MOST Analysis

Mission Statement

Organizations consist of people, processes, and tools. This program will focus on the “processes” of an organization, along with detailed examples and materials on how they can be optimized so that they can work better with the “people” and “tools” of the organization.

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Objectives

01. Introduction to Organizations: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. How Organizations Work: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Importance of People: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Function of People: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Running an Efficient Organization: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Importance of Processes: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Function of Processes: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. Efficient Processes: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Importance of Tools: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Function of Tools: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
11. Efficient Tools: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month

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Strategies

01. Introduction to Organizations: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. How Organizations Work: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Importance of People: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Function of People: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. Running an Efficient Organization: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Importance of Processes: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Function of Processes: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. Efficient Processes: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
09. Importance of Tools: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
10. Function of Tools: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
11. Efficient Tools: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.

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Tasks

01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Introduction to Organizations.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze How Organizations Work.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Importance of People.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Function of People.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Running an Efficient Organization.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Importance of Processes.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Function of Processes.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Efficient Processes.
09. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Importance of Tools.
10. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Function of Tools.
11. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Efficient Tools.

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Introduction

Organizational Design and Optimization Principles: The Great Recession’s Lessons

Ford Motor Company reported astonishing losses of $12.7 billion in 2006, but $6.6 billion in profits four years later. Around the same time, Carlos Brito’s “one firm, one culture” optimization strategy produced $2.3 billion in synergies, outperforming pre-merger expectations for the combination of Anheuser-Busch and InBev by 50%.

The CEOs of Ford and AB InBev both successfully applied the organizational optimization principles, which are ideas that Toptal Finance Restructuring Expert, Christopher Hearing, explores in this workshop.

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Case Study: Bringing Ford Motor Company Back to Life

Ford Motor Company was having trouble in late 2006. A startling $12.7 billion in losses were recorded for that year, a sharp decline from the $1.9 billion in profits made the year before. Profits had recovered to $6.6 billion four years later, and then increased to $10.8 billion in 2016. Amazingly, Ford’s turnaround occurred during the US’s Great Recession, which notably impacted the country’s auto industry. Most notably, Chrysler and General Motors were negotiating bailouts with the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of the US federal government while Ford was in the middle of organizing its significant reversal.

One of the finest examples of organizational design and optimization in action today is President and CEO Alan Mulally’s revitalization of Ford. Mulally reduced unnecessary and non-value-adding platforms, removed duplication and resource waste, and increased objective clarity throughout the company through a disciplined and well-ordered reorganization of Ford’s regional operations. Mulally named the outcome “One Ford”: a new, single, stronger, more efficient corporation and strategy.

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Organizational design and optimization are at the heart of this workshop. It starts with an introduction to the fundamental ideas of the field and then explores the various ideas and themes that Alan Mulally so deftly incorporated into his successful turnaround of Ford’s fortunes.

Organizational Optimization: What Is It?

The alignment and effective use of an organization’s resources to achieve its stated goals and objectives is known as organizational optimization. High efficiency, high effectiveness, and high use of all pertinent and then already available resources at a company’s disposal come together to form organizational optimization.

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What Justifies Organizational Optimization for Businesses?

Keeping up in a world that is changing quickly. First, the contexts in which organizations operate today are dynamic; these environments are characterized by times of great volatility, a changing technological landscape, and globalization. A discerning yet erratic global consumer class, whose tastes or preferences seem to alter by the minute, makes it much harder to control these issues. However, when properly tapped into, organizational optimization has proven to be a solid engine for both short- and long-term objectives, which businesses can use to stay ahead of their respective market forces.

The emergence of the workplace of the future. The second is the evolution of previous organizational frameworks. Managers now have to deal with, manage, and inspire globally dispersed workforces, which poses new issues for managers as the workplace continues to develop. The prevalence of remote work (individual and group), the usage of part-time labor by firms, and the reliance on temporary and contract employee models are a few examples of these new arrangements. It is and will continue to be difficult to manage such distributed groups efficiently and effectively, and this will necessitate a planned and purposeful rethinking of organizational architecture.

