NEXT
GEN
CORP

Executive SummaryStern Stewart Research // Volume 68

We do not just want to keep up, we want to win. Win against the established competition and against start-ups and the Valley. We want to increase decision speed. Silo thinking and traditional hierarchies drive us crazy. Cost-efficiency remains on the agenda and we consistently apply new, digital technologies. We have to get employees convinced and offer them new development paths. The megatrend digitalization and our VUCA world demand a fundamental rethinking of the organization of a company.

But how to do it? We should begin to transform our entire company into a Next Generation Corporation (NextGenCorp). This is an organization consisting of a platform, project swarm and a radically new plexus. We believe both together are possible: flexibility and entrepreneurial freedom while at the same time realizing best practices and scaling economies.

We first separate the platform and the project swarm and then align both towards a common goal in the entrepreneurial plexus. We organize the platform by processes and digitalize it proactively. We eliminate bureaucracy and hierarchies through a swarm of projects. We give the entrepreneurs in the company the freedom to use the platform and mandate the swarm. We believe in a revolutionary and holistic target picture and a flexible roadmap for implementation.

The
complete
study

THE
AUTHORS

Stern Stewart & Co. is the independent strategy boutique. With a truly entrepreneurial team of independent thinking personalities.
The center of gravity of an open universe of cutting edge know-how. Advising clients in strategy, transaction, performance and
transformation.

Konstantin Wrona

Konstantin integrates a genuine interest in enhancing businesses with a goal-oriented and focused character. He plays these strengths not just when advising on group center structures, complexity reduction, process design or functional optimization. But also when driving the social business ACES in Ghana or competing in tennis and golf on an advanced level. Typically he is the one ensuring the proper methodology and bringing up the innovative ideas, which corresponds to his recent focus on improving digitalization and agility in organizations.

More about minds

Stefan Heppelmann

Stefan is an independent thinker and senior advisor mostly in transformation/ turnaround situations. Combining deep financial know-how as a CFA charterholder with two decades of consulting experience he often has the one inspirational idea. Discussing key themes of the executive agenda, he shows his entrepreneurial mindset with great personal involvement. Stefan is a true entrepreneur outside the office as well, managing his own agricultural venture in France and supporting Wend Puiré, an apiculture non-profit organization in Burkina Faso.

More about minds

Gerhard Nenning

Gerhard focuses on strategy development, typically followed by organizational transformation. His creative and rigorously independent thinking has impacted strategic decisions in growing as well as contracting businesses. Often going against the grain, Gerhard has devised ambitious growth strategies outside of the client's initial comfort zone. Conversely, he has helped prevent multi-billion investments which in hind-sight would have been crippling. In his capacity as the Executive Director of the Stern Stewart Institute, Gerhard shapes the Institute's agenda of dialogue with leaders in business, politics, and science.

More about minds

Markus Pertl

Markus is friend and trusted advisor to leaders of blue chip companies and large family-owned businesses. He has established Stern Stewart & Co in its current form and still leads its daily operations. With a desire to connect people and argue about controversial ideas he has founded the Stern Stewart Institute. To create impact beyond the business world, Markus is personally engaged in several philanthropic initiatives in Africa, such as the Lycee Schorge in Burkina Faso.

More about minds