Reading
About a General Manager
- Setting Direction: vision, mission, values
- Assessing Performance: today and tomorrow
- Creating Strategy: determining the way forward
- Implementing Change: making it happen
Typical Measures of Operating Performance
- Profit margins
- Key expense ratios
- Return on equity, assets
- Economic value added
- Leverage ratios
- Liquidity ratios
- Activity ratios
- Absolute level and growth rate in sales
- Market share
- New products as % of sales
Typical Measures of Organizational Health
- How enthusiastic are managers and employees about their work?
- Do individuals identify narrow subgroups or within the organization as a whole?
- Are problem areas identified and delt with or hidden and ignored?
- Does the organization learn from its experiences? From others’ experiences?
- Can the pace at which people are working be sustained?
Performance Matrix
A matrix where one axis is operating performance and the other axis is organizational health.
- Q1: High Operating Performance, High Organizational Health - “desired state”
- Q2: Low Operating Performance, High Organizational Health - “complacent organization”
- Q3: High Operating Performance, Low Organizational Health - “troubled organization”
- Q4: Low Operating Performance, Low Organizational Health - “crisis”
Fridge Thoughts
Vision of the future: more focus on sustainability
Logical Progression: More focus on preventing food waste and impact on the environment
What we see now:
- Humidity controlled areas in the fridge
- Smart fridges that monitor food freshness or inventory management
- A move to replace R-134a with more environmentally friendly refrigerants like R-600a (isobutane) or R-290 (propane)
What I see in the future:
- Vacuum-sealed compartments to extend food freshness
- More integration with smart home systems
- Literal homes that use the expelled heat from the fridge to heat the house
- AI-powered fridges that suggest recipes based on available ingredients and their freshness levels
- Even magnetic refrigeration technology that uses magnetic fields to cool food, which is more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional methods
How we prepare for this:
- Research and Development in sustainable refrigeration technologies
- A focus on energy efficiency and reducing carbon footprints
- Or even just positioning ourselves into more sure subsystems like humidity control, food freshness monitoring, or smart home integration