluate investments.

The FEAF comprises of 6 interconnected Reference Models, linked through Consolidated Reference Model (CRM), each relating to a sub-architectural domain of the framework.

These Reference Models convey word-based abstractions of original architectural data and deliver a structure for relating significant elements of the FEA in a collective and uniform manner:

1. Strategy Domain -> Performance Reference Model (PRM)
2. Business Domain -> Business Reference Model (BRM)
3. Data Domain -> Data Reference Model (DRM)
4. Applications Domain -> Application Reference Model (ARM)
5. Infrastructure Domain -> Infrastructure Reference Model (IRM)
6. Security Domain -> Security Reference Model (SRM)

CRM is intended to permit inter-agency evaluation and detection of overlapping investments, disparities and prospects for cooperation within and across agencies.

By means of the collection of reference models a common nomenclature and system is cultivated for describing IT resources.  Making use of this standard framework and terminology, IT portfolios can be managed more suitably and taken advantage of throughout the Federal Government.

A brief description of the reference models is as follows:

Performance Reference Model (PRM)

PRM relates agency strategy, internal business factors, and investments, presenting a way to measure the influence of those investments on strategic outcomes.

Business Reference Model (BRM)

BRM depicts an organization through arrangement of common mission and support service segments rather than through vertical lines of control, thus encouraging cooperation within and across agencies.

Data Reference Model (DRM)

DRM assists in detection of existing data assets located in solitary storages and aids in comprehending the meaning of that data, ways of accessing it, and means for leveraging it for supporting performance outcomes.

Application Reference Model (ARM)

ARM classifies the standards and technologies involving systems and applications that support the delivery of service capabilities, allowing agencies to share and reuse common solutions and benefit from economies of scale.

The Infrastructure Reference Model (IRM)

IRM sorts the standards and technologies relating to network/cloud to aid and facilitate the provision of voice, data, video, and mobile service components and facilities.

The Security Reference Model (SRM)

SRM offers a mutual language and approach for deliberating on security and privacy in connection with Federal agencies’ business and performance goals.

Interested in learning more about Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) and its reference models?”  “You can download an editable PowerPoint on Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) Primer here and FEAF associated PowerPoint series presentations on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library.  FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market.  They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.  I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.  For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

Management is not a function nor a blend of functions.  It is a practice best understood by means of experience that are set in context.

All levels of education divide subject matter into definite categories, according to the means of creation of that knowledge, not by the manner in which it is used.  This is true for Management Education as well.

Management Education being imparted in educational institutions, although essential, is missing a tremendous chance of creative learning for practicing managers that may empower them to engage in Innovation Management, by teaching subject matter in compartmentalized form.

For effective management, knowledge is essential but wisdom is key—the capacity to combine knowledge from different sources and use it judiciously.

Art combined with science through craft is what management is all about—coping with issues in their highest complexity of living, not as arranged compendia.

An alternative approach to Management Education has been developed that:

• Integrates Management Education with management development.
• Employs extremely noteworthy innovations in Management Education and development.

This approach has helped leading business schools revamp the whole process of disseminating Management Education.  The approach encompasses the following 7 principles:

1. The criteria for selection of candidates should include practicing managers with demonstrated job performance.
2. Education and practice of management should be parallel and cohesive.
3. Management Education must draw from life and experience.
4. Contemplative thinking should be fundamental to learning.
5. Organizational Development should be a corollary of management development.
6. Management Education should be a continuous learning process.
7. Each facet of education must enable learning.

The application of above principles assists in simultaneous development of managers and organizations.

Let us delve a little deeper into some of the principles encompassed in this approach.

The criteria for selection of candidates should include practicing managers with demonstrated job performance. 

The practice of management can be improved in a classroom, but it did not originate from there.  Merely classroom study cannot produce good managers.  Current Management Education programs rely on the candidate presenting themselves for selection, then choosing from the pool of candidates and setting them on a path for Leadership Development.

Transforming classrooms into vibrant learning platforms requires selecting learners on the basis of managerial experience.  Intelligence is a good basis for selection but verified job-performance is a far more realistic and suitable indicator for participant selection, particularly when the aim is to groom great future leaders.

Education and practice of management should be parallel and cohesive.

It is not logical to select participants on the basis of their practice and improve their skill while keeping them removed from that practice.  Keeping managers on the job enables education and experience to be intertwined making both environments richer.

