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Identifying Corporate Businesses
The strategic planning efforts of many companies suffer from what I call the fruit salad syndrome. The fruit salad syndrome refers to lumping different things together and giving it one name as if all the elements were the same. You might believe that you like fruit salad; that you can estimate how much it costs to produce, the number of calories per serving, how much it sells for at the store, etc. But until you know what fruits make up a particular fruit salad, and in what proportion, you really can't even be sure that you would like today's special fruit salad. However, if you were told that a particular fruit salad consists of 30% cantaloupe, 20% honeydew, 20% watermelon (without the seeds), 15% banana, and 15% peaches - you can begin to evaluate whether or not you will like it, how many calories per 16 ounce serving, etc. Using a banking example, cash management is like a fruit salad. The industries (fruits) which need to be clearly identified include funds transfer, lock box services, checking services, treasury workstation services, and many more. Each of these industries, like the 107 elements found in nature, need to be analyzed individually, before combining with other industries, elements or fruits as the case may be. The process of identifying the relevant corporate (group) industries requires thinking; and it is the most critical step in any planning methodology worth implementing. |
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