Fewer, Bigger, Bolder advises companies to follow its ‘seven-point path’ for success
Fewer, Bigger, Bolder
Sanjay Khosla & Mohanbir Sawhney
Penguin
R699
Pp 260
THE RISE of the ‘corporate’ as an integral part of the growth process in any economy has also brought with it stylised solutions as to how one should move forward. Companies always look for growth, or unbridled growth, as a solution to increasing shareholder value and keep looking for acquisitions, more products, brands, geographies, etc. This is where authors Sanjay Khosla and Mohanbir Sawhney advise that one should pause, think and reflect on the future path and get more focused.
In their book titled, Fewer, Bigger, Bolder, the authors try and chart a way for companies to strategise based on their own experiences, which draw heavily from how they worked with Kraft and brought about a transformation. Their view is that companies should work on the 5-10-10 principle, which, simply put, means that they should focus on five categories, 10 brands and 10 markets. This is quite the opposite of going in for mindless expansion, which is not sustainable. Often, we confuse quantity for quality and lose the plot.
They go a step ahead and also propagate an ‘upside-down principle’, where they turn business on its head. Instead of acquiring more customers, they say we should ‘fire’ customers who are not profitable. Further, we should ‘kill products’ that do not produce revenue and profit, and instead of proliferating brands, we should put our weight behind select brands. Last, instead of looking at more markets, we should focus on select ones where we can dominate and win.
They discuss at length the concept of complexity and arrive at a thumb rule to measure the same. We should multiply the number of products we produce with the customers, markets and operations entities, and divide the same by the revenue. If this number keeps falling, then we are getting less efficient, which is the result of increasing complexity.
Therefore, there are four questions that we should ask: first is ‘what’, meaning the offerings of the company. Second is ‘who’, which is customers. Third is ‘where’, or the markets we are looking at, and the last is ‘how’, meaning operations. By answering these four questions, we can actually resolve the issue of complexity of a business.
The authors argue that ultimately it’s a matter of staying focused and not spreading the company vision everywhere. They propound a seven-point path that has to be followed sequentially in spirit.
First is what they call ‘discovery’, which is turning initiatives into opportunities. Leadership has to get aligned to these initiatives. Here, they talk of holding workshops, where there is free flow of arguments and thoughts, so that we can zero in on the goals. Their view is that bosses should be muted, so that others can express freely, and there should be lateral thinkers or those who can keep finding fault along the way, so that all possible hurdles are well-understood before finalisation of plans. More importantly, leaders should stand aside and let the teams drive the discovery process.
Next, they talk of ‘strategy’, where these insights have to be prioritised and synthesised. This covers all products, markets, platforms, customer segments, etc, and the way forward is finalised at this stage. Here, the ‘what, who, where and how’ are actually put on paper for execution. There are several lenses that should be looked through: offerings, brands, customers, channels, markets, monetisation and processes. We need to choose among these lenses to get the right focus and then work on three criteria, which the authors club under momentum, margin and materiality.
Third, we need to have a ‘rallying cry’, where it has to be taken to the boardroom, factories, markets, customers, etc. The strategy has to be communicated well to all these stakeholders. Here, they say the rallying cry can be a phrase, colour, number or symbol that brings the strategy alive for everyone in the organisation.
Fourth, we need to have the right ‘people’ to take things forward. They need to be involved and feel passionately about what they are doing. Here, the organisation has to choose the right leaders who have the passion and zest to take the team along. We have to distort resources by taking them away from non-priority areas and channel them to high-priority ones. We may have to give a blank cheque to the team that will show the way, which means an open hand to do anything to achieve the goals.
Fifth, the most difficult part is to ‘execute’, as strategy and goals cannot be attained unless we are able to execute well. Cutting costs and fuelling growth both go with this move. Here, the authors talk of delegation, better use of resources by not doing marginal stuff, cutting bureaucracy and, more importantly, ‘start small but scale fast’.
Sixth, the authors call for ‘organisation’, which is basically creating organised networks that collaborate. Here, we need to have a ‘glocal’ look, which combines both domestic and global markets. Their tip is not to restructure and reorganise the company just for the sake of doing it. The need is to build collaborative structures that can deliver.
Last, we need to have metrics for measuring our performance, which has to be monitored relative to the goals set for the company. Three pieces of advice here are that before embarking on this process, we need to have it clear, as to what is it that we want to achieve. Second, we need to be balanced and strike a good fit between what they call rear-view mirror and windshield metrics. Last, the simpler the metric, the better it is for us.
Will all this lead the company turn around? The authors think this is the way for companies, but there should be constant review and we need to create a virtuous cycle and keep doing this periodically, as conditions change around us.
The insights are interesting, but the problem with most books on management and strategy is that while they are prescriptive and talk of the ideal, they do not address the issue on why companies do not follow them. In fact, several points advocated are sheet common-sense, which companies fail to observe.
Most companies are egotistic and run by the management based on their subjective perspective with a large degree of insecurity when it comes to taking people along, something that these stylised chapters rarely work on. Goals are almost always amorphous and strategies are rarely communicated down the line. And there is a tendency for a top-down approach in a large number of companies. Probably, this could be the next research subject for the authors, as to why companies do not follow these rudimentary rules.
