The biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression is changing the economic order – of the global economy and of many industries. Most likely, the world won’t be the same after the crisis. The ‘new normal’ will bring us probably lower economic growth rates, more pressure on prices and margins, changing consumer and customer buying patterns, consolidation of industries, more regulation, and more difficulties in assuring the financing of the enterprise – just to name a few of the expected changes.

But change represents also an opportunity – for those companies that are able to act and adapt in time. Therefore it’s time now to look ahead, beyond the near-term survival agenda of the past year, and to start shaping the future of the enterprise in a changing world.

And the CFO and finance have to be prepared to help to drive the transformation of the business. Efficient finance operations that are providing basic high quality financial services to the business and that ensure compliance and good governance are a solid foundation. But what it really takes to thrive and win in the ‘new normal’ is a shift in finance effectiveness: towards the role of a true business partner and co-pilot that helps to innovate and to drive business performance and competitiveness in a time of uncertainty and change.

Under the theme "Upgrade Finance Effectiveness - Drive Business Performance", Juergen H. Daum moderated recently two SAP events for Finance executives in Europe, of which he was in charge of topic selection, conception and event programming:

SAP's 12th European CFO Roundtable, 3-4 December 2009 in Bruges/Belgium, including his traditional "Food for Thought Presentation" on the theme of the event on day 2 and a panel discussion with:
- Sten Daugaard,CFO and member of Corporate Management, LEGO Group, Billund/Denmark
- Mag. Dr. Wolfgang Henle,VP Opportunity and Risk Management, Austrian Airlines Group, Vienna/Austria
- Vince Nicoletti, Chief Financial Officer of Commercial Operations of BHP Billiton, The Hague/Netherlands

SAP's 18th Finance Best Practice Workshop for Controllers and Senior Finance Professionals on 4-5 February in Barcelona/Spain - including a presentation track and disucussion round on "Upgrading Enterprise Performance Management"

Program and agenda of the 12th SAP European CFO Roundtable

Agenda of the 18th SAP Finance Best Practice Workshop

J.H. Daum's presentation "Upgrade Finance Effectiveness - Drive Business Performance" (pdf)

J.H. Daum's presentation"Upgrade Enterprise Performance Management Effectiveness" (pdf)

Bedeutende Führungspersönlichkeiten und Mitglieder des AKNU haben bereits Stellung zu diesem sehr aktuellen Thema bezogen und haben "Klartext" gesprochen.

Auch Jürgen H. Daum hat sich zur nachhaltigen Unternehmensführung bekannt und auf der Website des Arbeitskreises Nachhaltige Unternehmensführung in der Schmalenbachgesellschaft e.V. (AKNU) sein Verständniss von nachhaltiger Unternehmensführung in einem "Klartext" Statement dokumentiert.

Hier das "Klartext"-Statement von Jürgen H. Daum (zum "Klartext"-Statement von Jürgen H. Daum auf der AKNU Website):

„Nachhaltigkeit beginnt mit wirtschaftlicher Nachhaltigkeit“:

"Nachhaltigkeit in der Unternehmenswelt beginnt meiner Meinung nach mit wirtschaftlicher Nachhaltigkeit. Die beiden übrigen Aspekte, soziale und ökologische Nachhaltigkeit folgen automatisch, wenn Sie die wirtschaftliche Unternehmensführung und –steuerung heute ernsthaft mit einer nachhaltigen Perspektive betreiben. Erst so wird ein Schuh daraus. Geht man anders herum an das Thema heran, besteht die Gefahr, dass die ‚Corporate Social Responsibility‘-Bemühungen zum Marketing-Feigenblatt werden und nur aufgesetzt wirken, und das wird heute von Kunden, Geschäftspartnern, Mitarbeitern, Investoren und von der Öffentlichkeit schnell durchschaut.

Und die Fähigkeit zum nachhaltigen Wirtschaften und damit zur Nachhaltigkeit des Unternehmens selbst basiert im Wesentlichen auf der Fähigkeit zur organischen Mehrwertgenerierung für Kunden und Unternehmens-Stakeholder, also auf der Fähigkeit, für diese einen nachhaltigen Unterschied machen zu können und zu diesen stabile Beziehungen zu unterhalten. Ich nenne dies die Fähigkeit zur unternehmerischen Nachhaltigkeit. Erst diese kann dauerhafte Wettbewerbsstärke schaffen.

Gerade die jüngsten Erfahrungen in der aktuellen Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise haben das Verständnis dafür geschärft, dass in Zukunft der Fokus der Unternehmensleitungen, aber auch der betriebswirtschaftlichen Wissenschaft und der Berater darauf liegen muss, diese Fähigkeit der Unternehmen zur unternehmerischer Nachhaltigkeit zu stärken und Schritt für Schritt auszubauen.

Dies zu tun ist mehr kontinuierliches Bemühen, als ein kurzfristiges Programm. Es beginnt bei der strategischen Ausrichtung und dem Geschäftsmodell eines Unternehmens, umfasst aber auch die Führungs- und Unternehmenskultur, die Aufbau- und Ablauforganisation, das Marketing und die externe Kommunikation sowie adäquate Reporting- und Controlling-Ansätze.

