1 / 38

Using Assumptions to Challenge your Business Presentation to MBA Association Southern Chapter Cork Pat Daly, Shannon

2. Presentation Outline. OriginsDrucker's

arne
Download Presentation

Using Assumptions to Challenge your Business Presentation to MBA Association Southern Chapter Cork Pat Daly, Shannon

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

    1. 1

    2. 2 Presentation Outline Origins Drucker’s ‘Theory of the Business’ Business Assumptions Research Findings and possibilities Q/A

    3. 3

    4. 4

    5. 5

    6. 6 “Every organisation, whether a business or not, has a theory of the business. Indeed, a valid theory that is clear, consistent, and focused is extraordinarily powerful”.

    7. 7

    8. 8 Every organisation has a ‘founding assumption’ This ‘founding assumption’, according to Drucker, develops into a ‘theory of the business’ over time There are ‘valid’ TOB’s that can be specified… …and ‘invalid’ TOBs that can act as early ‘warning signals’ Invalid TOB’s must be short cuts to decisive action

    9. 9

    10. 10 First, there are assumptions about the environment of the organisation: society and its structure, the market, the customer and technology… Second, there are assumptions about the specific mission of the organisation.. Third, there are assumptions about the core competencies needed to accomplish the organisation’s mission. …Peter Drucker, Harvard Business Review, Sept-Oct, 1994 - ‘The Theory of the Business’, pp. 99-100.

    11. 11

    12. 12

    13. 13

    14. 14

    15. 15 So what do you do? Recognise the signals and react Don’t ‘patch’ Begin ‘purposeful abandonment’ Stress test your organisation – for its assumptions, NOT just its practices…

    16. 16

    17. 17

    18. 18

    19. 19

    20. 20

    21. 21

    22. 22

    23. 23 So: Deep role of assumptions in business and management But hidden All related to large scale, mature industries/settings Very evident in strategy and business planning literatures but underdeveloped even there Not evident as a ‘working’ variable, i.e. one to be identified and tested Recognised but not valued!

    24. 24

    25. 25

    26. 26 Assumptions as foundations of our ‘assumptive designs’ – based on Kegan & Lahey, 2009. Our assumptions generate commitments – what it is we feel committed to/obliged to do… In turn, our commitments generate our behaviours/actions… Our behaviours/actions generate our outcomes/results.. O B This is our own [natural, self-made] ‘ACBO’ causal chain… C A No one else is to blame – these are OUR OWN assumptions!

    27. 27

    28. 28

    29. 29

    30. 30

    31. 31

    32. 32

    33. 33

    34. 34 CASE STUDIES: 1. Irish Franchise Company “My growth assumptions in my own words – what a clever idea!” “Did I actually say that? – that won’t do at all!” “My current business practices rest on too limited a business theory – not to mind any growth ideas I had in mind when I started this work…” “Its very salutary to come to confession about my business like this!”.

    35. 35 CASE STUDIES: 2. Software Company “Just what was my founding assumption?!” “Starting with my founding assumption makes clear just how much I/we have changed over the years – and not all for the better!” “I can see much clearer now what I must do to grow my business – thanks so much!”.

    36. 36

    37. 37 CASE STUDIES: 4. Business Advisory Community “A very clear, powerful tool for looking forensically at the new business in terms of growth potential”. “A very effective means of helping the entrepreneur see what they cannot see – the tentative, almost speculative nature of business!”. “Looking at new firms as new theories is a unique contribution to the small firms field – well done!”. “As Drucker said, ‘every practice rests on theory – even if the practitioners themselves are unaware of it’ - this method is a great way of getting the serious growth-minded entrepreneur to really think about what s/he is doing – and really think about what s/he is thinking!”.

    38. 38 Implications Making entrepreneurial assumptions visible yields powerful breakthroughs in the ways entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial managers think about the growth of their business Re-conceiving the new business as a new theory – as a set of assumptions about the future – is a powerful new tool in the new/small business planning and advisory contexts It is possible to see a ‘theory of business’ as it forms – Drucker’s insight is empirically valid in the smaller enterprise

    39. 39 Thank you for your attention! Questions?

More Related