Continuing both education and practice does create tension but such tension is inherent in management practice therefore encountering it is more beneficial than sidestepping it.

Management Education must draw from life and experience.

Presently, the learning agenda is controlled almost entirely by instructors in the class room resulting in much teaching and little learning.

Formalized knowledge—ideas, concepts, research—should meet the need that the managers bring to the classroom and reverberate with the participant’s wide-ranging but tacit knowledge.

A process of infusion rather than intrusion is required to galvanize the faculty’s educational push and the participants’ learning pull.

Interested in learning more about Principles of Management Education?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on Principles of Management Education here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library.  FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.  Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market.  They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.  I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.  For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

Mergers and Acquisitions enable numerous opportunities for growth.  Organizations pursue these initiatives for a number of reasons—e.g. to expand further, attract more clients, or to broaden their product / service offerings.  Scores of M&A transactions materialize across the globe each year, but not all of them achieve the synergies such deals promise.  As a matter of fact, the success ratio is just around 27%.

The M&A Growth Framework is a structured approach to enhance the odds of a successful M&A transaction.  This approach is instrumental in helping organizations capitalize on growth opportunities locked in M&A deals.  The framework comprises 10 phases scattered across 3 timeframes:

1. Pre-deal Preparation
2. First 100 Days
3. Post-deal Closure

The 10 phases of the M&A Growth Framework organized under the 3 timeframes include:

• PRE-CLOSE PLANNING & PREPARATION
  1. Growth Opportunities
  2. Go-to-Market Strategy
  3. Customer Experience Strategy
• FIRST 100 DAYS
  1. Customer and Partner Readiness
  2. Cross-sell Strategies
  3. Pricing Management
  4. Brand and Digital Presence Building
• POST-DAY 1 ENVIRONMENT
  1. Product and Service Roadmap
  2. Sales Force Transformation
  3. Long-term Revenue Synergies

The M&A Growth Framework facilitates in finding growth opportunities, aligning them with Go-to-Market Strategy, reinforcing Customer Experience, and enabling Organizational Readiness for integration after the M&A.

Let’s dive deeper into the first 3 phases of the M&A Growth Framework for now.

Growth Opportunities

The first step in achieving growth from a Merger or Acquisition deal is to identify and analyze the opportunities essential for growth.

Identification of growth opportunities necessitates:

• Gauging the ability of the new company to enter target markets.
• Conducting one-to-one interviews and Focus Group Discussions with key people from the management and customers to develop points of reference for existing key competencies.
• Identifying and translating growth opportunities into initiatives.
• Quantifying growth with timeline requirements.
• Prioritizing opportunities based on their magnitude, viability, and potential for effective execution.
• Utilizing clean teams to ensure confidentiality of data.

Go-to-Market Strategy

Identification and prioritization of growth opportunities necessitates delineating the Go-to-Market Strategy of the combined entity.  This phase assists in achieving the newly-formed company’s stated growth targets, business continuity objectives, and proficient utilization of unified team and resources.

Key steps involved in this phase include:

• Combining the acquired entity’s product/service portfolio with the buyer’s offerings.
• Ascertaining and prioritizing strategic inputs.
• Translating the information and inputs available into prioritized action items.
• Segmenting the customers and their needs.
• Creating Go-to-Market plans.
• Connecting the sales channels with the unified company’s product mix.
• Ensuring resource readiness, sales targets, coverage, and channel mix.
• Finalizing marketing plans: communication, branding, targeting, product mix.

Customer Experience Strategy

As part of integrating the 2 unified companies, it is critical for the senior leadership to develop and deploy a Customer Experience (CE) Strategy.  A consistent Customer Experience derives more value from existing customers, aids in the continuation of operations, and boosts customer spending.

Key steps in this phase entail:

• Appraising the existing customer experience, interactions, and customer pain points.
• Developing a customer-focused organization by creating seamless CE “personas” and customer journey maps.
• Identifying and ranking CE improvement initiatives.
• Implementing CE enhancement initiatives, monitoring outcomes, and correcting the course.
• Integrating the customers and Customer Experiences of the acquirer and the target companies.

Interested in learning more about the other phases of the M&A Growth Framework ?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on M&A Growth Frameworkhere on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library.  FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.  Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market.  They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.  I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.  For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

Organizations have, in recent times, become more aware of the worth of regulating their Organizational Knowledge.  Extensive studies in academia have been conducted on the subject, because of its importance.