Bei letzterem geht es darum, nicht nur die finanzielle Steuerungs- und Optimierungsfähigkeit zu sichern, sondern alle Aspekte eines nachhaltigen Wirtschaftens in die Unternehmenssteuerung, also auch die nicht-finanziellen Erfolgsfaktoren und die immateriellen Werte und Potentiale, zu integrieren, um falsche Anreize und Signale und suboptimale Entscheidungen im Tagesgeschäft zu vermeiden, die längerfristig die Nachhaltigkeit des Wirtschaftens gefährden können."

PDF-Version des AKNU "Klartext"-Statements von Jürgen H. Daum

Weitere "Klartext"-Statements:

Hier eine Auswahl von Statements bekannter Persönlichkeiten, die im "Klartext"-Portal des AKNU zum Thema Nachhaltige Unternehmensführung Stellung bezogen haben (mit Link zum entsprechenden Statement): 

Rosely Schweizer, Vorsitzende des Beirats und Gesellschafterin der Dr. August Oetker KG,

Dr. h.c. Helmut Maucher, Ehrenpräsident der Nestlé AG,

Prof. Dr. Claus Hipp, Geschäftsführender Gesellschafter, HiPP-Unternehmensgruppe

Dr. Jürgen Großmann, Vorstandsvorsitzender der RWE AG,

Frank-J. Weise, Vorsitzender des Vorstandes der Bundesagentur für Arbeit

Dr. Paul Achleitner, Mitglied des Vorstands der Allianz SE, Finance

Dr. Rüdiger Grube, Vorstandsvorsitzender, Deutsche Bahn AG

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Co-Chair, International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management

und viele weitere herausragende Persönlichkeiten haben Klartext gesprochen und sich deutlich für eine Nachhaltige Unternehmensführung ausgesprochen.

Das folgende Interview ist als Einleitung ins Schwerpunkt-Thema der "SAP im Fokus" Ausgabe Oktober 2009, erschienen - dem Kundennewsletter der SAP Deutschland AG&Co. KG.:

SAP im Fokus: Das Wissen um die eigenen Finanzen ist für Unternehmen fundamental. Doch Finanzwesen und Controlling müssen heute mehr können, als lediglich Finanzzahlen bereitzustellen. Wie genau sehen die neuen Aufgaben aus?

Jürgen H. Daum: Der grundlegende Auftrag des Finanzbereichs ist natürlich, durch aussagekräftige Kennzahlen faktenbasierten Durchblick zu schaffen – im Hinblick auf Kosten, Ergebnis und Liquidität, aber auch zu Risiken und Chancen. Transparenz ist jedoch kein Selbstzweck. Vielmehr muss sie auch zu Entscheidungen führen. Das ist in vielen Unternehmen bei weitem nicht selbstverständlich. Dabei ist Disziplin im Managementprozess gerade in Zeiten des Umbruchs überlebenswichtig – von der Strategieentwicklung und Zieldefinition über Reporting, Prognose und Anpassungs-Entscheidung bis zur Kontrolle der Umsetzung. Hier sind CFO und Finanzbereich gefordert: Sie sollen für diese Disziplin sorgen und die notwendigen Entscheidungen vorantreiben. Die Rolle des Finanzbereichs wandelt sich so vom reinen Zahlenlieferanten zum Gestalter des Managementprozesses – mit dem CFO als Navigator, der sich aktiv in die Weiterentwicklung des Unternehmens einbringt.

SAP im Fokus: Welche Voraussetzungen müssen dafür erfüllt sein?

Daum: Entscheidend sind erst einmal straffe Finanzprozesse, die nahtlos in die Geschäftsabläufe integriert sind. Nur sie stellen eine klare Sicht auf das Unternehmen sicher. Effektive Liquiditätsplanung ist zum Beispiel ohne die Verknüpfung mit den operativen Prozessen im Vertrieb und Auftragseingang nicht möglich. Zudem verfügen die Mitarbeiter in Finanzen und Controlling erst durch optimierte Prozesse über die notwendigen Freiräume, um ihre neuen Aufgaben im Bereich Entscheidungsunterstützung zu erfüllen.

Eine wirklich leistungsfähige Finanzinfrastruktur umfasst aber auch eine effektive Organisation. So schaffen viele Unternehmen zentrale Shared-Services-Center und Center of Expertise, um Prozesse zu konsolidieren und Aufgaben zu bündeln. Dies senkt die Kosten und erhöht gleichzeitig die Qualität: Wenn etwa alle Daten für einen Abschluss zentral zusammenlaufen und von den besten Experten im Konzern nach einheitlichen Kriterien verarbeitet werden, beschleunigt das nicht nur den Abschlussprozess. Auch die Zuverlässigkeit steigt, und gesetzliche Vorgaben lassen sich einfacher einhalten.

SAP im Fokus: Welchen Beitrag leistet hier die IT?

Daum:  IT schafft die Voraussetzungen für standardisierte, automatisierte Prozesse und den wirtschaftlichen Betrieb von Shared-Services-Centern – mit ERP-Software, die möglichst zentral betrieben wird. Darauf setzen Lösungen für Analyse und Entscheidungsunterstützung auf: Sie versorgen Entscheidungsträger direkt per Self-Service mit Business Intelligence-Werkzeugen und allen notwendigen Informationen. Hier geht es, im Gegensatz zur Standardisierung von Abläufen, auch darum, zu individualisieren. Schließlich sollen Inhalte und Darstellungsformen dem Arbeitsstil des Anwenders entsprechen und genau zu den Anforderungen im jeweiligen Entscheidungsprozess passen.

