“Avoiding Corporate Death: Part I

What are some leading indicators that the firm you work for has a limited future or lifespan?

In view of the current economic climate, and the stress that many businesses are under, I thought it would be timely to revisit some fundamentals – and global research results - that I first described in 2007 in this blog.

The full research white paper can be downloaded for free here:

http://www.HowTheMightyFall.com

First, a recap:

Over 700 executives and senior managers from around the world participated in the study. The questions posed were based on the corporate health assessment process described in detail in the leadership book “Beat the Odds: Avoid Corporate Death & Build a Resilient Enterprise.” The study drew conclusions about the attention that management is paying to nine core principles, and also drew conclusions about the underlying health of organizations around the world.

The survey results had some truly eye-opening results, including:

—While many respondents expressed overall optimism about the near-term financial performance of their organizations, their responses indicate that they are quite concerned about some of the fundamental underpinnings of their organizations’ long-term health.

—Serious underlying conditions at organizations were reported by almost half of the respondents, with 22% reporting problems that equate to “some serious corporate health issues,” and 26% reporting that their organization is seriously “unhealthy” when balanced against the Beat the Odds principles.

—Particularly weak were the principles that relate to establishing a view and a strategy for the future (and the appropriate competencies to support that view and strategy), as well as principles that relate to translating those ideas into action and execution (including leadership effectiveness, and aligning the workforce).

Perhaps the most intriguing and useful finding: the study demonstrates a clear relationship between an organization’s overall Beat the Odds (BTO) score across nine core principles, and key corporate issues such as employee retention and morale, industry rank, and financial performance. The implication: perform better across all nine BTO principles, and your organization’s long-term survival and competitiveness will improve.

More in the next posting.

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