IMPLEMENTATION AND GROWTH

Definition
The implementation and growth gap occurs when a company fails to manage the process of pursuing “thinking” into “doing”. In theory the plans really seem to work but there are no methods that actually can help implement the them into actions.

At the end it means that a company doesn’t get the desire results. Plans don’t scale as the company would have hoped and in the end customers might be dissatisfied and switch to the companys competitors.

Characteristics:

 This gap is of highly relevant because if a company isn’t able to implement their new ideas  it’s impossible to keep up with the market changes and fulfil the customer needs. When a new innovation is created it’s important that it’s implemented and used in the right way, otherwise the company will not be able to maintain the right quality and customers will not be insatisfied. As seen in the case above  it’s important to look at every angle and really determine what are the customers needs and desires before a new product launch.
 * Company doesn't have the right people, tools and financial resources to implement new ideas properly.
 * Company cannot deliver a high quality of service.
 * Fails in taking advantage of potential synergies when implementing new ideas.

If a company is aware of the implementation gap it will also be aware of the potential obstacles that can occur while implementing a plan, in that way it could be possbile to prevent them and succeed.



Diagnostic
 To determine whether or not a company is facing an implementation and growth gap, a series of questions can be asked:

Do you have the right people, processes, support tools and financial resources that make the implementation possible? How profitable is the operation of the business? Do you deliver consistent high quality service? Have you taken advantage of potential synergies?

Case examples
Phanaint – the natural option 

Phanaint is a company who came up with an idea about a new, more ecological detergent. Usually a laundry contains of 8 steps but with the formula used in the phanaint detergent the steps can be reduced to only 2.

This means that there’s no need to use heated water, which decreases both the amount of water used, the time of the laundry and the amount of energy that is needed for the process. This means that it reduces costs over time. These advantages combined with the fact that it also reduces wear on laundry means that it’s supposedly one of the best and economical detergents on the market.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">The negative sides though were that before starting the wash the laundry needed to be divided in degree of dirtiness which increased the workload. And the initial cost was higher than a normal detergent even though it would be more economical in the end.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">In theory this sounds like a product that should be really easy to sell and the company focused on hotels as their main customer.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">But even though they had a cost reducing product they had a hard time selling it. First of all the new detergent meant that the hotel might have to train their personnel to use the detergent right and since the cost rises in the beginning the customer needs to be patient to see the real benefits, it was also hard to get a hold of the decision maker in every hotel.

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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">When looking at this case we can see that the product idea is very god but the company focused on the wrong distribution channels and/or customer segments.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Another idea would have been to start a laundry service where the hotels could just leave their laundry and also benefit from the new detergent, another idea would be to sell the detergent to another segment. Maybe the product would have worked better in households where cost reducing is a more prioritized question?

Solution: Escaping the gap
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;">There are many problems and situations that a company should overcome in order to close the implementation gap. In this section there are listed four steps that can be helpful to solve this gap. It is important to mention that t here is no one way to get out of the gap that a company is currently in, since each company has slightly different problems, like the slightly d ifferent answers given in the diagnosis above. Therefore, here are a number of basic steps that  a company  consder in order to get out of the gap, and into a successful track.

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<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;"> Define a clear goal. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;">The key element on this section is to define a company’s SMART goal in order to determine the types of growth strategies that the company will pursue. By answering the next questions a company can know what kind of strategy is needed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">''-Does the company want to increase the usage of a product or service without changing the product? -Commercial Strategy''

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">-Does the company want to take existing solutions and make them better, faster and cheaper?-Transformational Strategy

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">-Does the company want to improve efficiencies without changing the current business model?-Core Strategy 

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">-Does the company want to take advantage from its capabilities, assets or relationships to bring new solutions to the market?-Adjacent Strategy

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">''-Does the company want to create a new market? - Disruptive Strategy''

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">To share a common vision is important to execute ideas, diverse business and define the company’s objective. By having a clear objective, it needs to be communicate to the teams company and ensure that the following of the strategy is correct and it ’s  what the company wants.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"> It ’s   recommended to present a goal that could be considered unreasonable. Asking for 50% improvement and acheaving only  25% is better than asking for 5% and meeting easily the goal. This startegy forces people to think differently, to break rules and create value.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:15.8pt;"> Once detected the needed strategy, the company should evaluate what kind of profiles of human resources is needed to be able to implement new ideas, and get the company on the right track.

<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:15.8pt;">Check your resources Wanting to do new or different projects in a  it ’s   important to consider to align them with the  company’s  resources, capabilities and crown jewels.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"> These crown jewels; these are unique assets and capabilities that can confer a  company’s   competitive advantage. The above image contains some crown jewls with  it ’s  description according with Geoffrey A. Moore in his book named “Escape Velocity”. This image can help  to determine the crown jewels of any company.

<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:15.8pt;"> Choose the right project

O nce, the resources and capabilities of a company are identified, next step   is  identify a project that really matches with the  company’s  resources and not only consider   it ’s  the return on investment, The company shou ld consider seeing the big picture.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"> 1.-The project that is  trying to implement should be simple. As Kristin Arnold, president of Quality Process Consultant in Fairfax, Va., said, “If it’s too cumbersome, no one will implement it.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:11.25pt;line-height:16.5pt;background-position:initialinitial;background-repeat:initialinitial;">2.- The company should work on the most important project. It is crucial to prioritize projects, it needs to match company’s strategy. 3.-Considering the kind of  information that the company knows about the project, it can be predictable to know which task will have future problems.

<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:15.8pt;">Select the right people <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;text-align:justify;">In this step it is important to verify having the human resources that the selected project demands, if not, new hiring is needed in order to achieve the desire implementation.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;text-align:justify;">Once having the perfect team:

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;text-align:justify;">+The team needs to be gathered, in a physical space, in order to create a dedicated product development team. Problems solve faster when people communicate face to face.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;text-align:justify;">+Ensure the company has the right people working on the right info at the right time.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;text-align:justify;">+Providing a working environment that facilitates the success of projects is crucial.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;text-align:justify;"> + The company needs to define the program manager who will coordinate all related to the strategic goal, examine the process and results. <h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:15.8pt;">Measure the results

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;">The company needs to take care of the scalability, and growth. With the execution in place, the proyect needs to be varified to know it is as profitable as planned.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;"> For this step, taking care of customers is a priority. Having a support system for customers, to ensure they keep satisfied. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;"> The company needs the ability to change their services and quality, depending on the market needs.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;"> With this in place, the company needs to measure the effectiveness and growth  based on Return on Investment (ROI) and profitability. Based on the results, and with the ability to change the company process, it can find the most profitable path, and escape the implementation growth gap.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;text-align:right;">''“There is always a good reason to kill a great idea. FedEx wouldn’t exist today if Fred Smith had listened to his professor at Yale. The Absolut Vodka bottle wouldn’t have its iconic shape if they had listened to the focus groups that felt it was too different from existing brands in the category.”''

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;text-align:right;">-Harvey Briggs

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