Write You - Business

Retail's First Moment Of Truth - The Package
What is a package any way? We all know it conveys a product from point A to point B. Besides the obvious of getting it there undamaged or not broken, what's a box supposed to do? That job has changed dramatically in the last decade. The package has become the “first moment of truth” at retail. And now, especially it’s going to decide whether someone will by your product, or not. So you better pay attention to not only what goes inside but what’s on the outside of the box.Just because you have a great product doesn't mean its going to sell. Or even if you have it in the right retail environment that it’s going to fly off the shelf. Packaging a product the right way entails much more than just creating a box to put your product in. Sure, you are going to get it there in one piece, we hope but gone are the days of the box acting as only a protective shipping container. The box today is the "retail" salesperson. The box or package is expected to provide the necessary information to make an informed shoppers’ decision

lustering and thus there is no overall view of them. An organization ends up with numerous initiatives, some going in opposite directions. We recently came across a division of a UK Footsie 100 bank which had initiatives in the hundreds running in parallel. Needless to say, they struggle with keeping track of the projects, their alignment to the high level objectives and their benefits, especially in the long-term. As a result the initiatives are repeated in the future without an understanding of the benefits the may bring.

How Value is Destroyed?
Since these initiatives do not reach any where close to their full potential and use resources that could otherwise be used on higher value-add projects, they are effectively destroying value for the organization.

Take a Strategy Lead Approach
Instead of starting by looki

Jobs To Do Online - A Dream Come True
You’ve probably heard about regular normal people who are making insane amounts of money from the internet. You’ve heard that these people don’t have any special education or business/marketing training, they didn’t start with a huge investment and they don’t spend more than 15 hours working on their business. As a matter of fact, you can say that these people can make six-figure incomes without doing too much effort. You might be thinking: “Is that real? If so, I’m in! But what is the secret?”You see, you can find several jobs to do online that can make you money consistently, and more important, legally. Just one example is if you have something you could sell, it’s very easy to publish an auction in one of the various auction sites on the web. In case you didn’t know, there are literally thousands of people who make so much money with auctions that they make a living out of it. Out of the many jobs to do online available, there are also many people who start their business venture by setting up a simple website

Introduction
With numerous isolated initiatives running concurrently within an organization, there is often little idea of how they interact or overlap, leading to no clear overview of the benefits. The result is duplication and the need to repeat initiatives on regular intervals. Research shows that on average 40% of value of an initiative is not realized. However, having a logical way of structuring the same initiatives can lead to enormous benefits and a lot more realized value.

Types of Initiatives
The different types of initiatives in an organization can be categorized as follows:

System improvement initiatives: Such projects involve using technology to streamline, automate and/or integrate processes and systems across the organization. There has been a strong focus on such projects since middle of the last decade, especially to introduce enterprise resource planning systems and during post merger system integration.
Performance improvement initiatives: Initiatives to improve the performance of the business are a recurring theme, especially when the business environment is challenging, e.g. during a recession. Typical initiatives include process improvement, cost reduction, efficiency drive, risk management etc.
3. Change of strategy led initiatives: Such initiatives are a result of a change of strategy focus, e.g. concentrating on growth, entering a new market, becoming more customer focused, complying to government regulation etc. Examples of these types of initiatives include CRM (customer relationship management), Sarbanes Oxley implementation initiative, ISO9000 certification etc.

Reasons for Failure
While such initiatives do deliver some value, the interesting question to understand is why they are a continuous feature of organizations. Why is there a requirement to have similar projects running over-and-over after every few years with enormous amounts of resources spent on them? The reasons lie in the manner in which these projects and initiatives are viewed, instigated and their scope defined.