SAP im Fokus: Welche konkreten Vorteile erzielen Unternehmen mit einer leistungsfähigen Finanzinfrastruktur?

Daum: Zunächst einmal erhöhen sie ihren finanziellen Gestaltungsspielraum. Liquidität ist hier derzeit das zentrale Thema: Wer dank klarer Daten den künftigen Cashflow richtig einschätzt, kann bei veränderten Rahmenbedingungen schneller gegensteuern. Im Ergebnis bedeutet dies weniger Abhängigkeit von Fremdfinanzierung. Andererseits kommt das Unternehmen so auch in die Lage, freie Mittel rascher zu verwenden und Geschäftschancen besser zu nutzen.

Zeitnahe Transparenz ist aber auch über finanzielle Kennzahlen hinaus wichtig für eine erfolgsorientierte Geschäftssteuerung. Welche Faktoren beeinflussen das Finanzergebnis? Wie lassen sie sich diese Ergebnistreiber kurz-, mittel- und langfristig am besten beeinflussen? Das sind entscheidende Fragen. Droht ein Rückgang des Auftragseingangs um fünf oder zehn Prozent? Dann muss das Management die finanziellen Auswirkungen durchspielen können, um rechtzeitig zu reagieren. Eine leistungsfähige Finanzinfrastruktur liefert hier Klarheit und ermöglicht so erst die richtigen operativen und strategischen Entscheidungen. Damit wird der Finanzbereich zum echter Partner bei der Weiterentwicklung des Unternehmens.

Interview im Orginal (pdf)

Zum gleichen Thema siehe auch:

Gastvorlesung von Jürgen H. Daum an der Universität Mannheim ""Finance&Controlling als Business Partner: Ziel, Konzept, Umsetzungsbeispiele. Ein Praxisbericht aus europäischen Unternehmen" am 4.3.2009

Artikel: Daum, J.H., Die Entwicklung der Rolle des CFO in europäischen Unternehmen
(Zeitschrift für Controlling & Management, 6/2009)

Artikel: Jürgen H. Daum im Gespräch mit Dr. Carlo Mackrodt, Henkel KGaA "Wir haben bei Henkel international eine einheitliche Arbeitsweise im Finanzbereich geschaffen" (Zeitschrfit für Controlling & Management, 5/2008)

IIOE News, 10.7.2009: "Sustainable Enterprise Management in Turbulent Times"

IIOE News, 30.5.2009: "Der CFO als Business Partner und Business Navigator: Gefordert ist ein komplett neues Selbstverständnis - und etwas Schizophrenie"

Die Teilnehmer (im Bild von links nach rechts):

• Jürgen H. Daum, SAP und IIOE (Leitung und Moderation)
• Dr. Alexander Selent, Stellvertretender Vorsitzender des Vorstands und Finanzvorstand, Fuchs Petrolub AG
• Joachim Goldbeck, Geschäftsführer Goldbeck Solar GmbH, Goldbeckbau
• Hans Michael Hölz, Group Sustainability Officer/ Managing Director, Deutsche Bank AG
• Florian Nehm, Leiter des Referats Nachhaltigkeit, Axel Springer AG

Das Thema der Podiumsdiskussion:

Die Sicherung des langfristigen (wirtschaftlichen) Überlebens eines Unternehmens (also der „Nachhaltigkeit des Unternehmens als Unternehmen“) war schon immer ein Kernelement guter Unternehmensführung.

Im Laufe der letzten Jahre hat die „Corporate (Social)l Responsibility“-Bewegung also auch die „grüne“ Bewegung eine weitere Perspektive auf die Bedeutung von „Nachhaltigkeit“ von Unternehmen eröffnet: eine nachhaltige Unternehmensführung soll nicht nur die wirtschaftlichen Aspekte, sondern auch die sozialen und ökologischen Auswirkungen der Unternehmenstätigkeit berücksichtigen – eine Sichtweise, die in weiten Teilen inzwischen Eingang in die öffentlichen Meinung gefunden hat. Und gerade in der aktuellen Wirtschaftkrise wird der Ruf nach einer nachhaltigen Unternehmensführung lauter.

Es stellt sich die Frage, was „Nachhaltigkeit“ für Unternehmen heute genau bedeutet, welche Konsequenzen sich daraus für die Handelnden im Unternehmen ableiten lassen, wie sich die Bedeutung einer nachhaltigen Unternehmensführung zukünftig weiter entwickelt, und welche Rahmenbedingungen dies z.B. auch von Seiten der Politik, aber auch von Konsumenten, Anlegern und anderen Unternehmens-Stakeholdern erfordert.

Bei der Podiumsdiskussion wurden folgende Fragen mit den Teilnehmern diskutiert werden:

• Was bedeutet „Nachhaltigkeit“ und eine nachhaltige Unternehmensführung heute für Unternehmen?
• Welches sind die Herausforderungen, Erfolgsfaktoren und wesentlichen Bausteine für die Umsetzung einer nachhaltigen Unternehmensführung?
• Welche Zukunfts-Perspektive hat das Thema „nachhaltige Unternehmensführung“ und welche Rahmenbedingungen sind erforderlich?

