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Thank you for your interest in BBRT. This newsletter contains the latest news on BBRT events and research
Table of contents
Welcome to the BBRT global newsletter, which is designed to keep you informed of developments in Beyond Budgeting and the BBRT. For further information visit our web site at www.bbrt.org.
Members Updates
The BBRT would like to welcome our newest members:
What is BBRT?
The Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT) is an international network of member organizations with a common interest in improving their overall performance. The BBRT helps organizations learn from world-wide best practice studies and encourages them to share information, past successes and implementation experiences to develop dramatically improved solutions to traditional budgeting constraints.
The BBRT promotes a management model for the innovation age based on a set of principles leadership and process principles that enable organizations to achieve superior sustained success relative to their peers. Organizations following this approach rely on twelve key principles outlined in the book Beyond Budgeting: How Managers Can Break Free from the Annual Performance Trap, published by Harvard Business School Press.
BBRT membership is available globally and regionally and has had great success in both the European and the North American regions. BBRT produces two major members’ meetings each year in both Europe and North America, web seminars and industry group meetings. These events combined with the extensive, continuous research keep BBRT members up-to-date on the most innovative techniques in financial planning. The BBRT also publishes case studies, and routinely conducts CFO interviews nationwide in order to stay abreast of trends and innovations in finance.
The BBRT also offers industry-specific membership that allows for more tailored workshops, education, and collaboration among each industry group. The BBRT currently has interest groups in the following industries: financial services, healthcare, consumer products, insurance, and public/government. In 2008 the Round Table will launch an energy & utilities group, professional services group, retail, and hospitality. In addition, membership is also available by topic with the most extensive being Shared Services, and Lean Performance Management.
July 2008
September 2008
November 2008
BBRT INSIGHTS research series
Two papers have been circulated to BBRT members in March and April:
How to keep the board informed and in control in times of change
Abstract: Following the tightening of regulations on corporate reporting, CEOs and CFOs are paranoid about being in control. But most remain exposed and vulnerable because their information systems cannot tell them where they are today never mind where they are going. So what can they do? This paper takes a look at how some organizations are regaining control by using more advanced information systems that include key performance indicators, rolling forecasts and trend reporting.
This paper completes the Finance and Planning perspective
Why open, transparent information systems provide more effective control
Abstract: Most organizations work on the assumption that information can be dictated and directed from the corporate centre – that people only need to see ‘what they need to know’. This is a command and control assumption that must be tossed aside if leaders really want to move to an adaptive and decentralized organization. This paper looks at how adaptive organizations work on different assumptions about the openness and transparency of information and how it improves governance and control.
This is the first paper in the Information Management perspective
The BBRT INSIGHTS research papers are delivered to BBRT members on a regular basis. BBRT members can download the full papers from the BBRT Private Forum.
Latest Case Study report
StatoilHydro
In 2007 Statoil merged with the oil and gas division of Hydro, a Norwegian competitor. StatoilHydro is now Scandinavia’s largest company, with 31,000 employees across 41 countries, and a turnover and market capitalization of approximately $100bn. For decades, Statoil and Hydro relied on the plentiful reserves on the Norwegian continental shelf for almost all their output (accounting for over 80 percent of both firms’ production in 2006). But these reserves are now running down and the new leadership team are committed to growing the business beyond its Norwegian boundaries. This means creating partnerships in a global market filled with aggressive competitors (often state-owned or influenced) who have their own agendas. The new company’s strength lies in its off-shore capabilities (it is the world’s largest off-shore energy provider but only the tenth largest in production), and it believes this expertise (especially operating complex projects in harsh conditions) will help to build strong partnerships around the world. It was these concerns that drove the merger. Two smaller Norwegian players competing for the same opportunities would have confused would-be partners.
The new company has set ambitious goals. But it knows that it is entering a more uncertain phase of growth where less reliability can be placed on Norwegian reserves. It recognizes that change will be more unpredictable, so being more responsive to change (especially new threats and opportunities) needs to be a key element of its growth strategy. This, in turn, means devolving more responsibility and decision-making to teams closer to the customer. And this means freeing up resources to follow the best current business opportunities rather than be ‘locked-down’ once-a-year through the annual budgeting process. The new leaders have also recognized that the key management processes and culture were never designed with these imperatives in mind. According to project manager Bjarte Bogsnes, “the most important reason for moving away from the budget was the mismatch between today’s dynamic and unpredictable business environment and the static budget concept. The modern business environment is also more demanding on performance and results. The response to these fundamental changes cannot be more command and control and micro management from the top. It has to be the opposite. You need to liberate managers, giving them more freedom and responsibility. This must be combined with a more transparent and meaningful performance language and more continuous and dynamic performance management processes.”
Join the BBRT to get access to the full case study report and all the past BBRT research material.
BBRT Public Sector Interest Group (PSIG), 18 March 2008
The theme for this meeting was change management.The members examined how public sector organizations can improve their change management processes by first looking at the work of notable change management gurus such as John Kotter, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Edgar Schein and William Bridges. They then discussed a number of issues relating to change management in their own organizations.
The next BBRT PSIG meeting will be held on 8 July. Contact Peter Bunce for more information.
BBRT Europe Members' Meeting, 1 April 2008
This meeting had a number of exciting presentations that sparked off some very informative discussions. The focus of this meeting was on how the Beyond Budgeting principles and model provide the right basis for leadership actions and management processes for high performance organizations. Jeremy Hope explained how these principles provide the basis to define the future management model and how organizations can move beyond command and control. A company described a total transformation of their management model to move away from command and control to a much more devolved and adaptive approach. Bjarte Bogsnes discussed the key points from the StatoilHydro case, in particular the issues surrounding incentives and rewards and the crucial role of HR in any Beyond Budgeting program. Another BBRT member, EADS presented how they are developing their approach to Beyond Budgeting. Lastly Steve Morlidge discussed the issues that need to be addressed to master rolling forecasting.
The next BBRT European Members' meeting will be held 6 November 2008. Contact Peter Bunce for more details about the meeting and BBRT membership
BBRT is an independent international shared learning network for all organizations that seek to improve their performance management through sharing information, past successes and implementation experiences. Our purpose is to help organizations introduce a new management model for the innovation age.
For more information, please visit www.bbrt.org, email Peter Bunce, or call +44 1590 679803
BBRT, 1st Floor 745 Ampress Lane, Lymington, Hampshire SO41 8LW, UK Tel: +44 1590 679803 Fax: +44 870 705 8799 Email: info@bbrt.org
(c) BBRT 2008 - All rights reserved
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