Shares Magazine - Firm needs a corporate vision

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MR MARKET

Firm needs a corporate vision Time to think about the future in a systematic way

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Nicolas De Santis

e constantly hear about companies, chief executive officers (CEOs), world leaders or politicians lacking in vision. But what does it actually mean, to have or lack corporate vision? Corporate vision is a lot more than just a buzzword. It is something which is truly fundamental to the successful and sustainable functioning of any country, institution, board of directors, cabinet of ministers, company or enterprise worldwide. If you are a leader and you do not have clarity on the future, then what do you have clarity on? How can you make good decisions or navigate our complex world without having vision? The answer is: You cannot.

will have a very small chance of success. Plans, after all, are only ever informed by the world around them, and a successful plan cannot be made without a well-conceived destination and future end-goal. Also, without strategic plans, visions are worthless. Having a bold concept for the future of mankind, with all the information and anticipation in the world, will achieve nothing if there is no plan in place to achieve said vision.

Source: Gold Mercury International

Reinvent the wheel A business with a strong corporate vision strategy will be able to anticipate the future in time and Nicolas De Santis, adapt its business model to seize new emerging paradigms. Such is the nature of contemporary president of Gold Mercury International, the Corporate business. Who killed the Sony (6758:T) Walkman, Vision and action Vision® strategy think tank or the Nokia (NOK1V:HE) franchises? Not A strategy is a long-term, high-level plan of action another competing product, but entirely new based in London. aimed at achieving a specific goal and shaping the business models in music, sound management future. 'Vision' has two meanings, both of which are equally and mobile telephony. Sony was considered the byword for applicable to this context. innovation in the global electronics industry of the 1980s and 1990s, and Nokia was much the same with regards to mobile technology. While Sony and Nokia saw themselves as purely • Vision (from the Latin vīsiō; to see), is the ability to electronic companies, Apple (AAPL:NDQ) implemented a perceive and identify the world around you, both physically strategic vision of the future, aimed at changing the world, and conceptually. and totally revolutionising the music and mobile telephone • It is also a way of describing your long-term, ideal view of industry. Their business model provided much more than a the future for your organisation, and the world it exists in. new product. It created a new platform, which solved future customers’ needs. The term corporate (from the Latin corporātus; to make into Short term, incremental changes are no longer working a body/organisation), is fairly self-explanatory. By combining for corporations or governments because they face huge these definitions, we see that a corporate vision strategy is uncertainties, globalisation forces and complexity at the plan an organisation puts into place to shape its future, incredible market speeds. An organisation without a powerful whose specifics are determined by an informed awareness of strategic vision of its own future is not in control of its own the surrounding environment, aiming towards their long-term destiny or governance. The future cannot be predicted, but goals for both the organisation and the world it exists in. can be created. It is impossible to govern an organisation with Strategic vision is something which has to exist in the core little or no clarity of its destination or its future environment, of a business, for growth to be sustainable; particularly given both ideal and realistic; the further we look into the future, our unpredictable and complex, maze-like world of paradigm the fuzzier our ability to envision becomes. Companies (or shifts and innovation. Without vision, your strategic planning governments) without a clear corporate vision strategy have The wrong balance: The right balance: dangerous strategic blind spots, increasing corporate and Strategic vision as a statement Strategic vision as a system economic risk, and will miss critical business opportunities. As we move forward in time, complexity and uncertainty increase for an organisation. So when someone asks again about a company or government lacking vision and clarity, what really needs to be asked, is whether their own corporate or political governance demands it. As most governance today is built around short-term results (worry about the future later) we can expect lack of vision to remain a widespread issue. Until we change our own culture, to reflect on how important it is to understand the future in a systematic way, the future will remain extremely uncertain. S 13 February 2014 | Shares

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