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Networking Europe's corporate planners
118
Long Range Planning, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 118 to 119, 1991 Printed in Great Britain
Networking Planners
0024-6301/91 63.00 + .OO Pergamon Press plc
Europe’s Corporate
Andrew Tank
Senior executives often need to discuss key issues with fellow professionals in a confidential, non-threatening environment. Their chief executive expects them to find all the solutions and their staff expect them to know all the answers.
planning professionals to exchange experience and views. The aim is to build up an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence, so that participants feel free to share their corporation’s approach to strategy.
To help such senior managers, a new forum for corporate strategists and planners is being set up by The Conference Board Europe. Called the ‘European Council on Corporate Strategy’ it will bring together directors responsible for planning, business development and strategy from leading multinational corporations.
The emphasis will be very practical, with the idea being that the group will analyse how overall corporate strategies and ambitions can be translated into workable management methods. Members of the Council should leave each meeting with at least one new insight that will help them do their job better.
The idea is to encourage 30-50 strategists to ‘brainstorm’ about their own experience and share insights into key issues facing top management teams. The emphasis will reflect the changing role of planning, and stress the practical issues of implementing strategy.
To achieve this the Council will review actual case studies of how transnational corporations have devised and implemented new strategies. The confidential nature of the meetings means that members will be encouraged to share both their achievements, and their problems.
‘The central challenge for senior management is how to implement improved corporate strategies’, says Professor Bernard Taylor, project director of the new European Council on Corporate Strategy. ‘This Council offers top corporate strategists the opportunity to exchange views with their peers from Europe’s most important companies’.
The Council will be self-governing and set its own agenda, the likely topics to be discussed will include:
Professor Taylor is Professor of Business Policy at the Henley Management College and Editor of Long Range Planning. The Confernce Board is a U.S.-based network and research organization founded in 1916. Its charter says its ‘twofold purpose is to improve the business enterprise system and to enhance the contribution of business to society’. Over 2000 of the largest international industrial and financial services companies subscribe to its services, of which around 350 are in Europe. Council membership is open to executives responsible for corporate planning, business development and strategic management in companies who are Associates of The Conference Board Europe. Total Council membership is restricted to 50 people, who will elect a chairman and advise on future agenda topics. Meetings will be held twice a year at locations throughout Europe and consist of two evening reception/workshops plus one and a half working days. The first meeting will be held in April 1991. The Council work will provide an interactive network for Directors of Corporate Development and senior corporate
Implementing strategy-how to provide the interface between senior management ambitions and workforce practices. This is often the hardest task as the view from the directors’ suite is quite different from that of the shop floor. Many companies attempting to implement Total Quality initiatives, for instance, have failed to realize the ambitions of the top, because of resistance from unmotivated staff at the front line. Strategic leadership-how to define the role of the corporate strategist in a decentralized company. The changing nature of ‘planning’, and the demise of many centralized planning departments, means that many companies now leave much day-to-day decision making to divisions. What is the role of the corporate centre in such companies, and what is the role of the strategist? Shareholder value-how to measure and enhance it before a corporate raider does. Companies in the Anglo-Saxon world have faced this predicament during the deal-hungry 1980s. It seems that even the apparently bid-proof companies in Continental Europe are being forced to take similar actions, as cross border merger and acquisition activity increases.
Accelerating new product development-how to emulate the world’s best practice. The Japanese have shown in consumer electronics and the motor industry how shrinking product development cycles can be a potent source of
Networking competitive advantage. The Council will review what can be learnt from this experience and, more urgently, how to emulate it.
Europe’s
Corporate
Planners
119
environmentally aware, although all companies will need to review their operating procedures to ensure this is instilled throughout the corporation’s work. Corporate affairs, standards and ethics-how to construct and enforce a defined corporate mission. One of the key roles of the corporate centre is to set the overall principles by which the company should act in its business dealings. The Council will compare notes on how these should be set and implemented.
Q Integrating services into manufacturing-how to supply profitable solutions rather than simply products. ‘Selling boxes’ is no longer an option for many companies; the job is to solve a customer’s problem. This is true in almost all industries, but many in both manufacturing and service sectors have not yet grasped its true significance.
*
Sr Rertruturing for international markets-how to make your company a truly global competitor. Very few companies can call themselves truly global in outlook, although all face global competitive challenges. The old style multinational needs to re-think its structure to cope with this new environment.
The Council on Corporate Strategy is an extension of The Conference Board’s expanding activities in Europe. The Board runs similar groups on Corporate Finance, Banking, Economics, Quality, Logistics, Organization, Management Information Systems, Public Affairs and Human Resources. A total of around 300 senior European executives are actively involved in the network, which includes representatives from every major country and industry in Europe.
*
Q
Downsizing-how to distinguish surplus fat from corporate muscle. One of the perils of restructuring is realizing what is surplus bureaucracy, and what is necessary investment. The downsizing traumas of the early 1980s were followed by skills shortages in the late 1980s. How can this experience be avoided in future, especially in difficult economic times? Thegreening of business-how to capitalize on environmental concerns. The Green agenda is high on many corporate action plans. Already most consumer goods industries are
Further
information
from:
Andrew Tank Research Associate The Conference Board 207 Avenue Louise B-l 050 Brussels Tel: (322) 640.62.40 Fax: (322) 640.67.35
Long Range Planning, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 118 to 119, 1991 Printed in Great Britain
Networking Planners
0024-6301/91 63.00 + .OO Pergamon Press plc
Europe’s Corporate
Andrew Tank
Senior executives often need to discuss key issues with fellow professionals in a confidential, non-threatening environment. Their chief executive expects them to find all the solutions and their staff expect them to know all the answers.
planning professionals to exchange experience and views. The aim is to build up an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence, so that participants feel free to share their corporation’s approach to strategy.
