Report: The Lesson of Lost Value

Authors: Matthew Le Merle, Christopher Dann, Chris Pencavel

Published in Strategy + Business Magazine

Many benchmarks of corporate practice start by looking at successful companies. We decided to study the biggest losers: companies that, in one way or another, had seen their fortunes go south over a 10-year period. We had gone through this exercise once before. In 2004, when the Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom scandals were fresh, we surveyed thousands of public companies and determined that, contrary to prevailing wisdom, it was not compliance issues that were most responsible for destroying shareholder value. That distinction went to the mismanagement of strategic risks — those risks embedded in the top-level decisions made by the executive team, such as what products and services to offer, whether to outsource manufacturing, or what acquisitions to make.

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Report: Measuring Industry Digitization: Leaders and Laggards in the Digital Economy

Authors: Matthew Le Merle, Roman Friedrich, Alex Koster and Florian Groene

The pace of digitization is picking up rapidly but the speed at which digitization is taking place varies a great deal from industry to industry. To gain a better understanding of the relative degree to which digitization is transforming different industries, we have created the Industry Digitization Index. Whether they are currently digitization leaders or laggards, all industries can benefit by investing in the input, processing, and output capabilities needed to extend their digital footprints throughout their business ecosystems.

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Report: Stress-Testing the Enterprise with Disrupter Analysis

Author: Matthew Le Merle

Black Swans—unanticipated, catastrophic events—are impossible to predict on an individual basis, but they regularly occur. Too often, the boards and leaders of large companies are unaware of the risks involved in these events, unnecessarily exposing their organizations, their shareholders, and themselves to grave consequences.

The solution to this problem is disrupter analysis. Disrupter analyses supplement the everyday work of the enterprise risk management (ERM) function and are often conducted by external parties. They are achieved using a four-step process that maps the shape of the company; collects and synthesizes a broad list of potential high-magnitude, low-frequency events; determines their consequences; and implements preventive measures to ensure that the company is adequately protected.

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Editorial: How To Prepare For a Black Swan

Author: Matthew Le Merle published in Strategy + Business Magazine

Disrupter analysis can help assess the risks of future catastrophic events.  This article summarizes a more comprehensive perspective in which the author outlines a pragmatic approach for boards and executive teams to ensure they are better prepared for unexpected risks and disruptions to their businesses.

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Report: Taking Action for Tomorrow - Bay Area Life Sciences Strategic Action Plan

Authors: Matthew Le Merle and Nancy Michels on behalf of the Governor of the State of California, Bay Area Council, BayBio and Monitor Group

As announced by Governor Gray Davis, this Bay Area Life Sciences Strategic Action Plan forms the foundation of an overarching initiative by the state to promote California and the Bay Area as a center of innovation in Life Sciences. It describes the current context and frames the future vision for Life Sciences in the Bay Area. It also identifies critical priorities and sets forth recommended actions for fostering growth of Life Sciences in the region.

This Strategic Action Plan is a blueprint for government, universities, research institutions, companies, and economic development organizations to refocus cooperative actions that will have a positive impact on Life Sciences in the Bay Area, thereby strengthening the economy and enhancing the quality of life in the region and throughout California. It is intended to inform and educate policy makers and civic leaders about the importance of the Life Sciences industry cluster to the regional economy and to strengthen collaboration among stakeholders to enhance the competitiveness of Life Sciences in the Bay Area.

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