- Five units of an automotive parts supplier, located in different Asian countries, join with a pan-Asian strategy process and systematically share resources. ➔ Gaining market share and developing new customers.
- A global automotive manufacturer globalizes the manufacturing strategy. A team determines the requirements of product segments and develops the profile of competences needed globally to gain a footprint advantage. ➔ Local plants turn into a global manufacturing network, gaining advantages of responsiveness and cost.
- An automotive supplier rebuilds the strategy process, connecting it to a quarterly global management meeting, determining and monitoring strategic initiatives. Segment-champions are institutionalized who set up and lead initiatives, creating new business results and developing processes. ➔ A global network of the segment produces large-scale entrepreneurial success.
- An U.S. manufacturer of engine parts restructures his divisions. Newly assigned business managers develop clear strategies at segment level within 90 days. Then, strategic product development initiatives are launched, producing tangible technical breakthroughs within 120 days. ➔ New segments and attractive customers are developed, position as technology leader is renewed, a seasoned strategist leads each business, forming a global management team.
- A classical construction company refocuses on a selection of attractive niches with customers who value deep service offerings. By realigning core processes with these services the profitability of projects is regained and new business developed. ➔ A turnaround is achieved, with healthy growth in a generally unattractive market.
- A publisher of learning systems redefines the business strategy with focus on only a few key segments. He concentrates sales power on the most attractive customer segments and dramatically improves service benefits for them. The company improves its position from strong to market leader role within a year. ➔ Improved profitability renews relations with investors opening new space for growth.
- A provider of diversified education services opens up new business segments and linked sales, grouping these into clusters of process related to existing business areas, defining focused goals and streamlining processes. ➔ More effective product development and customer targeting leads to growth in the targeted areas.
- A Swiss bank joins regional managers in a new strategy process for private banking, developing new processes of selling and relating to customers and redefining service packages, focusing on sustainable segments. ➔ The new focus leads to a position in attractive, formerly untargeted segments.
- An Austrian retail bank, in a fundamental strategy process, decides not to acquire banks in Slovenia, but to build a new institute from scratch, starting with four employees and crossborder business. According to a strategic plan and focused initiatives a new retail player in Slovenia is built up with cost advantages based on ideally lean processes. ➔ A value in the three-figure million € range has been created.
- The controlling department of a large retail insurer fundamentally overhauls the service portfolio, improving impact on processes of internal clients and users. ➔ Significantly increased influence of the division leads to a development of decision quality.
- A regional grocery chain turns around the profitability of a segment of convenience stores by streamlining the concept and accordingly launching a breakthrough project with high co-worker-involvement. ➔ A sub-brand is clearly positioned, the business model of the stores is refurbished, the losses are stopped.
- A packaged consumer goods manufacturer relying on a very traditional high-value brand looks for direction to develop new markets. Management teams and focused strategy groups interact and redefine purpose, segmentation and core competences. Business segment responsibility is newly defined. ➔ Increased dynamics of product development and sales, new product positioned in highly competitive segments.
- A hair care brand manufacturer with stagnating growth develops innovative strategies for each of the channels served, repositions products, clears the product portfolio and installs business segment leaders. Important strategic initiatives for customers are realized. ➔ The company becomes one of the most profitable businesses of the global corporation.
- A manufacturer of air compressors, seeking new areas for growth, launches a strategy process. The management team forms into strategy groups and identifies market potential. While managing growth initiatives, a system for leading and navigating the strategy is developed, turning into coherent practice. ➔ The strategy plan is widely realized through new initiatives and more focused processes.
- A manufacturer of vacuum pumps is strongly focused on the food packaging segment and enjoys a stable leadership position. In order to transfer concept and strengths to adjacent markets, strategy teams identify potential for new customer benefit and design matching business processes, being built up through focus projects. ➔ Significant and profitable growth in new process applications of vacuums is realized.
- The management team of a large catering systems provider sits down and overhauls the restaurant concepts for different types of customer need structures. Key types of systems are defined as platforms to develop leaner and more focused service concepts. ➔ New offerings are realized with existing customers; a new restaurant type has successfully been established.