Fewer, Bigger, Bolder
Sanjay Khosla & Mohanbir Sawhney
Penguin
R699
Pp 260
THE RISE of the ‘corporate’ as an integral part of the growth process in any economy has also brought with it stylised solutions as to how one should move forward. Companies always look for growth, or unbridled growth, as a solution to increasing shareholder value and keep looking for acquisitions, more products, brands, geographies, etc. This is where authors Sanjay Khosla and Mohanbir Sawhney advise that one should pause, think and reflect on the future path and get more focused.
In their book titled, Fewer, Bigger, Bolder, the authors try and chart a way for companies to strategise based on their own experiences, which draw heavily from how they worked with Kraft and brought about a transformation. Their view is that companies should work on the 5-10-10 principle, which, simply put, means that they should focus on five categories, 10 brands and 10 markets. This is quite the opposite of going in for mindless expansion, which is not sustainable. Often, we confuse quantity for quality and lose the plot.
They go a step ahead and also propagate an ‘upside-down principle’, where they turn business on its head. Instead of acquiring more customers, they say we should ‘fire’ customers who are not profitable. Further, we should ‘kill products’ that do not produce revenue and profit, and instead of proliferating brands, we should put our weight behind select brands. Last, instead of looking at more markets, we should focus on select ones where we can dominate and win.
They discuss at length the concept of complexity and arrive at a thumb rule to measure the same. We should multiply the number of products we produce with the customers, markets and operations entities, and divide the same by the revenue. If this number keeps falling, then we are getting less efficient, which is the result of increasing complexity.
Therefore, there are four questions that we should ask: first is ‘what’, meaning the offerings of the company. Second is ‘who’, which is customers. Third is ‘where’, or the markets we are looking at, and the last is ‘how’, meaning operations. By answering these four questions, we can actually resolve the issue of complexity of a business.
The authors argue that ultimately it’s a matter of staying focused and not spreading the company vision everywhere. They propound a seven-point path that has to be followed sequentially in spirit.
First is what they call ‘discovery’, which is turning initiatives into opportunities. Leadership has to get aligned to these initiatives. Here, they talk of holding workshops, where there is free flow of arguments and thoughts, so that we can zero in on the goals. Their view is that bosses should be muted, so that others can express freely, and there should be lateral thinkers or those who can keep finding fault along the way, so that all possible hurdles are well-understood before finalisation of plans. More importantly, leaders should stand aside and let the teams drive the discovery process.
Next, they talk of ‘strategy’, where these insights have to be prioritised and synthesised. This covers all products, markets, platforms, customer segments, etc, and the way forward is finalised at this stage. Here, the ‘what, who, where and how’ are actually put on paper for execution. There are several lenses that should be looked through: offerings, brands, customers, channels, markets, monetisation and processes. We need to choose among these lenses to get the right focus and then work on three criteria, which the authors club under momentum, margin and materiality.
Third, we need to have a ‘rallying cry’, where it has to be taken to the boardroom, factories, markets, customers, etc. The strategy has to be communicated well to all these stakeholders. Here, they say the rallying cry can be a phrase, colour, number or symbol that brings the strategy alive for everyone in the organisation.
Fourth, we need to have the right ‘people’ to take things forward. They need to be involved and feel passionately about what they are doing. Here, the organisation has to choose the right leaders who have the passion and zest to take the team along. We have to distort resources by taking them away from non-priority areas and channel them to high-priority ones. We may have to give a blank cheque to the team that will show the way, which means an open hand to do anything to achieve the goals.
Fifth, the most difficult part is to ‘execute’, as strategy and goals cannot be attained unless we are able to execute well. Cutting costs and fuelling growth both go with this move. Here, the authors talk of delegation, better use of resources by not doing marginal stuff, cutting bureaucracy and, more importantly, ‘start small but scale fast’.
Sixth, the authors call for ‘organisation’, which is basically creating organised networks that collaborate. Here, we need to have a ‘glocal’ look, which combines both domestic and global markets. Their tip is not to restructure and reorganise the company just for the sake of doing it. The need is to build collaborative structures that can deliver.
Last, we need to have metrics for measuring our performance, which has to be monitored relative to the goals set for the company. Three pieces of advice here are that before embarking on this process, we need to have it clear, as to what is it that we want to achieve. Second, we need to be balanced and strike a good fit between what they call rear-view mirror and windshield metrics. Last, the simpler the metric, the better it is for us.
Will all this lead the company turn around? The authors think this is the way for companies, but there should be constant review and we need to create a virtuous cycle and keep doing this periodically, as conditions change around us.
The insights are interesting, but the problem with most books on management and strategy is that while they are prescriptive and talk of the ideal, they do not address the issue on why companies do not follow them. In fact, several points advocated are sheet common-sense, which companies fail to observe.
Most companies are egotistic and run by the management based on their subjective perspective with a large degree of insecurity when it comes to taking people along, something that these stylised chapters rarely work on. Goals are almost always amorphous and strategies are rarely communicated down the line. And there is a tendency for a top-down approach in a large number of companies. Probably, this could be the next research subject for the authors, as to why companies do not follow these rudimentary rules.
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