提高战略举措回报的关键行动

© Oliver WymanEXECUTIVE SUMMARYMany firms employ suboptimal practices when managing the vast sums of money theyinvest in their portfolios of strategic initiatives. Firms pursue these initiatives and projectsto advance their strategies, increase the efficiency of operations, launch new products, andimprove customer experience, among many other aims. Resources are limited, though,and management teams must select those initiatives that are most likely to yield the bestoutcomes and deliver the most value to the organization. Despite the importance of makingthese decisions correctly, we observe a range of common issues across many firms, includinga disproportionate focus on short-term, tactical initiatives, ineffective governance andoversight, piecemeal approaches to initiative screening and selection, and weak monitoringand execution, among other flaws. These inadequate practices are a drag on firms’ ability tocapture value from initiatives and ultimately achieve robustgrowth.In the current environment, there is an urgent imperative for companies to strengthen theirinitiative management capabilities, particularly in light of macroeconomic headwinds andthe resulting high degree of investor scrutiny on companies’ deployment of capital. Whilemost firms have some aspect of their initiative management process that can be improved,several have dramatically improved their practices in recent years. We think that institutionscan universally benefit from learning about best practices employed by other firms tomanage their portfolios of strategicinitiatives.In this paper, we expandon:•The basics— we introduce the framework we commonly employ when advising clientson how to think about strategic initiative portfolio management and discuss howinstitutions can getstarted•Common challenges— we then detail the current state of initiative portfoliomanagement practices among large corporations, highlighting commonlyobservedchallenges•Case for change— we then discuss the case for change, including the costs associatedwith deficient practices, the benefits of solving these problems, and the impact on firms’valuations given the scrutiny public companies are facing in this area from the analystand investor community•Leading practices— next, we outline leading practices that have allowed firms toincrease investment discipline, improve execution quality, and deliver higherreturns•Taking action— finally, we outline the most critical actions that firms can take toimplement more robust and disciplined initiative portfolio management in a measured,risk-controlledmanner © Oliver WymanTHE BASICS: OUR FRAMEWORK AND HOW TO GET STARTEDOur frameworkWe advise our clients to view their initiative portfolios similarly to a portfolio of financialassets. While these practices are common in the asset management industry, we rarelyobserve them implemented effectively in large corporations. The initiative managementlifecycle can be broken down into distinct phases from defining a portfolio strategy throughinvesting in and delivering the initiative portfolio — and to be effective must be linked tightlyto enterprise strategy, culture, andincentives.Through our client work, we have developed a common framework for examining andevaluating strategic initiative portfolio management practices. Exhibit1 below highlights thecore components and key questions that each component aims to address. We have foundthis framework useful both as a construct to compare and evaluate an institution’s practicesagainst other organizations and as a means to evidence rigorous initiative management toexternalstakeholders.Exhibit 1: Oliver Wyman framework for strategic initiative portfolio managementDefineportfolioallocationWhat is theoptimalcompositionof our initiativeportfolio todeliver on ourstrategy?AllocateIdentifyinitiativesWhat initiativesshould weconsider?IdentifyReviewinitiativesHow attractiveis eachinitiative?Firm StrategyWhat are our enterprise objectives and how will we achieve them?Culture and IncentivesDoes our culture and incentive framework support innovation and delivery excellence?ScrutinizeSelectinitiativesWhich initiativeswill we fund?InvestMonitorportfolioHow areinitiativesperformingagainstobjectives?MonitorAct asneededDo we need toadjust orterminateinitiatives?ManageRe-balanceportfolioShould weadjust ouroverall portfolioas our strategyevolves?Re-balanceSource: Oliver Wyman AnalysisAs we will examine later, improvements can be made by revisiting approaches across eachelement of this framework, and more substantive transformation often requires firmsto revisit their approach across the entire lifecycle: making conscious decisions aroundportfolio composition aligned to the firm’s strategy, instituting quantitative frameworks toenable rigorous analysis and debate of initiatives prior to investment, and promoting strongexecution through ongoing monitoring and effective governance to track, review, andchallenge the progress and outcomes of the full portfolio and