No business survives over the long term without reinventing itself. But
knowing when to undertake strategic transformation—when to change a
company’s core products or business model because of impending industry
disruption—may be the hardest decision a leader faces. Five interrelated
“fault lines” can indicate that the ground beneath a company is
unstable and that it’s time for radical change. The authors’ fault line
framework addresses basic issues: whether the business serves the right
customers, uses the right performance metrics, is positioned properly in
its industry, deploys the correct business model, and has employees and
partners who possess the capabilities required for future success. The
framework can help executives build a case for change and persuade
stakeholders to support the decision. And by identifying gaps between an
organization’s current state and where it needs to be to continue to
thrive, it can inform the vision of how the company must transform.
Diagnostic questions and an in-depth look at the health care company
Aetna—an organization in the midst of an ambitious transformation
effort, where one of the authors (Mark Bertolini) is CEO—illuminate how
to detect the fault lines while there’s still ample time to respond.
[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]