PESTEL Analysis
PESTEL analysis is probably one of the most well-known top-level battle-hardened business planning tools where PESTEL is an acronym for Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental and Legislative.
The Change and Continuity Conundrum
The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) recently surveyed over 650 organisations worldwide and found that, whilst 75% had implemented major strategic change programmes, 84% of these projects had been implemented without considering business continuity.
Good Governance - Auditors, Your (Unlikely) Partners In Progress
If you can cast your mind back far enough, the list is as long as it is depressing – the list, that is, of organisations that have failed despite their efforts to maintain vigilance against the risks associated with running a business. The list includes the recent spectacular failures of the banks, AIG, Enron, Tyco, Polly Peck, and BCCI; there are many others besides.
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We Need A Change In Management Thinking
One of our Associates, Stuart Swalwell, recently spent some time in Los Angeles with Bill Bellows, Associate Fellow at Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne and Leader of Enterprise Thinking, and is now drafting a paper outlining the differences between the Statius product, Optimisation 3D™, and Six Sigma. In a sentence, Six Sigma is a set of tools and techniques that concentrate on meeting specifications whilst Optimisation 3D™ focuses on the continuous improvement of the organisation as a whole so that customers remain delighted by the products or services they receive. It is hoped the final paper will be published towards the end of the year.
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A Virtuous Health And Safety Circle?
We all want our staff and workforce to go home safety to their loved ones at night and it does appear there is evidence that we are getting better at it. In a recent article for Safety Management, Mark Tyler, a partner in the legal practice Shook, Hardy and Bacon, wrote “we often hear the complaint that health and safety fines are too low, but little is heard about HSE prosecutions dropping by half over the last decade, to around 1,000 a year”.
Value Customers - Value Customer Service
The Institute of Customer Service (ICS) has undertaken its first comprehensive research exercise examining the return on investment from customer service. When asked which activities were most likely to lead to the highest returns, eighty per cent of respondents said “gaining an understanding of the customer’s point of view”. Seventy-four per cent also said that gathering and acting on customer feedback would also prove effective.
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Corporate Manslaughter Conviction
The first conviction under corporate manslaughter legislation introduced in 2007 has now been made.
Hack Attack
The recent Sony hack attack has shown how vulnerable our increasing love affair with the online world had made us. The explosion of information technology means that organisations are now exposed to completely new areas of risk that didn’t exist a generation ago.
Corporate Social Responsibility
The new ISO 26000 standard, Guidance on Social Responsibility, was published late last year and gives guidance on the underlying principles of the, often confusing, area of social responsibility.
Environmental Targets Achievable
The UK can meet its environmental target to cut greenhouse emissions by 60% over the next 20 years, the Committee on Climate Change reports. However, this will mean completely overhauling the energy sector, with an annual investment of £16bn in the 2020s, and replacing 11 million petrol cars with electric or hybrid equivalents.