To help such senior managers, a new forum for corporate strategists and planners is being set up by The Conference Board Europe. Called the ‘European Council on Corporate Strategy’ it will bring together directors responsible for planning, business development and strategy from leading multinational corporations.
The emphasis will be very practical, with the idea being that the group will analyse how overall corporate strategies and ambitions can be translated into workable management methods. Members of the Council should leave each meeting with at least one new insight that will help them do their job better.
The idea is to encourage 30-50 strategists to ‘brainstorm’ about their own experience and share insights into key issues facing top management teams. The emphasis will reflect the changing role of planning, and stress the practical issues of implementing strategy.
To achieve this the Council will review actual case studies of how transnational corporations have devised and implemented new strategies. The confidential nature of the meetings means that members will be encouraged to share both their achievements, and their problems.
‘The central challenge for senior management is how to implement improved corporate strategies’, says Professor Bernard Taylor, project director of the new European Council on Corporate Strategy. ‘This Council offers top corporate strategists the opportunity to exchange views with their peers from Europe’s most important companies’.
The Council will be self-governing and set its own agenda, the likely topics to be discussed will include:
Professor Taylor is Professor of Business Policy at the Henley Management College and Editor of Long Range Planning. The Confernce Board is a U.S.-based network and research organization founded in 1916. Its charter says its ‘twofold purpose is to improve the business enterprise system and to enhance the contribution of business to society’. Over 2000 of the largest international industrial and financial services companies subscribe to its services, of which around 350 are in Europe. Council membership is open to executives responsible for corporate planning, business development and strategic management in companies who are Associates of The Conference Board Europe. Total Council membership is restricted to 50 people, who will elect a chairman and advise on future agenda topics. Meetings will be held twice a year at locations throughout Europe and consist of two evening reception/workshops plus one and a half working days. The first meeting will be held in April 1991. The Council work will provide an interactive network for Directors of Corporate Development and senior corporate
Implementing strategy-how to provide the interface between senior management ambitions and workforce practices. This is often the hardest task as the view from the directors’ suite is quite different from that of the shop floor. Many companies attempting to implement Total Quality initiatives, for instance, have failed to realize the ambitions of the top, because of resistance from unmotivated staff at the front line. Strategic leadership-how to define the role of the corporate strategist in a decentralized company. The changing nature of ‘planning’, and the demise of many centralized planning departments, means that many companies now leave much day-to-day decision making to divisions. What is the role of the corporate centre in such companies, and what is the role of the strategist? Shareholder value-how to measure and enhance it before a corporate raider does. Companies in the Anglo-Saxon world have faced this predicament during the deal-hungry 1980s. It seems that even the apparently bid-proof companies in Continental Europe are being forced to take similar actions, as cross border merger and acquisition activity increases.
Accelerating new product development-how to emulate the world’s best practice. The Japanese have shown in consumer electronics and the motor industry how shrinking product development cycles can be a potent source of
Networking competitive advantage. The Council will review what can be learnt from this experience and, more urgently, how to emulate it.
Europe’s
Corporate
Planners
119
environmentally aware, although all companies will need to review their operating procedures to ensure this is instilled throughout the corporation’s work. Corporate affairs, standards and ethics-how to construct and enforce a defined corporate mission. One of the key roles of the corporate centre is to set the overall principles by which the company should act in its business dealings. The Council will compare notes on how these should be set and implemented.
Q Integrating services into manufacturing-how to supply profitable solutions rather than simply products. ‘Selling boxes’ is no longer an option for many companies; the job is to solve a customer’s problem. This is true in almost all industries, but many in both manufacturing and service sectors have not yet grasped its true significance.
*
Sr Rertruturing for international markets-how to make your company a truly global competitor. Very few companies can call themselves truly global in outlook, although all face global competitive challenges. The old style multinational needs to re-think its structure to cope with this new environment.
The Council on Corporate Strategy is an extension of The Conference Board’s expanding activities in Europe. The Board runs similar groups on Corporate Finance, Banking, Economics, Quality, Logistics, Organization, Management Information Systems, Public Affairs and Human Resources. A total of around 300 senior European executives are actively involved in the network, which includes representatives from every major country and industry in Europe.
*
Q
Downsizing-how to distinguish surplus fat from corporate muscle. One of the perils of restructuring is realizing what is surplus bureaucracy, and what is necessary investment. The downsizing traumas of the early 1980s were followed by skills shortages in the late 1980s. How can this experience be avoided in future, especially in difficult economic times? Thegreening of business-how to capitalize on environmental concerns. The Green agenda is high on many corporate action plans. Already most consumer goods industries are
Further
information
from:
Andrew Tank Research Associate The Conference Board 207 Avenue Louise B-l 050 Brussels Tel: (322) 640.62.40 Fax: (322) 640.67.35