Reinventing the Business - Preparing Today's Enterprise for Tomorrow's Technology (Hardcover)

Technology is revolutionizing business practice. As a result, tens of thousands of executives are finding their industries on the verge of earthshaking changes. Now, drawing on four decades of consulting with companies struggling to "reinvent" themselves on the brink of cataclysmic restructuring or even extinction, Roy Harmon constructs a compelling three-pronged "reinvention" model (processes, technology, and people) which, when driven by long-term strategic vision, provides a flexible blueprint from which to spearhead ongoing change.

Using detailed examples from Andersen Consulting's worldwide practice, Harmon reinvents business operations in specific fields including retailing, health care, financial services, and even government, and targets other areas relevant to all industries, from computer technology to office organization. He shows how the most important process improvements (such as reorganizing functionally structured operations into "work cells") can eliminate bureaucratic and other inefficiencies, and how the latest technology, when combined with an energized workforce committed to action, can give teeth to the reinvention model.

To stimulate longer-term thinking, Harmon also explores and demystifies futuristic developments as they might affect transportation, power generation, agriculture and community planning, while executive "zinger" checklists near the beginning of each chapter help to pinpoint short to medium-term tactical and strategic plans. Finally, Harmon explains how adopting a pay-as-you-go approach to change, which Demands fast payback for an investment in improvement, is the enabling feature that can ensure continuous progress in the search for ever-better "best practices".

The world of the future holds the promise of incredible health, affluence, education, and quality of life. The movers and shakers in industry (always the driving force behind progress in the past) will be the first to usher in the new world. Now, armed with the practical advice and strategic vision presented by Roy Harmon in this important new work, the future really does lie in our hands.