Taking a Static View - Essentially these initiatives are one off exercises that take a static view of the business and its strategies, i.e. a snap shot of the organization in time as a base. By the time a project is complete, and often even before that, the business environment has changed, thus limiting the potential benefits of the exercise just undertaken to a short period of time. The organization then introduces a new slightly changed strategy, calls in consultants all over again, and goes through a similar initiative under a different name.
Working in Isolation - Most of the time such initiatives are viewed in isolation, largely due to the level of their complexity. However, in reality most initiatives are integrated and affect each other when operational. The consequence of which is that multiple projects often have redundancies in their scope and the effects of their interaction are not realised. The result is more wastage. Fox example, an initiative to introduce CRM will warrant a business process re-engineering exercise. However if an organization is going through a process re-engineering project now, they will have to repeat parts of the project again once the CRM initiatives have been completed.
Initiatives without Strategy - With many initiatives going on at any one time, there is generally no logical clustering and thus there is no overall view of them. An organization ends up with numerous initiatives, some going in opposite directions. We recently came across a division of a UK Footsie 100 bank which had initiatives in the hundreds running in parallel. Needless to say, they struggle with keeping track of the projects, their alignment to the high level objectives and their benefits, especially in the long-term. As a result the initiatives are repeated in the future without an understanding of the benefits the may bring.

Take a Strategy Lead Approach
Instead of starting by lookin

Taking Advantage of Trends: Grown-Up Tastes
Trendwatchers calls it "Mass Class." Other sources refer to it as "high-touch." Whatever you call it, the trend toward mass availability of high-quality, sophisticated and status-rich products and services is upon us, and businesses who wish to survive in the coming years would be wise to heed it's call. The era of life lived on price-points is fading - people are no longer willing to accept "just barely good enough" items as long as they are the cheapest. They are holding out instead for offerings that reek of quality construction and customized personal attention - gourmet coffees and luxurious imported pastries are taking the place of a quick cup of cheap joe and a snack cake for breakfast, and 200+ thread count, design-embossed linens are the bare minimum, even in the guest room. Even companies that offer reasonably nice items at affordable prices are going to suffer in this economy - their products simply won't hold up to comparison with the new items coming onto the market to meet this need. And se

lly to introduce enterprise resource planning systems and during post merger system integration.

Performance improvement initiatives: Initiatives to improve the performance of the business are a recurring theme, especially when the business environment is challenging, e.g. during a recession. Typical initiatives include process improvement, cost reduction, efficiency drive, risk management etc.

3. Change of strategy led initiatives: Such initiatives are a result of a change of strategy focus, e.g. concentrating on growth, entering a new market, becoming more customer focused, complying to government regulation etc. Examples of these types of initiatives include CRM (customer relationship management), Sarbanes Oxley implementation initiative, ISO9000 certification etc.

Taking a Static View - Essentially these initiatives are one off exercises that take a static view of the business and its strategies, i.e. a snap shot of the organization in time as a base. By the time a project is complete, and often even before that, the business environment has changed, thus limiting the potential benefits of the exercise just undertaken to a short period of time. The organization then introduces a new slightly changed strategy, calls in consultants all over again, and goes through a similar initiative under a different name.
Working in Isolation - Most of the time such initiatives are viewed in isolation, largely due to the level of their complexity. However, in reality most initiatives are integrated and affect each other when operational. The consequence of which is that multiple projects often have redundancies in their scope and the effects of their interaction are not realised. The result is more wastage. Fox example, an initiative to introduce CRM will warrant a business process re-engineering exercise. However if an organization is going through a process re-engineering project now, they will have to repeat parts of the project again once the CRM initiatives have been completed.
Initiatives without Strategy - With many initiatives going on at any one time, there is generally no logical clustering and thus there is no overall view of them. An organization ends up with numerous initiatives, some going in opposite directions. We recently came across a division of a UK Footsie 100 bank which had initiatives in the hundreds running in parallel. Needless to say, they struggle with keeping track of the projects, their alignment to the high level objectives and their benefits, especially in the long-term. As a result the initiatives are repeated in the future without an understanding of the benefits the may bring.

