'Improving Strategic Thinking' is topic of Entre Today presentation Jan. 27
The Center for Business Excellence brings you Entre Today – monthly programs featuring “just-in-time” information for the busy entrepreneur.
“Improving Strategic Thinking in Terms of Organizational Change” is the topic for January’s Entre Today program, with featured speaker, Dr. Michael Evers, dean emeritus and professor at the University of St. Thomas College of Business.
The organizational change curve, or the S-curve for short, is a way to visualize and analyze the company as a whole, not individual products or customer segments. The S-curve recognizes that organizations go through different phases in their life-cycle. And importantly, each phase requires a different set of strategies. For example, the entrepreneurial phase requires a lot of experimentation to capture the right product or services that customers want to buy. On the other hand, experimentation while in the growth phase can lead to underachievement or downright disaster.
As a company grows, there are several growth-phase traps that can be injurious to its future. One example is over-specialization and departmentalization that can lead to bureaucratic slowdown and internal fighting. In the process, important changes occurring in the external environment may be ignored. There are, however, leading indicators or early warning signs of change to alert you.
Participants in this session will go over the lessons that can be learned by using the S-curve.
This session will be held from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 27, in Room 201, Opus Hall, Minneapolis campus.
The cost is:
- $25 – UST student
- $35 – UST alumni, faculty and staff
- $45 – Standard prepaid rate
- $55 – Standard door rate
For more information and to register, call the Center for Business Excellence, (651) 962-4600, or visit the center’s Web page.
About the presenter: Evers teaches strategic management, marketing channels and distribution systems. Prior to his academic career, he held supervisory and management positions at Rockwell International, McDonnell Douglas, National Distribution Systems and Emerson Electric. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Minnesota.
