Pathway to Adaptability: Executive Lean and the Eight Steps to the Adaptive Enterprise

Business enterprises are in constant pursuit of competitive advantage and increased productivity. These are core issues for acquiring capacity, asset utilization and the process of adding value. Increased profits measure success.

The last thirty years have seen a progression of major changes propelled by the incessant demand to service these two elusive goals. Sourcing from offshore, optimizing vertical systems, ERP, Lean, Complexity Theory, Situational Assessment and the Theory of Constraints along with various management concepts used to drive innovation, have each created its own minor universe and absorbed a significant share of business investment. These systems should be viewed as dependent systems, components for building the highly adaptive enterprise. A discussion of these components is included in the book.

Adaptation will take the enterprise to a new competitive level. To achieve these goals enterprises must become very smart, building real-time intelligence into every activity. Without an accurate foundation, this cannot be achieved. Adaptability is a specific strategic goal with an opportunity for significant rewards.

The Pathway to Adaptability is a step-by-step conceptual foundation, defining the adaptive enterprise and assessing your progress on the path to adaptability. The included positional assessment is worth the price of the book.

The chain of change starts with the Board of Directors and progresses through seven major steps leading to new levels of competitive advantage and productivity. Make no mistake. This pathway is a brutal climb with real risks, but many enterprises are already traveling on it, some running hard. They may be your competitors.

Our in-process book, Building the Smart Enterprise, layers specific solutions on the foundation outlined in Pathway to Adaptability.