Cutting Long Meetings Short

A CEO hired Larry Farrel, a renowned management consultant, to help him to get rid of the corporate bureaucracy. In particular, the CEO complained about the length of corporate meetings – the discussions were poorly focused and too long. Larry suggested a very simple but a very effective solution: to remove chairs from the meeting room. The CEO was extremely satisfied with the results: decisions were taken now within three minutes instead of three hours.

Dell Inc.

"From the very beginning, we tended to come at things in a very practical way," says Michael Dell, the Founder & CEO of Dell Inc.. "I was always asking, "What's the most efficient way to accomplish this?" Consequently, we eliminated the possibility for bureaucracy before it ever cropped up, and that provided opportunities for learning as well. Our sales force, for example, had to set up their own computers. They probably didn't enjoy it, but it gave them (and us) a real sense of what the uneducated customer would go through to set up his system, and it helped them develop a more intimate understanding of the products they were selling. As a result, they were able to help customers make informed decisions about what to buy and they could help solve equipment problems. That marked the start of our reputation for great service, one of the tools for staying ahead of the competition."

Bunsha

Bunsha means company division. In practice in means routinely spinning off companies from the core group. Kuniyasu Sakai and his partner, Hiroshi Sekiyama, are legendary managers in Japan. They don't buy the "bigger is better" concept. Kuniyasu Sakai and Hiroshi Sekiyama started a business together and turned it into a → Highly Profitable one . Rather than building a single, giant firm, they divided it, and then kept on dividing. Always keeping each of their firms at its optimum size.

In the process of creating a prosperous Bunsha group of companies, they discovered how to keep their companies on the cutting edge, their employees productive, and their clients happy, all at the same time. Their method is what Mr. Sakai calls bunsha (literally, 'dividing companies'), a system he and Mr. Sekiyama developed over more than 40 years of real-world corporate management. They created a group of more than 40 thriving, independent, high-tech manufacturing companies through bunsha (company division). Once a company is "successful," they fear that bureaucracy and complacency will set in. What do they do? They divide it... More