1797
n
Making far-reaching decisions
elements. And often we don’t quite know what is causing their
success – and, what’s more, often people from the company
itself don’t quite know what is making it a
success. Take the phenomenally successful
Southwest Airlines. Is their success due to
their swift logistics, the standardization of
their procedures, materials, and airplanes,
their coherent corporate culture, leadership
style, recruitment procedures, etc.? We don’t
quite know: probably a combination of all of
the above (and more).
Take Starbucks. Is it so successful because of the quality of its
coffee, the training of its personnel, the layout of its bars, the
logistics of the coffee-making processes, the ambiance, etc.? Well
. . . probably all the elements interact, and create the competitive
advantage together.
The problem with such a complex system is that when you
change two or three elements of it, you don’t quite know what
will happen. Because all the elements interact, you may be
screwing the whole thing up in ways you hadn’t anticipated and
won’t even be able to untangle and understand.
Therefore, Professors Gabriel Szulanski and Sid Winter – from
INSEAD and the Wharton School – recommend: “replicate”. That
is, before even thinking about making local adaptations, copy
exactly what you have. Only once you’ve got it working, adapt
it, very slowly, one step at a time.
Consider again Starbucks. It was originally replicated by its
founder, Howard Schultz, modelled perfectly on an Italian
espresso bar. “But it doesn’t look at all like an Italian espresso
bar!” you might shout. Very true. But the rst one in Seattle
did. There was standing-room only, full-fat milk, opera music,
wait staff with bow-ties, etc. Only when Howard got that to
work did he slowly start to make some alterations, through
trial and error, one step at a time. Had Howard tried to make
all sorts of adaptations right from the outset, it may not have
worked at all.
‘‘
often people
from the company
itself don’t know
what is making it
a success
’’