書摘：The Business Analyzer and Planner 2

Chapter 2 Get Started Quickly
You have just learned that one of your top performers is leaving to join the competition (the second such departure during the past month) with no warning, no transition. You ask yourself two questions: Why didn't I see this coming? What should I do to keep it from happening again -- if that's possible?

Phase 1: Define the Symptoms
One of the toughest aspects of resolving a business dilemma is simply getting started. Initially, you are either bombarded with conflicting information or stunned by the shortage of usable information. As a result, you can easily freeze up mentally. State your opinions in clear terms, you will break your mental gridlock and begin to develop some analytical momentum. As you write down simple statements of what the issue appears to be, you are actually performing the important problem0solving function of defining the symptoms.

Describe the Issue
The following table facilitates this process. It provides a place to record the perceived issue (i.e., your opinion of what is facing you) in the column labeled priority A. You need to express your opinion in terms that compare the dilemma to a normal situation in your business. Which is where you need to be so that you can locate the best solution.

The actual wording used to describe the perceived dilemma is therefore quite important; it should be specific rather than vague, and concrete rather than abstract. For instance, "Lost of key personnel to prime competitors is increasing rapidly." This is a much more useful statement of the symptom than "Turnover is too high," because it is concrete, specific, and objective. It focuses on:

• The type of staff that you are losing.
• The fact that your losses will be instant gains to important competitors.
• The perception that these losses are not only increasing but increasing at a rapid pace.

What Are the Consequences? It drives you toward a more refined definition of your dilemma by prodding you to record an option of its immediate impact, in meaningful terms, such as people, funds, and time.

What Is the Time Frame? Along with your impact assessment, you need to estimate the expected duration of the impact. This is your summary of how long the impact has occurred or will continue to occur.

What Are the Obvious Options? It is now time to give your best guess as to the perceived resolution of your dilemma. This is where you jot down some options that act as point of departure and reference for deeper analysis later on.

When Should You Act? To estimate sensitivity of your situation. Do you have time for an in depth analysis before the problem becomes unmanageable or the opportunity is lost?

Figure 2-1 Initial description of the issue (example)

Symptoms Analysis	Priority A
DESCRIPTION OF THE PERCEIVED ISSUE Compared to a normal situation	Problem: turnover is too high loss of key personnel to prime competitors is increasing rapidly
IMMDIATE IMPACT In meaningful terms, such as funds, people, and time	Interrupted performance and finding a replacement will be costly in terms of revenue and time
DURATION OF IMPACT In terms of the past and the future	In 3 months, we have lost six key performers, a rate we cannot allow to continue
PERCEIVED RESOLUTION Best guess or hunch	We pay well but we fail to keep vital equipment current; maybe we should upgrade immediately and thereby encourage employee retention
TIME SENSITIVITY How long you can afford to wait before acting	Too many key resources have already been lost and action must be taken this week to begin correcting the problem

Phase 2: Evaluate the Underlying Causes
In phase 2, you must second-guess yourself: All of the opinions, hypotheses, and evaluations that you have recorded now must be quickly scrutinized. Your goal is to isolate the underlying causes of symptoms that, at this point, are only perceived to be the real issues. The only way to improve the odds in your favor is to follow careful, insightful analysis at this stage.

The MATRIX
The MATRIX is arranged as grid. The columns of the grid define four familiar categories used in evaluating a business: management, finance, marketing, and economics. The rows of the grid define a logical sequence of six activities that are needed for success in any business endeavor, whether it involves management, finance, marketing, or economics.

Activities:

1. Organize: First, identify the general details that must be organized before any other activity can take place. These include overall goals and philosophies, alternative structures, influential business factors, formal procedures -- in essence, any fundamental considerations that define the very nature of a business undertaking.
2. Prioritize: Then, specify the actual operational environment that will take the organizational details from the abstract stage to the practical stage. This includes factors such as personnel administration, asset management, research and development, and decision-making practices. Topics such as these become your priority implementation concerns that must be fully understood before embarking on a specific course of action.
3. Analyze: Next, collect and analyze information that will help in fully understanding and addressing the priority concerns.
4. Execute: Use your completed analysis as the basis for decisions that now execute actions supporting the above activities.
5. Communicate: Once decisions and actions have been set into motion, communicate them to all affected parties to ensure coordinated, controlled results.
6. Anticipate: Finally, anticipate future developments and contingencies so that will be prepared when conditions change -- because they will.

