It has been observed, that unfortunately for most firms, the process of business transformation goes awry. In spite of this transformation being on top of the agenda for CEOs across organizations, the end result has not been all that effective to effect changes in the TSR (Total Shareholder Returns). Some factors have however been identified which can help improve the rate of transformation success. First of all, companies need understand that to effect short-term success, efficiency and satisfying investor expectations are a must. But in the long-run, it is revenue growth that really impacts the case. This has been proven after a detailed business research undertaken jointly by S&P Capital and the Henderson Institute of the BCG. During times of business turbulence, the strategy research and development aspect becomes especially critical. Transformation success can be highly impacted positively by the involvement of management consulting firms’ hands-on role. Formal transformation programmes can be effective, provided enough scale and scope have been added on.

Source:https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-truth-about-corporate-transformation/?article=the-truth-about-corporate-transformation&post_type=article

Uploaded Date: 13 June 2018

Management Guru Ricardo Semler who introduced terms such as “corporate re-engineering” and “industrial democracy”, has spoken out about how the concept of management is one fading. This is not yet a view advocated by mainstream management. Indeed, the global workforce of three-and-a-half billion employees are unlikely to be productive in a management-free world. However, what is certain is that changes are afoot, and required more so now due to the VUCA element of modern business.VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. A clear example of this may be cited through Netflix. While the company was a startup, it had a good mix of people from diverse backgrounds. But as it kept getting bigger, talent recruitment got more challenging and complex, so the people tended to be taken in from highly predictable backgrounds. Eventually, the people themselves rectified it, as only the good ones from across diversity pools could stay on or be added. The mindset of the people is now shifting away from profits to purpose. Hierarchies are giving way to networks, with empowering now being used over controlling. Planning has moved on to experimentation while privacy has been replaced by transparency.

Source:https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/12/is-management-era-over

Uploaded Date:07 June 2018

In business, timing means a lot. While professionals spend a lot of time pondering the ‘how’ of doing things, scant attention is paid to the ‘when’ of it. A recent book written by Daniel H Pink titled When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing has been published to explore this concept further. The mid-afternoon is typically the period of slump in productivity for most. A lot of this research headed by the Cornell and Pennsylvania universities has mainly been possible due to the plethora of Big Data now available. This can be processed to assess genuine business insights. This research has then been put in use at several companies where the sales staff have been coached on the right timing to perform certain tasks. Evidence has been pointed out to them for improved productivity at those times of the day. Even sports teams are studying such data. Detachment is another thing that companies and professionals need to work in, especially now in the digital age. Formal corporate training sessions ought to be imparted on how to get unhooked from the constant clatter of smartphones.

Source:http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-timing-is-almost-everything/

Uploaded Date:07 June 2018

Organized retail is not as such known to be a stable profession in terms of longevity or work hours. This has been magnified due to the competition from online retail which generally tends to have an advantage in traditional retail concepts such as pricing, assortment and convenience. The one way that bricks-and-mortar retailers could have gained an edge would have been service, but unfortunately talent management has never been given due importance in this field. Instead, retailers tend to understaff to save costs, and the scheduling keeps changing on almost daily basis. Operations research conducted though has clearly established that increasing staff strength during peak working hours, will actually lead to greater sales and business turnover. Such a study was anchored at Gap, lead by a team of experts from universities of Chicago and North Carolina. The results astonished the management, so two key changes were incorporated. “On-calls” which is sudden changes to schedule were eliminated for a start. The other was that employee schedules were posted two weeks in advance. Unstable schedules might appear cost-effective initially, but this faulty implementation of lean management principles lead to hidden costs. The deep reservoir of data warehousing available to researchers from over three decades of study, has clearly revealed that costs actually rise. This also arises due to a cognitive bias and agencies mishandling schedules. This entire fallacy has to be weeded out from the head-office, which is where most of this instability emanates from.

Source:https://hbr.org/2018/03/research-when-retail-workers-have-stable-schedules-sales-and-productivity-go-up?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert&referral=00563&deliveryName=DM3627

Uploaded Date:07 June 2018

The corporate logos of Apple, Nike or Vans are instantly recognizable across generations and cultures. This is because these brands have reached iconic status. Soon Yu, who is an innovation consultant and focuses on design thinking capabilities of top customer-facing brands such as Wrangler, North Face and Timberland has come up with research on what establishes some brands to be truly iconic. The first aspect is uniqueness. To cite an example, Nike’s Air Max concept ensured the cushion loss over lifetime of shoes reduced substantially. The other requirement is the staying power which some brands such as Google have nurtured. A lot of brands have made the opposite mistake of trying too many things, or even tampering with what made them special in the first place. Rivals such as Reebok’s Pump have not been able to replicate Air Max as a result of the constant innovation in Nike’s core product. Loyal customers need to be leveraged and converted in to company spokespersons. This is because a few loyal ones are better than many more simply knowing the brand but not purchasing. The former can be used for the digital marketing efforts as they can be turned into social media influencers.

Source:https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/secrets-staying-power?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Insights&Date=20180413&linkId=50393631

Uploaded Date:07 June 2018

Modern-day professionals tend to equate resilience with the amount of work done and some athletic brownie-points. They seek solace in the routine of military personnel or professional football players. However, in reality resilience is not about coping with extra-work, but indeed the recovery process. Being workaholic has become a serious ailment in several developed countries such as Norway and the US. People are now being attuned to a constant twenty-four into seven-pattern of work connected by technology especially phones and laptops. Business research suggests that this lack of recovery is leading to a loss in productivity by a whopping US$ sixty-two billion in a year. Arianna Huffington on her recent book The Sleep Revolution speaks about how on average up to eleven working days get lost each year due to lack of proper sleep. This has clear biological precedents, as a term exists homeostasis which describes the brains ability to continuously recharge, for which adequate rest is needed. Body wellbeing is directly related to the homeostatic value generated. As a solution, one would be advised to take short but frequent breaks from work. Technology needs to be reined in to ensure overworking does not take place. Tech free zones can be created using apps such as Unplugged or Off-time. One must even engage actively in relaxing hobbies such as swimming, watching movies, meditation, maintaining a journal or simply listening to podcasts.

Source:https://hbr.org/2016/06/resilience-is-about-how-you-recharge-not-how-you-endure?referral=03758&cm_vc=rr_item_page.top_right

Uploaded Date:07 June 2018

The biggest proponents of online education had a similar view towards it at the start of this decade as many have had towards online retail. They felt this would totally replace the traditional brick-and-mortar model. This hasn’t happened. Instead, like the eventual balancing of the retail industry, education too is now poised between a combination of online and the bricks-and-mortar model. The number of students studying online has increased exponentially from a mere million and a half at the turn of the millennium to more than six million in the US alone. But the advantages of collaboration honed in physical classrooms studying with many other students cannot be replicated. A hybrid model developed by an online platform 2U took best advantages from both. It partnered with co-working space provided We Work and got the employees enrolled at universities such as Georgetown and USC. Since they were working professionals, so they wanted to go for Executive MBA programme. While the classes were online, since they were all working in the We Work campus, it meant that they were able to interact face-to-face with each other to keep alive the competitive and collaborative spirit. Like organized retail, education too is headed towards a path of blend of the old and the new.

Source:https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/04/college-online-degree-blended-learning/557642/

Uploaded Date:05 June 2018