Kazi Azizul Islam
Bangladesh’s businesses and economy are showing a strong desire for change now and so strategies are required to transform the desire into sustainable growth, said a top international management strategist.
David P Norton, a globally acclaimed management guru known for his Balanced Scorecard theory and rated as one of world’s top 12 Most Influential Management Thinkers, said this while talking to journalists at Westin Hotel on Saturday.
‘I have found a strong desire for change in Bangladesh’s business and economy which are striving for growing further and doing better,’ said Norton.
Norton’s Balanced Scorecard concept was selected by the editors of Harvard Business Review as one of the most influential management ideas of the past 75 years.
Structured management system, openness and concentrated focus on specific agenda should be practised by organizations, either the government or individual companies, for reaching their goals of higher growth,’ said Norton, a Harvard University scholar.
His balanced scorecard is a strategic performance management tool used by managers globally, including those in the companies like Wal-Mart, HP and Bank of America, to keep track of the execution of activities by the staff within their control and to monitor the consequences arising from these actions.
Companies operating with structured management system can attain growth nearly three times more than the companies which move on unstructured management, Norton said referring a study.
Norton said he studied success of many city governments that had adopted strategy maps for development and service activities and communicated with citizens effectively.
He cited that Japanese companies in the 60s had started taking quality of product as a mission to achieve and replicating the success models boosted the Japanese economy.
He suggested Bangladeshi companies in export sector needed to cooperate one another for developing the supply chain which would help maximize value addition.
Norton further suggested that companies in Bangladesh should invest much in continuous learning and training of their employees, ‘Certified strategy planners are also required in the companies.’
He said the government here should understand that that private sector is the growth engine for countries like Bangladesh.
Norton came to Dhaka for six hours on Saturday and lectured strategic management to the executives of Rahimafrooz Group, which is working on a vision to be a billion dollar company by 2015.
Rahimafrooz director Niaz Rahim said Norton is partnering with their company to develop effective management models that are required to accomplish their vision.
