Become holistically more profitable

What do your company and a soccer team have in common?

"Dad, what even is your job?" "I'm like a football coach, but instead of a team, I train companies to get in shape." "And why can't they do it themselves?" "They often have so much to do that it is difficult to stay in shape and think about what tactics they will need for the future." "How come?"

Complexity

Various reasons that necessitate a coaching view from an outside perspective. Either company have very clear ideas about necessary changes, or they have a vague sense of struggle arising from a variety of different causes. Thirdly, complete renovation may be necessary due to certain circumstances. The answer to the childishly clever question from above is often a complex problem within the company, such as market events or unresolved growth in products and processes. But it only gets confusing when you try to fix the problems with solutions that are more complex than the problem itself. Because there is an inflation in management methods, this is not uncommon and a company is subsequently damaged by a consultant.

Profitable Growth

For this reason, it makes sense to define the simplest possible solution criteria. Three key points are decisive here: It can be assumed that every company wants to grow profitably (i.e. with sales that grow faster than the market, with positive earnings at the same time, under its power and through an innovative range of services). It is also important to determine which "future management" and what type of "operational excellence" a company needs.

Causes of Implementation Weakness

It is often too late or an indistinct perception of struggle that prevents changes from happening at the right time. The activists become vocal only when key figures such as sales, costs, profits and market share collapse. Overall, the results and past-oriented parameters are considered, which is why warnings for systematic changes usually come very or sometimes even too late.

Invisible Factors

In human medicine, there is a wise saying: Show me your vascular system and I will tell you how old you are biological. In this sense, a company's logistics is its vascular system. For us, how thousands of raw materials, semi-finished goods and products flow through the company reflects on the company. Do you know your logistics costs?

And what about development? Does the company have the right products and technologies? Is development efficient at all? Is there a lack of ideas or their implementation? Is there a lack of capacity or are the developers busy with too many side jobs? These are some of the questions that aren't addressed in the usual periodic documents and are therefore poorly noticed.

At the end of these lists, a look at the production: Is machine optimization using large batch sizes the best for the company? Or are flexibility, reaction to the customer cycle, the production was withdrawn from the market with minimal inventory the more competitive options?

If you want to be fit, you have to train

What does a soccer team wants to win do? They train using competition-relevant indicators in the run-up to the competition. They put themselves under pressure, possibly under extreme pressure, to derive the information and motivations for change. A company can do that too. A good way to bring yourself under the right pressure to change systematically and in a goal-oriented manner is to reflect on your situation using contradicting pairs. The best companies manage to increase the quality of their products and reduce the costs of quality. They increase delivery ability and loyalty and reduce inventories, increase the number of new products and reduce development time. A company that successfully and sustainably implements a majority of the given contradictory pairs truly deserves to be called an operationally excellent company. It would be fatal if such a company relied on the wrong products, technologies, and strategies. Profitable growth needs both "operational excellence" and "future management"!

Holistic Yet Simple

"As simple as possible. But not simpler, ”said Albert Einstein once. We have seen that a solution that is too complex can make the situation worse. However, using solutions for only part of the processes would quickly lead to the other extreme - a dangerous simplification. A holistic approach to profitable corporate development is recommended to categorically combat this danger. It makes sense to measure every change in strategy, to look at the processes consistently, to measure the results consistently and to involve and enlist the people concerned in the company. Because companies are not shaped by principles, methods, and tools, but by people. We train. They play.

Lisa Lang
Junior Consultant I IMIG Germany

For further information please contact us either by mail: marketing@imig.com or by phone: +49 7152 928 460.