When the grid is assembled, the intersections of the four columns and six rows constitue the twenty-four cells of THE MATRIX. Each of these cells describes how a particular activity applies to a specific dimension of the business.

Figure 2-3. Blank copy of THE MATRIX

Dimension: Activity:	Management	Finance	Marketing	Economics
Organize	1	2	3	4
Prioritize	5	6	7	8
Analyze	9	10	11	12
Execute	13	14	15	16
Communicate	17	18	19	20
Anticipate	21	22	23	24

THE MATRIX concept with its twenty-four cells.

1. Management - Organize: Clearly and completely define the overall organization.
2. Finance - Organize: Define the corporate financial structure and business plan.
3. Marketing - Organize: Define the sales and marketing structures.
4. Economice - Organize: Define internal and external economics factors that can affect business.
5. Management - Prioritize: Identify elements that determine organizational effectiveness.
6. Finance - Prioritize: Identify and rank elements that determine financial performance.
7. Marketing - Prioritize: Identify elements that are critical to getting a service or product to market.
8. Economics - Prioritize: Of the above economic factors, define those with the greatest impact on success.
9. Management - Analyze: Collect and analyze information needed to measure how well the organization is structured and managed.
10. Finance - Analyze: Collect and analyze information needed to gauge financial performance.
11. Marketing - Analyze: Collect and analyze information needed to develop a rational marketing plan.
12. Economics - Analyze: Collect and analyze information needed to deal with the key factors noted above.
13. Management - Execute: Examine the effectiveness of each step in the decision making process.
14. Finance - Execute: Determine how financial information is used in decision.
15. Marketing - Execute: Examine and evaluate elements involved with implementing the marketing plan.
16. Economics - Execute: Evaluate how the above economic factors are routinely dealt with internally.
17. Management - Communicate: Disseminate decisions and results to all affected parties.
18. Finance - Communicate: Disseminate information that is both timely and high in quality.
19. Marketing - Communicate: Maintain an effective dialogue with customers and employees alike.
20. Economics - Communicate: Balance openness with caution when dealing with sensitive economics issues.
21. Management - Anticipate: Evaluate issues and developments that could affect organizational plans.
22. Finance - Anticipate: Evaluate issues and developments that could affect financial plans.
23. Marketing - Anticipate: Evaluate issues and developments that could affect marketing plans.
24. Economics - Anticipate: Look for future developments that can affect the whole industry.

Figure 2-4 Completed version of THE MATRIX

Dimension: Activity:	Management	Finance	Marketing	Economics
Organize	Goals, structure, staffing plan, and procedures.	Business plan, debt-equity structure, accounting practices.	Marketing management, sales force.	Micro, macro.
Prioritize	The actual staffing, operations, and control functions.	Cash flow, debt repayment, asset management, equity.	Research, testing, production, delivery, service.	Timing, commitment.
Analyze	Compensation, measurement system, and feedback from stockholder.	Rations, trends, opportunity costs.	Target market, product, price, promotion, distribution, competition, strategy.	Industry, marketplace, competition, supply-demand, make or buy.
Execute	Authority, responsibility, and decisiveness.	Control, security, clear responsibility, life-cycle factors.	Sales, marketing, research.	Acumen, patience.
Communicate	Vertical, horizontal, internal, and external.	Timely information, timely analysis, accuracy, flexibility.	Accurate, timely, internal, external.	Openness, sensitivity.
Anticipate	Contingencies, pulling out and growth plans.	Insolvency, bankruptcy, acquisition, growth, sale.	Life cycle, strategy, technology.	New laws, new trends, growth.

Zambruski, S. M (1999). The Business Analyzer and Planner. AMACOM, P9~23.