China's 12th Five Year Plan: A Preliminary Look

Jonathon Porritt (forum for the future and Guardian) gave an excellent lecture and kick to do more, entitled City, Nations and Global Capital: Turning Sustainability into Reality, at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) on 4 April. 
Among other issues he did point out that this plan was worth reading and that it had a great deal of the right direction and leadership in it and as a better example of what needs to be planned and done than democratic countries are currently managing to show. So I thought I would read into it a little..
China's 12th Five Year Plan: A Preliminary Look

From article in Opinion Maker Feb 25, 2001. http://goo.gl/HVKuj

Virgin Brand Values - aide memoire

based on information available on the group's website

The Virgin brand revolves around delivering 
- value pricing, high quality, fun, great customer service and innovation 
whilst at the same time being 
- authentic, people-oriented and hip 
and associated with 
- Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson and his personal reputation.

Virgin Group Brand Values

Fun = enjoyment and humour, not offensive and incompetent

Value for Money = simple, not cheap

Quality = attention to detail, not expensive for the sake of it

Innovation = challenging convention, not different for the sake of being different

Competitive Challenge = responding to consumer needs, not being irrelevant

Brilliant Customer Service = empowered, not unprofessional people

sounds great - what can I do to help...

UK - Blake's Parliamentary Year Book 2010 - "All Change" rail editorial

Editorial written in March 2009.

photos from top

1. St Pancras station

# southeastern highspeed snaps

2.Chatham Station - May 2009 (not in service!)

3. Ebbsfleet International Station - August 2009

Southeastern is owned by Govia, which is itself jointly owned by Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, who also operate the neighbouring Southern operating company which overlaps with Southeastern in some areas. The company’s formal name, under which it mounted its bid for the franchise, is London and South Eastern Railway.

Keolis was formerly an investment of 3i. 
Groupe SNCF and a consortium comprising AXA (acting through AXA Private Equity) and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, agreed to acquire a majority participation (55%) in Groupe Keolis. Within the consortium itself, the shareholding will be shared equally between the two partners. Groupe SNCF retains its current equity participation (45%) and remains the Group’s key industrial shareholder.
Early in 2010, there was consideration in the press of a potential merger between Keolis and Arriva.

The Conservatives' plan for a 'Green technology recovery'

George Osborne has set out a series of measures that could be introduced in next week’s Budget and would bring about a green technology revolution in Britain.

The Shadow Chancellor stressed, “The Budget is not just an opportunity to help people now; it’s also a chance to chart a new course for the future.”

And he outlined a series of policies to “kick-start a green recovery” built on new technologies developed and manufactured in Britain:

• A £6,500 energy efficient entitlement for every home in Britain
• Funding at least three carbon capture and storage pilots (2)
• The introduction of feed-in tariffs (4) and smart meters (3) to encourage homes to microgenerate using wind turbines and solar power
• A national recharging network for electric vehicles (5)
• Beginning work on a new high-speed rail network (6)
• Investing in the creation of an electricity internet (7)
• Providing government loan guarantees to companies investing in green technologies
• Creating the world’s first environmental trading market
• Introducing a network of Marine Energy Parks
• Building an offshore DC cable network (10)

George stressed their plan “could transform Britain”: “It would unleash £30 billion of new private sector investment, without adding a penny to the national debt. It would lay the path to a greener future. And it would help build a future economy where we save and invest for tomorrow instead of borrow and spend for today.”

Download their plans for 'A Green Technology Recovery'

100 day plan - Share your dreams and let others help you with the interpretation! Confucius

Every company has tonnes and tonnes of data, but they are all asking the same questions. Information and knowledge are table stakes. Insight and foresight win.

In other words, don't ignore the spreadsheets and marketing studies but figure out ways to go beyond them. "We're all swamped in information. What we're looking for is ideas. We're trying to get to the future first."

'Fail Fast, Learn Fast, Fix Fast'

Success is inversely proportional to the time spent doing Strategic Planning. The further one gets from Head Office the more likely we are to have a 100 day planning process.

Feel like Family - Play like a Team - be Demanding & Caring

Importance of success factors - Porter Drucker Bennis Peters

Tom Peters - Management by Wandering Around WBWA

Slides from Tom Peters on.... Eight Basics
Strategy, EXCELLENCE, Kevin Roberts' Credo, Success is a function of..., Hard is Soft, Soft is Hard
more at http://www.tompeters.com/slides/special.php

Tom Peters - Try It!

Extract from Tom Peter's master powerpoint slides.
more at http://www.tompeters.com/

Tom Peters - EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK. LEADERSHIP.

Extract from Tom Peter's master powerpoint slides.
see Tom Peter's website and http://blogs.ft.com/management/

Black Swan - the impact of the highly improbable

Nassim Nicolas Taleb

JHP: Everything it says it is on the cover. A great read and one that makes sense of so much....

A Strategy Director role

1. Purpose

Strategy
to lead
1. the strategic planning and development of Any Company
o through the ongoing internal change programme and
o development of clear strategies for organic and non-organic growth,

- targeting growth towards £1bn plus by 2010, enhanced margins to an average PBT greater than 3%, and
- having a clear long term 5-10 year plan to reflect changing market conditions

2. the regular strategic review of the business and its markets including lead in
o assessment of acquisitions subsequently playing key roles in
i. due diligence
ii. final agreement
iii. integration activities
to create and generate
3. innovative customer solutions and generate sustainable, margin enhancing new market opportunities from current core capabilities

Cultural Change Programme
to support and assist
1. MDs to shift client relationships towards long term, mutually dependant, high-value business relationships
o through enhanced business development,
i. partner selection,
ii. market selection,
o process improvement and
o high impact operational support and coaching

2. the MD and HRD in raising the calibre of business leadership across the organisation including talent development

3. the MD in the ongoing implementation of process improvement and cultural change in Any Company, involving all
o functions and
o business units.

