"Beyond Best Practice"

Lynda Gratton and Sumantra Ghoshal

MIT Sloan Management Review

Spring 2005, pp. 49-57

The authors of this article argue that the search for, and utilization of, best-practice processes is important-but not sufficient for superior performance. In addition, a company needs to have its own signature processes-processes that "embody a company's character and signify their idiosyncratic nature...processes that have evolved internally from executives' values and aspirations."

The article explores signature processes at three companies:

• Nokia has a signature modular organizational structure that is re-aligned frequently. The restructurings usually happen over the weekend.
• Royal Bank of Scotland Group holds a signature one hour senior executive team meeting every morning, without a prior agreed-upon agenda.
• BP, as its signature process, requires that business unit heads spend large amounts of time supporting the performance of their peers in other business units. Bonuses are strongly affected by the amount of improvement in the other business unit.

The article notes that these three signature processes are in many ways contrary to the usual notions of "best practice". However, they work because of the unique history and values of each company, and they provide a competitive edge that is very difficult to duplicate.

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