Einführungsvortrag von Jürgen H. Daum (pdf)

Website des Wissenstransfertags der Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar

Videoaufzeichnung der Podiumsdiskussion:

        Zur Videoaufzeichnung auf Grafik klicken!

This has created a lot of questions for corporate managers and CFOs: not only how to master the crisis itself, but - more importanly - how to manage for sustainable enterprise development in the future.

Juergen H. Daum, who moderated the second day and who was in charge of the conception and event programming of this CFO roundtable, adressed this topic in his traditional "Food for Thought" key note:

Sustainable Enterprise Management in Turbulent Times:

• Origin and purpose of 'sustainable management'
• What means sustainable enterprise managment?
• The current financial and economic crisis and the future of "sustainable enterprise management"

Download J.H. Daums presentation (pdf)

Program and agenda of the 11th European SAP CFO Roundtable

It is a structural imbalance in the world economy. That imbalance was already due to cause a major downturn a few years ago, but has been hidden for another couple of years by ‘financial engineering’. It became finally visible when the banking sector wasn’t any more able to cover it: the so called financial crisis was born - another, final symptom of that structural imbalance in the world economy.

One part of the imbalance has been the systematic overconsumption of the U.S. economy. George P. Shultz, former finance and foreign minister of the U.S. government described it with: “We have consumed more than we have produced. [...] America has lived beyond its means.” (quoted from an interview published in German in “DIE ZEIT”, issue from 19.02.2009)

The second part of the imbalance has been the reaction of the Non-US-economies to the overconsumption of the Americans: first the overproduction and the built up of overcapacities in other parts of the world, namely in the so called ‘export nations’ such as China and Germany, then the overfinancing of that overconsumtion in the U.S. by the same (export) nations.

What are the perspectives for the future?

Again George Shultz: “We [in America, after consuming too much,] have to go back to the ethics of saving. [… But others have to change as well]. The wealth of many countries has been based on that they have exported more than they have imported. The buyer of these exports have been the U.S.. When we are starting to bring our house in order and readjust our international trade and payment balance, then a lot of other people have to adjust as well.” (“DIE ZEIT”, issue from 19.02.2009).

In summary, if the engine of growth of the past years will stall because the overconsuming consumers in the U.S. start to save more and spend less, we will see a major structural change in the world economy happen in the future, with much lower growth for a long period – even after the bank balance sheets have been brought in order and the overcapacities in many industry sectors have been reduced. And we can add: Companies and nations that still want to base their business model on exports need to be very, very good, if not unique with their offerings.

I participated last week at an SAP executive event in Germany that I have conceived and moderated and where about 20 senior executives (CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and Chief HR Officers) of German companies discussed the causes and consequences of the current financial and economic crisis. The outcome of the discussion was another proof that we are facing not just a simple downturn, but a paradigm shift in economic development and thus in enterprise management.  Here some of the statements made at the event:

“Growth in the past years was mostly artificial. We now have to face the reality for the future: lower growth not for the next three years, but for the next 20 years. As a consequence, companies require new strategies. In an environment of low growth or even contraction, creating and disposing of a visible, relative competitive advantage is key for survival. A second consequence is, that sustaining price levels will become more important than defending sales volume.”

“We, as export business, do not expect any major growth at least for the next five years. We have to re-focus on our core competencies – value creation through German engineering based on a highly educated workforce – to improve our relative competitive strength on the world market. That requires courage and money. We have to be smart in deciding were we have to save costs and were to invest. As a consequence, we have to become much more flexibile.”

“We have to focus in the future much more on qualitative than on quantitative growth. The heavy focus on volume and size in the past years was wrong. All my competitors that expanded abroad just for the reason to become bigger went bankrupt and seized to exist as a company. We have to re-focus on our strength: competitive advantage through high quality products. And we have to move back to a more organic growth model.”

Consequences for businesses and enterprise management: 'The Seven Fields of Reorientation and of Action for Renewal in Enterprise Management'

What does this mean for businesses and for enterprise management? How can entrepreneurs, companies and their executives and managers prepare themselves and their organisations for this new reality?

At the IIOE we have identified "Seven Fields of Reorientation and of Action for Renewal in Enterprise Management' on which we will focus our research, training and advisory activities in the future:

1. Strategic enterprise management:

The focus will shift from: “How can we become bigger and dominate our markets? to: “How can we improve our relative competitive strength and remain a player in the market”?

We will see a reorientation on the capability of an enterprise to create original, visible organic value-add for its customers. stakeholders and investors and to maintain that capabilities over market cycles through strategic innovation and flexibility.

• How do we manage for strategic competitive advantage and strategic renewal & flexibility?

2. Innovation management

The focus will shift from: “What is the next product innovation we have to deal with?” to “What is the appropriate business model for us in the future and how do we get there”?

We will see a new focus on the capability of a business to renew its business model in shorter time intervals to leverage technology and market developments in order to make a difference not only in what it sells, but in how it does business. A critical piece will be the identification, management and continuous improvement of the underlying platform of capabilities, intellectual capital and potential yield, as well as the systematic evaluation of technologies and stakeholder markets.

