Publications

• 30 Second Ideas
• Accounting Updates
• Alerts
• Articles
• Business Surveys
• Construction Edge
• Healthcare Edge
• Insurance Edge
• Legal Talent
• Manufacturing Edge
• Not-for-Profit Edge
• Quick Links & Good Ideas
• SEC Edge
• Strategy Insights Blog
• Surviving the Upturn
• Tax Highlights

Quick Links and Good Ideas, September 2010

As the summer of 2010 fades in the rearview mirror, our clients and friends are gearing up to maintain the momentum they created in their businesses. Maintaining this momentum, however, will depend far more on their own activities than on any economic recovery.

While economic pundits have stopped talking about a Q4 upswing, they have also stopped discussing a double-dip recession. Most comments lately refer to stagnation or stagflation in the economy. But the election season is upon us, so the discussion about what is wrong with the economy is sure to heat up. Let's hope the discussion leads to solutions instead of blaming the people on the other side of the aisle . . . though we have been around long enough to know that excess optimism would be misplaced.

Enough about the economy, let's talk business.

We wrote in August about Roger Martin's article from the August Harvard Business Review, The Execution Trap. In A Great Strategy is Like a Stream. Except It Flows Both Ways we discussed the link between strategy and execution. Crucial to this discussion was the notion that there needs to be feedback flowing from the customer-facing teams "upstream" to the people who develop the broader strategies. Furthermore, we described the need for the people on the front lines to have freedom to make decisions that will allow them to delight your customers (within the framework of the broad strategies, of course) rather than be bound by hard and fast policies.

We also provided initial results from the survey of adaptability and innovation of closely held and family businesses that we are doing in conjunction with the Family Firm Institute. In Family Business Survey Says . . . The Recovery Is Moot the imperative for action was described. While our respondents were unsure when or if an economic recovery would happen, they realized they needed to be proactive regardless. The main areas of focus were improving customer relations and keeping the head count and overall compensation in line with current revenue and needed skill sets - even when it came to family members. In general, those with whom we spoke were cautiously optimistic about the next few years. We are now in the process of completing a second round of interviews for the survey and will share them following our presentation to the Family Firm Institute's meeting in mid-October.

There was a great deal of discussion on the web about Alan Murray's article from the August 21 Wall Street Journal, The End of Management . The primary concept underlying the piece was that corporate bureaucracy is dead, but many of the bureaucrats haven't yet gotten the memo. Unless and until corporate leaders start looking forward and placing many small bets instead of trying to preserve the status quo and hit home runs every time at bat, they will be doomed to failure. It is a thought-provoking piece that we highly recommend reading.

As we look to the fall, the start of another election year, and 2011, we offer the following from Maria Robinson, a fiction writer from Princeton, NJ: "Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."

Sincerely,

David Spitulnik, former Managing Director, Strategic Services

This publication is part of Blackman Kallick’s marketing of professional services, and is not written tax advice directed at the specific facts and circumstances of any person and/or entity. Contents of this publication are of a general nature, and you should not act on this information without obtaining professional advice from your business advisor that is appropriately tailored to your individual needs and circumstances. This written advice is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code.