Cut Costs, Grow Stronger : A Strategic Approach to What to Cut and What to Keep

Cut Costs, Grow Stronger : A Strategic Approach to What to Cut and What to Keep PDF Author: Paul Leinwand
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 1422161803
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
For most companies, cost cutting in a down economy means across-the-board slashing that "spreads the pain" of budget reductions across many departments. While that may sound like the best approach for getting critical results fast and for limiting political infighting, it is a mistake-one that will leave your company weaker, not just smaller. Instead, companies that need to reduce costs should treat the challenge as an opportunity to identify and reinforce their key capabilities, while divesting from those activities that do not truly reflect the business's strengths or long-term goals. This more strategic approach will make your company more resilient as tough times continue and more robust as recovery begins. In Cut Costs, Grow Stronger, an e-book published as part of the Harvard Business Press Memo to the CEO series, Booz & Company's Shumeet Banerji, Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi provide executives with the tools they need to rapidly implement capabilities-driven cost reduction. First they demonstrate how to identify and clearly articulate your company's key capabilities-not just core competencies or skill sets, but those very few strengths that, in combination, define how your organization competes. You can then use this information to create your company's unique blueprint for effective and efficient cost reduction. The authors' detailed, step-by-step framework walks you through the process, which can be completed in as little as two or three months-it's something that you can do now. This practical guide to capabilities-driven cost-cutting is the tool executives need to confront the challenge of today's economy while strengthening the foundation for what will set their company apart in the future.

Cut Costs, Grow Stronger : A Strategic Approach to What to Cut and What to Keep

Cut Costs, Grow Stronger : A Strategic Approach to What to Cut and What to Keep PDF Author: Paul Leinwand
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 1422161803
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 64

Get Book

Book Description
For most companies, cost cutting in a down economy means across-the-board slashing that "spreads the pain" of budget reductions across many departments. While that may sound like the best approach for getting critical results fast and for limiting political infighting, it is a mistake-one that will leave your company weaker, not just smaller. Instead, companies that need to reduce costs should treat the challenge as an opportunity to identify and reinforce their key capabilities, while divesting from those activities that do not truly reflect the business's strengths or long-term goals. This more strategic approach will make your company more resilient as tough times continue and more robust as recovery begins. In Cut Costs, Grow Stronger, an e-book published as part of the Harvard Business Press Memo to the CEO series, Booz & Company's Shumeet Banerji, Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi provide executives with the tools they need to rapidly implement capabilities-driven cost reduction. First they demonstrate how to identify and clearly articulate your company's key capabilities-not just core competencies or skill sets, but those very few strengths that, in combination, define how your organization competes. You can then use this information to create your company's unique blueprint for effective and efficient cost reduction. The authors' detailed, step-by-step framework walks you through the process, which can be completed in as little as two or three months-it's something that you can do now. This practical guide to capabilities-driven cost-cutting is the tool executives need to confront the challenge of today's economy while strengthening the foundation for what will set their company apart in the future.

Fit for Growth

Fit for Growth PDF Author: Vinay Couto
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119268532
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
A practical approach to business transformation Fit for Growth* is a unique approach to business transformation that explicitly connects growth strategy with cost management and organization restructuring. Drawing on 70-plus years of strategy consulting experience and in-depth research, the experts at PwC’s Strategy& lay out a winning framework that helps CEOs and senior executives transform their organizations for sustainable, profitable growth. This approach gives structure to strategy while promoting lasting change. Examples from Strategy&’s hundreds of clients illustrate successful transformation on the ground, and illuminate how senior and middle managers are able to take ownership and even thrive during difficult periods of transition. Throughout the Fit for Growth process, the focus is on maintaining consistent high-value performance while enabling fundamental change. Strategy& has helped major clients around the globe achieve significant and sustained results with its research-backed approach to restructuring and cost reduction. This book provides practical guidance for leveraging that expertise to make the choices that allow companies to: Achieve growth while reducing costs Manage transformation and transition productively Create lasting competitive advantage Deliver reliable, high-value performance Sustainable success is founded on efficiency and high performance. Companies are always looking to do more with less, but their efforts often work against them in the long run. Total business transformation requires total buy-in, and it entails a series of decisions that must not be made lightly. The Fit for Growth approach provides a clear strategy and practical framework for growth-oriented change, with expert guidance on getting it right. *Fit for Growth is a registered service mark of PwC Strategy& Inc. in the United States

Strategy That Works

Strategy That Works PDF Author: Paul Leinwand
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
ISBN: 1625275218
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
How to close the gap between strategy and execution Two-thirds of executives say their organizations don’t have the capabilities to support their strategy. In Strategy That Works, Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi explain why. They identify conventional business practices that unintentionally create a gap between strategy and execution. And they show how some of the best companies in the world consistently leap ahead of their competitors. Based on new research, the authors reveal five practices for connecting strategy and execution used by highly successful enterprises such as IKEA, Natura, Danaher, Haier, and Lego. These companies: • Commit to what they do best instead of chasing multiple opportunities • Build their own unique winning capabilities instead of copying others • Put their culture to work instead of struggling to change it • Invest where it matters instead of going lean across the board • Shape the future instead of reacting to it Packed with tools you can use for building these five practices into your organization and supported by in-depth profiles of companies that are known for making their strategy work, this is your guide for reconnecting strategy to execution.