Take a Strategy Lead Approach
Instead of starting by looki

Running Your T-shirt Design Business
The first step you’ll have to take to launch your printing business on the right track is quite obviously to purchase the equipment. While we’ve already touched on the expenses of certain cogs in the system, we haven’t really considered the overall price.If you’re starting out, you should seriously consider the idea of purchasing a “starter pack”. They can be found across many websites, although once again, XPres provide a great solution for UK based clients.For around ?2500, you can get yourself a basic package with all the equipment necessary to launch your printing business. This includes a printer, a digital cutter, weeder, silicon paper, and an extensive support program to aid those first few weeks. You also get free installation advice for the deal.Naturally, depending on what equipment you’ve decided to build your business around, you may need to invest in a different package. For example, those looking to take the vinyl approach will need to obtain a special vinyl cutter, and the price range

liver some value, the interesting question to understand is why they are a continuous feature of organizations. Why is there a requirement to have similar projects running over-and-over after every few years with enormous amounts of resources spent on them? The reasons lie in the manner in which these projects and initiatives are viewed, instigated and their scope defined.

Taking a Static View - Essentially these initiatives are one off exercises that take a static view of the business and its strategies, i.e. a snap shot of the organization in time as a base. By the time a project is complete, and often even before that, the business environment has changed, thus limiting the potential benefits of the exercise just undertaken to a short period of time. The organization then introduces a new slightly changed strategy, calls in consultants all over again, and goes through a similar initiative under a different name.
Working in Isolation - Most of the time such initiatives are viewed in isolation, largely due to the level of their complexity. However, in reality most initiatives are integrated and affect each other when operational. The consequence of which is that multiple projects often have redundancies in their scope and the effects of their interaction are not realised. The result is more wastage. Fox example, an initiative to introduce CRM will warrant a business process re-engineering exercise. However if an organization is going through a process re-engineering project now, they will have to repeat parts of the project again once the CRM initiatives have been completed.
Initiatives without Strategy - With many initiatives going on at any one time, there is generally no logical clustering and thus there is no overall view of them. An organization ends up with numerous initiatives, some going in opposite directions. We recently came across a division of a UK Footsie 100 bank which had initiatives in the hundreds running in parallel. Needless to say, they struggle with keeping track of the projects, their alignment to the high level objectives and their benefits, especially in the long-term. As a result the initiatives are repeated in the future without an understanding of the benefits the may bring.

Take a Strategy Lead Approach
Instead of starting by looki

Overcoming Inertia in Job Change
If you can hold on to an optimistic belief in the possibility of success, you have a very powerful motivator of change. But not everyone can, or will need help to do that as some are naturally more optimistic than others. It can be especially difficult to be optimistic if you are feeling a little hurt or bruised following redundancy, but even when you know you need the change it can be difficult to get going. Just take a look at the stages:Stages of Change1) Thinking About Thinking About It2) Thinking About It3) Preparing For It4) Acting Upon It5) Maintaining It1) Thinking About Thinking About ItYou do not really want to consider a new job at all and you will actively resist if you feel pressured or coerced into changing. You perhaps know you should be looking but you aren’t really committed to job hunting. You may be giving it some half-hearted thought because of pressure from others – “you really ought to get another jo

n, and goes through a similar initiative under a different name.

Working in Isolation - Most of the time such initiatives are viewed in isolation, largely due to the level of their complexity. However, in reality most initiatives are integrated and affect each other when operational. The consequence of which is that multiple projects often have redundancies in their scope and the effects of their interaction are not realised. The result is more wastage. Fox example, an initiative to introduce CRM will warrant a business process re-engineering exercise. However if an organization is going through a process re-engineering project now, they will have to repeat parts of the project again once the CRM initiatives have been completed.

Initiatives without Strategy - With many initiatives going on at any one time, there is generally no logical clustering and thus there is no overall view of them. An organization ends up with numerous initiatives, some going in opposite directions. We recently came across a division of a UK Footsie 100 bank which had initiatives in the hundreds running in parallel. Needless to say, they struggle with keeping track of the projects, their alignment to the high level objectives and their benefits, especially in the long-term. As a result the initiatives are repeated in the future without an understanding of the benefits the may bring.

