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Smart Organization, The: Creating Value Through Strategic R&D (Hardcover)

by James Matheson (Author), David Matheson (Author) "SMART COMPANIES do great things ..." (more)

4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product details

Hardcover: 292 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; illustrated edition edition (1 Nov 1997)
Language English
ISBN-10: 087584765X
ISBN-13: 978-0875847658
Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 3 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 146,634 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
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#58 in Books > Business, Finance & Law > Sales & Marketing > Research

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Product Description

Why do some firms continually make poor R&D decisions while others can deliver a stream of successful products and services? According to the Mathesons, successful firms have internalized the nine interlocking principles of smart R&D--the building blocks of a corporate culture that emphasize making the right strategic decisions at the right times, and aligning organizational practices to support these decisions and sustain their results. The nine principles include embracing uncertainty, opening information flows, and encouraging systems thinking. Once in place, these values enable companies to make appropriate choices about their R&D planning, portfolio management, and project strategies. The authors stress the importance of evaluating trade-offs, investigating alternatives, and getting buy-in across functions to ensure that decisions will be viable from both technological and managerial perspectives. They use best practice examples from companies including General Motors, Pilkington Glass, and BankOne of Ohio to demonstrate that the methods used to enrich R&D planning can be applied more broadly to create, in effect, the smart organization.

About the Author

David Matheson is a principal in Strategic Decisions Group's London office and director of the research efforts that identified the best practices and the Nine Principles of Smart R&D. Jim Matheson is a world-recognized authority on decision analysis and its application. He is a co-founder and director of Strategic Decisions Group, an international management consulting firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and director of the firm's R&D practice.

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4 Reviews

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4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book. If you liked the HBR article, you'll love this!, 31 Mar 1999

By A Customer

Frequently organizations face the challange of what not to do. They tend to believe in the person presenting the idea, rather then creating a rigorous process for evaluating the options before them. Companies adopting best practices in managing their investment options realize substantial gains in their long term bottem line. This book quantifies this performance difference, and what the best practices are across a range of industries.

Why aren't organizations more rigorous in selecting projects? The book outlines several barriers which are extremely relevent:

� It will make a popular champion look bad,

� Organizational resistance to change, or cannibalization of an existing business for a new opportunity,

� We confuse the urgent with the important,

� Its hard to agree on measures and success criteria

� People are afraid of making the wrong prediction, so they don't make any,

� Its hard to normalize results from different contributors,

� Business plans are not integrated with new project activity,

� Power and politics, a methodical evaluation leaves no room for interpretation and "behind the scenes" trade offs between groups and individuals,

� Lack of strategy.

The best practices outlined in this book are backed by substantial research. I would have like to have seen a few additional chapters on application of best practices in real companies ... a case study of a turn around.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best organising frameworks I've met, 20 April 1998

By A Customer

The Strategic Decisions Group framework for smart organisation is informative. One reason for this is that the authors are reporting a practical benchmark study of R&D which appears to include every American corporate I've ever heard of. They do readers the great favour of synthesising this into a 9 principle framework for Smart Organisation. 3 principles for achieving purpose: -continual learning -value creation culture -creating alternatives 3 principles for mobilizing resources: -open inforamtion flow -disciplined decision making -alignment and empowerment 3 principles for understaning environment: -systems thinking -embracing uncertainty -outside-in strategic perspective What I especially like is that for each principle 5 How do you knows? are given scaling the difference between an organisation which hasn't got a clue about the principle (not smart) to one that lives it (smart org) For example these are the 5 how-you-knows of alignment & empowerment: 1 Examine the strategies at different levels (eg technology strategy to portfolio strategy to project startegy). In smart org: there are clear strategies at all levels taht provide useful guidance for decision making. Strategies at one level are clearly linked to the next. Lower level strategies interpret and carry out the implementation of higher-level strategies. In not-smart: few strategies or they provide little guidance for decision-making. They are viewed cynically as corporate PR. Links among strategies are absent, unclear or ambiguous 2 Examine the value measures used to evaluate decisions at different levels. In smart org: there are clear measures of value at all levels. Value measures at one strategic level are clearly linked through the strategy to measures at the next level. In non-smart: There may be no value measures. If there are, each level sets its own values or decision criteria, with no special requirement that they be related to values and strategies at other levels. 3 Examine the approvals required to make or carry out important decisions. In smart org: Decisions require few approvals because people understand the strategy and are trusted to carry it out. Meetings with upper management are viewed as adding value. In not-smart: Decisions require many levels of approval. Review meetings are perceived as wasting time. Often meetings with upper management are feared because it may redirect efforts and change priorities without clear reason. Upper management often feels overloaded with the need to check on subordinates. 4 Examine the roles of people involved in an important recent decision. In smart orgs: Many people participated in the decision process,at multiple levels in the organisation. A dialogue was carried out in the process that continually aligned and refined the vertical links. Management at different levels collaborated to build a high quality decision and achieved aligned commitment to action. In non-smart: Either few people participated in the decision or so many did that the process got bogged down. Typically, lower level employees make proposals to upper levels for approval or rejection 5 Examine a recent decision that was controversial. In smart org: People unified around the decisions aand carried it out with little intervention. They understood the reasons for the decision and believe the organisation is carrying out a sensible strategy for creating value. In non-smart: The decision did not stick and was undone or remade over and over again. 100+ of us are discussing frameworks like these in a free e-mail group : Organising Creativity Network. e-mail me, Chris Macrae, at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk if you are passionately interested.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great insights for all concerned with strategy and renewal., 31 Jul 1998

By A Customer

Focusing on large R&D intensive organizations, this book explores nine key principles that make these enterprises effective, such as: open information flow, systems thinking, and continual learning. The author's emphasize the decision making process as a means of changing and improving overall organizational performance. If you are seeking new insights into how strategy is developed, excellence can be achieved in decision making, and organization renewal can be realized, you will find this book enlightening and fascinating reading. The insights offered here are by no means limited to high-technology firms; they apply to any organization seeking to be successful in today's fast-paced markets. This work includes an organizational IQ test (a diagnostic tool) for identifying root causes of the barriers to improving decision processes. There is an impressive amount of knowledge about organization to be gleaned in The Smart Company. Whether you are a technology -based bus! iness or not, you will find many nuggets in this work. We highly recommend it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Ideas in the book come to life!
Thank you very much for sending me a copy of The Smart Organization. I have completed only two chapters, but find the book to be thoroughly engaging. Read more

Published on 11 Nov 1998

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