domingo, julho 29, 2012

Repeatibility & Simple Rules

Resolvi finalmente começar a ler ""Repeatability - Build Enduring Businesses for a World of Constant Change" de Chris Zook e James Allen.
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Na introdução encontro:
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"The nature of successful strategy is changing in three ways.
First, it is now much less about a detailed plan than about a general direction and a few critical initiatives - almost a strategy on a page - built around deep capabilities that can be constantly improved, adapted, and reapplied. The reason for this is the increased speed at which information flows and change occurs in the world, compressing time.
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Second, strategy is now less about anticipating how the world will change, which is increasingly difficult to know, than about superiority at rapid testing, changing, and adapting.
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Third, effective strategy is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from an effective organization. The best strategies are those that the organization readily embraces, mobilizes around quickly, and provides feedback on.
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When the full orgaization understands deeply the strategy, its ability to learn and adjust to change will have a good chance at being better than competitor'.
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complexity has become the silent killer of growth strategies - complexity of organizations layered with constant new initiatives and systems, complexity of messages throughout the organization, complexity of implementation across different markets, complexity of IT systems to keep track of it all."
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Depois, no primeiro capítulo "The Great Repeatable Model" sublinho logo no início:
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"simplicity, focus, and mastering the art of continuous change nearly always trump strategies of radical change  or constant reinvention. The complexity and disruption that results are the great "silent killers" of growth and and can even lead to "binge and purge" cycles that ultimately weaken the core of businesses."
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Os autores propõem 3 princípios para criar o "Great Repeatable Model"

  • princípio 1 - A strong well-differentiated core
  • princípio 2 - Clear nonnegotiables
  • princípio 3 - Systems for closed-loop learning
Os autores definem nonnegotiables como:
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"My view of nonnegotiables is simple - it is a contract between me and the front line. If we force them to be traded off to achieve financial objectives, they should raise it with me directly.
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the use of well-defined, shared core principles and beliefs linking frontline behavior was one of the parameters in our study with the highest correlation to business performance"
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Chego aqui e começo a sentir uma comichão mental... eu já vi isto. E recuo a 2002 ou 2003 quando, para minha surpresa genuína, um gerente de uma empresa comentou comigo um artigo que lhe tinha enviado para leitura. Ele tinha mesmo lido!!! Ele tinha ficado interessado pelo conceito.
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O artigo chama-se "Strategy as Simple Rules" da autoria de Kathleen Eisenhardt e Donald Sull, publicado pela HBR em Janeiro de 2001 onde se pode ler:
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"When the business landscape was simple, companies could afford to have complex strategies. But now that
business is so complex, they need to simplify. Smart companies have done just that with a new approach:
a few straightforward, hard-and-fast rules that define direction without confining it.
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The secret of companies like Yahoo! (Moi ici: Estávamos em 2001, pré-estouro do dotcom) is strategy as simple rules. Managers of such companies know that the greatest opportunities for competitive advantage lie in market confusion, so they jump into chaotic markets, probe for opportunities, build on successful forays, and shift flexibly among opportunities as circumstances dictate. But they recognize the need for a few key strategic processes and a few simple rules to guide them through the chaos.
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In traditional strategy, advantage comes from exploiting resources or stable market positions. In strategy as simple rules, by contrast, advantage comes from successfully seizing fleeting opportunities.
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Most managers quickly grasp the concept of focusing on key strategic processes that will position their companies where the flow of opportunities is most promising. But because they equate processes with detailed routines, they often miss the notion of simple rules. Yet simple rules are essential. They poise the company on what’s termed in complexity theory “the edge of chaos,” providing just enough structure to allow it to capture the best opportunities.
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Like all effective strategies, strategy as simple rules is about being different. But that difference does not arise from tightly linked activity systems or leveraged core competencies, as in traditional strategies. It arises from focusing on key strategic processes and developing simple rules that shape those processes. When a pattern emerges from the processes – a pattern that creates network effects or economies of scale or scope – the result can be a long-term competitive advantage like the ones Intel and Microsoft achieved for over a decade. More often, the competitive advantage is short term."
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Um bom comentário ao livro está aqui.



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