Special report - The value blueprint
Companies in the UK, US and all around the world are facing unprecedented challenges in the current economic crisis. Just as it is too soon to know how deep and prolonged this downturn will be, it is also too soon to tell which companies will meet these challenges successfully and which will struggle to perform - this will only become clear over a longer timescale.
In the end, business success or failure is likely to depend not just on the sector or geography in which a company operates but also on the vital decisions taken by senior management - the strategy and tactics adopted by the board, the practical plans implemented by finance and other key departments and the speed with which the business reacts to changing circumstances.
In assessing how to respond, each business will look first at its own situation, but can also benefit enormously by examining how other businesses have reacted in the past to economic and corporate challenges. What are the key attributes of a well-run company that survives and prospers over the long term? What are the lessons from the past about building 'value' over time?
In this special report, the Corporate Executive Board, the Washington-based organisation which provides research and decision-support tools to its business members, documents its enquiry into the 'value blueprint'. Presenting its principal findings in the form of a series of charts and diagrams, the report aims to pin-point the vital ingredients determining long-term success in business, to identify which are the best-run companies and to explain how they reached that position.
Published recently in the US, the report is reproduced here by exclusive agreement between the faculty and the CEB. We believe that it offers valuable research on a topical issue for finance professionals and business managers. Of course, the companies highlighted here are currently facing new challenges and some may not perform as well in the future. But the key lessons of this research into past performance remain relevant. Members may wish to use the methodology explained here to assess their own business performance. If the research provides just one insight to assist thinking about current challenges, then it will have served its purpose.
About CEB
The Washington-based CEB provides best practice research, tools and executive education to members in corporations and not-for-profit organisations in the US, UK and overseas.
Its CFO Executive Board is aimed at chief financial officers and focuses on improving enterprise performance, finance architecture and staffing, board support, corporate cost efficiency, CFO personal development and enterprise risk management. See www.cfo.executiveboard.com.
If you have any questions about the research please contact Mark Wiedemer at mwiedemer@executiveboard.com.
Members
-
Download The value blueprint (PDF 1MB/20 pages)
Full report only available to faculty members
