Business Strategy Monday: Ready For Growth?



(1) Proactive: To do something before you need to

I want you to be proactive. Don’t wait for me to tell you what to do.

(2) To align: To get people to feel the same way

We need to align the marketing and production teams.

(3) To harness: To use something for your advantage

We’ve harnessed our strong technical background to build a cool mobile application.



1. What is Booz and Company’s “Fit for Growth Index”?

a. The ways a company can align strategy

b. A score for how likely a company is to grow

c. The ways a company can grow

2. What’s the key point about spending?

a. Cut waste

b. Spend on underfunded areas

c. Spend on the stuff important for success

3. Why might alignment be important?

a. You need the right people

b. You need the right skills

c. You need people to work towards the same goals

7 ________________________




By Jeremy Schaar

In this lesson, you’ll learn some good vocabulary and how to tell if a company is ready for growth.

Have you heard about Booz and Company’s “Fit for Growth Index”?  They’ve identified three things that are important for growth. They also created a way to score those things so that companies can get a rating that’s easy to understand. You can think of it like a company taking a test. Their formula is a little complicated. You can click on the picture above or on this link to read all about it. (You’ll need to register at their site first.)

Here’s how they describe companies that are ready to grow:

First, they create clarity and coherence in their strategy, articulating the differentiating capabilities that they will need to win in the marketplace.

Said simply: A company should understand well why they will succeed.

Clarity means clear. Coherence means that there are no conflicts. To articulate is to say. A differentiating capability is something you can do better than your competitors.

Second, they put in place an optimized cost structure and approach to capital allocation, with continual investment in the capabilities critical to success, while proactively cutting costs in less-critical areas to fund these investments.

Said simply: They should spend their money wisely. This means cutting money in unimportant areas so they can spend on the stuff that’s really important for success.

Optimized means best possible. Cost structure is how much they’ll pay for things. Capital allocation is where they spend money. Continual investment means they’re always spending. Capabilities are things they can do. Critical to success means really important for success. Proactively means before it’s necessary.

Third, they build supportive organizations. They redesign their structures, incentives, decision rights, skill sets, and other organizational and cultural elements to more closely align their behavior to their strategy, and to harness the collective actions of their people.

Said simply: Employees should be able to do the company’s strategy. This means having the right people and motivating everyone to work well together.

Supportive means helpful. Incentives are the things that make us work well. To align means to get people to think the same way. To harness means to take advantage of, to use well.



Answers To Today’s Questions

C, B, C


You Can Do It All Yourself But You Dont Have To

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