- A public utility defines a coherent structure of seven business areas to manage the service portfolio. Business strategies are formulated and management responsibility is defined. Each business area, under the new leadership, realizes breakthrough strategic goals, corroborating the strategy. ➔ New growth is achieved, based on focused activities and dedicated segment leadership.
- A national provider of development cooperation services defines strategies to build position in newly defined business areas, building a deeper, interlinked service portfolio. Under the guidance of a team of division heads, seven rapid result projects actuate the strategies and attain breakthroughs. ➔ New position and visibility in target markets plus a new management process for strategy formation and realization become effective within nine months.
- The product development unit of a development cooperation services provider sharpens its portfolio of professional services and enhances the effectiveness for their internal partners. ➔ Service impact and partner satisfaction increased.
- A pharmaceutical manufacturer makes use of a product launch to align the strategy with the changing demand of the health system. A process for strategic definition and product launch is being defined and becomes proven practice. ➔ Success of launches and re-launch becomes a competitive advantage.
- A "big pharma“-company steps into a new business area with a new product. The market entry strategy concentrates on how the processes of treatment providers and patients can be improved with the utilization of the product. ➔ Competitive advantage through focused services beyond product benefits is realized.
- A leading national newspaper re-aligns its IT-strategy for business administration. A new level of collaboration on the departmental as well as the management level is needed. The IT-strategy process becomes a platform to bring forward the business strategy. ➔ A complex system decision becomes effective. A strategic decision process has been formed.
- A large regional newspaper develops innovative offerings in an array of fine-tuned segments of regional customer needs. A process of rapid strategizing and prototyping allows the employment of talent for proactive moves to develop new markets. ➔ Additional revenue is generated; customer loyalty is enhanced.
- An automotive supplier looks into the process chain of parts for the „end of production“ phase of platforms. A prototype process is designed and applied, involving two OEM and two far-apart European plants and several central functions. The project is focused on delta-results, not process design. ➔ Lower cost of end-of-life-cycle product, a new proven process ready to be rolled out internationally.
- A German engine part manufacturer is to be integrated into a global corporation. A strategy team of the acquiree proactively develops a strategy for the new entity, suggests it to the acquirer and wins its support. The strategy is rolled out to other global divisions. Members of the original strategy team are assigned with jobs on the corporate level. ➔ Integration is implemented smoothly, a leap-frog strategy is implemented and significant value created.
- A global manufacturer integrates a divison strategy, connecting product development and sales processes across several Asian and European locations. ➔ New customer projects are won, a foundation is laid for future cost reduction.
- A construction company streamlines the total value chain targeted to the newly uncovered customer needs of the most profitable segment. ➔ The compelling service offering wins customers and customer satisfaction becomes a tangible advantage
- A construction company for car parks uses focus projects to create specific market success while unfreezing capacities for sales activities and streamlining fulfilment processes. A change of organizational structure follows. ➔ A highly accelerated business cycle creates more customer projects.
- A provider of online courses for vocational training re-aligns sales, delivery and HR processes with the needs of key customers. ➔ With a new depth of services at current cost level new market success is attained and investors are ready to ramp up the capital base.
- A diversified education services provider develops a new structure of responsibilities, following new principles. A newly coordinated marketing process, linking central and local roles, augments the profile of the offering. ➔ Improved level of marketing performance with existing resources.
- A Swiss bank joins regional managers in a new strategy process for private banking, developing new processes of selling and relating to customers and redefining service packages, focusing on a sustainable segment. ➔ The new focus leads to a position in attractive, formerly untargeted segments.
- A highly industrialized retail bank turns training in process management into alearning-on-the-job experience, using focused results projects. Co-workers uncover unexpected potential for improvement and realize this within their projects. ➔ An intended training becomes a significant value-adding improvement and learning procedure.
- A retail bank develops a new type of sales-force-driven financial service provider in a reform country. All processes are built from scratch, involving the employees and consistently focused on the advantage of “lean” in terms of cost, speed and customer satisfaction. ➔ A highly advanced process model gains market share and profit position.
- Two regionally adjacent savings banksdevelop new business areas together and develop core processes in joint teams. Trans-company business teams become the core of one integrated bank. ➔ A smooth integration creates new value, conflicts are settled proactively in the course of business.
