SHOWCASING & INSTITUTIONALISING EXCELLENCE THROUGH ISO & CMMI

A high level of product or service quality is a necessity for any successful organization.
It is important to benchmark, the quality of product/service produced and also the processes to followed to achieve the same, to global best practices. Following ISO standards or CMMI methodologies and getting accredited with the corresponding certifications, enables organizations to not only reach high level of productivity by bench-marking themselves to global best practices, but also improves their performance potential in the market place, by providing their customers with a comfort level of being a quality player.
While ISO standards are evolved in consultation with the users as the minimum standards to be met by products/services across the globe, CMMI levels are the reflection of the capability and maturity levels of the organization in following processes, bench-marked to global best as developed by Soft ware Engineering Institute- Carnegie Mellon, USA along with US government and industry officials.


It is important for organizations to adhere to these standards and methodologies in spirit and not just for the sake of doing it. Normal organizations revert back to old way of doing things upon achieving the certifications resulting in poor quality and cost overruns due to inefficiencies.


International Standards Organization (ISO)- Founded in the year 1947 and based in Geneva, Switzerland, ISO (International Organization for Standardization), a global network of country level standards organizations, is the world’s largest developer of voluntary International Standards, a set of state of the art specifications for products, services and good practices. These standards are meant to achieve better co-ordination among organizations globally thus breaking down barriers  for international trade. This is done to help the industry more efficient and effective. There are more than 19000 ISO standards covering all aspects of technology and manufacturing.
ISO 9000 series focuses on the quality management systems at organizations, where quality management consists of all activities aimed at a) Quality Measurement, b) Quality Assurance, c) Quality control & d) Quality improvement. A quality management system (QMS) can be expressed as the organizational structure, procedures, processes and resources needed to implement quality management. ( Source- Wikipedia) 


SEI (Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie-Mellon) promoted CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integrated) provides a model process improvement methodology organizations with a defined structure and practice. CMMI is an improvised version of the process maturity measurement system, CMM launched in 1988 by the efforts of Watts Humphrey at Carnegie-Mellon's Institute, as an approach demonstrating that organization's processes mature in stages based upon problems they must solve. It provides the organizations with the essential elements of effective processes, which will improve their performance. CMMI based process improvement aims to eliminate weaknesses and convert them into strengths.
First published in 2000 and replacing CMM at the end of 2002,  CMMI, according to Software Engineering Institute (SEI), “helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes” 

 CMMI is generally intended for application to the area of software engineering, system engineering, product development, supplier sourcing and does not address the issues related to IT operation, for example, human resource mangement, security, configuration and change management, and incident response.
CMMI has two representations, namely Staged ( CMMI 1-5) and Continuous (0-4 across 22 process areas out of which company can choose those which are strategically important to reach its vision).
An organization being appraised for CMMI successfully will be used a maturity level rating and not a certificate.

ISO standards:
ISO International Standards are developed by experts in consultation with the people who need them so as to ensure that products and services are safe, reliable and of good quality. For business, they are strategic tools that reduce costs by minimizing waste and errors and increasing productivity. They help companies to access new markets, level the playing field for developing countries and facilitate free and fair global trade The following table gives the summary of some of the key ISO standards that are widely  used.

ISO 9001 specifies the quality standards that will enable the organizations, what to do, so that the customer and regulatory requirements are met. It enables the company to document and undertake its own process and methodology to achieve the goal, as along it is consistently done.

ISO standard	Description	Benefits	Strengths	Limitations
ISO 9001: 2008	Quality Management System for any service or manufacturing company, that allows the company to develop a well-documented set of processes and procedures that are followed consistently.	Demonstrates supplier’s capability of providing adequate product quality, and enhanced performanceImproves efficiency of operations and enhances profitability, Increases eligibility to quote against customer requirements and also gives competitive advantage in tenders. Improves image of companies following the certification.	International standard providing assurance to customers and hence focusing on their wellbeing & satisfaction. Flexibility to adapt to wide range of industries & functional areas.	Too general and hence a little confusing to companies in different industries.  Doesn’t focus on continuous improvement like ISO 9004-1 & 9004-4.
ISO 14001	Environmental Management System A framework for organizations to: a)Minimize harmful effects on the environment caused by their activities, b)Meet regulatory requirements,             c) Achieve continual improvement of their environmental performance & d)Improve business performance through more efficient use of resources.	Assists companies to identify the areas within their operations where they can improve their environmental performance.  This leads to a better image in front of the customers, society and other partners leading to higher acceptance. Improves energy efficiency, cost savings and better environmental compliance. Increased acceptance of products in the global markets.	International standards focusing on decreasing the  environmental impacts and improving its use of raw materials and recycling. Increased awareness among global community regarding the need for this will help in tremendous goodwill and also revenues in the form of carbon credits etc.	Being a new area, there is a shortage of resources working on this and hence is difficult to implement for most of the smaller companies, while at the same time there is an urgent need to comply to retain image in the market place.
OHSAS 18001	Health and Safety Assurance System  is the part of the overall management system which is involved in developing, implementing, achieving, reviewing and maintaining the OHS policy and so managing the risks associated with the business of the organization."	Helps avoid damages due to illness, injuries to employees at work place. Legal compliance is taken care. Ensures all employees are aware of the health and wellness related issues. A healthy workforce is an asset as it will improve productivity.	Improves the image of the company as a legally compliant entity. Can help the image of the company in the eyes of the employees for taking care of their health and safety.	For best benefits, needs to be implemented along with ISO9001. Hence requires more organizational resources and continuous commitment.
ISO 22000: 2005	Food Safety Management System focuses on the total food chain – farming, processing, manufacturing, wholesale, retail food service and also on the interested parties – customers, suppliers, public authorities, etc	Adopting  FSMS ISO22000:2005 helps reach global standards, demonstrate compliance to Regulations/Customer requirements besides providing safer food devoid of chemical contaminations.	Increases global acceptance of products and hence help boost export potential.	For best benefits, needs to be implemented along with ISO9001. Hence requires more organizational resources and continuous commitment
ISO 27001	Information Security Management System ISO/IEC 27001 aims to ensure that adequate controls addressing confidentiality, integrity and availability of information are in place to safeguard the information of interested parties. These include customers, employees, trading partners and the needs of society in general.	Helps companies adopt appropriate procedures to ward off threats such as computer-assisted fraud, sabotage and viruses, from internal or external, accidental or malicious sources.	Helps make a public statement of capability without revealing  security processes, and minimises business risk by ensuring controls are in place. Reduces the risk of security threats and  avoids system weaknesses being exploited. Improves confidence of business partners leading to competitive advantage.	For best benefits, needs to be implemented along with ISO9001. Hence requires more organizational resources and continuous commitment

·         Similarly, other important ISO Standards are,  Supply chain security (ISO 28000),Energy management (ISO 50001), Road traffic safety management (ISO 39001) and Risk Management (ISO31000). 

c    

       Process of acquiring the ISO certification:

       The following are undertaken by a company wanting to acquire ISO Certification:

        i) Identify the ISO standard to apply for and get organizational commitment for the same.

       ii) Identify an internal champion and/or an external consultant to go through the process till                            

           the certification is achieved.

       iii) Identify the gaps in the existing standards and the desired standards as per the ISO     requirements.

       iv) Identify the new processes required to achieve the desired standards, document the same and put them into action.

       v) Conduct an internal audit, once the desired level of performance is achieved.

       vi) Invite an external auditor representing a 3rd party certification organization like BVQi,

         TUV-Nord etc and go through a thorough review of the systems, processes in action w.r.t the documentation done.

      vii) In case the external auditor is satisfied with the compliance, get the ISO certification.

      If not, repeat the process.

      Generally the PDCA (Plan, do , check, act) or PDSA (Plan do study Act) are the steps undertaken to complete this process.

      Once this certification is done, there will be a periodic review of the company's systems in action w.r.t its documentation, to ensure that there is continuity of the quality assurance cycle being implemented by the company and the certification is renewed.

i  

       CMMI 

c    CMMI is used to evaluate the process maturity of an organization, typically in the technology        domain. CMMI currently addresses three areas of interest:

1. Product and service development — CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV),
2. Service establishment, management, and delivery — CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC), and
3. Product and service acquisition — CMMI for Acquisition (CMMI-ACQ)                                                    Applying the processes, methods, tools, and technologies of the Software Engineering Institute throughout the   Product and service development ,  Service establishment, management, and delivery , acquisition cycle of any product/service from vendors, helps the organizations to meet complex  challenges and achieve their goals.

CMMI applies to teams, work groups, projects, divisions, and entire organizations

CMMI models are collections of best practices that help organizations to dramatically improve effectiveness, efficiency, and quality. These products, or CMMI solutions, consist of practices.

Practices cover topics that include causal analysis; configuration management; quality assurance; verification and validation; risk management; requirements management; supplier management; project management; interface compatibility; make, buy, or reuse analysis; capacity management; availability management; disaster recovery, data collection, process performance; and more.

CMMI's latest version 1.3, lists 22 core process areas, present across 5 staged models. There are generic and specific goals for each area for which assessment is conducting for awarding the level.The five stages of CMMI in the staged model are given in the adjoining figure ( Source- Wikipedia).Achievement of levels by a company is a step by step process and a company cannot skip any levels in its journey from level 1 to level 5. The organizations going for the continuous CMMI model identify any of the 22 processes listed as per CMMI and go for the level they intend to as shown in the following figure.

The organizations going for the continuous CMMI model identify any of the 22 processes listed as per CMMI and go for the level they intend to as shown in the adjoining figure.

The Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) Team Software Process methodology and the use of CMMI models can be used to raise the maturity level. A new product called Accelerated Improvement Method (AIM) combines the use of CMMI and the TS.

Technology Companies get themselves appraised for CMMI, as it enables them

a) Improve on their process excellence by identifying and plugging the gaps w.r.t the best practices as per CMMI , b) Achieve substantial improvement in productivity & profitability& c) To showcase their capabilities favorably to potential clients, employees, partners etc.

A number of times, only organizations which are assesses at  CMMI level 5 are  eligible to quote against large tenders.

While ISO 9001: 2008 and CMMI are different in their scope, methodology and approach, organizations tend to start with ISO 9001:2008 certification process, as it is an inexpensive and much quicker approach to improve their productivity levels at the same timehelps them to project themselves better externally. Subsequently, they try to gradually move into the higher CMMI levels.

Top companies choose to adopt the best practices of both by integrating them, to achieve highest levels of process excellence and productivity gains that takes them to much higher echelons of growth in revenues and profitability.

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT an INTEGRAL PART OF EVOLUTION.

Learning and Growth are invariably linked to each other.
A human being continuously learns as he grows. Learning is at a rapid pace in the early stages of life when the person learns to communicate, express oneself before going through a structured learning program till  mid-life, when he starts to earn. Learning is at a varied pace for different individuals. Typically, the earning prospects are linked to the nature, quality and amount one learns.
Persons who stop learning in their life reach a plateau and fail to keep pace with their rapidly changing external environment where newer skills are required to leverage the evolving tools and technologies. Their productivity levels fall and they end up become unemployable and unworthy. On other words, while experience can add value to ones life if properly leveraged, without continuous learning, it cannot take the human being to become more prosperous.
Organizations while they start with the collective learnings, experiences and expertise of their promoters, they encounter lot of experiences. They learn from their experiences, fine tune their strategies and continue to evolve by putting their learning into practice. As they continue to grow, they take more and more employees who need to be integrated into the culture of the organization and also ensure that everyone is working for the same vision with perfect harmony and in alignment with the rest of the organization.
An evolving organization has to undergo the following learning activities at different stages:

A) Learning as an Organization through own experiences to fine tune strategies,
B) Learning of the employees starting their careers to adapt themselves to the organization,
C) Learning of the employees in different levels and different functions as they undertake new areas of work and take up higher/different positions which involve acquiring functional skills, managerial skills etc.
D) Learning as an organization  from listening to customer and user needs and their experiences with its products and services,
E) Learning as an organization to benchmark with the best in the world and continuously improve themselves and set new standards,
F) Learning of the employees to close skill gaps w.r.t their job profiles identified through performance appraisals, acquire new skills to master new technologies or the upgrades of the older versions through on the job training and also from internal and external workshops,
G) Targeted learning aimed to overcome problems that may arise out of the complexity resulting from the growth (For example, the interpersonal problems, ego clashes, politics, lack of team spirit etc., need to be continuously tackled.),
H) Learning as an organization to achieve the standards and certifications ( for example CMMi Level 5, ISO 27001 etc.) that will enable them to institutionalise the best practices and so on.

The external environment in changing rapidly and those organizations that are unable to keep pace with the change are getting extinct at an equal pace.
An Organization's learning is the collective learning of all the skills and knowledge of its employees and itself as an entity and this needs to be harnessed through effective knowledge management systems to be able to be leveraged effectively. Successful organizations, not only have excellent knowledge management systems but also have put in place rigorous systems of evaluation of their employees' learning through institutionalised approach to facilitation of learning process and testing of the wisdom gained, which goes into the employees' performance records.
As the world evolves and a number of brilliant minds work to continuously evolve new technologies and new methodologies, older approaches to work are getting outdated.
For example, Digital Marketing, Social Media, Mobile Applications, Customer/User Experience Management  and Sustainable growth ( 3BL) are the buzzwords of the 21st century and those organizations that are unable to adapt themselves to these new trends in their respective fields will rapidly loose ground to their new born and nimble competitors and loose their ground to become extinct in no time.
Industry and Academia interactions, Executive and Management development programs by premier management institutions, workshops developed and conducted by world class training organizations, internal infrastructure and facilities developed by the organizations and programs by world class trainers in their respective fields to achieve excellence are some of the important sources of learning for the organizations and the individuals comprising the organizations to continuously improve  and reinvent themselves.

While knowledge and skills are important, without the right attitude and good habits, employees cannot put them to good use. Hence successful organizations focus not only on ensuring that the knowledge and skills are acquired, but also ensure that the right attitude and habits are developed, nurtured, incentivised and harnessed. This will lead to all round excellence and their successful evolution into thriving entities.

For an excellent note on organizations as learning systems, one can refer to http://goo.gl/5hVam .

PROJECT MANAGEMENT APPROACH TO PRODUCTIVITY MAXIMIZATION..

Operations keeps the lights on, strategy provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward.   Joy Gumz

One of the most under-rated and under-stressed aspects of the management of an organization is the importance of managing its projects successfully.

There-in lies the secret of great organizations that have taken great strides and overwhelmed their followers and investors with their sheer ability to pull off large projects successfully.

Reliance Industries Ltd., one of the largest private organizations emerging out of independent India, has built its organization from the scratch with its amazing ability to commission large scale projects of world class that have given it economies of scale to become global leader in the manufacturing of a number of petrochemical, textile and plastic products.

Why is efficient project management, the most important aspect for any organization?

When a business unit is started or an expansion undertaken or the conversion of an idea into a product or service is put in action, the first step to execution is the creation of a project proposal and a business plan.

The business plan underlines the investments to be undertaken and the milestones to be achieved in various stages.

All things are created twice; first mentally; then physically.  The key to creativity is to begin with the end in mind, with a vision and a blue print of the desired result.” — Stephen Covey

Successful execution of the projects planned will have a favourable impact on the cash flows reducing capital related interest expenses and operational expenses  This will lead to higher profitability and increased interest levels in the investors who  not only help raise more resources for growth required in the future, but also will repose their faith in funding more projects of the organization.

Similarly, delay in execution projects if not rectified can snowball into big losses for the company and sometimes lead to bankruptcy if the project is too big and important.

Lets examine the case of a spectacular project failure to understand the essential aspects to be taken care while executing a project:

Spectacular failure at UK's 20 Billion Pound IT project of NHS ( National Health Scheme):

£20bn NHS computer system 'doomed to fail'12:01AM GMT13Feb 2007 http://goo.gl/CVGT3

Labour's multi-billion- pound project to create the NHS's first ever national computer system "isn't working and isn't going to work", a senior insider has warned.


The damning verdict on the ambitious £20 billion plans to store patients' records, and allow people to book hospital appointments, on a central computer network has been delivered by a top executive at one of the system's main suppliers.


Andrew Rollerson, the health-care consultancy practice lead at the computer giant Fujitsu, warned that there was a risk that firms involved in the project would end up delivering "a camel and not the racehorse that we might try to produce".
'£12bn NHS computer system is scrapped... and it's all YOUR money that Labour poured down the drain' UPDATED: 17:08 GMT, 22 September 2011 http://goo.gl/QOTTE 
Sum would pay 60,000 nurses' salaries for a decade Scheme replaced with cheaper regional alternatives Decision comes after report said IT system was not fit for the NHS
The reasons analysed for the failure of the project were given as follows:
a) No clear vision envisaged for the massive project on how the health service can make best use of new technology.
No matter how good the team or how efficient the methodology, if we’re not solving the right problem, the project fails.” –- Woody Williams
b) Users were not consulted while drawing up the complex project,
c) Too many incompatible vendors working together with frequent fights among themselves,
d) No visionary leadership that would integrate all the aspects of the project together and lead the project to a logical end
The project manager is expected to integrate all aspects of the project, ensure that the proper knowledge and resources are available when and where needed, and above all, ensure that the expected results are produced in a timely, cost- effective manner.” -– Meredith and Mantel
e) Lack of proper accountability for public money,
f) Lack of adequate competency that would help execute such a large project.
g) Lack of periodic reviews and adequate information flow that help monitor the project of such a large scale and keep it on track for successful completion.
“The project manager must be able to develop a fully integrated information and control system to plan, instruct, monitor and control large amounts of data, quickly and accurately to facilitate the problem-solving and decision- making process.” –- Rory Burke
and above all,
f) Despite adequate warnings from various quarters, no turnaround could be attempted over a 5 year period, which is astonishing. This also indicates a complete breakdown of communications between various executing parties and lack of review mechanisms that would put the project on the right track.
I have witnessed boards that continued to waste money on doomed projects because no one was prepared to admit they were failures, take the blame and switch course. Smaller outfits are more willing to admit mistakes and dump bad ideas. ..Luke Johnson 


From such failures, we can outline some of the important steps required to run successful projects:
Step 1:
Outline clear objectives and deliverables for the project:


The single best payoff in terms of project success comes from having good project definition early..  RAND CORPORATION


 i) Key success indicators of the project should be clearly determined. They could be, the deadline goals, increase in key rations, increase in market shares, reduction in turnaround times and any such qualitative & quantitative factors.
ii) Care should be taken that the organization does not over-commit and under-deliver. The negotiations should be transparent and clarity should be established to avoid any misunderstandings leading to breakdown in the future.


Step 2:  Plan for the 4 aspects of the project namely Performance, Cost, Time-lines and Scope very clearly.

Project management is like juggling three balls – time, cost and quality. Program management is like a troupe of circus performers standing in a circle, each juggling-three balls and swapping balls from time to time.” — G. Reiss

i) Project launch & release criteria should be clearly determined. What makes the product ready for the final release should be clearly identified and agreed upon between the constituents.
ii) There should be perfect clarity between the project sponsor, client and the organization managing the project regarding the budget for the project, qualitative aspects of the project meant to be achieved, deadlines to be met and delivery schedule to be adhered,
iii) The scope of the project and the exclusions also should be clear.

Step 3: Plan for all the likely risks along with the corresponding backup plans and risk mitigation strategies to ensure that unforeseen events do not sinks the project easily and there is adequate safe-gaurd that will allow the system to respond to minimise deviation or loss.

Step 4:

Breakdown the project into a series of steps, some running one after the another and some running concurrently to come out with an accurate schedule and also understand the constraints affecting the project within which the project team must deliver.

 Running a project without a WBS is like going to a strange land without a roadmap. J. Phillips

The steps should form constituents of stages of the project along with corresponding time-lines that must be met. Care should be taken that each step should have strict deadlines and also a reasonable buffer at the overall level to make-up for any delays in anyone of the steps.

Step 5:

Assemble the right team with appropriate competencies, complementing each other. The team leader has to have clear vision about the project's progress and expectations with the end clearly in the mind.

• “Project managers function as bandleaders who pull together their players each a specialist with individual score and internal rhythm. Under the leader’s direction, they all respond to the same beat.”— L.R. Sayles

Step 6:

 Create a set of guiding practices in line with the guiding vision for the project and ensure that the team sticks to the same.

Step 7:

Organize clear communication channels among the team members and across levels to enable excellent coordination and also periodic review to update and monitor progress. Daily updates, weekly progress reports, deviation reports and action taken reports and any course corrections required should be clearly discussed in the meetings. This will enable the project to stay on rails throughout the execution stage.

Step 8: 

Incorporate a right mix of control mechanism and self guiding principles to be adhered to by the team members individually and as a team to ensure, not only an objective monitoring of the project but also a urge on the part of al the members of the team to be motivated to take initiative and deliver on the deadlines on their own will.


Quality assurance rather than quality control is more useful in optimising the project functioning as prevention is better than cure. At every stage, there should be adequate checks and balances to ensure that the deviations from the desirable results should be analysed and action taken to correct the same so that they do not exaggerate at the end when it is too late to rectify the situation. 
At any time, if there is any shortage of expertise, necessary expertise should be brought in immediately or the project personnel trained to handle the situation instead of trying to fix the situation with available team members.

Step 9:

Close the Project once completed and the desired objectives are met. Sometimes, a decision is taken to extend the project to give more time for completion or a next phase is launched taking advantage of the success, to milk for more benefits. Some time, prudence results in scrapping the project and limiting the losses if it is not found viable to continue further.

As and when the project is completed, the results and the execution should completely be documented and analysed. Communication with all the stakeholders should be recorded and the project closed. The satisfaction levels of the project beneficiaries should be well documented and also lessons learnt from them should be carried forward to enable better execution of future projects.

Transparency between the project sponsors, team members, clients and all the stake holders will ensure that the deviations are minimised and  the project is always ahead of the expectations leading to successful execution.

A number of times, the projects do not go as planned due to a number of internal and external factors. Dispassionate analysis and decision making to ensure good money is not thrown after bad money frees up valuable resources that could be deployed elsewhere profitably and losses are minimised.

Successful companies follow the Project Management Methodologies rigorously and ensure that their money is put to good use and ROI maximised.

PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE..QUALITY OR SPEED OR BOTH?!

Excellence is achieved when you feel the 'Aha' feeling for a job well done, a target achieved and exceeded and a creation that exceeds your own expectations and stands out for being the best..

 “The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for” Maureen Dowd

While achievement of excellence in every activity, creation and delivery of product or service is the goal of successful companies, they have a practical approach to delivery in their day-to-day work style.

The world's most admired ever technology company is undoubtedly, Apple Inc., under Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs has the reputation of having a strong penchant for excellence and would never settle for anything but the best. The creations of Apple like its proprietary operating system, 'ilife', its products like MacBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad are creations of breakthrough innovations when they were launched and continuously changed the fortunes of the company to make it one of the most valued technology companies in the world.

Lets examine the following news articles:

 Apple, AT&T mum on iPhone 3G issues - ( http://goo.gl/dbF5q )

A month after the launch of the iPhone 3G, reception problems continue to plague owners with dropped calls, poor networking speeds, and frustrating customer service experiences.

by CNET News staff  August 11, 2008 4:00 AM PDT.

"The phone was a disappointment from the standpoint that it couldn't maintain a consistent connection with the 3G network...All the other features were fantastic," said Shaw, a sales professional living in a Cleveland suburb. But those other features weren't enough to prevent him from returning to Verizon and the BlackBerry after deciding the hassle just wasn't worth it.

Apple's iPad Woes Continue, Users Now Reporting 3G Connectivity Problems ( http://goo.gl/YkjGf )

Brandon Hill (Blog) - April 6, 2012 11:34 AM

Apple announced its third generation iPad early last month, and customers began receiving their units soon after. Shortly after Apple's latest tablet was launched, there were complaints of the device getting much warmer than the iPad 2 during normal useand complaints that the larger internal battery resulted in much longer battery recharging times.

More recently, owners of Wi-Fi only iPadswere reporting on connectivity issues (weak Wi-Fi signals, slow download/upload speeds). Apple issued an internal AppleCare document instructing Apple team members to "capture" customer iPads that were brought in with this diagnosed problem.

What we notice by observing the above are:

a) Through the years 2008-2012, Apple launched new generation products which faced problems in the market place and hence were not as perfect as the company intended them to be. Yet Apple continued the practice of launching such products the shortcoming of which must have been surely known to its brilliant engineers and product creators.

b) Apple's team continued to listen to the market, unfazed by the negative reports and on every occasion came out stronger to continue their growth momentum in the market place.

c) In one of the above cases, some of the users shifted to a rival phone company, which is struggling to survive today while Apple continues its growth unabatedly.

We find similar situations exist when we study the new product launches of the most successful companies in the world like Microsoft with its successive launches of Windows Operating System, Google with its various products and services, Facebook's platform and even the world's most admired companies in many fields.

What makes these companies continue to be the most preferred companies in their respective field and be the darlings of their target audience and  their users?

Pursuit of excellence, that is a habit in such companies is supported by an unquenchable attitude of having their users at the centre of their universe and continuously strive to give them their best.

Successful companies, believe in continuous innovation in the market place, making them either the pioneers due to their early-to-market effort or execution excellence that satisfies the needs of their audience in the most efficient manner. They have their eyes and ears firmly on the market place with their fingers on the customer pulse and commission instantaneous  corrective actions. This leads to continuous improvements in their products' feature leading to launch of newer versions that take of the short-comings unearthed.

The way you step up your game is not to worry about the other guy in any situation, because you can't control the other guy. You only have control over yourself.—Oprah. http://goo.gl/FywSD

Pursuit of excellence is a habit that is firmly ingrained into the fabric of successful organizations who relentlessly push the limits of their own performance, even as they continue with their rapid strides in the market with not so perfect launches to start with.

It is the attitude to excel, appetite for better and better results, aptitude to figur out what stands out, that go to form the building blocks of the culture of excellence, that makes pursuit of excellence a routine act and thus a habit of great organizations. 

LEAN MEAN AND HUNGRY...STAY FIT, STAY FAST

"I truly believe that going forward ‘lean, mean and hungry’ is the best way to thrive" - Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies..

A Lean, Mean and Hungry China has taken the world's manufacturing industry by storm and is now known as the manufacturing capital of the world.
A Lean, Mean and Hungry Luxottica SPA., Italy took over the world's finest sunglasses brand, RayBan from its fat and comfortable rival, Bausch & Lomb Inc, USA, and turned it into a profitable business in no time.
In today's competitive world, the success of a business is viewed more by their ability to survive and sustain over the long term at the same time delivering the promised ROI to the investors and on their commitments to the society.
Any business that survives on wafer-thin margins,  high burn rates that result in spends more than the revenue generated, risk the problem of running into operational losses, working capital squeeze and devalued creditworthiness.
Companies that work on low capital but high value added through service related efforts have a natural ability to sustain over long period as they let their ammunition much longer than those who spend away their surpluses or run up cash losses.

Those companies that are lean, mean and hungry end up agile, adaptive and flexible to fine-tune their strategies and remain efficient and effective.

A bullet moving fast towards a focused target, is million times more dangerous than a huge boulder moving towards a much bigger target ( hence easier to reach).

 A 13 member team (read Instagram) creating a 1 Billion USD valuation in just under 2 years is no more unthinkable in today's   IT enabled full of enterprising business persons.
Instagram's success has opened the eyes of the world to the need of being a lean, mean and hungry operation that leverages the power of breakthrough idea, followed with sustained passion and focused efforts to create a unforeseen valuations in a short time.

It is a nightmare for  today's companies to face lean, mean and hungry competitors with low overheads, rapid  market action that could take the ground off their feet, eating into their market shares.
Nirma, once a virtually unknown brand of detergent powder, created a rapid dent in the market share of the Market Leader, Surf, with its low overhead, low priced, high volume strategy that shook the Unilever's marketing might no end, till Unilever responded with Wheel detergent powder.
High family running expenses, huge wastage in the economy, low saving rates are some of the problems that have led US economy down a few notches during the recent recession, while countries like India and China managed to keep their head above the water with much superior growth rates while the western economies struggled. This is because of the very low survival needs of a typical Indian and Chinese family, that would ensure them to live comfortably with much smaller incomes.
A fatter and a comfortable enemy is the wish for any company as it would mean that the competitor does not have the necessary hunger to go after the business growth and also is pulled down by the weight of the bureaucracy with in.
Today's successful organizations are taking every possible step to keep the operations lean, profitable and enterprising by inculcating an entrepreneurial culture across the organization, by encouraging the employees to take ownership of their sphere of operation, take calculated risks, think innovatively and take responsibility with accountability for their performance.

To fully realize its innovation potential, Google encourages all of its employees to think and act like entrepreneurs.

Cutting down layers in an organization, encouraging networking among employees and enabling them to work in flat networked structure rather than in hierarchical structure, focus on brilliance and competence rather than on age and experience alone, cutting down inefficiencies and excess flab in the system, that does not add value to the customer and the ultimate consumer are some of the strategies followed the companies to remain lean and agile in today's competitive world to outwit competition and sustain a long term growth trajectory.

For comments on the above article, please contact me at ms@mastermentors.in . Follow us at

http://www.linkedin.com/company/master-mentors-advisory-pvt-ltd