Organizations learn with time and experience.  The cause-and-effect relationship is gathered in the collective memory of the organization in the form of:

• Shared mental models
• Standard operating procedures
• Rules and routines
• Assets

This learning, in some cases, becomes a source of Competitive Advantage for the organization.

New learning, in organizations, is possible when redundant knowledge and bad habits are effectively erased from the organizational memory.  Managing Organizational Forgetting has to be part of Strategic Planning because of:

1. Wasted resources—Knowledge forgotten, that should not have been, has to be re-acquired by diverting resources that could have been used elsewhere or for acquiring new knowledge.
2. Opportunity cost—Required knowledge not available (because it was forgotten) at the time an opportunity arose.

Effective Organizational Forgetting should be an Organizational Culture so as to keep organizations on their toes and maybe preserve or gain Competitive Advantage.

Organizations that intend to manage their Organizational Forgetting effectively, need to comprehend 2 dimensions of Forgetting and the relationship between them:

Dimension 1:  Accidental Forgetting vs. Intentional Forgetting

The 1^st element pertains to loss of valuable knowledge; the 2^nd to increased competitiveness as a result of Forgetting.

Dimension 2: Entrenched Knowledge vs. New Knowledge

The 1^st element relates to knowledge embedded in relatively durable objects like machines, databases, taken-for-granted routines; the 2^nd to a transient setup like individual minds, association among small teams, makeshift organizational groups.

The process of Forgetting is altered depending on the interaction of the elements of the 2 dimensions.

Interaction of the above 2 dimensions results in 4 processes that constitute the Forms of Organizational Forgetting:

1. Memory Decay
2. Failure to Capture
3. Unlearning
4. Avoiding Bad Habits

The interaction of the 4 processes has been conveyed in the form of a matrix dubbed the Organizational Forgetting Matrix.  These processes explain an array of Organizational Forgetting that may occur.  Each of the 4 processes need distinct management approaches because each process is connected with a disparate set of challenges.

Let us delve a little deeper into some of the processes.

Memory Decay

Memory Decay occurs when concepts, practices, values are lost because of non-use or key personnel leaving the organization.  Organizations can forget elements long ingrained in their collective memory triggering costly and harmful consequences, like spending large sums to regain knowledge that was a source of Competitive Advantage.

Memory Decay is exacerbated in the process of downsizing.  Extremely valuable pieces of knowledge and skills can be lost if proper retention measures are not put in place.

Failure to Capture

Failure to capture new knowledge and disseminate it throughout the organization, results in loss when individuals bearing that knowledge leave.  Knowledge Articulation and Knowledge Institutionalization are 2 processes that can prevent such loss.

Unlearning

Intentional Forgetting enhances organizational capability.  Intentional Forgetting can be achieved in 2 ways.  The 1^st is strategic removal of knowledge.

Interested in learning more about Organizational Forgetting?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on Organizational Forgetting here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library.  FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.  Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market.  They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.  I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.  For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

A traditional Value Chain involves a linear sequence of activities—from conversion of raw materials into components which are assembled into products.  The products are then distributed, marketed, sold, and serviced.  Management plans and execute strategies and operations based on this sequence.

This set of activities worked well for organizations in the past.  However, this linear progression does not encourage Innovation and provides little protection from the risk of being outperformed by rivals in today’s disruptive markets.  Such a competitive environment calls for implementing more robust ways of managing Customer Demand and Value Creation.

An effective approach to deal with this challenge is the Value Grid Analysis Model.  The Value Grid approach provides a perspective beyond traditional linear progression of activities, where organizations need to balance equilibrium between suppliers and manufacturers aside from concentrating only on reducing lead times.  It outlines new opportunities and risks for organizations.

The Value Grid Analysis provides a number of routes to improve Performance and reduce risks.  It encompasses the following 3 pathways—or dimensions:

• Vertical pathway – using traditional Value Chain, companies find opportunities upstream or downstream from adjacent tiers in the existing Value Chain.
• Horizontal pathway – companies look for opportunities from similar tiers in multiple (parallel) Value Chains.
• Diagonal pathway – explore opportunities to create value across multiple value chains and tiers.

The Value Grid Framework necessitates diverting leadership attention towards 3 key opportunity areas to create Competitive Advantage:

1. Customer Demand
2. Information Access
3. Multi-tier Penetration

Let’s dive deeper into the 3 opportunity areas.

