Meridian 1

A place for evidence-based strategy?

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:12:35 +0000

The traditional view of growth and profitability is that they both tend to rise over time. There will be fluctuations due to the economic cycle, but overall business and investment decisions are based on an assumption that economies will continue to grow and, therefore, so will the opportunities to generate profit. 10 years ago, it [...]

SME Process management

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:24:11 +0000

What is Process Management? Business process management (BPM), process excellence and process improvement programmes have been undertaken for many years – with increasing success as a result of improved methods, better goals and maturing technology. The place of BPM in large organizations is well established, but is there a place for process thinking in small [...]

Strategy analysis: Economic data

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:26:24 +0000

New strategy analysis in the form of the influential Markit survey of purchasing managers in the European manufacturing sector has just been released. It shows that there was overall contraction in the EU, albeit at a slower rate than in the last quarter of 2011, but within this total slowdown, there were a few bright [...]

Weird myopia – interesting research findings

admin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 01:06:05 +0000

A fascinating article in New Scientist magazine by Laura Spinney, a writer based in Lausanne, Switzerland highlights a challenge for many of us in business in the US and Europe. The article compares findings from a number of researchers that highlight a problem with many of our basic assumptions about how people behave. It raises even deeper [...]

Strategic Analysis: UK Political Environment 3

admin — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:07:11 +0000

Just over six months ago, this blog questioned whether the new Conservative-led administration would drive the UK economy towards a double-dip recession by forcing through the expenditure cuts they had campaigned on, but which had failed to secure enough support to win the election. There are serious democratic issues here that are beyond the scope of this blog, [...]

Strategic Analysis: UK Political Environment 2

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 00:09:42 +0000

The recent UK general election is a major event that requires careful consideration for most local organisations, and it may have wider implications beyond the UK. Unusually, business played a prominent role in the campaign as the Conservative party used a selection of CEOs to back their policy of initiating public expenditure cuts in 2010 [...]

Paying for consultancy by results in the NHS

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:20:22 +0000

Paying for consultancy is not a new subject, but it has raised its head again recently following concern about the amount spent on consultancy by the UK National Health Service (NHS). Alan Downey, former chair of the Institute of Business Consulting and KPMG’s global head of healthcare, wrote in Management Today that “Consultants are…increasingly expected [...]

Strategic Analysis: UK Political environment

admin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:19:28 +0000

This post is intended to be used as part of the strategic analysis that any well-run business should undertake. It illustrates the political element of any strategic environmental analysis using the variants of the PEST framework( PESTEL, PESTLE, STEEPLE, PESTLIED etc.) The final term of the current UK government has begun following the summer recess [...]

You can’t outsource responsibility for business process

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:17:33 +0000

Microsoft has shown that cloud computing (and business process outsourcing in general) has big risks and no guarantees. A recent problem for Microsoft personal customers is a stark warning for business users. Last week, Microsoft’s Danger unit experienced a huge outage that left many T-Mobile Sidekick users without access to their calendar, address book, and [...]

Keep change simple

admin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:30:54 +0000

Working with a client on a new corporate strategy last week highlighted the importance of simplicity in business generally and change in particular. The focus of the work is translating a new corporate strategy and business plan into action through creating a number of competitive strategies and divisional plans. In addition to writing and executing [...]