Getting a competitive advantage. By approaching the corporate challenge from a different angle, non-optimized businesses that compete in markets with competitors who are comparatively optimized run the danger of losing their competitive edge and being more exposed. One’s business will be better positioned to respond to unforeseen changes in the marketplace and will be better able to drive toward one’s corporate priorities faster and more effectively by optimizing one’s organization, hiring and deploying the right skill sets, and aligning goals across one’s company.

Acquisition-focused growth strategies are nothing new. At this moment, M&A is a pillar of the global corporate fabric as the counterpart to organic expansion. The key to realizing the anticipated synergies and value-potential of the business combination frequently lies in creating the ideal post-merger organizational structure, which aligns cultures, human resources, priorities, and workflows.

Only 16% of mergers meet their soft and hard goals on schedule, according to a Harvard Business Review article that heavily relies on McKinsey & Co. research. Additionally, 41% take longer than anticipated, and 10% of the time, the new organization actually decreases value rather than adding to it. Deliberate approaches to organizational optimization provide a tried-and-true road map for increased success in this area as well.

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Case Study: The Purchase of Anheuser-Busch by InBev

Anheuser-Busch was acquired for $52 billion by the Belgian company InBev in 2008. Anheuser-Busch had a 48% market share in the US at the time of the acquisition, whereas InBev, although being one of the biggest brewers in the world, had a small share and no domestic production capability.

Cost savings from the corporate merger were expected to total $1.5 billion over the first three years, but by 2011, Anheuser-Busch’s $2.3 billion in synergies were revealed by InBev, little under 50% more than anticipated. The margins increased by 600 basis points from 33% to 39% throughout the same time frame.

The control over Anheuser-Busch – Three things contributed to InBev’s success:

• The first was an unwavering focus on efficiency gains through the elimination of all redundancy. The procurement, engineering, logistics, and R&D divisions of both companies were combined and made more efficient, but this was rapidly followed by deliberate information transfer about best practices and effective processes across the entire organization.

• The second was the implementation of CEO Carlos Brito’s “one firm, one culture” policy, which tolerated zero complacency, drove tight cost controls via its zero-based budgeting practice, enforced personal accountability, and instilled the highest levels of personal and corporate integrity. The result was $1 billion in cost savings within a year and an increase in throughput. The company was able to stay close to its regional and local clients even at scale and respond rapidly to their wants, requirements, and preferences thanks to this strategy. This culture also gave its globally dispersed leaders the capacity to make choices swiftly and independently at a local level.

• Implementation intensity came in third. Carlos Birto and InBev’s well-known integration strategy of “no compromise” led to the rapid deletion of underperforming brands, such as Peroni and Grolsch beer, as well as significant layoffs (6,000 in all). Integration wouldn’t be finished and couldn’t be until every last “i” and “t” that was scripted as part of the pre-merger integration strategy had been dotted and crossed.

Over the course of the process, AB InBev experienced significant cost reductions:

• Sales and marketing costs decreased from 15.9% to 13.2% as a percentage of revenues between 2008 (the acquisition year) and 2011;
• distribution costs decreased from 11.5% to 8.5% as a percentage of revenues;
• and administrative costs decreased from 6.2% to 5.2% as a percentage of revenues.

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The Trap of Integration

The integration trap is a fallacy that falsely assumes that mergers and acquisitions are a sure strategy to develop with less risk or to create value quickly. Early, organized, and thorough work must be done to optimize the merged organization in order to avoid this pitfall. This is accomplished by first thoroughly mapping both businesses in order to find areas of overlap, waste, and capability gaps. Then, after identifying these areas, the overlap and waste are eliminated, and the capability gaps are designed with practical solutions.

The acquiring managers must then meticulously strive to standardize and integrate all of the crucial processes and workflows present in both firms. Finally, ex-post, the remaining staff must establish shared and unifying goals, win support at all levels, and work tirelessly to attain them.

The Optimized Business

Theorists and practitioners of restructuring claim that, in order to optimize organizations, attention must be paid to four key areas, which are: process redesign, structured workforce development, improved role clarity, and transparent goal setting. The four c