practical guides Archives - OpenBusinessCouncil Directory

Agile Strategy: The Practical Guide To Transforming Organisational Performance Through Greater Agility

Hernaldo Turrillo — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 10:35:30 +0000

Agile Strategy: The Practical Guide To Transforming Organisational Performance Through Greater Agility

Agile Strategy is commercially led, revealing a fundamental rethinking of commercial and operational business practices.
Agile Strategy is anchored in innovative and robust concepts, yet is a practical, ‘how-to’ guide which is results-focused, grounded in the definition and delivery of measurable business benefits.

It’s not a secret that many companies struggle with strategy execution in today’s climate of constant change and increasingly dynamic markets. There is a lot of discussion about agility and it is fast becoming one of the most important trends and buzzwords in business. Much of the writing on agile techniques, however, addresses start-ups or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which operate under very different constraints and freedoms. But, what about larger organisations – how can they transform organisational performance through greater agility?

In his new book, Agile Strategy, written specifically for big organisations who want to be more agile, Ralph Fernando, international business leader and consultant, describes in detail his unique RADAR approach and how to implement it. RADAR follows a simple framework of Research; Analysis; Design; Action and Results, offering a fresh approach on how to address an organisation’s key strategic questions and transform its commercial performance.

Why this book matters:

The pace of change is increasing, and strategic management is not keeping up. More than one in four (28%) strategic initiatives fail to meet their original goals and business intent, with insufficient agility identified as one of the top three barriers to successful strategy implementation.
The square peg of traditional strategy — vision, mission and blue-sky exercises; the separation of strategy from “implementation” — no longer fits the round hole of increasingly dynamic markets. It is time for a new approach.
If you look for guidance on how to create such agility, you typically meet with either high-level theories and generalisations, or approaches designed for start-ups and small-scale organisations. Agile Strategy is specifically written for established businesses, giving practical guidance on how to create agility.

Agile Strategy provides practical guidance for its readers through a clear framework for developing strategies called RADAR. These strategies are guided by a single, easy-to-grasp principles: “Horizon” and “Five Key Questions.” Likewise, it offers tools and techniques for managing agility in an innovative approach to measuring these and managing the subsequent results.

The book isn’t only about theory as it also real-life practices. For example, it provides a wide range of real-world examples to illustrate key points and a set of questions and tasks at the end of each chapter to support the application of RADAR within your own organisation.

Agile strategy provides a new approach, breaking from the constraints of traditional visions, missions and values. It’s a is a practical, hands-on guide perfect for any big organisation looking to create business agility in today’s increasingly fast-moving and uncertain markets.

The Author

Ralph Fernando is a business leader, consultant and writer. He draws together strategy, operations and technology experience earned on an international stage, where he focuses on value creation in private, public and voluntary organisations.

Ralph recognises that the boundaries between functional disciplines are far blurrier in real life than many would have you believe, and that true agility lies in how they interact. He is driven by the need to make this agility a practical, commercial reality within organisations, after ten years of hearing leading thinkers and executives talk a good game about it.

A Cambridge graduate and Warwick Business School MBA, Ralph enjoys spending his spare time with his wife, Marielle, and their two boys Lucas and Aaron, as well as writing and recording songs at his home studio.

Agile Strategy: How to create a strategy ready for anything

Agile Strategy: How to create a strategy ready for anything
By Ralph Fernando
Out Now
Published by FT Publishing
Paperback Version: £19.99

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

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Constructing Leadership 4.0: The Practical Guide To Master The Challenges Of The Industry 4.0

Hernaldo Turrillo — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 10:31:40 +0000

Constructing Leadership 4.0: The Practical Guide To Master The Challenges Of The Industry 4.0

Having spent a quarter of a century developing some of the world’s most inspirational and successful leaders in both the public and private sectors, Richard Kelly is acutely aware that leadership is linked to the organisational and economic systems in which leaders lead.

And now, in 2019, it has never been more important for leaders to adapt their style – as the fourth industrial revolution rapidly approaches, and workplace innovation prepares to become more collaborative than at any other point in organisational history.

In his new book, Kelly outlines this shift and prepares leaders to embrace the new paradigm of the digital economy and collaborative workplace and approach leadership in a more responsive way that inspires shared innovation, collective decision making and swarming teams.

