South Korean companies have for years been among the fastest growing in the world. The results of this can also be seen in Finland: STX purchased the major Finnish shipyards some years ago, and more recently Samsung has passed Nokia in the mobile phone market. Kia and Hyundai cars have rapidly risen to become leading brands, seriously challenging the Japanese automotive manufacturers. Hyundai is now also making its inroads to the European wind power market by first getting a foothold in Finland.
Fresh perspectives on familiar scenes
Vision-driven strategy the Korean way
30.12.2011
South Korea is known as a rapidly growing prosperous economy, home to global conglomerates called chaebols. However, the actual opportunities and challenges of the South Korean market remain unknown to most foreign companies. Yet recent developments in the South Korean economy are opening new opportunities for foreign companies. At the same time, South Korea is actively searching for new paths to future prosperity, as it is increasingly challenged by other Asian countries. Understanding the South Korean economy, its opportunities and future direction is thus a very timely subject.
Newsletter archive
23.12.2011
Below are all the issues of the Reddal newsletter published to date. If you want to know what we are developing for the future, subscribe our newsletter from here.
Our next issue comes out Mar 29, 2012.
Issue 06 (Dec 30, 2011)
– South Korea – the business environment and the way Koreans do strategy
Issue 05 (Oct 03, 2011)
– Corporate culture transformation and linking it to strategy
Issue 04 (Jun 21, 2011)
– ICT investments, bolt-on acquisitions and foreign subsidiary turn-around
Issue 03 (Apr 01, 2011)
– Finnish growth companies and the process of growing, some research
Issue 02 (Nov 03, 2010)
– Three articles about growth and the pain that goes into creating it
Issue 01 (Jun 19, 2010)
– How crossing the billion euro revenue level changes the management team
Executive management teams are increasingly driving their own strategy development without consultants with the underlying belief that in order to ensure execution and buy-in, the strategy development must be kept in their own hands. Strategy execution, however, goes even deeper than that – it is not only management buy-in that is needed, the entire corporation must be mobilized to achieve the results sought after.
Kasvukulttuurin luominen PK-yrityksissä vaatii pitkäjänteisiä panostuksia koko organisaatiossa
04.10.2011
PK-yrityksillä on tyypillisesti kasvupolkunsa alussa suuret kasvuhaaveet, ja ne ovat luonteeltaan dynaamisempia ja valmiimpia muutoksiin kuin suuret yritykset. Erityisesti teknologia-start-upien tavoitteet ovat kovia ja yritykset kulttuuriltaankin kasvuhakuisia. Näidenkin yritysten kasvuinto alkaa kuitenkin liian usein hiipumaan sen jälkeen, kun yritys on kasvanut 5-20 miljoonan euron kokoluokkaan.
Companies seeking growth are often balancing between options of growing through organic product and business development, and inorganic growth through mergers and acquisitions. The problem with organic development is that it may take time to develop and launch new products and technologies, not to mention building a new business line or a broader geographic presence. The time required may be too long to meet the strategic ambition of the company. At the same time, the value creation of M&As, especially large-scale acquisitions, is considered extremely challenging. In many cases, small- to mid-sized acquisitions following bolt-on logic can be utilized to solve these pitfalls and drive growth. Typically, these “bolt-on” acquisitions provide a solid value creation path without exposing the acquirer to undue risk.
Ensuring the value creation of your growing ICT investments through continuous portfolio management
21.6.2011
The importance of information and communication technology is increasing in all companies – ICT utilization has spread to almost every imaginable area and companies spend increasing amount of money in ICT. Still, many companies are not monitoring value creation of ICT investments. In this article we describe why the importance and difficulty of ICT portfolio management has increased and what kinds of actions are needed to ensure the value creation of ICT investments.
Viimeisen kolmenkymmenen vuoden aikana perustetuista suomalaisyrityksistä ainoastaan yksi on kasvanut nollasta yli miljardin euron liikevaihtoluokkaan. Kyseinen yritys on Elcoteq ja senkin kasvu on hyytynyt sen jälkeen kun yritys pääsi yli ”jaardin” rajapyykin (Tekniikka & Talous 15.4.2011). Suomeen tarvitaan kasvua kaikkiin kokoluokkiin – tässä kirjoituksessa kuvataan, miten kasvua tyypillisesti haetaan yrityksen eri vaiheissa. Olemme myös pyrkineet kokoamaan kirjoituksessa esitetyt ajatukset kasvumekanismeista yhtenäiseen viitekehykseen.
A systematic value creation mindset is often absent in an SME (small or medium sized enterprise). Text book theory for net present value is hardly helpful for the SME entrepreneur, who typically looks for a safe way to grow profitably.
Julkinen keskustelu Suomen talouden näivettymisestä (mm. HS Vieraskynä/Byckling 19.1.2011, Talouselämä 4/2011) on huolestuneena seurannut viennin suppenemista, pörssimme stagnaatiota ja sitä, etteivät teknologiaan kohdistetut investoinnit ole tuottaneet tulosta. Vahvoja kansainvälisiä veturiyrityksiä tai kansantaloutta merkittävästi kasvattavia huipputeknologia- tai bioyrityksiä ei ole syntynyt ja parannuskeinoja peräänkuulutetaan. Yleensä keskustelu kohdistuu alkuvaiheen yrityksiin, ja niiden kasvuedellytysten parantamiseen. Tarkasteltaessa kasvua kansantalouden mittakaavassa on kuitenkin syytä katsoa koko yrityskenttäämme kaikissa kokoluokissa.