Internal analysis can mean a lot of different things from compliance, risk and control, to individual, team or unit performance to the performance of the organisation’s products and services.
Although all of these are important, much of our focus will be on the performance of products and services as they are the means of satisfying customer needs and providing value to customers.
Just because we will not spend time on the other subjects do not make them less important, its just that they are less important in the context of ADapT.
So what do we need to know about our products and services?
From a strategic planning perspective as much as possible, but in the beginning, we will, however, know very little. It might be more appropriate to ask what do we know about our products and services?
An organisation should have all the data they need to determine if a product (service) is growing or in decline, the cost of producing or offering the product (service) and the revenues obtained from such.
Here trends are important as these trends if used correctly will tell a story that would help us make decisions about that product or service.
Secondly, we need some indication of the performance of competitive products and services to augment our understanding of the relative performance of a product (service) vis a vis the market in which it competes.
We then preferably need some information about who our customers are so that we can do a segmented analysis of product (service) performance.
Every organisation should have at least this information, to begin with. The sad reality is that many organisation do not even have a clue about these figures and trends if asked!
So why do we focus our internal analysis in ADapT so much on product and service performance?
Products and services are how we create value for customers, and as Drucker said – an organisation exist to create and satisfy customers!
Products and services are the means by which most organisations achieve their strategic intent and goals (their purpose, causes and aims).
In the next lesson we will introduce you to some old theory that is used in a new way – it’s called the diffusion of innovation, and the American communication theorist and sociologist, Everett Rogers devised the theory in 1962.