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株主価値を増大させ、投資家の自信を取り戻させ、不確実性に適応する方法を企業が模索するときには、プロジェクトポートフォリオをみるのが賢い方法である。なぜだろうか？ それは企業のプロジェクトに対する取り組みが、それを管理する能力を上回る勢いで成長してしまうためで、その結果、今日の予測が難しい環境の中で数兆ドル規模の投資に影響を与えるのだ。
『Connecting the Dots』はポートフォリオが会社の将来の通貨であり、本当の組織の意図を測定する手段だと論じている。そして、この通貨のアラインメントを変更することで最適なてこの効果を得ることができるのだ。 端的に言えば、アラインメントとは、会社のポートフォリオをその目的と不確実な環境とによりよく合致させることである。『Connecting the Dots』は実践的な「手持ちの札で勝負する」アプローチをとっており、概念とどう仕事をするかのガイダンスのバランスがうまくとれている。具体的には：
- 企業がどの程度うまく組織を合致させているか、あるいはさせていないか
- 会社のポートフォリオの経済的要素を強化しながら、ポートフォリオリスクを低減する機会を明らかにするツールを適用する
- 将来のどのような状況も受け入れられるようにする考え方を浸透させる
経営者はすでに自社のポートフォリオが期待したような成果を挙げていないことをよくわかっている。このガイドブックは組織の目的とそのプロジェクトの投資との「点を結ぶ（connect the dot）」ことで、今日の隠れた価値をとらえ、よりよい明日に備えるのを助ける1冊である。（Book Description）
内容説明
Organizations are struggling for greater return on their multibillion-dollar technology and project-related investments. Individual projects may be useful, but when examined collectively, they often work at cross-purposes, duplicate each other's efforts, or aim for obsolescing business objectives. And all are competing for scarce resources. In today's earnings-driven business environment, companies must look to their portfolios to better deliver on objectives and propel the organization forward.Based on their experience with a variety of companies, authors Cathleen Benko and distinguished professor F. Warren McFarlan have developed an alignment approach that better connects an organization's project portfolio to its corporate objectives in a manner responsive to today's unpredictable environment."Connecting the Dots" provides a scalable framework and practical tools for better aligning a company's: project portfolio with its objectives; individual projects with each other; and portfolio and objectives with the volatile environment. Better-aligned companies enhance business/technology performance by increasing shareholder value and confidence and improving the portfolio's return on investment. This in-the-trenches guidebook helps companies capture this latent value while building a more adaptive organization. Cathleen Benko is Braxton's Global e-Business Leader. F. Warren McFarlan is the Senior Associate Dean and Albert H. Gordon Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
From Publishers Weekly
For consultant Benko and Harvard business professor McFarlan, the problem with many corporations today is their alignment. Different projects within the same company often compete, overlap or contradict, squandering valuable resources in a time when companies can't afford to waste a nickel. Instead, say Benko and McFarlan, a firm's project portfolio should be like geese flying in formation-that is, in perfect alignment. The book's guiding metaphor is that of "frontier living," in which a group of pioneers comes together to focus on a specific goal. Today's information frontier demands the same kind of discipline, write the authors. The traits workers will need for this journey include being agile (in order to respond to the unforeseen) and having an "outside-in" perspective (taking a hard look at your own business practices). More so than most other management tomes, the authors try to inject this book with a little thematic verve. The result is an unusually readable and skillfully packaged take on corporate retooling. But it's a tad too fond of trendy buzzwords (e.g., "project chunking") and struggles a bit to make the case that alignment, above all else, is what ails American business.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
As companies look for ways to unlock shareholder value, restore investor confidence, and adapt to uncertainty, the project portfolio is a smart place to look. Why? Because companies' project initiatives have grown faster than their ability to manage them-affecting the return on trillions of investment dollars while failing to prepare companies for today's unpredictable environment.
Connecting the Dots argues that the portfolio is a company's future currency-the truest measure of organizational intent. And the best way to leverage this currency is through greater alignment.
Simply put, alignment is about better matching the company's portfolio to its objectives and the uncertain environment. Connecting the Dots employs a practical, "play the hand you are holding" approach, providing a balance of concepts and roll-up-your-sleeves guidance on how to:
* Determine how well aligned-or misaligned-an organization is today
* Apply tools that reveal opportunities to reduce portfolio risk while increasing the economics of a company's portfolio
* Instill more adaptive mind-sets to better respond to whatever future presents itself
Executives already know their portfolios are not delivering as expected. This guidebook helps "connect the dots" between an organization's objectives and its project investments, capturing hidden value today while better preparing for tomorrow.
著者について
Cathleen A. Benko is Deloitte Consulting's Global e-Business Practice Leader. She speaks frequently on this topic at A-level IT conferences. Warren McFarlan is the Albert H. Gordon Professor of Business Administration Harvard Business School.
