If a piece of research comes up with findings that are startlingly obvious, is there any point to it? I think so. So often ignored, the obvious bears repetition.

Take this new McKinsey survey on how companies make good decisions, on issues such as whether they should enter a new market or buy a competitor. The conclusions aren’t going to lead to a boardroom revolution. I paraphrase:

• Detailed financial modelling and risk analysis works, as does looking at comparable situations from the past;
• The person responsible for implementing a decision should be clearly identified and involved in the decision itself;
• Decisions initiated and approved by the same person, however, generate the worst financial results;
• Companies with no strategic planning process are bad at making decisions;
• CEOs require particularly bold oversight since their pet projects often turn out to be either big successes or big failures;
• Leaders of business units sometimes put their parochial concerns above the needs of the broader organisation.

As I said, not rocket science — but look where rocket science got us…

January 8, 2009 3:33pm in Strategy/ops | Comment