Leveraging growth from within is another dimension to achieve sustained business growth.
Let us begin by listing out the internal resources available to any organization. Resources are not just people but processes, organizational culture, and operating model, which includes value chains, strategy, and technology. A competitive advantage is secured when all the above resources are aligned to benefit your customers and external stakeholders.
An organization can have the best-skilled people, but if the business processes, strategy, and business model are not designed to utilize the skills of your people, organizational growth and customer delight are both impaired.
The scenario I have outlined in the above paragraph was playing itself out in a company I had been advising for a few years. The company had a strong Human resources team that devised innovative team building and skill degradation programs. Still, the company was struggling to compete with its peers. On analysis, I found that the problem lay in the corporation’s value chains. These were not structured to leverage and synergize the company’s internal skills. The CEO was well-meaning, diligent, receptive, and accessible, but performance lags because of value chain-related issues.
A company or any organization is a living entity. You have to ensure that all organs are healthy and that the coordination mechanism is fully aligned to leverage the capability of each part of the body. Begin by analyzing the organization’s value chain and tweak it to improve operational efficiency and restructure it to achieve a competitive advantage. All this takes place within the internal organization.
There is a caution that I would like to place on record. Strategy changes have far-reaching long-term implications for a company. Changes should be first tested in a segment, changes run for at least two quarters before rolling these out organization-wide.
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