Valuation maximizing corporate value phần 5 doc

findings. Share them with your team and watch the confi- dence level rise. Research Suggestions If poor data is collected, poor conclusions will be the result. It is necessary, therefore, to collect accurate data to achieve useful results. Practice the “sufficiency of information” rule—once you believe you have enough information, stop the research, and move on with other tasks—because research efforts take time and money and reduce cash flow. In personal interview situations, always ask the easy questions first. That way, if you aggravate an interviewee with a hard question and are thrown out, you have at least received some answers for your effort (note the “easy to controversial” order of the employee survey topics in Exhibit 3.2). To improve participation, offer to share the results (disguised or in group summary format) with the participants. This might mean sending a report to customers or vendors involved after the completion of the survey pro- cessing or holding a companywide meeting with all employee participants to present the survey results. If the type of data you are seeking involves external stakeholders’ views of your organization, it is probably best to have an outside firm conduct the research to encourage frankness in the responses. Customers or vendors, for example, who know it is your organization asking the ques- tions may be reluctant to be totally honest because they do not want to offend. This does not have to be an expensive process. Often, a call to the marketing professor at the local community college will result in a plethora of students will- ing to conduct the survey as well as assist in the question- 68 ASSESS STRATEGIC LANDSCAPE naire design and subsequent tabulation and analysis of the results. If your organization chooses the telephone survey, remember to have a script of the entire interface, not just the questions. This ensures consistency in delivery and improved responses and results. Tell the respondent the rea- son for the call immediately and about how long it will take. Do not be discouraged if some potential respondents refuse to cooperate. It is amazing how many people are will- ing to speak freely and frankly over the telephone with absolute strangers. The more research you and your team members perform and get involved in, the more comfortable you will be with who the key stakeholders are and what their key needs are. Hopefully, you will discover other information along the way which will help you, along with the organization’s internal expertise and self-knowledge, to perform the exer- cises which complete the strategic landscape picture in the next two sections. DEFINE FACTORS FOR SUCCESS The next step in defining the strategic landscape for your organization is to define the key factors necessary for its success. This exercise pulls together all the information gathered and discussions held up to this point. This is a team effort that requires the involvement of all the members of your management team. It takes only a small hole to sink a ship; likewise, if a critical success factor is overlooked, it could mean disaster for the organization. In addition, by working together, a joint sense of urgency and commitment Define Factors for Success 69 is more likely to emerge and aid in moving the organization forward through the next stage—designing the strategic framework. As in past exercises, you can be the team leader, or appoint another member of the team, or hire an outside facilitator to conduct the exercises. Requirements You will need five to ten blank acetates (for use with an overhead projector) on which to make copies of two forms. You will also need presentation software and a projector to share the results. Methodology Create groups with at least three people in each one (seek balance, but uneven numbers are okay). Distribute the Key Factors for Success worksheet as shown in Exhibit 3.3. Make sure the worksheets are copied onto blank acetates, and there is space on the form for the team to list ten factors critical to the organization’s success over the next five years. Have each group present their results using the overhead projector and discuss the rationale behind their selections. Combine the results of the groups using presentation software and create a single, weighted average ranking list of the top ten factors. Then plot the answers in the appropriate boxes on the action grid. For an example of what this might look like, see Exhibit 3.4. Results By reviewing the location of each factor on the prior- ity grid, you and your management team can quickly see where the organization stands relative to its ability to suc- ceed. For example, for the ABC Company, a strong sales force is an important factor for success, but it is an area in which they rank their organization strong today, so immedi- ate attention is not indicated. However, regarding the factor 70 ASSESS STRATEGIC LANDSCAPE [...]... circumstances surrounding employees who become heroes or villains tend to reveal a great deal about an organization’s core values A more formal approach, often useful after an informal value- story-sharing session, involves prioritizing and ranking various values One way to do this is simply to list value areas that might be important to the organization and then weight them as to degree of importance on a scale... the key value areas important to the organization and refine them further as necessary to incorporate into the mission statement A typical list of broad value areas might include: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Teamwork Product leadership Service orientation Cost control Market presence Work pace Communications Fair compensation People An alternative, yet still quantifiable, method is to list both ends of a value- related... to find an organization’s values at work For example, if one of your employees chartered a plane to deliver a part to a customer experiencing some major downtime in a remote location, should that employee be rewarded for creativity or punished for an excessive expenditure? The answer, of course, depends on the organization’s values Does it place customer service as a driving value or reward people who... their view of where the organization stands on that particular value along a line between the two extremes An “X” in the middle would indicate the organization is fairly neutral regarding that particular value, and it would move more closely to either column, depending on how close to the extreme it was perceived to be Some sample sets of value extremes are listed in the following two columns: Meritocracy... The discussion and prioritization of values is important, because inevitably there will be situations that arise in which two values are in conflict and an understanding of which one is more critical to the organization is required They should also be stated in a fairly precise manner For example, if the concierge in a hotel has been instructed only that the key value is treat the customer as royalty,... Planning meeting Information collection, process scheduling 2 Fundamentals workshop Mission, niches, goals 3 Economic model creation How cash flows impact organization value 4 Development workshop Objective and strategy creation and selection 5 Execution workshop Action plan design and participant commitments This structure acts as a feasibility check once the process is completed It provides a simple framework... discussing strategic and valuation issues However, by way of introduction, a brief description/definition of each level/ element is included in Exhibit 4.2 The strategic framework, when created in a workshop environment, with all the key members of the management EXHIBIT 4.2 Strategic Framework Definitions Term Definition Mission Statement of the organization’s vision for the future, its core values, and its... of the process it fits the organization like a glove Then, when over time as everything about the organization and its environment changes, its fundamental purposes and values will remain intact The key components of the mission are values and purposes In a rapidly changing world—one in which the systems and procedures book is out of date the moment it comes off the press—the mission is a necessity... therefore, should be ignored Likewise, stating the values important to the organization allows members to select methods with which they will pursue the organization’s purposes that are commensurate with its beliefs Jointly developed (and, therefore, shared) purposes provide a unified focus for the organization, and jointly developed (and, therefore, shared) values provide control by guiding member actions... create purposes that represent states to be achieved in response to specific stakeholder needs Values, equally important to a sound mission, can be developed and discussed through informal sharing of organization war stories with a moral For example, the reasons why people are hired and fired provide a clue to the values at work in these types of major decisions Anecdotes of how customers are treated and