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...Learn to profit... Your profits come from knowledge, information and power (KIP). More specifically, they come from knowledge, information and power that you have and your competitors don't. To succeed in 21st century business, you need to make the right investments in knowledge, information and power. But most managers don’t even think about knowledge and power as investments. They think of investment in terms of “hard assets” such as plant and equipment. Rather than investing in distinct information and knowledge, they collect the same customer information as their competitors. They use the same technologies and hire the same sort of people. They rely on old knowledge of "how we do things around here" rather than investing in new knowledge that will give them an advantage. Without the right KIP investments, profits fade away. Profits from information disappear once competitors acquire the same information. Profits from knowledge vanish when competitors innovate or when customer tastes change. Once profitable resources become liabilities. Without KIP portfolio management, costs spiral. Information, knowledge and power are expensive. Every dollar of salary expense is an investment in information and knowledge. Sales and marketing expense is an investment in customer-related information and knowledge. Vast information technology budgets are investments in processing information. Capital assets and unskilled labor are investments in power. Unless these costs are managed as investments, wastage occurs and profits suffer.
Every firm can improve profits by smarter investing in knowledge, information and power. To identify which knowledge, information and power are most valuable, you should ask "why does anyone buy from us?” "What information is most important to our profitability? What investment in new knowledge would produce the best returns?". “What unique physical resources could create profits for us?” Investments in information and knowledge can increase profitability without capital investment. Investing in information and knowledge is another term for learning.
Our Learn to Profit™ methodology shows you how to manage investments in knowledge, information and power. You develop a Learning Investment Portfolio™ (LIP). The LIP specifies the investments in information, knowledge and power that will maximize profits. It's a powerful tool that focuses the whole organization on the things that produce the most profit.
Learn to Profit™ provides a new approach to business strategy development, accelerating growth, improving sales and marketing effectiveness, reducing costs, developing an outsourcing strategy, organizational design, IT strategy development and creating a learning organization.
For more information on Learn to Profit™, please see our Approach.
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