Take a Strategy Lead Approach
Instead of starting by looki

Building The Business Of Your Dreams - And Go Anywhere
From the outside, things could not look more perfect. You have a great husband, terrific kids, a fantastic house and go on amazing holidays. Why is it, then, that inside you're screaming?Who are you? Chances are you're a bright, educated woman, probably with two or three children, who gave up her own career to follow her husband. But now, you're about ready to walk. You're not alone: Studies have shown that a high percentage of marriages that fail do so because the wife is unhappy about sacrificing her own career or the life she had envisioned for herself.There's a new trend leading women are taking to enjoy happier lives. Lets look at this new movement towards creating something for yourself; and becoming a successful business women. Just for a moment let go, don't worry about - your kids, your husband, your schedule - and just let yourself dream.What does your business dream look like?What does your business dream look like?Would you provide a product or a service ?Would you li

Take a Strategy Lead Approach
Instead of starting by looking at initiatives, organizations need first to look at their strategies. By structuring and prioritising their strategies, a clear overview of what is needed to be achieved is determined and initiatives come out as a means of achieving those strategies. By managing a portfolio of strategies rather than a complex combination of initiatives, organizations can eliminate most of the issues mentioned above. Taking an integrated approach allows organizations to structure their initiatives inline with their strategies. So what does it take to achieve such as approach:

Clarify objective at every level – By making explicit what the objectives are for an organization at every level, employees become clear about what they are working towards. Being explicit requires an objective with a numerical, time and quality dimension, and a means of measuring it. E.g. not “We want to have a major market share is the market we operator in”, but “We must achieve a minimum of 25% of market share in the telco market targeting large organizations in Germany, within the next five years. The profit margin must be above 7%”.
Vision > Core Objectives > Critical Success Factors > Operational Objectives
These objectives must be defined such that the causality between the objectives at different levels is obvious. So achieving the Operational Objectives successfully satisfies the CSFs, achieving the CSFs satifies the Core Objectives and achieving the Core Objectives satisfies the Vision.

Create a Value Delivery System – The VDS is the functional map of the organization. At every level, this determines the organizational unit or department or task that will work towards the objectives at the respective level.
Corporate > Functions > Tasks > Steps
The corporate level has the responsibility for working towards and achieving the Vision; the Functional (product management, sales, marketing etc.) targets the Core Objectives; Tasks are defined to achieve the CFSs and so on.

Define initiative – Once the objectives are clear, define the initiatives that are required to achieve them. Only initiate projects that work towards achieving one of more of the objectives.

Accountability - Allocate responsibility and assign resources for each of the initiatives.

Track initiatives – Ensure that there is a method for tracking the level of implementation, performance and benefits for each of the initiatives.

Recalibrate regularly – In the volatile environment that organizations operate in, objectives and ways of achieving them change constantly. Thus there needs to be a process of regularly checking to make sure that initiatives still serve the purpose that they where started for. If the objectives at any level have changed, continuing with the old initiatives is a waste of resources.

Benefits
Following the steps above achieves:

Alignment between the various business units, functions and department within the organization
Cascading of objectives against the now aligned organizational units. This brings the clarity and understanding of who does what and why, into the organization.
Prioritization during resource allocation

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.writeyou.net/article/22288/writeyou-Dynamic-Strategy-Process-to-Increase-the-Value-of-Your-Initiatives.html">Dynamic Strategy Process to Increase the Value of Your Initiatives</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.writeyou.net/article/22288/writeyou-Dynamic-Strategy-Process-to-Increase-the-Value-of-Your-Initiatives.html]Dynamic Strategy Process to Increase the Value of Your Initiatives[/url]

How to motivate yourself and your employees to do some spring cleaning of papers and such in the office!

I almost felt guilty - Kind of like a recovering alcoholic going down the liquor isle to go smile at the selection of beers knowing he'll never buy one, but guilty just for looking. There I was reading the information for one of those Internet get rich quick programs, thinking about different dubious ways I could make it work.

Tags

Links

Write You - Dynamic Strategy Process to Increase the Value of Your Initiatives

Related Articles: