Steuerungsoptimierung immaterieller Ressourcen in mittelständischen Unternehmen
Kinne, P.
Citation
Kinne, P. (2009, February 18). Integratives Wertemanagement : eine Methodik zur Steuerungsoptimierung immaterieller Ressourcen in mittelständischen Unternehmen.
Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/13500
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Abstract
In this thesis, the development and test of a method is described that aims at providing strategic orientation for the managers of small and mid-sized companies and at facilitating the steering of intangible resources.
In today´s economy, the capability of enterprises to gain long term returns strongly depends on intangible resources: attributes of the people in the company (skills, knowledge, motivation etc.), non-physical attributes of the organization (core-competences, processes, culture etc.) and the firm´s relationships to external stakeholders (customers, suppliers, strategic partners etc.) Since the desirable quality of intangible resources is context-dependent and their impact on financial results usually is indirect, it is impossible to directly distribute commonly accepted measures indicating their quality. That´s why in common management language intangible resources are often called “soft factors”, being considered out of scope of systematic guidance. However, when intangible resources are not managed properly, the perspective for creating value and growing is less bright for firms in a competitive environment.
Small and mid-sized companies are frequently not guided following a deliberate strategy.
Guidance in many cases is done intuitively or as a quick answer to occurrences inside and outside the company. This phenomenon increases the firm´s dependence on single decision makers, which in turn increases the company´s risk-profile. Demand emerges for having a
“strategic landmark” providing managers with strategic orientation in their day-to-day business.
Moreover, it is important for the firm´s long-term survival to use and develop its intangible resources properly.
Present strategic management-concepts show weaknesses in this regard in terms of either one- sidedness, inappropriate complexity, a lack of orientation or the absence of an effective steering system. Pure market-based approaches require efforts in analysis that are inadequate for smaller firms and do not take into account the firm´s individual potential. Even tools that have been introduced by authors of the intellectual capital community, who are following the resource- based approach, cannot completely overcome all weaknesses.
A new method should integrate three functions: the context display-function, the strategy- function, and the performance management-function. Common quality criteria for strategies and performance management-systems are drawn from the literature. However, considerations reveal that for the new method these criteria need to be supplemented by additional requirements:
Addressing diverse patterns of strategic thinking and acting
Balancing given resources with demands and opportunities in the market
Supporting uniqueness, perceivability and reliability which are typical attributes of successfully guided brands
Considering the efforts for implementation to be affordable to small companies
Supporting established quality management-systems, simultaneously being indepen- dent from such systems
The “strategic landmark” of the method is values. Since values are the result of positive, individual e-valuation, they express what is important for individuals or groups. Importance causes preference, an effect which is all about in competition. A firm that thoroughly has synthesized a unique bundle of attributes that is considered valuable by its stakeholders can expect to be preferred by these stakeholders, directly or indirectly influencing the accounting profit. By reliably delivering even emotionally perceived values, a company can significantly strengthen its competitive position due to attributes that together are much harder to imitate than only rationally perceived, product-based attributes. The concept of values provides a much broader range of attractive attributes than the concept of benefits, which more or less are perceived rationally by the target groups. However, to exploit the concept to the fullest, the quality of emotionally perceived values has to be managed in a way equally systematic to the way the quality of physical products can be managed.
To find the optimum range of target values, the value-balance-model is introduced, describing the theoretical optimum situation in performance-based exchange relationships. An important source of distinctive values is attributes stemming from the company´s identity which is identified in the internal context analysis. The task is to find attributes that are potentially valuable for the stakeholders. Since identity-based attributes are organisation-specific, they are hard to imitate by competitors. The attributes that have been found have to be evaluated by present customers, who are the company´s most important source of cash. The value balance-status shows the relative importance of the values as well as the quality perceived by the customers. By displaying performance-deficits and performance-surpluses, the company´s current competitive position can be shown.
Based on these data, the value balance-status provides a strong knowledge-base for the synthe- sis of the firm´s optimum target values. Together they become part of the new brand message, which later by communication can be used to attract customers and other stakeholders who are desirable to the firm. The target values among other targets constitute the company´s new corporate strategy.
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Following the process of inverse value transformation, resources through which the target values would be delivered can be identified and concrete requirements can be distributed that are in conformance with the target values. Value-delivering resources can be both, intangible (people, processes, regulations etc.) or tangible (products, machinery, supporting aids etc.). The resources can be steered using a resource-specific assessment- and steering-system.
The test of the method is done in a two-case-design study in two organizations that are different in many terms: a medical practice and a manufacturer of buttons and buckles in the fashion industry. The test reveals that not only for the medical practise, which is a relationship-intensive service business, but also for the manufacturer intangible resources are significantly more important for delivering distinctive values than tangible resources. The results show that in the companies that participated in the test the new method provides strategic orientation and facilitates the steering of intangible resources. It seems to be particularly suited for enterprises which have a participative culture, which want to achieve and maintain a clear, competitive position and which are ready for change, all above regarding the manager´s communication and guiding behaviour.
By doing further research, deeper knowledge could be gained about the businesses and business environments in which the method works best. It is expected that the method to some extent meets requirements of even large or non-profit organizations.