Synopsis of ‘Constructing Leadership 4.0: Swarm Leadership and the Fourth Industrial Revolution’:

The Fourth Industrial Revolution signals a sea change in the way we lead our organisations. Moving away from relational leadership and horizontal, organisationally-led development, it is imperative that business leaders are able to adapt to more networked organisations and shift away from dated assumptions of positional power. Constructing Leadership 4.0 breaks new ground by explaining the urgent challenges facing managers and business leaders. It will teach you how to:

Approach leadership development as a system rather than a programme
Develop an organisational ecosystem to support leadership 4.0
Build collaborative networks
Cultivate a responsive mindset through sensemaking
Use non-classroom based learning methodologies for educating leaders

Rooted in leadership development methodology and underpinned by cutting-edge research, this book calls for businesses to cultivate responsive leaders through a theory of connectivism and swarm intelligence that reflects the coming cybernetic revolution.

“The current model of leadership and leadership development has no place in the future of business and organizational working,” explains the author. “The shift is now heavily toward developing leaders at a systems level. And this is only going to increase, as the concept of the “human cloud” and machine intelligence becomes the standard culture of every company and organization.”

Continuing, “it’s imperative leaders adapt away from egosystems to ecosystems, or they’ll fail and take their organizations with them. Their mindset shift and continued success starts with my book.”

‘Constructing Leadership 4.0: Swarm Leadership and the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ is available now.

The Author

Richard Kelly has spent 25 years developing leaders. Working in both public and private sectors he has developed leaders at all levels of the organisation both in the UK and overseas. Over the last 15 years, Richard has worked as an independent leadership consultant based in Europe and South America. Currently, he is the CEO of a niche leadership consulting company based in the UK, with British, European and South American clients, that seeks to develop leaders at a systems level.

Constructing Leadership 4.0. Swarm leadership and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Constructing Leadership 4.0: Swarm Leadership and the Fourth Industrial Revolution
By Richard Kelly
Out Now
Published by Palgrave Macmillan
Paperback Version: £21.58

Hernaldo Turrillo

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Reinventing the Product: A Practical Road Map For The 75% Of Industries Facing Disruption

Hernaldo Turrillo — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 10:20:52 +0000

Reinventing the Product: A Practical Road Map For The 75% Of Industries Facing Disruption

Digital technology has created new businesses and shaken up old. Entire industries have already been transformed, but emerging technologies show no sign of abating, and more than 75% of industries are now at risk of major disruption in the coming years.

While such disruption is seen as a threat by many, digital technology also presents the biggest opportunity for product-making businesses to re-think how they conceive, make, distribute and support the next generation of goods in the marketplace. Now in a new book, Reinventing the Product, two of Accenture’s digital transformation experts provide a practical roadmap for how companies can successfully ride the coming waves of digital disruption.

In Reinventing the Product, authors Eric Schaeffer and David Sovie assess how digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, data analytics, blockchain, cloud computing and particularly AI are transforming traditional products. They outline the future of smart connected products and ecosystem platforms, explain how today’s users expect personalised product experiences and prove that these fundamental changes are happening much faster than most organisations realise.

The reality is that companies that fail to embrace digital technologies today, risk failing tomorrow. Reinventing the Product provides a practical “how-to” guide to help organisations successfully reinvent their product and transform their business models, processes and culture to ensure they have the agility to thrive and succeed in the digital age.

Why this book matters:

A new product world is emerging where point-of-purchase no longer marks the handover of responsibility for the product to the user – products will continue to interact with makers, users and other products in multi-directional value generating circles
More than 75% of industries are at risk of disruption, or already significantly disrupted
New disruptive technologies, including 5G networks, quantum computing, 4D printing, nanotechnologies and smart materials are on the horizon
Digital is overtaking hardware as the source of value in products – companies that don’t adapt face eradication in the ‘outcome economy’
Traditional hardware product development is broken. Companies need to pivot to new methods of product engineering and design
Written by two of Accenture’s leading experts in tech innovation and strategy, providing a practical road map to adapt products and processes

Packed with compelling real-life case studies and expert insights from brands including Faurecia, Samsung, Caterpillar, Amazon, Tesla and Google, Reinventing the Product provides practical advice for business leaders as they embark on, or accelerate, their digitalisation journey.

“Eric Schaeffer did it again. After his spearheading Industry X.0, which has inspired our team of entrepreneurs to adapt our digital strategy creatively, he now co-authors with David Sovie a brilliant, richly detailed roadmap to the digital future for all product making companies. No doubt: this is again a must-read.” Zhang Ruimin, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, Haier Group.

“Reinventing the Product doesn’t just look thoroughly at how the disruptive waves of digital technologies will affect product companies (including the subscription economy). Drawing on a deep analysis of five profound shifts they face and complemented with compelling case studies, Eric Schaeffer and David Sovie also provide strategic and practical “how-to” advice for businesses as they develop digital products. An inspirational call-to-action.” Eric Chaniot, Chief Digital Officer, Michelin.

