• Posts Tagged ‘Corporate Strategy’

    A small case study of New York based corporations on reporting systems

    Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

    This case study includes corporations with its headquarters in New York. In the small sample there are corporations like: PEPSICO, Thomson Reuters, WPP, LVMH and others.

    It was interesting that in many cases, the LinkedIn proved to be valuable source of the information where are the headquarters of some of the corporations. Like, if I search for our company Vizuarna headquarters, the first result on Google is the Vizuarna’s profile on LinkedIn. Interesting, isn’t it? The same way it is possible to find some other corporations headquarters. And yes. Many of the worlds most known corporations actually have their headquarters in New York. Not necessary in New York City but still.

    And after studying the reporting systems of some of the corporations in New York, what have I found out? The most important lesson: all of them have actually a reporting system established. No mistakes. Some have appointed even executives director for investment affairs. What were some of the best features in this reports in my opinion? Three things really to remember:

    + first, one of the corporation studied has its interactive annual report made already in 2003. And the reports are published on the web site as way back as in 1999. And everything about the annual report is totally integrated into the site. Really remarkable. Interactive version made rather simple like a flash publication but with good possibilities of printing, mailing and others, be that the whole report or its part by pages.

    + second, promise of the annual report, let say some kind of tactical tag-line, a sort or even really a brand promise explained in short and in details. That’s the way to do it. and

    + third, the whole annual report presented in a summary. All the chapters are there but everything is in short. Really in short but with all relevant information. What do I really need to know about the income statement? There are really only 2×3 things to know. Revenues (in sales, financial, other) and expenses in the other way (again operations, financial and other) and that’s it. And some make even a summary from the summary. Shorter version of the short version. And that is true for other chapters of the annual report as well. That way it becomes more interesting for larger target groups not only for people who have to read the reports by duty. Enhanced transparency, I would called it.

    The web page of the LVMH web site presenting annual reports for ten years

    Interactive annual report of Pepsico wits its promise in detail

    Interactive annual report summary of WPP

    the results from Google on the term Vizuarna headquarters

    There are some other things to be mentioned, like sharing possibilities on SlideShare or some reports really followed the line throughout the years. Just like their corporate strategy is to be followed (if successful), so have the annual reports its design consistency.

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    Why is design-aware executive extremely important for any organization?

    Saturday, February 6th, 2010

    Because this is the easiest way to infuse an organization with design.

    In Slovenia there are 14 corporations among top 500 in Central Europe, according to consulting house Deloitte, data from 2008. These corporations are:
    + Petrol group on the 41st place;
    + Mercator group: 46th place;
    + Gorenje group: 134th place;
    + Merkur group: 143th place;
    + Revoz: 151st place;
    + HSE group: 199th place;
    + Lek: 204th place;
    + Krka group: 208th place;
    + Telekom Slovenije Group: 238th place
    + SIJ: 312nd place;
    + Engrotuš: 330th place;
    + Salbatring: 384th place;
    + Impol at 448th place and
    + Eles at 495th place.
    There is no serious research needed to know that in these corporations there is no design or design management profile close to boards or CEO-s. In we take for granted the statement from professor Robert Hayes, Harvard Business School, who few years ago said: “Fifteen years ago, companies competed on price. Today is quality. Tomorrow it’s design.” then we know that tomorrow is today. Design needs to be a continuous process and as such part of any corporate strategy.

    How to infuse corporation with design was in a stylized figure below presented already in 1989 by renown authors Dumas and Minztberg. These authors claim that is much more likely to infuse an organization with design via a design champion than via a function per se, because of its informal nature. And although the reality is much more complex this is the main reason why design-aware-executive is so important. In Slovenia we had such a case already in 1960’s when Davorin Savnik was not only the art director but also an influential consultant of general manager of Iskra corporation. And Iskra had in 1970’s 35.000 employees. My guess is that it was much bigger than all the above mentioned corporations. Maybe this is the route to be followed?

    Figure: Ways to Manage Design

    Source of tge figure: Dumas, Mintzberg, 1989, p. 43

    Sources:
    Angela Dumas and Henry Mintzberg. 1989. Managing Design Designing Management. Design Management Journal: 1/1.
    Saša Bojc. 2009. Neuvrščeno oblikovanje. Delo: 13.11.2009.
    www.deloitte.com
    more authors in T. Lockwood&T. Walton (ed). 2008. Buiding Design Strategy: Using Design to Achieve key Business Objectives.

    Marko Savić, managing director at Vizuarna, strategic design consultancy. Design manager and corporate identity consultant.

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    Predstavitev teme o dizajn strategijah na okrogli mizi Društva oblikovalcev Slovenije

    Thursday, January 28th, 2010

    Na povabilo Društva oblikovalcev Slovenije, katerega član sicer sem, sem se odzval in pripravil predstavitev na temo dizajn strategij. Kratko, desetminutno predstavitev sem poimenoval Kdo rabi dizajn strategije? Dizajn ali gospodarstvo? – Zakaj povezati dizajn in dizajn strategije v korporativne strategije?