• How do we organise for continuous innovation and renewal that makes a difference?

3. Operations management:

The focus will shift from: “Operational excellence (today widely understood as ‘operational efficiency’)” to “Operational effectiveness in customer value creation”.

We will see a new focus on the capability of the operations to not only operate in an efficient way but to create superior value-add for customers and stakeholders and to constantly optimize both and to adapt the current business model in time. That requires an approach that moves beyond the process perspective and includes the identification, management and continuous improvement of the underlying platform of capabilities, intellectual capital and potential yield, as well as the continous monitoring of possible changes of demand.

• How do we design operations for effectiveness, agility and responsiveness? 

4. Finance and control:

In finance the focus will shift from: “Net earnings” to “Financial flexibility (i.e. cash flow and working capital)”. In controlling the focus will shift from “Where and how do we earn money?” to: “Why are customers buying and how can we stay in business?”

We will see a re-newed focus on the capability of finance to provide the liquidity to stay in business and the funds to invest in innovations and critical capabilities required for the future. We also will see a new focus on the capability of controlling to provide the tools and concepts to not only manage profitability (price/cost) but to monitor and manage as well relative customer value-add (value/price), i.e. competitive advantage, and to thus enable managers to make better trade-off decisions between short term profitability, customer value-add and investments required to create the foundation of future success.

• How do we create enough financial flexibility? How do we control performance in a more holistic way?

5. Leadership, organisation and people management:

The focus will shift from: “Command and control organisation & leadership model” to: “Sense and response organisation and leadership model”

We will see a reorientation in the leadership model of enterprises: away from an organisation that can easily be managed by ‘orders’ from the management hierarchy, to an organisation, where people are empowered to respond to changes in the market environment and customer demand without involving management all the time - in other words: to a more reactive and a more intelligent organisation. That requires the right team structures, an organisation that works more like a network than a hierarchy, and appropriate leadership and people management programmes.

• How do we organise for high performance?

6. External communication and marketing

The focus will shift from: “Reporting” and “Attracting” to “Relationship” and “Engaging”

We will see a reorientatation to communicate the true value-add story of the enterprise by personal and community experience, rather than by self-created marketing ‘messages’ that are pushed at external audiences. That requires more than the traditional one-way corporate and marketing communication, but new relationship, network and engagements models that involve customers, stakeholders and investors personally.

• How do we engage effectively with customers, the public, with stakeholders and investors?

7. Values

We will see a new focus on the true “corporate values” of enterprises and "personal values" of managers.

Customers, stakeholders, shareholders and employees will be more interested in the future how sustainable an enterprise is operating and how sustainable its managers are managing, i.e. if it is stable enough to still exist in ten years and how it deals with the interest of others (such as of the communities in which it operates, of its business partners and employees etc.) - than just knowing a company's product offerings and last quarter's profitability. Therefore they want to know why a company is in business (what its values and its mission are) and what the personal values of its key personell are. And another reason exist, why values will be more important in the future: Only when a company has decided what its core values are, it can decide what can be given up, i.e. only then true innovation, the engine of competitive advantage and of new growth can happen.

• For what are we in business? What are our core values? What will always stay?

Join us!

In the coming months we will continue to describe in more detail 'The Seven Fields of Reorientation and of Action for Renewal in Enterprise Management'. 

We will also start to offer a newsletter and plan to organize workshops (organised on demand).

If you are interested to contribute with your input to our reserach programme or if your are interested to receive our newsletter about this initiative or to participate in one of the workshops please contact us

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Related article:

Interview with Juergen H. Daum: "Sustainability as Objective for Enterprise Management and Control"

Juergen H. Daum: I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the term's origins are in forestry: In that field, it's immediately evident that failing to manage things in a sustainable manner will end in disaster. If you have a section of forest with full-grown trees and decide to cut them all down – in other words, exhausting the forest's yield potential all at once – it will take decades of reforestation to restore things to their original state. Assuming that reforestation is even possible under such conditions, those will be decades of investment without any kind of yield. In this context, sustainable management simply means following policies that conserve your existential basis – in this case, the forest – and its potential use for future generations. It’s also about safeguarding the long-term interests of others along with the typically more short-term interests of the acting party. These days, you’d describe it as securing stakeholder interests – those of the forest owner's heirs, but also of current and future residents in the area with regard to the recreational value of the forest and the preservation of its ecological balance, for instance. Things like soil erosion due to clear cutting pose a danger to such aspects. As you can see, the concept of sustainability in forestry already contains economic, social, and ecological dimensions. In my view, sustainability always involves all three. It means that I strive to preserve the essence of that that sustains both my own interests and the stakeholder interests influenced by my actions. 

[If we now look back to the business world the critical question is: do I create value-added for my stakeholders in a sustainable way or do I destroy the foundation for future value creation?] The ability to achieve sustainable management – and thereby enterprise sustainability – is essentially based on the ability to generate added value organically and to maintain this capability over market cycles.

[And] this is the reason why] I think corporate sustainability starts with economic sustainability – at least for businesses. The other two aspects, social and ecological sustainability, follow as a result, if you take economic sustainability serious.

