Fit for Growth

Preface

Many companies today are trying to jump-start flattening revenues and deliver higher returns to investors. Some are fighting off efforts by activist investors to gain control of their company. Others are simply trying to survive and regroup. A few are racing to fend off bankruptcy. More and more, enterprises of all kinds are realizing that the only way to unleash profitable growth is to cut costs—often dramatically. In the globally interconnected, digitally disintermediated, hypercompetitive markets of the early twenty-first century, there is no safe harbor when it comes to the bottom line. Companies need to focus on managing costs as rigorously as they concentrate on growing revenues. As with any living organism, there is no profitable growth without equally robust pruning.

We have 70 years of collective experience in helping companies succeed in challenging markets. The surest path to success, we have found, is for companies to become Fit for Growth. Companies that are Fit for Growth do three things consistently and continuously:

1. They focus on a few differentiating capabilities—the things they do better than any other company.
2. They align their cost structure to these capabilities.
3. They organize for growth.

Our research and client experiences—based on lessons learned at hundreds of companies across all business sectors worldwide—show that companies that follow this Fit for Growth formula generate the highest growth and financial returns.

This book is a definitive ...