- Seven independent retail banks together develop a model for their credit processing. With this a cross-enterprise, shared governance process unfolds. ➔ An alliance has formed, with realized advantage and stable governance.
- A savings bank wants to create a process map to identify areas for improvement. Instead, they immediately tackle the credit process, developing significant speed and cost advantage in a short time, using interconnected focus projects, involving employees in the improvement. ➔ Highly accelerated interaction with customers, new, highly efficient internal structure.
- With a lean and focused management process, controllers of an insurance company tackle urgent challenges of the treasury processes. ➔ Based on the shared experience of solving problems of new functional areas, a permanent management process is formed
- A mail order company fundamentally restructures all processes connected with returns. A return management function is developed, with the purpose of maximizing the sales value of returned items. ➔ Significant contribution to company bottom-line is achieved, a top-performing process management is established.
- An IT service provider reengineers key service and commercial processes to meet changing customer needs. The initiative focuses on directly improving customer feedback, not just technical process improvement. ➔ Customer satisfaction and feedback demonstrate success.
- An IT services corporation systematically acquires IT departments from medium-sized manufacturing companies. Each of the resulting tasks of integrating these units seems to be unique. The task is to accelerate and simplify these processes while increasing buy-in of the new employees. Through solving the problems of individual cases, a standard process is developed, which becomes a corporation-wide guiding standard. ➔ Integrating IT departments into the corporate management system while improving results becomes a key competency of the corporation.
- An IT service and operating company for scientific applications wants to encourage customers to improve the performance of their respective organizations. A “customer-forum” is instituted as a regular platform to discuss issues of cross-organizational cooperation, to determine goals for contractual arrangements, and explore trends for innovation and organizational learning in the IT industry. ➔ Contractual agreements are implemented at a much faster pace. Service provider and customers form an alliance, which becomes a model for the industry.
- The manufacturer of special machinery for the print industry wants to improve efficiency, speed and the willingness to change of an important plant. The management team determines five result areas to improve the performance of key business processes and defines breakthrough projects. Project teams, within 120 days, realize a new level of process results and sustainable improvements: Previously unattainable product innovation deadlines met, more cost-efficient product design solutions, procurement of a new category of parts, and a more effective sales process in collaboration with corporate functions. ➔ New business results attained and a process of regular boosts of improvement and learning alongside the realization of strategy. The breakthrough project approach is becoming an ingredient of the plant's culture.
- A rail network operator reorganizes and integrates the dispersed maintenance functions. Maintenance processes are mapped, outcomes and performance metrics defined and real performance improvement initiatives launched. With emerging successes, departments are integrated into a shared structure. ➔ Maintenance processes are continuously developing efficiency.
- A regional utility company aims at improving performance of a services business for private households. With a project that involves employees, the service level and throughput are increased. ➔ The foundation for growth and expansion has been laid.
- The product development unit of an international cooperation service provider realigns sales activities towards a closer collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. The solutions are created with a few workshops for a dedicated team. ➔ Clear process responsibilities are created and new performance measures take effect.
- The Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Bulgaria fundamentally redefines the process of EU support for developing enterprises. A process team tackles the challenge of "funding success“, aiming at tangible results according to EU regulations. Within six months, the process is operational. ➔ The EU development scheme begins to function.
- A manufacturer of medical hygiene products sees internal borders between functions and units to be a bottleneck to developing presence in new market segments. So key business processes are oriented towards creating new growth.➔ After four months, the total value chain performs faster and more efficiently while the commitment and motivation of co-workers and leadership alike has risen.
- A division of a global U.S.-based automotive manufacturer forms a global management team connecting all locations in order to ramp up strategic performance. Through quarterly meetings in different locations members bring in segment challenge analyses plus suggestions for strategy and initiatives, all prepared in distributed segment teams. In focused debate, strategy suggestion are corroborated und advanced by mutual feedforward and advice, thus welding the team together. ➔ The division becomes number one in the corporation in terms of profitability.
