Exceeding expectations - the key to achieving Competitive Advantage
‘Competitive Strength’ is the key factor in determining the long-term performance, value and sustainability of every business. Competitive Strength is defined as: How capable a business is compared with those that want to beat it and also how capable it is of mitigating the impact of those forces out there that can cause it to be beaten.
What is the the Competitive Strength Report (CSR)?
The Competitive Strength questionnaire is based on exciting NEW research which proves that Excellence is strongly linked to Competitive Advantage and Profitability.
- a business process improvement tool for small and medium-sized businesses. It can be a major step in your strategic planning process.
- the only tool to provide an objective measure of Competitive Strength compared to the very best in the world. It is based on extensive and rock solid research into what it takes to create and sustain an organisation that can exceed expectations in every respect.
- enables a company leadership to understand where they are positioned, in comparison to the very best, where their main threats lie, what the implications are.
- a process to help you identify and quantify these risks. It will also reveal areas of excellence and show the degree of alignment your organisation has achieved at top team level. This alignment is a vital component of competitive advantage.
- and helps leadership teams decide very clearly, collectively and speedily what they need to do. There is nothing else as fast, as accessible or as affordable.
Your Competitive Strength Report (CSR) will stimulate a top level dialogue focused on answering these questions. It simply says to a leadership team ...
“This is how your input shows your business compares with the very best in the world. These are the financial implications. These are the threats that you see coming up behind you. This is what they could do to you. Do you need a Transformation of your Performance? You have three choices, which one will you make? These are the first steps you have all committed to take.”
The research
The research was conducted by Dr. Vinod R. Singhal, Associate Professor of Operations Management in the Dupree College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA. Dr Singhal selected 600 companies that had won Excellence Awards - either National Quality based awards such as the Baldrige Award and the Shingo Award or supplier awards such as those by General Motors, Toyota USA, GTE Corp, IBM etc. It has been rigorously tested internationally over the last 4 years.
Dr Singhal's research used only public published financial accounts for input data - and only published award winners for target selection. He is not prescribing any action to his readers and his research is not a 'justification'. Rather it provides a shatteringly compelling insight:
Excellence provides massive competitive advantage compared to the average in any market - see the dramatic evidence below:
|
Measured |
Excellent |
Average |
Competitive |
|
Operating Income |
86% |
43% |
+43% |
|
Sales |
62% |
32% |
+30% |
|
Return on Sales |
12% |
0% |
+12% |
|
Return on Assets |
13% |
6% |
+7% |
|
Total Assets |
67% |
37% |
+30% |
|
Stock Price |
114% |
70% |
+44% |
Excellent business practice in any one marketplace has been shown to share common processes, disciplines, skills, behaviours and attitudes to that in any other marketplace, trans-nationally. Dr Singhal's results are verifiable, objective and replicable - and, therefore, valid for any company competing in a free economy anywhere in the world.
What can you expect?
- Exceptional value: no labour costs, only 40 minutes input from up to 8 of your people and you set the timetable.
- Your CSR can be generated within 48 hours.
- advice tailored to your current competitive strength,
- a 1-hour CEO debrief and a guide to facilitating your discussions and decision-making.
Any business process improvement tool must be relevant to your needs and practical. It must be a significant step in your strategic planning process. Any tool must help you increase your competitive advantage and deliver business results. Unfortunately, many do not.
CONTACT US to learn more about what the Competitive Strength Report process can do for your organisation
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