The Final Frontier

The Final Frontier PDF Author: Justin Pettit
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119376572
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The energy industry's accelerated evolution requires visionary change The Final Frontier parses the evolution of the oil and gas sector to map out a plan for going forward. The global energy industry is huge, and it is in disarray; between low oil and gas prices, climate change, rising development costs, and ever-mounting regulations, the need for change has been made crystal clear—but planning is much easier than implementation, and stasis is not progress. This book shows how redesigning internal operating models can bring about the necessary change in the implementation of upstream capabilities-driven strategies. From integrated, national, major, and independent oil companies, to the service companies in the upstream supply chain, there isn't an enterprise in the sector that cannot benefit from reduced costs and increased efficiency. Knowing that change is necessary is not enough—this book shows you what to change, and how to change it to get off the treadmill and start moving forward. With expert guidance through each redesign element, this insightful guide provides more than simply ideas: it provides real, practical guidance on transforming operations to keep pace with the changes and create lasting advantage. Identify the most relevant organizational capabilities for your resource portfolio, as well as the changes that can translate into savings and efficiency Build a workable plan for real-world implementation Redesign the operating model most suited to the needs of your business on an organization-wide basis Learn what to do differently and how to do it differently The energy industry has made great strides: our understanding of the global resource base, the nature of ownership and principal stakeholders, new technologies for resource development, and our economics and business models have all undergone a tremendous revolution, but now the more difficult—and more valuable—task begins. The Final Frontier helps you navigate the future and implement the changes necessary to avoid getting left behind.

Strategic Cost Reduction Or Cutting Costs Without Killing Your Business

Strategic Cost Reduction Or Cutting Costs Without Killing Your Business PDF Author: Tim McCormick
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780903854696
Category : Cost accounting
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
For many businesses, Cost Reduction has been a priority for some time. As the Recession deepens and the Credit Crunch bites, however, the urgency has intensified. In a crisis, companies may need to cut many costs to restore their corporate health. Unfortunately, cost cutting is sometimes undertaken carelessly, and may cut a corporate artery; or is performed so persistently that it can lead to a corporate 'death by a thousand cuts'. At other times, cost cutting occurs randomly, meaning that the savings made are only temporary and that the costs re-appear. Cost reduction is often omitted from management books, or is dealt with in a fragmented, incomplete way. Written by a chartered accountant and an engineer, this new book takes a holistic approach to the subject, and is an original practitioners' guide on how to reduce costs in a way which does not ultimately destroy the business. This involves integrating the experience of leading practitioners with the available strategic models and theories.Strategic Cost Reduction is aimed at any person who is in a position to influence the strategy of the business, irrespective of its size, including directors, business unit managers and owner-managers, together with their advisors, such as chartered accountants. While it is written from an Irish perspective, many of the examples given are from multinationals operating in a global context, and so the book has wider relevance. While some success may result from focussing on the more obvious and immediate cost reduction targets, radical cost reduction is unlikely to be achieved by a draconian policy of 'slash and burn.' The ground-breaking strategic perspective described in this book will be far more productive. By careful planning and skilful implementation, it should be possible for companies to avoid the pitfalls and achieve lasting success. Outline of the Book Strategic Cost Reduction is in four parts. Part 1 deals with budgeting and other traditional approaches to cost reduction, including the various functional departments, to assess the effectiveness of existing cost reduction systems.It continues with the measurement of the problem, the setting of cost reduction targets and how to approach an emergency. Part 2 places cost reduction in a wider framework of strategy and values, considering different types of strategies and the critical functional safeguards, which should not be overlooked. It then looks at the wider strategic drivers of cost and approaches the issue by using the value chain, rather than traditional accounting information, which may not identify the root causes of the problem. Finally it delves into the issue of economies and diseconomies of scale. Part 3 outlines the modern operational tools used to analyse and manage costs by world class companies, such as Toyota and Motorola. It discusses 'world class' and 'lean' manufacturing, six sigma and business process reengineering. This is followed by the challenges of benchmarking and outsourcing. It provides a number of case studies and offers practical tips for implementation, as well as outlining the options available. Part 4 deals with issues of implementation and monitoring. It reviews issues around the structuring and rewarding the labour force.It goes on to establish the critical links with the budgeting and costing system, the role and costs of the head office and how quality and values can be monitored through a balanced scorecard. It finishes with a summary of how to plan the journey and get started. Each concise chapter gives numerous examples and illustrations, and each one ends with a checklist of thoughts for the practising manager. The contents of the text are set out below:

The Essential Advantage

The Essential Advantage PDF Author: Paul Leinwand
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 1422136515
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Conventional wisdom on strategy is no longer a reliable guide. In Essential Advantage, Booz & Company's Cesare Mainardi and Paul Leinwand maintain that success in any market accrues to firms with coherence: a tight match between their strategic direction and the capabilities that make them unique. Achieving this clarity takes a sharpness of focus that only exceptional companies have mastered. This book helps you identify your firm's blend of strategic direction and distinctive capabilities that give it the "right to win" in its chosen markets. Based on extensive research and filled with company examples--including Amazon.com, Johnson & Johnson, Tata Sons, and Procter & Gamble--Essential Advantage helps you construct a coherent company in which the pieces reinforce each other instead of working at cross-purposes. The authors reveal: · Why you should focus on a system of a few aligned capabilities · How to identify the "way to play" in your market · How to design a strategy for well-modulated growth · How to align a portfolio of businesses behind your capability system · How your strategy clarifies growth, costs, and people decisions Few companies achieve a capability-driven "right to win" in their market. This book helps you position your firm to be among them.

Operational Leadership

Operational Leadership PDF Author: Andrew Spanyi
Publisher: Business Expert Press
ISBN: 9781606491133
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 107

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Book Description
Customers are increasingly demanding higher levels of speed and quality, yet leaders often focus mainly on reducing the costs of operations. This book outlines the needed evolution in leadership attitudes and behaviors in the key operational areas such as new product development, sales, operations, customer service, human resources, finance, and information technology.

Cut Costs Not Corners

Cut Costs Not Corners PDF Author: Colin Barrow
Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers
ISBN: 0749459778
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Cost cutting is an issue for every manager and executive at every level in every company, large or small, public or private sector. Junior managers who are proactively tight on cost are learning good habits for the future, ones that will bring them recognition and advance their climb up the organizational chart. The HR department is now staffed with tough cost managers dealing with the most difficult cost category, people. Marketing departments now focus on how to get higher returns from less spend. Cut Costs Not Corners has a coherent and structured approach to cost cutting as a permanent activity, combined with guidance on the practical steps to take and powerful international case studies. It covers strategic and tactical cost cutting options such as analysing space needs, buying technology for less, selling off redundant assets, reducing credit risk, reviewing distribution methods, sourcing new suppliers or consolidating existing ones, advertising for less, changing the route to market, travel and utility savings, minimising finance and tax costs, crisis measures - freezing recruitment, delaying pay rises, sell and lease back assets - keeping budgets rolling and using a daily cash flow model.

Profit Building

Profit Building PDF Author: Perry Ludy
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458795306
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Improving Profit is the number one objective of business leaders, yet most do not truly understand how to move beyond the basics when it comes to cost reduction for profit improvement. Typically, a companys response to reducing cost is to reduce the workforce. People are laid off in large numbers and dollars are saved--or so it seems. This is a mistake, a short-term solution. Profit Building provides a better approach, one that focuses on profit improvement as a stand-alone process, demonstrating how an organization can achieve its goals to improve profitability and reduce cost through a proven method based on team innovation management. Perry J. Ludy offers a hands-on guide that shows managers how to move profit and loss financial reviews beyond the basics to creative solutions and genuine action plans. Using the authors five-step Profit Building Process (PBP), Profit Building shows how to organize teams with the specific purpose of improving profit--while providing an opportunity for employees to participate in developing cost reduction strategies so that profit improvement is perpetual. A system of step-by-step activities designed to produce immediate and continuous results, the PBP shows managers how to apply concepts from prior learning--such as teams, innovation management, and performance improvement planning--to create tailor-made strategies for any organization. And it introduces """"Questions Brainstorming,"""" a new twist to traditional brainstorming that fosters avid group participation resulting in better solutions. In order to achieve success beyond today, business leaders must leverage all resources available within the organization to improve profit, reduce cost, and create a better place to work. Profit Building is an executive handbook and a quick desk reference for managers that shows how to do just that.

Playing to Win

Playing to Win PDF Author: Alan G. Lafley
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 142218739X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Explains how companies must pinpoint business strategies to a few critically important choices, identifying common blunders while outlining simple exercises and questions that can guide day-to-day and long-term decisions.