Alfred Biel: [And what does this mean for enterprise management?]

Juergen H. Daum: Investors, other important stakeholder groups, and the general public are paying increasing attention to whether and how a company is able to create original, sustained value for its own customers, investors, and stakeholders. [CEOs and business executives will have to take more care to maintain and strengthen the capabilities of their companies for creating original value-added.]

As a result, it will be more important for CFOs and controllers to not only secure their companies’ ability to control and optimize the financials, but to integrate all the aspects of sustainable value generation into their overarching enterprise control system in the future.

[With the traditional financial control based enterprise management concepts we are facing a problem: they are leaving a big gap and do not provide the tools to manage all value creation actitivities and value creation potential of today's enterprises].  We now need to enhance our controlling systems with perspectives that map and can optimize all activities and processes in value creation in order to end up with management systems and management processes that foster effective knowledge transfer with regard to the real success factor of today’s companies and thus institutionalize effective decision-making.

What we need is a single concentrated effort to compile the experience and expertise of companies, controller organizations, scientists, and regulators (particularly with regard to IFRS) [and to create a new architecture for business administration theory]. Two years ago, I started a European initiative called International Management Accounting Standards (IMAS), which I’ve been organizing on behalf of the International Controller Association (ICV) and the International Group of Controlling (IGC) [more at the IIOE IMAS wegpage]. There is still strong interest in continuing it – particularly from the European companies I initially addressed and invited to participate. That's why I'm confident that we will be able to re- launch it and continue with the work we have started.

Read the full interview

Vollständiges Interview lesen (Deutsche Version)

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Related article:

We aren’t just experiencing the aftermath of a financial crisis: It’s the dawn of a new economic era and of a new business reality! - 'The Seven Fields of Reorientation and of Action for Renewal in Enterprise Management" - by Juergen H. Daum

And this happens far more often than one would like to assume. One of the main reasons for this is that the diversity, scope and pace of change outside and within a company that can quickly turn into strategic risks have increased significantly in almost all industries. Consequently, the foundations of a previously successful business model can come into conflict with the competitive and market environment quickly and, initially, unnoticed.

The danger of such "systematic failure" of established success models can only be evaded by working with a system: Business model innovation has to be established in the enterprise as an institutionalized, systematic process. This is the only way a company can be successful in the long term and create new growth.

The real challenge, however, is to make sure that the new business model configuration is implemented successfully while at the same time ensuring that the whole process of business innovation is repeatable. The latter aspect is important because the company’s environment will keep changing in the future; the business model will then need to be adapted to these changes or be replaced by a new business model again.

The way companies today are used to act in a systematic manner in product development, i.e. based on a defined process, will equally apply to the field of business model innovation in future. To achieve this, all competencies relevant to business model innovation and that are usually distributed among a great number of individuals and departments, must be bundled and integrated by means of a systematic business model innovation process and secured in the form of explicit procedural knowledge.

Developing this process and institutionalizing it in enterprises will become one of the most important management tasks in the coming years. For most companies, this is unchartered territory. There are no generally accepted best practices in this area yet. The European Business Model Innovation Forum (EBMIF – see: www.iioe.eu/ebmif.html), a network that brings together professionals from companies from various industries, various business functions, and various European countries, has made it its task to develop these ...

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Visit the EBMIF website on IIOE.eu

- Der traditionellen Aufgabe, die 'Financial Governance' des Unternehmens zu sichern und auf Risiko, Kosten und Ergebnis zu achten, und

- der Aufgabe, die Vorstandskollegen und die Geschäftsbereiche bei der Weiterentwicklung der Wachstumsstrategie, des existierenden operativen Geschäfts und des Innovationsprozesses nicht nur aktiv zu unterstützen, sondern selbst mit voran zu treiben.

CFOs sollen also nicht mehr nur die "Wachstumsstory" nach außen, an Finanzanalysten und die Investoren verkaufen, sondern diese selbst mitgestalten. Dies funktioniert natürlich nur, wenn man 'sein Haus in Ordnung hat', also seine Hausaufgaben im Bereich Compliance, Risikomanagement, und Finanzeffizienz gemacht hat. Dies ist sozusagen die Plattform aus der heraus sich der CFO und die übrigen Mitglieder der Finance&Control-Organisation im Unternehmen in Richtung eines Business Partners und Business Navigators entwickeln können. Dann müssen aber beiden Rollen 'unter einen Hut' gebracht werden. Dies erfordert ein gesundes Maß an Schizophrenie. 

Wolfgang Reichenberger, der bis Ende 2006 Finanzvorstand beim Lebensmittelkonzern Nesté war, hat es in einer Diskussionsrunde mit CFO-Kollegen, die von Jürgen H. Daum, Leiter des IIOE, moderiert wurde, so ausgedrückt:

"We have to really live this dual role, these two very different roles. And this means not only to have two different mindsets, but to act in two very different ways. The co-pilot role [so bezeichnet man bei Nestlé die Business Partner- und Navigator-Rolle - Anmerkung des Autors] requires that you should continously challenge and drive for innovation. And that means, for example, also to nurture sometimes a spirit of creative destruction [was bedeutet: eingefahrene, traditionelle Verfahrensweisen in Frage zu stellen - Anmerkung des Autors]. [...]

