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WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR? 

   The following ideas of best-selling American author Jim Collins come from articles which appeared on pages 41-49 of the October 1997 issue of Inc magazine in USA. Any direct quotations are taken from these articles.
  According to Jim Collins, "What you stand for is more important than what you sell." Jim Collins sees that many successful companies are already framing their identity around their core purpose rather than around the goods and services they sell. This way you can give up what you make or what you sell and do something different if this is what the market requires. But in addition to deciding what you stand for, you should also do what you are good at.
  Every company's core purpose should have five characteristics.

1. It has to inspire those inside the company.

2. It has to be as valid 100 years from today as it is now.

3. It should help you think about what you could do but aren't doing.

4. It should help you decide what not to do.

5. It should be truly authentic to your company.

  To illustrate some core purposes, below are core purposes of five well-known companies.

1. Walt Disney - "To make people happy"

2. Hewlett-Packard - "To make technical contributions"

3. 3M - "To solve unsolved problems innovatively"

4. Marriott - "To make people away from home feel that they're amongst friends and really wanted"

5. Nike - "To experience the emotion of competition, and winning, and crushing competitors"

  These five companies do not mention products in what they stand for. Many would say that these core purposes are too general but in being general these companies can be flexible and hence more easily adjust to changing market conditions.
  Consider a video store with a core purpose of providing a large range of videos at affordable prices. If videos became obsolete then the company's core purpose would stifle its development as it really needed to be concentrating on new entertainment products rather than simply videos.
  At ACS, our core purpose is to assist you in achieving better relationships with your customers and staff.
  What do you stand for?
    
 

This article is reprinted from Rentons' Business Tips No. 3
© Copyright October 1998 ACS
and with permission of Inc. magazine, Goldhirsh Group, Inc.,
38 Commercial Wharf, Boston, MA 02110 ( http://www.inc.com ).
What Comes Next (Quote), Jim Collins, October 1997.
Reproduced by permission of the publisher via
Copyright Clearance Centre, Inc.