Re-think. Re-position. Renew.

Those are the three imperatives for managers. Processes must now focus on core practices. I defined four critical areas which will impact powerfully on the modern organization.

Grass-roots Education: This means training everyone, from the CEO to the shop-floor worker. Without this true momentum cannot be achieved.

Fire Prevention: Fortune 500 companies have shown how deep and long-lasting the influence of Six Sigma and DFSS is. Six Sigma focuses on ‘defense’ that is eliminating mistakes, waste and reworking. The higher the Sigma Value, the fewer defects you have. Six is virtually perfect. To reach the next higher level of efficiency, organizations must practice DFSS, because it starts even earlier than SS, developing or redesigning the process itself. So Six Sigma would work for the short-term and DFSS for the long.

Direct Interaction: Customers care only about products and services and their quality. They don’t want to know who’s strategizing what. They want quick and easy access and a lot of information prior to a purchase decision. Extend the organization’s data-gathering with 2-way communication. Use social media to help stage your CRM program. Create a cloud-based forum for present and future customers. Above everything else, be alert, react quickly, and work for continual improvement.

Effective Globalization: It is now almost imperative that companies adapt products, services and processes to local requirements. There will be risk but it will depend on how quickly the company responds to change. Managers must study and assimilate local cultures, markets, local competition. They must develop business models tailored to local needs. They must find strategic local partners and encourage employees by upholding local values. And they must keep on introducing new, improved products with local flavors.

Strategy – Collaboration with Thought Leaders

Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA, USA

• Samuel A. Culbert
  Professor of Management
  Organization 21C

Chaminade University of Honolulu, USA

• Scott J. Schroeder
  Associate Professor of Management and Director of Business and Graduate Management Programs
  Organization 21C

College of William and Mary, USA

• Robert M. Fulmer
  W. Brooks George Professor of Management
  Management 21C

Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

• Nicolai J. Foss
  Director of the Learning, Incentives, and Knowledge (LINK) Program
  Next Generation Business Handbook

Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, USA

• Jeanne M. Liedtka
  Johnson and Higgins Research Associate Professor of Business Administration
  Next Generation Business Handbook

Harvard Business School, USA

• Christopher A. Bartlett
  Daewoo Professor of Business Administration
  Management 21C

IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland

• Derek F. Abell
  Professor of Strategy and Marketing
  Management 21C

• Peter Lorange
  President
  Management 21C

• Piero Morosini
  Professor for Strategy and Execution
  Next Generation Business Handbook

INSEAD, France

• Subramanian Rangan
  Associate Professor of Strategy & Management
  Next Generation Business Handbook

London Business School, UK

• Sumantra Ghoshal
  Robert P. Bauman Chair in Strategic Leadership
  Management 21C

• Peter Moran
  Assistant Professor of Strategy and International Management
  Management 21C

• Kim Warren
  Adjunct Associate Professor of Strategic Management
  Next Generation Business Handbook

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

• Peter M. Senge
  Senior Lecturer
  Management 21C

Max M. Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University, USA

• Robert L. Heneman
  Professor of Management & Human Resources and Director of Graduate Programs in Labor and Human Resources
  Organization 21C

Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, Canada

• Allen J. Morrison
  Donald Hunter Professor of International Business
  Next Generation Business Handbook

Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Canada

• Joel A. C. Baum
  Professor of Strategy and Organization
  Next Generation Business Handbook

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands

• J. Wil Foppen
  Dean, Director and Professor
  Management 21C

• Henk W. Volberda
  Professor of Strategic Management and Business Policy
  Next Generation Business Handbook

Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada

• Cyril Bouquet
  Assistant Professor of Strategy
  Next Generation Business Handbook

Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA 

• Rebecca Henderson
  Eastman Kodak Professor of Management
  Next Generation Business Handbook

• Katrin H. Käufer
  Visiting Professor
  Management 21C

University of Michigan Business School, USA

• Jaideep Anand
  Assistant Professor in Corporate Strategy and International Business Group
  Next Generation Business Handbook

• Christopher DeRose
  Associate
  Organization 21C

• C.K. Prahalad
  Harvey C. Fruehauf Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Corporate Strategy and International Business
  Management 21C

• Noel M. Tichy
  Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
  Next Generation Business Handbook

Consultants & Executives

• John C. Beck
  Director of International Research, Accenture Institute for Strategic Change
  Next Generation Business Handbook

• James A. Champy
  Chairman of Consulting, Perot Systems Corporation
  Organization 21C

• Marshall Goldsmith
  Director of Keilty, Goldsmith & Company
  Management 21C

• Wendy K. Schutt
  Human Resources Consultant
  Organization 21C