Why is it that many companies do not see bottom line profits materialize as they should?
There may be many expressed reasons, but most of them point back to one fundamental problem: Too much focus on internal organizational issues and not enough focus on understanding and reacting on requirements the company is faced with from the market and stakeholder side.
As a result, the internal organization may not be optimized to match external requirements:
- Processes are complex and detailed but the market primarily calls for quick response
- Organizational structures are centralized where distributed responsibility would be better
- Products are of highest quality but the market is looking more for low cost
- ...
The goal of all strategy development efforts is to create a thinking framework that identifies external requirements and systematically turns them into products, processes and organizational structures that optimally meet market needs.
Intentionally building organizational characteristics that are aligned to market requirements allows an organization to continuously enjoy above average profits because they create above average customer value.