Leg 3. From Cape Town to Melbourne (VIII). There is not one framework for Analyzing Resources and Capabilities…

eleonoraescalantestrategy 22 Dec 2017 Leave a Comment

Dear all:

I hope you are doing well and happy. First of all, we are expecting Christmas so much. Many are probably preparing the dinner meals in advance, others are making DIY gifts, others are running to buy their new clothes and shoes, gifts, or using internet platforms to buy Christmas gifts for their beloved ones. Others are still working without any plans, in order to get a paycheck before Christmas. And there are many who are struggling to survive in countries with conflicts. I wish peace for these places. I have to consider myself as a lucky one, even though El Salvador has violence problems. Nonetheless this, I am blessed, I am in a cookies factory status mode, and I will have to bake tonight. I also found out Vestas team has gone into stealth mode for some hours. The purpose of the Stealth mode is to disappear from the tracker (which everyone can see it), to conceal the gybes they have done in the last few hours from Team Brunel, the nearest competitor).

Jonathan-Haidt I just wish to request to you a bit of comprehension for not telling you which is the best framework for “capabilities and resources analysis”. I have been analyzing theory and practice for several days. When I do research on the internet, it is not with the purpose to copy and paste, but I always take several hours to think about what the experts share (professors, academic gurus, and practitioners). But with this theme, I have to admit I am not able to recommend a particular framework even though each consulting firm has their own models or new proposal models. Moreover, the digital century is demanding us better frameworks. It took us a century to adapt consulting objectives to the needs of traditional brick-mortar companies. As many industrial companies are being shaken with the digital technologies, the same happens to the management consulting and professional organizations. We also need to change.

Five years ago, Clayton M Christensen, Dina Wang, and Derek van Bever wrote an interesting article. “Consulting on the Cusp of Disruption” (Harvard Business Review, October 2013 Issue). The article states, that “the most prestigious consulting firms have evolved into ‘solution shops’ whose recommendations are created in the black box of the team room” and “At traditional strategy-consulting firms, the share of work that is classic strategy is now about 20%—down from 60% to 70% some 30 years ago.” This is what is happening at the moment. Personally, what it is clear to me, the business owners and board of directors should evolve from maximizing shareholder value to maximizing “people” value. fruit tomato And in consequence, the consulting industry has to put PEOPLE at the core. We must return to what is right: our most important goal should be to help owners and business founders to build their people capabilities (shareholders, employees, clients, and suppliers). Our contribution into helping companies, can´t continue from the point of view of the traditional functional approach separately (marketing division here, finance department there, sales team here, HR at the most distant corner there)… But from the point of view of building the people skills, capabilities and ultimately competencies, with integrity, ethics, using knowledge for prosperity… and using the convenient digital tools. If you see my rationale, I do not talk about “maximizing economic value anymore”… that is just not what I recommend. I am using a completely different approach. People and ethics must be at the core of everything if we wish to survive in the future. People development, people quality of life, people ethical behavior, people values. If we see life by putting people at the core, and not money anymore, there is no time to worry about robots taking our jobs. In a world where we care for other people, there is no space for controls. If we are doing things with integrity and putting people at the core, there is no space for destruction, neither space for non-ethical consequences.

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If you wish to see and download the last presentation in PDF Format, click here: Eliescalante Leg 3 Putting Resources and Capabilities to work.

This is all for now. There is always an opportunity to change. Audrey Hepburn changed from Breakfast at Tiffany´s to become a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. See you tomorrow. Thank you.