On the other side, in your stewardship role [so bezeichnet man bei Nestlé die 'Wächter-Rolle' - Anmerkung des Autors], you have to be concerned at the same time with [...] 'guarding the financial peace'. It means you have to innovate, but at the same time you have to keep the financial governance. You have to make sure that your innovation doesn't put your finance&control framework and the financial and operational stability at risk."

Download der CFO-Diskussion mit Wolfgang Reichenberger u.a. (Artikel, erschienen im 'Controller-Magazin' 6/2007)

Die Sicherung der Financial Governance erfordert eine starke Financial Infrastructure, d.h. effiziente und effektive Finanz- und Risikomangementprozesse, eine effektive Finanzorganisation, sowie eine stabilisierende und integrierende Informationssystemplattform.

Ist dies gesichert, besteht der nächste Schritt darin, die neue Rolle als Business Partner und Business Navigator zu gestalten. Dies bedeutet zunächste einmal: „Number crunching is out“. Damit meinte Peter Rasper, Head of Finance & Administration der SAP AG bei seinem Vortrag beim 2. CFO Symposium im Juni 2007, dass der Fokus von Finance & Control nicht mehr darauf liegt, Daten zu generieren und Berichte zu erstellen, also nicht mehr nur einfach darauf hinzuweisen: „da ist ein Eisberg“, sondern dabei zu unterstützen „wie man um den Eisberg am besten herum kommt“.

Henrik Weiler, CFO und Mitlied des Vorstands der ABB AG, Mannheim, und CFO der Region Zentraleuropa bei ABB, hat es bei der gleichen Veranstaltung so ausgedrückt, dass  eine wesentliche Herausforderung hier darin besteht, damit CFOs die Rolle als Business Partner ausfüllen können, dass sie das Geschäft in- und auswendig kennen, dafür eine authentische Begeisterung mitbringen, und emotional damit verbunden sind – oder in seinen eigenen Worten: „Sie müssen brennen für das Geschäft!“.

Link zum Bericht über das 2. CFO-Symposium am 29. Juni 2007 in Mannheim

Einführungsvortrag zum 2. CFO-Symposium von Jürgen H. Daum, Leiter des IIOE-Heidelberg

CFOs müssen sich dabei auch oft erst in der neuen Rolle als 'Mitunternehmer' üben - so meint jedenfalls die Financial Times Deutschland (FTD).

Leitartikel "Macht üben" des FTD-Dosier "CFO" (eine Beilage zur Financial Times Deutschland vom 07.12.2007)

Eines ist auf jeden Fall jetzt bereits sicher: CFO's, Controllern und anderen Finance-Professionals dürfte es in den kommenden Jahren nicht langweilig werden. Die beschriebenen Entwicklungen stehen nämlich erst am Anfang. Die großten Veränderungen der CFO- und Finance&Control-Rolle stehen erst noch bevor.

Weiteres Material:

"Artikel: "Die Entwicklung der Rolle des CFO in europäischen Unternehmen: Auswirkungen auf und Zukunftsperspek-tiven für Controller und Controlling - Ein Praxisbericht"

Interview: "Wir haben bei Henkel international eine einheitliche Arbeitsweise im Finanzbereich geschaffen. Ein Interview mit Carlo Mackrodt, Henkel."

Vortrag "The Evolution of Finance and of the Role of the CFO - Report about Best and Next Practice" von Jürgen H. Daum

Vortrag "Business 2015 and the Future Role of Finance - Some "Food for Thought" von Jürgen H. Daum

Vorankündigung:
 

„Finance Transformation:
Der CFO als Business Partner und Business Navigator“

– das neue Buch von Jürgen H. Daum (Hg.).

Erscheint im Frühsommer 2009.

Weitere Informationen:

Buchflyer herunterladen

The intention of the European Business Model Innovation Forum is to leverage the collective intelligence and experience of a group of professionals – cross-company, cross-industry, and cross-country – to develop a ‘best practice business model innovation process guideline’ and to facilitate learning and new insights that help the participating companies to successfully implement business model innovation as a process in their organisations.

The intention of this first meeting of the EBMIF, organised by Juergen H. Daum and hosted by Michael Cordes at the Print Media Academy of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG in Heidelberg, Germany, was to found a smaller ‘core group’ that can act as a ‘nucleus’ to move the EBMIF forward. The objectives for this first meeting were:

• Introduction of the participating organisations and individuals and of their motivation to participate in the EBMIF
• Exchange about current business challenges of participants and about their actual status in business model innovation
• Find ‘common ground’ concerning interest in business model innovation and agree and define the mission and objectives of the EBMIF
• Define the next steps and plan the next meeting (topics, date, location, potential additional participants)

The following organisations were represented through the participants at this first meeting: Barilla (Italy), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Fuijitsu Services/transform4 (UK), Heidelberger Druckmaschinen (Germany), Kamps (Germany), MLP (Germany), ‘Roche Pharma (Switzerland), SAP (Germany).

Additional participants from the following organisation couldn’t make it for this first meeting, but want to join at following meetings: Brembo (Italy), Brita (Germany), Deutsche Telekom (Germany), EdF Group (France), Henkel (Germany), Shell Group (UK), Swift (Belgium), UBS (Germany).