The Authors

Eric Schaeffer is the Global Lead for Accenture’s Industrial practice, helping automotive, industrial equipment and infrastructure companies to digitally reinvent their businesses and create a new level of innovation and efficiency across the extended connected value chain. He is also Senior Managing Director, Accenture’s Product Industry X.0 practice, bringing together services across innovation, engineering and product development, manufacturing and digital operations, and product services optimization.

David Sovie is Senior Managing Director at Accenture, and Global Lead for High-Tech Industry where he helps clients digitally reinvent their business across the entire value chain. He also leads the Industry X.0 consulting unit for Accenture’s Communications, Media and Technology group, which provides digital transformation services across the innovation, engineering, manufacturing and product support business functions.

Reinventing the product

Reinventing the product
By Eric Schaeffer & David Sovie
Out Now
Published by Kogan Page
Paperback Version: £19.99
ISBN: 978-0749484644

Hernaldo Turrillo

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What’s Your Competitive Advantage? 7 Strategies Businesses Can Use To Thrive

Hernaldo Turrillo — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 13:46:33 +0000

What’s Your Competitive Advantage? 7 Strategies Businesses Can Use To Thrive

We live in a complex world. Political uncertainty, emerging disruptive technologies and socio-economic pressures all combine to create an environment where predicting, and planning for the future is one of the biggest challenges business leaders face today.

The reality is that managers actually have very little control over any factors aﬀecting their organisation, so they need to work with complexity, rather than pretend it isn’t there. So how is it possible to build a strategy that provides a clear overall direction for a business, regardless of uncontrollable, changing circumstances?

After a 10-year research project, leading business consultants Professor Cliﬀ Bowman and Dr Paul Raspin have identiﬁed the 7 key strategies that have allowed both new and established businesses to thrive through uncertainty. In their practical new book, What’s Your Competitive Advantage?, they provide a guide to successfully implementing and creating lasting value through each approach, with real-life case study examples, including:

Specialisation: The ability to focus on a single product or service group and compete through superior product performance e.g. WD40 is purchased by 4 out of 5 American households for a specialist purpose
Adaptive: Increasing the organisation’s ability to respond to changing circumstances and customer needs e.g. Zara only manufacture clothes where they know there is customer demand
Low-cost: Delivering equivalent product quality to competitors, but with a relentless focus on cost-reduction e.g. Bavaria Yachts combine
precision engineering, automation and robotics to deliver quality yachts at signiﬁcantly lower cost than its rivals
Innovation: Targeting those customers who are willing to pay a premium for products and services that meet their needs in novel and superior ways e.g. SpaceX’s commitment to developing re-usable rockets to reduce cost of interplanetary space travel.
Excellence: Embedding professionalism in the system to create continuous incremental improvements in product or service quality e.g. Lexus’ engineering project enabled the brand to go from zero presence in the luxury car market to parity with European manufacturers.
No frills: Focusing on serving price-sensitive customers with a stripped down alternative product or service e.g. ALDI oﬀering just the products that price-sensitive customers value.
Targeting: Serving the needs of one speciﬁc market segment more eﬀectively than less focused rivals e.g. Long Tall Sally producing clothes only for taller women, using their understanding of what it means to be a tall woman to be their ﬁrst choice for fashion.

What’s Your Competitive Advantage? not only helps readers to identify what strategy would be right for a business, but also outlines the cultural, structural and systems requirements for successfully following each approach. It goes beyond the theory of business strategy to provide practical, accessible guidance on how to turn strategy into action, through leading practices that evolve as events unfold.

The Authors

Cliﬀ Bowman is a Professor of Strategic Management at Cranﬁeld School of Management. His research interests focus on the creation and capture of value in, complexity, dynamic capabilities, strategy processes and the development and leveraging of strategic assets. He is the author of twelve books.

Dr Paul Raspin is the founder and Managing Director of Stratevolve, a strategy consultancy that works exclusively with senior executives and management teams to identify how to gain competitive advantage and create and capture signiﬁcant value. He is a senior visiting fellow at Cass Business School where he teaches strategy and ﬁnance to senior executives on the Executive MBA course.

What’s your competitive advantage?

What’s your competitive advantage?
By Cliﬀ Bowman and Dr Paul Raspin
Out Now
Published by FT Publishing
Paperback Version: 21.99
ISBN: 978-1292259390

Hernaldo Turrillo

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