- Five national businesses of a U.S. automotive manufacturer in major East Asian countries join in a process of mutual learning and development of their strategies. By comparing differences and similarities the individual strategies become more distinct. Based on mutual respect for local solutions, the potential for coordinated market activities and shared resources becomes visible. The emerging team defines responsibilities for cross-location processes. At the same time, methodologies are streamlined and standards practices are adopted. ➔ A larger region management process is being created, building cooperation around shared missions and ways of working, leading to coordinated innovation and enhancing top-line and bottom-line results of all members.
- A business line of a diversified education provider is facing declining markets for several independently operating units. The heads of the business together walk through the steps of building new business segments and service offerings. With a growing frequency of meetings, activities become coordinated and a common strategy governance process is formed, including peer-reviewing of strategies and realization approaches. ➔ Tangible synergies in terms of costs and business development are leveraged.
- A retail bank reorients top-team meetings towards a consistent result perspective, submitting suggestions for business improvement as prepared by small teams of the participants. The culture of communication and sharing changes with the process, forming a shared understanding of the future business and allowing for overlapping of responsibilities for processes and results. ➔ New commitment of the whole team to ambitious results is created.
- Deploying systemic employee feedback and discussing data in a solution-focused, shared process, a savings bank sets its course towards a repositioning as a sales-driven organization. ➔ The leadership team agrees on direction, the management levels buy into the new tasks.
- The leadership team of an airline caterer collects feedback on strategy and management style. The team together evaluates data and explores causes of the situation. Based on the congruence of perspectives forming in this process, the team engages with high energy in designing new business concepts for sharpened market segments and self-coordinates the realization. ➔ Plans to increase profitability and expand the business are implemented.
- A companywide survey of a large professional service provider shows significant weaknesses in the management process of one department. Task force teams specify the data for the business unit and develop hypotheses about the causal organizational mechanisms. The management team, together with the task forces, validates the hypotheses and then agrees on measures to overcome the weaknesses. ➔ Measures to improve leadership and business processes, based on the acceptance by leadership and co-workers, are implemented with success.
- After merging of a newly acquired biotech company, with a newly formed business, a corporation of "big pharma" must build a culturally unified business unit. The newly assembled management team develops an identity by accepting this common task. The management team conducts an employee survey about the differences of behaviour and the bottlenecks in the business processes. Based on these perceptions, the team sets a focus on the business challenge, plans for shared success as a unit and defines a governance process to track success. ➔ Two crucial product launch projects reap tremendous success and develop market leadership.
- A division of a U.S. engine parts manufacturer, having defined eight key segments for future business, establishes the new level of “business manager”. For this function, organizational space has to be cleared, and conflicts with central functions have to be resolved. The Division President initiates several focus projects for each segment. The President lets the new competences of business managers emerge with breakthrough success in technology and customer targeting. ➔ New segments and customers have been developed, profit is exceeding the plan. The business leader forms a team of skilled strategists, effectively collaborating with central engineering and sales functions.
- A retail bank enters the market in Slovenia by building up a new institution from scratch. The strategic concept is based on extremely lean and fast business processes being developed step by step by newly hired, young co-workers, most of them without experience in the banking industry. The CEO arranges projects in such a way that, under his leadership, co-workers evolve processes with their own resources, with only a single consultant's support. The process model leads to the gaining of a sustainable market position in a densely occupied market. ➔ The leadership and governance model that evolve keeps the bank nimble and assures cost advantage.
- The leadership team of a leading regional bank invigorates the sales personnel of its branches by setting new demands and opening new space for innovative ways. The task is to gain new business, while improving the service quality and image, as well as ensuring internal collaboration with central functions. ➔ Sales are up and engagement of all functions for success in sales has significantly increased.
- The CIO of a national retail bank plans to fundamentally increase the impact of implementation projects by enhancing the effectiveness of project leadership. Instead of engaging in a classroom-based training program, existing customer projects are used to develop the leadership process and the collaboration with users. The lever is to focus the projects on clear and ambitious goals for performance and impact, and then have processes and team capabilities improved while following the goals. ➔ Dramatically shorter delivery time and improved customer satisfaction and feedback are realized.