Customer Demand

The first opportunity area to drive competitive advantage pertains to controlling internal and external customers’ demand.  It warrants a company to manage customer demand upstream (suppliers and companies that supply to suppliers) as well as downstream (customers).  By managing customer demand downstream, organizations control the decision makers responsible for the purchase decision.  When companies are unable to control the decision makers, they look for levers across the Value Chain to influence decisions.  These levers include direct advertisements to the end users, focusing on distributors, or incentivizing retailers to recommend a product.  Organizations also try to influence upstream, e.g., their R&D units, to create products which can be used in conjunction with the existing product range to boost their efficacy and benefits for the end-users, ultimately influencing consumers’ decisions downstream.

Information Access

The 2^nd opportunity area involves linking information sharing to influence decision making.  A few manufacturers prefer to partner with those suppliers who openly disclose the information (capabilities, flexibility, and pricing structures) of their 2^nd-tier suppliers with them.  This assist them in planning and helping the suppliers manage materials and prices better.

For instance, with increased tariff on imported steel and price of steel continuously going up, car manufacturers like Honda purchase steel in bulk and sell it to their suppliers at a reduced rate.  This helps them keep the prices of their cars down and compete better.

Multi-tier Penetration

Nonlinear thinking (Value Grid Model) enables the organizations to determine innovative solutions beyond the scope of traditional Value Chains.  To manage excess demand organizations take on multiple Value Chain tiers to control demand and buyers’ power.

Leading manufacturers evaluate multiple value chain points for their participation in order to scale.  They sell not only to Original Equipment Manufacturers but also in the aftermarket.  Supplying to more than one Value Chain tier allows organizations to withstand pressure from OEMs to reduce costs, demand shifts, and offers attractive margins.

Interested in learning more about the 3 opportunity areas of the Value Grid Analysis Framework?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on Value Grid Analysis here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“As a small business owner, the resource material available from FlevyPro has proven to be invaluable. The ability to search for material on demand based our project events and client requirements was great for me and proved very beneficial to my clients. Importantly, being able to easily edit and tailor the material for specific purposes helped us to make presentations, knowledge sharing, and toolkit development, which formed part of the overall program collateral. While FlevyPro contains resource material that any consultancy, project or delivery firm must have, it is an essential part of a small firm or independent consultant’s toolbox.”

– Michael Duff, Managing Director at Change Strategy (UK)

How do people make decisions?  Do they always follow a rational linear process to come to a conclusion? 

Studies have suggested that the traditional Decision Making model—commonly known as the Rational Decision Making Model—does not explain the whole ambit of Decision Making.

People, including managers of organizations, arrive at decisions using a variety of routes.  Experts suggest that there are at least 3 Decision Making Models that work in consonance to make the best decisions.  The 3 Decision Making Models are:

1. Thinking First – Rational Decision Making
2. Seeing First – Insight-driven Decision Making
3. Doing First – Experimentation-based Decision Making

The latter 2 models need to supplement the 1^st in order, for people in general and managers in particular, to improve the quality of Decision Making.  Developing a strong understanding of these foundational Decision Making models is recommended for any Business Leader who seeks to make better, more informed, more rational decisions.

Experts have suggested that people have the capacity to use all 3 models for arriving at a decision and so do organizations.

The 3 approaches to Decision Making draw a parallel from science, art, and craft.  People who are partial to Thinking are more into facts, those who favor Seeing appreciate ideas, and people who prefer Doing always value experiences.

Let us delve a little deeper into the details of the 3 Decision Making Models—Thinking, Seeing, Doing.

Thinking First

More commonly known as the Rational Decision Making Model, this model has a clearly identified process.  It is linear, logical, effortless, and iterative—i.e., keeps travelling back and forth with interludes for new events, alterations for opportunities until conclusively arriving at a decision.

Thinking First Model is associated with science and is mainly verbal in nature i.e., comprising of linear words.  People leaning towards the Thinking Model prefer facts.

Usually, the Thinking First Model is used in well-founded production processes.  Thinking First succeeds when:

• The matter is well-defined.
• The data is trustworthy.
• The situation is structured.
• Thoughts can be restrained.
• Discipline can be applied.

However real-life Decision Making exposes some limitations in the Thinking First Model as rational Decision Making is uncommon.

Seeing First

Decisions are motivated as much by what is Seen as by what is thought.  Visualization and conceptualization of a problem or situation is the basis for the Seeing First Model.  It is usually used in creative solution finding.  Experts have identified 4 steps in creative discovery:

1. Preparation
2. Incubation
3. Illumination
4. Verification

An example of Seeing First Model will be Mozart’s allusion to the best part of creating his music; “when I am able to see the whole of it at a single glance in my mind.”

