Six Building Blocks for Business Success

In large business entities there are several key points to consider in order to best cultivate a prosperous business model. We first must work to understand the dynamics of the enterprise (processes and characteristics) by examining those from an internal and external perspective. For example, understanding and aligning to your organizational vision, mission, leadership, strategies, systems, and culture is critical for success. In addition, a disciplined methodology and understanding of key business drivers are imperative.

From a strategic perspective, we know that two of the major business drivers today are “globalization” and “technology convergence.” Additionally, tactical application drivers are operational issues that must be effectively managed to support the strategy. Kevin Cope (2012) in his book, Seeing the Big Picture, provides some insight into key operational drivers. These include the basics of cash, profits, growth, asset utilization, and people – in effect, the discipline of resource allocation governance. Success is based on understanding the dynamics associated with each of these drivers and how to apply integration and practical application techniques to achieve both short and long term success. “Your ability to understand these relationships and affect these drivers through your decisions and actions can increase your own ability to contribute to the long term profitability and growth in your company” (Cope, 2012, p.8).

1. Effective Leadership: This component is important to organizational success. Reilly, Minnick and Baack (2012) in their book, The Five Functions of Management, state that “Leading in a business context, consists of all activities undertaken to help people achieve the highest level of performance. Effective leaders influence behaviors in positive ways. Ineffective leaders influence behavior but do not achieve desirable results.”


2. Clear Vision: This idea is where the organization desires to be over time. It is a mental picture of a future state and is what the organization would like to achieve over time. Organizations have short and long range plans, and it is the vision that provides guidance and inspiration. Inspiring a shared vision is an important part of effective transformational leadership and organizational success.


3. Mission: This component defines the purpose of the organization. “A mission statement answers three questions about why an organization exists – WHAT it does, WHO it does it for; and HOW it does what it does” (Evans, 2010). An effective mission statement will also include core values, and it helps to shape and develop organizational culture.


4. Strategies: This component is basically how the organization will proceed. It involves the selection of goals to be pursued and what core strategies and tactics will be used to accomplish those goals - the actions the organization will take.


5. Resource Allocation: This item is key to success in our professional as well as our personal lives. Resource allocation is the most important thing we do. In this context, we define resources as people, time, money, and assets — and of course the basic definition of a project is to have a goal with a start and end date. We understand 100 percent efficiency is unachievable and we all make mistakes, but if we apply discipline to whatever we engage in, our chances of success are exponentially better. The analogy Dr. Ray Powers often uses in lectures is that of a baseball player. A good player may have a 200+ batting average (hits 2 out of every 10 times at bat). A very good player might have a 300+ average. A legendary player may be 400+. The difference is perhaps just a single additional hit in every 10 times at bat — not much perhaps, but think of the difference it makes in his or her career. Hence if we apply a disciplined methodology to our goals and objectives and that creates just slightly better performance, our chances of being successful are greatly enhanced.


6. A Disciplined Methodology: This application of a set of principles used in the management and decision-making process within organizations is the last key building block for success. This component should include the use of business models (e.g. cost/benefit analysis; risk analysis; opportunity cost; value proposition modeling, etc.), along with the use of an effective resource allocation tool (e.g. a project management framework or similar system that will cross-functionally integrate all resources, demands, and outcomes).

Remember, today’s organizations are fluid and continually evolving based on situational nuances. They are in a state of continuous change in order to better manage resources (people, time, money, and assets), and change is perhaps the only constant.

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Written by Dr. Ray Powers and Bill Davis.

Six Building Blocks for Business Success

Puerto Rico upholds statehood demand in contentious vote

Puerto Rico’s governor is vowing to make the U.S. territory the 51st state after statehood won in a non-binding referendum hit by a boycott and low turnout that raised questions about the vote’s legitimacy.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello told a couple hundred supporters waving U.S. flags late Sunday that he will soon create a commission to appoint two senators and five representatives to demand statehood from the U.S. Congress, which has to approve any changes to the island’s political status.

“The United States of America will have to obey the will of our people!” Rossello yelled to a crowd clutching U.S. flags and dancing to a tropical jingle that promoted statehood.

But experts say it is highly unlikely a Republican-controlled Congress would acknowledge Sunday’s results, let alone accept them because Puerto Rico tends to favor Democrats.

The referendum has sparked dozens of memes that turned viral, including some showing the tropical island covered in snow.

More than half a million people voted for statehood during Sunday’s referendum, followed by nearly 7,800 votes for free association/independence and more than 6,800 votes for the current territorial status. Voter turnout was just 23 percent.

It was the lowest level of participation in any election in Puerto Rico since 1967, noted Carlos Vargas Ramos, an associate with the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in New York. He told The Associated Press that even among voters who supported statehood, turnout was lower this year compared with the previous referendum in 2012.

