"We can't manage our firms and their people as if they are machines. We need to play to our strengths!"
Forté provide businesses and sectors with a broad range of services, including but not limited to:
- Research and analysis.
- Business plans and feasibility studies.
- Strategies and action plans.
- Productivity analysis and improvement.
- Project development and management.
- Organisation reviews.
- Culture analysis and change.
- Workforce planning and development.
- Innovation planning and development.
- Sustainable development.
Business advice tailored for Kiwi firms
Forté helps new businesses figure out how to get started and to grow on through the birthing pains to maturity. They help established firms determine "where to next", how to step up to the next stage of development and to respond to their challenges and opportunities whether those are inside the firm or out in their markets.
Forté has invested extensively in research to discover what drives Kiwi business people and staff - what motivates them, what they want out of their businesses and work and the approaches to management that will and won't work. Kiwis have different values, think and behave differently, are motivated by different things and have different aspirations to any other people. They are literally unique. To optimise performance and productivity a Kiwi approach to management is required. That is very important and Forté's research has provided essential clues as to what that management style should look and feel like.
"Too much of what is taught and the advice given to Kiwi firms and managers is based on what works in other places like the USA or Europe but there are essential differences between people there and here." Forté's advice is tailored to the New Zealand environment and helps clients to understand what their real weaknesses and strengths are and how they can compensate for one and leverage advantage from the other. They encourage business owners and managers to combine the science of management and evidence based decision making with passion, imagination and the excitement of doing new things. "That's what drives Kiwis even though we suppress those very things at work. We can't manage our firms and their people as if they are machines. We need to play to our strengths!"
Business Analysis and Development
Business success is determined by how cleverly firms apply their physical, financial and intellectual capitals to produce goods and services that match what customers want, expect and value. And that in turn is determined by how people think and behave, and by how they are managed. Success is therefore achieved when all the parts of the business, including the people, are working in "perfect" unison.
Forté uses a systematic approach based on their Organisation Analysis and Development (OAD) tool to understand what is happening in the environment in which the firm operates, especially customer values and needs, and how each of the firm's components (customer & stakeholder relations; financial systems and management; business processes; and innovation or on-going development) are optimised to respond. Click here to see the Forté Organisation Analysis and Development (OAD) tool.
Organisational Analysis and Development assignments include review/analysis, planning and implementation of any or all of the following:
- Alignment and integration of the mission and goals, strategies and tactics (what the business is about, where it wants to go, and how it's going to get there), the threats faced and opportunities on offer. (According to management guru the late Peter Drucker, turbulent times are one of the most fertile for throwing up new opportunities.)
- The current and expected external environment as it impacts the firm. (Political, social, economic, technological, environmental, legal and competitive factors).
- Customer and stakeholder (including shareholders, managers and staff) relationships including understanding aspirations, values and motivations.
- Business and production processes including production, productivity, organisational culture, distribution and communication channels, etc.
- Financial management – from overall to individual product line, process, vehicle etc.
- Innovation and growth including Intellectual Asset Assessment and strategy. Click here to read more on intellectual asset assessments and strategies.
- Future proofing, especially around internet technologies and the growing and urgent demands for sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. Click here to read more on sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.
- Risk management strategies.
Creating and capturing more value in Kiwi firms
Every business aims for "success" and many want to grow and increase their productivity. Click here to view more information on increasing productivity. The main approach has been to increase production volumes and drive down the cost of production. We have used much of our renowned inventiveness to offset the long-term decline in prices that we receive for our exports although our expenditure on R&D is well below that of similar countries. Our natural inclination is just to work harder – put in more hours, nose to the grind stone, squeeze out some more costs, produce more volume. But that is a game of diminishing returns. Our productive capacity is finite and so is our time – and we already work longer than any other people apart from the Japanese. Eventually there will be no more costs that we can drive out. That means that for Kiwi firms to succeed they must create and capture more value and that is the focus of Forté's advice. It involves finding ways to:
- Build and maintain more intimate and enduring relationships with individual customers; (Click here to read more on the Lifetime Value Concept)
- Increase the value that customers place on what the firm/sector already makes;
- Turn the intellectual assets that underpin the firm/sector's production processes into new business opportunities (Click here to see a diagram of how Kiwi businesses and sectors can create a new revenue stream); and to
- Capture more of the value that is created in the distribution channel but currently lost to other firms in other countries.
No charge/no-obligation introduction
For new clients, and new projects for existing clients, the process begins with a two hour no charge/no obligation "conversation" or discussion about your business and your goals and needs. We will follow-up with a "brief" outlining the areas that we consider may benefit from detailed analysis and review. Advisory services can be negotiated on a fee for time spent or a fixed price basis. To arrange your no charge/no obligation introductory conversation with Forté, please click here to contact Tony Smale.