- Two retail banks jointly develop new business areas and together improve processes of sales and back-office. The CEOs of the partners build the foundation of a joint management dialogue vertically and horizontally. Overlapping teams of department and group heads, co-workers and work councils of both institutions build the planning and communication infrastructure. Projects to leverage synergies get the backing of both organizations. An integration manager oversees, supports and coordinates activities. ➔ The organizations merge gradually, while new business value is being created for both. Selected business processes, and practices are adopted as shared standards, enlarging the common ground.
- With the restructuring of a large IT services organization core teams become dispersed across European locations. Leadership of distributed teams becomes a critical success factor of the business. Team leaders have to reconfigure their routine. A dedicated support process is established, training team leaders, facilitating dispersed meetings and offering coaching for leaders helping them to align their teams. Together with HR, an evaluation system is integrated into the process. ➔ Dispersed teams deliver. A peer-learning process is established and the coordination of HR management supports executives in their new roles, and takes initiative to deal with upcoming issues.
- A global manufacturer of office equipment looks for a process to realize existing plans for growth. In a first wave of the programme, more than 15 national units participate in a management process, extending from strategy to 100-days realization projects. The business success is so convincing that the process becomes a key element of the corporate culture, and is presented in the annual report. ➔ The “ideation-to-100- day-realization" process is featured in the report to analysts on a regular basis, becoming a factor in the total valuation of the business.
- The HR department of a rail operator orients their co-workers towards improving services. Teams review systematically the outcome of HR services, identify potential improvements and change the structure of activities accordingly. A leadership dialogue on HR service objectives and performance is established on several levels of the organization. ➔ Customer benefit and feedback are measurably improving.
- The new president of a road traffic authorityrealigns the leadership culture. He initiates a process of organizational development, ranging from the discussion of leadership values and strategic challenges to organizing the collaboration of different technical functions and levels of hierarchy, including a peer-learning process in all regional operational units. ➔ The institutional culture has changed, performance is on the rise in the face of the changing demands of the political environment.
- A large city NGO institution for education, culture and social services wants to review and develop the leadership and governance orientation and structure. All senior levels of all functions are asked for feedback, ideas about future requirements and suggestions. The results are consolidated into a report on institutional options for goals and courses of development. Based on this, the top team restructures functions and top-level responsibilities and starts to trigger action. ➔ Focus projects implement the plans, division and function heads stay coordinated through these projects and shape a corporate-wide leadership practice.
- A state ministry, facing a situation of escalating conflict between departments and hierarchy levels, the leadership installs a conflict management process. Using an action research type of approach, participants compile perspectives and perceptions, dealing with emotionalizing issues in a workshop with all parties. Participants crystallize the tasks to follow up the conflict reflection, evaluate options for organizational structure and for differentiation of roles of key officials. ➔ A new model for the functions of supervising the state's schools system is agreed on, the dialogue of leadership levels becomes institutionalized, functional roles are renewed and urgent tasks are effectively addressed.
- The global HR team of an international science publisher develops a corporate strategy for the HR function and, with it, a management system to coordinate initiatives and record results. ➔ HR functions across locations are connected through a contoured leadership model. The rate of retention of talent is improving as one of the results.
- The chief HR officer of a large, diversified publishing company brings together the HR managers of all business units to structure HR processes and tools. Together, they develop the innovation of a coordinating role for corporate HR in all units in all countries. ➔ Regional HR functions work according to a common standard. Capacities are deployed across legal units. A professional peer network enables quick exchange of crucial information and mutual support. Customer feedback is supportive, efficiency is raised.
- A high-performance institution of performing art sees itself blocked by conflict-prone working relations and unaddressed issues of artistic self-conception. With a process involving most of the members, a structured dialogue begins on different interests in direction and differences of communication styles. Clarifications are worked out and members join together on a path towards new solutions. ➔ The dialogue between individuals and roles is revitalized and leadership functions regain the power of orientation and action. Steps towards a joint artistic development have been made.
- Executives of newly formed units of an IT service provider congregate on a regular basis to exchange their perspectives on goals and development approaches. In this process, the executives increase performance targets for their units and update structures and processes accordingly. ➔ Sales and profits increase. The orientation towards results and the use of self-organization remains a permanent impetus for adapting the organization towards resilience.