    Več o sami predstavitvi je možno izvedeti neposredno iz pripete predstavitve: Kdo rabi dizajn strategije? Dizajn ali gospodarstvo? – Zakaj povezati dizajn in dizajn strategije v korporativne strategije
    Predstavitev sicer vsebuje pet točk:
    + dizajn in korporacije;
    + dizajn strategije v korporacijah;
    + sodelovanje uprav, strateških načrtovalcev, dizajn managerjev in dizajnerjev;
    + kakšna je vloga dizajnerjev v razvoju dizajn strategij?; in
    + zakaj rabimo dizajn strategije?

    V predstavitvi ugotavljam, da je na strateškem nivoju  v Sloveniji absolutno premalo dizajna, dizajn svetovalcev in dizajnerjev. Nujna bi bila izraba tudi dizajn managementa, kot sem že pisal o “stopnicah dizajn managementa”. Dizajnerji bi pa na drugi strani morali podrobno in natančno poznati tako generične strategije v življenskem ciklu izdelkov ali storitev – glej prvo sliko spodaj kot tudi znati prikazati vrednost dizajna v denarju.

    Slika spodaj prikazuje šest generičnih strategij s primeri izdelkov iz leta 2007 in z navedenimi primeri korporacij, ki dokaj zvesto sledijo posamični generični strategiji.

    Naslednje slika prikazuje optimalen primer razvoja inovativnosti v strateških investicijskih projektih. S krogom je označena vključitev dizajn za razvoj dizajn strategije že na začetku projektov oz. investicijskih ciklov, ko je običajno denarni tok še negativen.

    Če vse skupaj poenostavim. Profesor Robert Hayes, Harvard Business School je pred leti povedal: “Petnajst let nazaj so gospodarske družbe tekmovale s ceno. Danes je to kakovost. Jutri bo dizajn.” Jutri je danes. Tu in zdaj.

    In kot sta ugotavljala profesorja iz mariborske in ljubljanske ekonomske fakultete jeseni leta 2009, ena od možnih strategij Mure, podjetja in ne reke, bi bila ustanovitev oblikovalskega oddelka s 500 oblikovalci, če bi želeli zadržati 3.000 zaposlenih za doseganje ustrezne dodane vrednosti.

    Zaradi vsega povedanega je jasno, da bi morala vsaka resna gospodarska družba imeti postavljeno celovito dizajn strategijo znotraj korporativne strategije.

    Še fotografiji. Na prvi fotografiji z leve predsednik DOS-a g. Robert Klun, predsednica uprave Peka ga. Marta Gorjup Brejc, kreativna direktorica Gorenje Design Studia ga. Lidija Pritržnik in generalni direktor Gospodarske zbornice Slovenije g. Samo Hribar Milič. Na drugi je moja malenkost v očitno zelo sproščeni pozi. :)

    Viri:
    + več avtorjev v T. Lockwood&T. Walton (ur). 2008. Buiding Design Strategy: Using Design to Achieve key Business Objectives.
    + S. Bojc. 2009. Neuvrščeno oblikovanje. Delo.
    + www.deloitte.com
    + M. Tajnikar, K. Pušnik. 2009, Mura ni reka, je podjetje. Reševanje tekstilnega giganta. Delo, Sobotna priloga.

    Marko Savić, managing director at Vizuarna, strategic design consultancy. Design manager and corporate identity consultant.

    Trends that recognised design as a core competency in creating a sustainable corporate advantage

    Monday, January 18th, 2010

    Trends, according to the Joziasse, that caused design going beyond merely estethics and/or decoration in becoming a source for gaining sustainable competitive advantage were supposed to be:
    + design as a core competency
    + integration of design into the business world
    + design management and planning as a focus for consultancies
    + the merging of business and design education:

    The consequence was that some prospect corporations have developed design as a continuous element of corporate strategy.  And out of that is the claim that sustained design strategy allows companies to take leadership positions in their sectors.

    Sources:
    Joziasse, Frans. Corporate Strategy: Bringing Design Management into the Fold in Lockwood Th. & Walton Th. (eds). 2008. Building Design Strategy: Using Design to Achieve Key Business Objectives. DMI & Allworth Press, 257 p.
    Lockwood, Thomas. Design Value: A Framework for Measurment in Lockwood Th. & Walton Th. (eds). 2008. Building Design Strategy: Using Design to Achieve Key Business Objectives. DMI & Allworth Press, 257 p.

    Marko Savić, managing director at Vizuarna, strategic design consultancy. Design manager and corporate identity consultant.

    Design definitions

    Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

    Design = intentions + drawing

    “Design is an activity involving a wide spectrum of professions in which products, services, graphics, interiors, and architecture all take part.” (ICSID)

    Design and branding: design is a link in the chain of a brand, or a means of expressing brand values to its different publics.

    Design and corporate strategy: design is a tool for making a strategy visible.

    Source: Borja de Mozota, Brigitte: Design Management.

    Marko Savić, Managing Director at Vizuarna, strategic design consultancy, design manager and corporate identity consultant