Process delivery
to create
o brand positioning, marketing,
o internal and external communications,
o business development and business improvement functions

o to create sustained growth, market leading positions in our chosen sectors and
o enhanced business reputation
______________________________________________________________

2. Responsibilities:

1. Strategic planning
o acquisition planning and implementation

2. Business development
o Customer solutions
o Marketing and brand

3. Internal and external communications

4. Business improvement

______________________________________________________________

3. Initial Objectives:

Strategic planning
Assess and critique the 2007 strategy submission and develop action plan,
o including assessment of potential new markets and actions to progress
· Monitor and manage our progress against our strategic projects.
· Support or lead the roll-out of our vision and strategy.
· Take ownership of the corporate scorecard.
· Lead the initial scoping and for cross group working in
o regeneration,
o property development and
o complex projects in common sectors (eg Rail, Nuclear)

Business development
· Recruit and/or develop high calibre BDM’s
o agree roles, targets and objectives and confirm meeting and reporting structure

· Support the MD’s in business development strategies for
o relatively new sectors (e.g. power generation, defence, airports, ports, Crossrail) and
o ongoing areas of targeted growth or market share defence (e.g. Rail, Renewables and Water)

· Assess existing customer relationships and identify continuous improvement opportunities
· Review current JV partners and any actions required to address future needs

· Embed and champion account management approach across BU’s
o assess BDM processes and agree a cross company business development plan

Internal and external communications
· Recruit or grow a high performing communications team who are
o proactive and
o recognised by the business units and sites as adding real value to their operational activities

· Develop an innovative and high impact PR and marketing plan
o Develop a detailed plan to raise the Any Company brand awareness,
§ utilising feedback and workshops held to date and facilitate company-wide engagement
o build upon existing plans to enhance external communications; e.g. web site, external literature, site branding etc
o Oversee the completion of a comprehensive library of
§ case studies,
§ pre-qualification materials and
§ other specific marketing literature, both operational and cultural
· Continue to support Cascade, roadshows and other internal communications events which have proved successful

Business improvement
· Lead the cost reduction programme.
o Set targets for efficiency savings and deliver in conjunction with EMT directors
· Chair business improvement forum
· Develop a business improvement plan for Any Company
o including assessment of specific new processes, in conjunction with process owners.
o Support the MD and *** in developing a best practice framework and implement processes and coaching to embed this into our culture
o Assess opportunities for specific performance improvement activities
· on live contracts with resulting client engagement

· Actively support the Values roll-out programme

· Work with *** to develop a company performance model and fully implement
o KPI’s and
o other performance and data requirements

· Assess our CSR strategy and
o support/coach current team to take a step change in our current culture, strategy and profile

TradeStone's RADICAL vision!

... recognises the importance of private labels and therefore our vision is simple – to provide the world’s leading retailers and wholesalers with private label solutions that deliver radical results. What do we mean by radical?

R – Rapid Response

A – Agility (Opportunity/Challenge Response)

D - Dramatic Design

I – Innovation

C – Controls (QA/QC/Regulatory)

A – Alternative (Channels/Sourcing)

L – Leapfrog (the Competition)

TradeStone’s radical results include: 200 to 400 basis points to the bottom line; sales increases of 35 percent; average consumer spend increases of seven percent; and sell through at margins of 78 percent.
TradeStone…Private Label Solutions; Radical Results!

Ansoff's Matrix

A basic overview is available on Wikipedia at http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Product-Market+Growth+Matrix. Basic thing to remember is that it is always good to have a balance in a business and personal portfolio – suggested split as per percentage below.

Reasons why strategic plans fail

There are many reasons why strategic plans fail, especially:

• Failure to understand the customer
• Why do they buy
• Is there a real need for the product
• inadequate or incorrect marketing research
• Inability to predict environmental reaction
• What will competitors do
• Fighting brands
• Price wars
• Will government intervene
• Over-estimation of resource competence
• Can the staff, equipment, and processes handle the new strategy
• Failure to develop new employee and management skills
• Failure to coordinate
• Reporting and control relationships not adequate
• Organizational structure not flexible enough
• Failure to obtain senior management commitment
• Failure to get management involved right from the start
• Failure to obtain sufficient company resources to accomplish task
• Failure to obtain employee commitment
• New strategy not well explained to employees
• No incentives given to workers to embrace the new strategy
• Under-estimation of time requirements
• No critical path analysis done
• Failure to follow the plan
• No follow through after initial planning
• No tracking of progress against plan
• No consequences for above
• Failure to manage change
• Inadequate understanding of the internal resistance to change
• Lack of vision on the relationships between processes, technology and organization
• Poor communications
• Insufficient information sharing among stakeholders
• Exclusion of stakeholders and delegates

Strategic reminder - Boston Consulting Box (BCG) and Portfolio Analysis

boston consulting box

The business portfolio is the collection of businesses and products that make up the company. The best business portfolio is one that fits the company's strengths and helps exploit the most attractive opportunities.
The company must:
(1) Analyse its current business portfolio and decide which businesses should receive more or less investment, and
(2) Develop growth strategies for adding new products and businesses to the portfolio, whilst at the same time deciding when products and businesses should no longer be retained.
Methods of Portfolio Planning
The two best-known portfolio planning methods are from the Boston Consulting Group and by General Electric/Shell. In each method, the first step is to identify the various Strategic Business Units ("SBU's") in a company portfolio. An SBU is a unit of the company that has a separate mission and objectives and that can be planned independently from the other businesses. An SBU can be a company division, a product line or even individual brands - it all depends on how the company is organised.