Report about the meeting:

Juergen H. Daum, President and Founder of the IIOE and Chief Solutions Architect at SAP, opened the meeting and explained the motivation to start the EBMIF, which has been initiated by Karl F. Gruber and himself:

It started begin of 2006, when both got in contact which each other and discussed the need ‘to move to the next level’ in business innovation – Karl F. Gruber from the perspective of his experiences  from his involvement in many major change programs at Deutsche Bank, and Juergen Daum from the perspective of his experience in several companies, including SAP, where he was involved in major organisational change and innovation programs, and from his work on Intellectual Capital Management, innovation management and entrepreneurship.

Michael Cordes from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen introduced the participants to Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG and the Print Media Academy which serves as a training and education facility for employees and customers and as a center for qualification and communication. In addition to the location in Heidelberg, the Print Media Academy maintains additional sites in Atlanta, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, Mexico City, Moscow, Sao Paulo, Shenzhen, Sydney and Tokyo. Currently Heidelberg is working on a new innovation strategy and is therefore interested in participating in the EBMIF.

Juergen H. Daum talked about ‘Business Model Innovation – Why?: The case for a systematic business model innovation process’. Business model innovation has become the ultimate recipe in innovation, because it focuses on the entire bundle of competencies and relationships a company disposes of to ‘master the unexpected’, i.e. new industry or technology trends that it is able to leverage to generate new business. Up to 50% of the growth potential of companies today is already based on innovative new business models.

One challenge in innovation management / business model innovation is how ‘to get from invention to market success’. This requires a clear focus on the intended outcome for customers/consumers (=relative customer value-added), but also on the management of the core capabilities of a company to manage for that outcome in its value creation process areas (R&D, CRM, Fulfilment..).

Successful business model innovation requires both a structured design process that allows an optimal ‘iteration’ between the Customer / Consumer / Stakeholder Value Offer design and the Value Creation Model design and a structured implementation process that increases the probability of a successful implementation. Having the right leadership and culture in place, is critical in both areas.

Karl F. Gruber from Deutsche Bank talked about ‘Business Model Innovation – How?: Challenges in implementing the business model innovation strategy and how to close the strategy execution gap successfully’. He defined ‘implementation’ as a process that is aligning people, structure, culture, process and technology with the BMI strategy requirements.

To move into successful implementation requires to build an implementation framework in order to be able to address during the different phases (implementation planning, execution, post implementation, monitoring) the different aspects that has to be dealt with in parallel in BMI strategy implementation. This is important, because BMI is - in contrast to product innovation – much more complex.

The first thing to focus on in the implementation process is  the change of minds: new role models have to be lived by leaders, reasons for change have to be broadly communicated, systems and process have to be changed/implemented that reinforce the new thinking and behavior, and people need to be trained in order to acquire the skill necessary to act in the new ways.

Because BMI strategy implementation requires fundamental change over a longer period, Karl Gruber recommended a step-wise implementation process that allows the organization to stabilize again after each step and to built-up energy for the next one. To support this and to mobilize for change, ongoing communication is required that goes in parallel and that has the right messages for each phase and for different targets groups (and not just for the start of the implementation program).

There were additional presentations from:

Claus Karg, Roche Pharma: New business models in Pharma: collaborating with partners on the R&D side – the ‘Roche Cosmos’

Massimo Ambanelli, Barilla / Kamps: Change of business model: motivation, status, challenges – the Barilla/Kamps view

Stephen Parry, ex Fujitsu Services / transfrom4: From traditional service management to a ‘sense&respond’ model oriented on customer value - the case of Fuijitsu Services and major learnings

Bernhard Kueppers, MLP: Consulting quality and customer enthusiasm – the value drivers of the MLP business model: innovation in the financial services industry

The presentations were followed by discussion rounds on:

How to develop new business models? What are the key success factors? Where to start first?

and

How to implement new businesss models? What are the key success factors? Where to start first?

Result of the meeting:

The participants agreed that they see value in this kind of exchange on business model innovation and expressed their desire to continue with the EBMIF with the objective to develop a guideline for BMI.

Decisions on next steps / about next meeting:

• To further explore the topic of BMI and to broaden the group at the next meeting, where we should then define the next steps for developing the guideline
• Topics for the next meeting: focus on the process of business model innovation design - with presentations from several organisations, which highlight different aspects of the process. Massimo Ambanelli proposed to take Barilla as a case example
• on which we could work on at the next meeting (to be confirmed)
  Date and location: end of October / November 2007. Massimo Ambanelli proposed to host the meeting at Barilla in Parma/Italy
  (to be confirmed)

The meeting will again be organised by Juergen Daum

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More information about the EBMIF and about future meetings can be found at:

 IIOE's EBMIF project webpage

If you are interested to participate please contact us

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Additonal ressources:

Agenda of the Meeting 

EBMIF White Paper

Juergen H. Daum’s presentation ‘Business Model Innovation – Why?

Article: "Sustainable Value Creation: Securing success and exploiting growth opportunities by turning business model innovation into a process

Article: "Nachhaltig Mehrwert schaffen: Erfolg sichern und Wachstumschancen nutzen durch Geschäftsmodell-Innovation mit System (German verson of the above article)