Seeing First Model works ideally in circumstances where:

• Numerous elements have to be pooled into a creative solution.
• Commitment to the solution is steadfast.
• Communication takes place beyond boundaries.

Doing First

When stumped for a solution, diving head first and tinkering with a problem—bringing Problem Solving Mindset characteristics into play—leads to the necessary insights following trial and error.  Attempting various things, discovering which among them functions, finding meaning in that and repeating the productive behaviors while abandoning the rest is the gist of Doing First Model.

Experts have identified 3 stages of this process:

1. Enactment
2. Selection
3. Retention

Doing First Model is ideal, when for example, companies are faced with disruptive technologies or unchartered territories.

Interested in learning more about the 3 Decision Making Models: Thinking, Seeing, Doing?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on Decision Making Models: Thinking, Seeing, Doing here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library.  FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market.  They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.  I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.  For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

Understanding others has a lot to do with collaboration, performance management, and building effective teams.

Developed by Taibi Kahler in the 1970s, Process Communication Model (PCM) is a prominent psychometric tool for individual and team development.  The main utility of the PCM model is in understanding others’ personality types, discovering one’s own personality, and personifying others’ personality types to have better relationships.

PCM allows the executives to understand others’ needs, influence others, find practical solutions to problems, and manage conflict.  The model has found its utilization in a number of Fortune 500 organizations.  NASA has used PCM for the training and selection of its astronauts for over 20 years.

As per the PCM model, each individual embodies an assortment of behaviors, each with its own set of psychological requirements, strengths, weaknesses, communication style, and motivations.  The Process Communication Model describes that each of us exemplify a combination of 6 personality types—each of personality type has its strengths and weaknesses—but one personality dominates the others in an individual.  The 6 personality types are:

1. Harmonizer
2. Rebel
3. Thinker
4. Persister
5. Imaginer
6. Promoter

Let’s discuss these personality types in a bit detail.

Harmonizer

Individuals with a dominating Harmonizer personality type are humble, quiet, and naturally gifted at forming relationships with others.  The Harmonizers care for their family and friends, are compassionate, and use their feelings to judge the world around them.  They treat others cordially, make them feel comfortable, listen to them attentively, and do not shy away from making physical contact.

Recognition of their personality and others’ amiable communication style motivate the Harmonizers.  Under difficult circumstances, these individuals tend to become apprehensive, lack firmness, act irrationally, and make grave mistakes / incoherent decisions.

Rebel

The individuals possessing a Rebel personality are generally creative, fun loving, and radiate positive energy for others.  These individuals respond promptly, reciprocate righteousness with virtue, and enjoy the present.  The Rebels are valued for their extemporaneous humor, interest in others, energy, and problem-solving ability.  They are a bit impulsive and judge the world around them through their likes and dislikes.

Others upbeat communication style and stimulation through playful contact motivate the Rebels.  Under stress, the Rebels tend to get confused, whine, irritate others, leave complex situations, and bounce responsibility to others.

Thinker

Individuals with a dominating Thinker personality believe in data, logic, and perfectionism.  They take on a methodical approach to doing things, ask too many queries, and only attend meetings when there is a formal agenda set in advance.  The Thinker personality likes to evaluate detailed information before drawing any conclusions.  These people are valued for their planning and organization ability, dependability, structuring ideas logically, and clear expression.

Recognition of their thoughts and accomplishments motivates the Thinkers.  Under stress, they reverse delegate tasks and start doing those themselves, try to gather as much detail as possible to understand the situation, and may start arguments or even attack others.  These people need time and assurance of their abilities to return to their organized selves.

Interested in learning more about PCM and its other personality profiles?  You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Process Communication Model: Personality Types here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“As a small business owner, the resource material available from FlevyPro has proven to be invaluable. The ability to search for material on demand based our project events and client requirements was great for me and proved very beneficial to my clients. Importantly, being able to easily edit and tailor the material for specific purposes helped us to make presentations, knowledge sharing, and toolkit development, which formed part of the overall program collateral. While FlevyPro contains resource material that any consultancy, project or delivery firm must have, it is an essential part of a small firm or independent consultant’s toolbox.”

– Michael Duff, Managing Director at Change Strategy (UK)