“Supporters of statehood did not seem enthusiastic about this plebiscite as they were five years ago,” he said.

Rossello brushed aside those concerns, noting that the referendum was a democratic process in which the majority prevailed as he questioned why more people did not come out to defend alternatives to statehood. He also said that participation rates varied from 7 percent to 35 percent for states including Wisconsin and Hawaii when they were ratified as states.

Three of Puerto Rico’s political parties including the main opposition party had called on their supporters to boycott the referendum, which they labeled a failure.

Former Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, who did not seek re-election last year and whose party supports the status quo, rejected Sunday’s results.

“Whoever claims that statehood triumphed is being intellectually dishonest,” he said. “The boycott defeated statehood.”

The referendum coincided with the 100th anniversary of the United States granting U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans, though they are barred from voting in presidential elections and have only one congressional representative with limited voting powers.

Many believe the island’s territorial status has contributed to its economic crisis, largely caused by decades of heavy borrowing and the elimination of federal tax incentives.

Puerto Rico is exempt from the U.S. federal income tax, but it still pays Social Security and Medicare and local taxes and receives less federal funding than U.S. states.

“We have been a colony for 500 years, and we have had U.S. citizenship for 100 years, but it’s been a second class one,” Rossello said.

Nearly half a million Puerto Ricans have fled to the U.S. mainland to escape the island’s 10-year economic recession and 12 percent unemployment rate.

Those who remain behind have faced new taxes and higher utility bills on an island where food is 22 percent more expensive than the U.S. mainland and public services are 64 percent more expensive.

Jose Rosa, a 62-year-old retired corrections officer, said the island’s situation is the reason he voted for the first time in such a referendum, the fifth on Puerto Rico’s status.

“We need a change in the way we’re living,” he said. “You can see the crisis.”

No clear majority emerged in the first three referendums on status, with voters almost evenly divided between statehood and the status quo. During the last referendum in 2012, 54 percent said they wanted a status change. Sixty-one percent who answered a second question said they favored statehood, but nearly half a million voters left that question blank, leading many to claim the results weren’t legitimate.

The results of the newest referendum could lead to similar claims, Vargas said.

“Whether those results are legitimate or not depends on the audience that may be receiving (them),” he said. “If the advocates for statehood for Puerto Rico want to address the results to the U.S. Congress...then the results may appear weak, particularly when five years ago 834,000 voters supported statehood for the island. If the audience is the electorate in Puerto Rico, well, they spoke louder by their overwhelming abstention.”

Danica Coto on Twitter: www.twitter.com/danicacoto

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

By Danica Coto

Governor Ricardo Rossello, right, and Congresswoman representing Puerto Rico Jennifer Gonzalez celebrate the results of a referendum on the status of the island, at the New Progressive Party headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sunday, June 11, 2017. The governor announced that the U.S. territory overwhelmingly chose statehood on Sunday in a non-binding referendum held amid a deep economic crisis that has sparked an exodus of islanders to the U.S. mainland. Voter turnout was just 23 percent. (Carlos Giusti/Associated Press)
Puerto Rico upholds statehood demand in contentious vote

Puerto Rico Declared Zika Epidemic Over, But Experts Say That’s Premature

Puerto Rico declared Monday that its 2016 Zika outbreak had ended, citing falling virus transmissions. Since April, 10 Zika cases have been reported in a four-week period, compared with 8,000 cases in a four-week period during the epidemic’s peak in August 2016.

But health experts caution that reduced transmissions don’t necessarily indicate the virus is no longer a threat. They point out that it’s not yet peak mosquito season and a more apt comparison can be made in August.

There’s also concern about the accuracy of Puerto Rico’s surveillance system, which led the U.S. to stop reporting Puerto Rico’s Zika numbers last fall.

“It is important that we remain vigilant in preventing, detecting, and responding to new cases and in supporting families already affected by Zika,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.

The CDC travel notice for Puerto Rico remains in effect, and the agency recommends that women who are pregnant or trying to conceive avoid traveling to Puerto Rico, and that men who have traveled to Puerto Rico use condoms afterward.

“You don’t want people to become complacent,” Dr. Anna Durbin, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told HuffPost. 

“There are not as many cases, but Zika is still an important problem, because we’re still seeing transmission.”

Zika is a critical concern for pregnant women, because it’s linked to the severe birth defect microcephaly, which can cause developmental disabilities and babies being born with smaller-than-average heads. 

“We expect to see babies born in 2017 with Zika virus-related congenital birth defects, and we must ensure they receive the best care possible,” the CDC statement read.

According to the Puerto Rican Health Department, the territory has had 3,678 pregnant women infected with Zika virus and 35 reported cases of Zika-related birth defects. In comparison, the United States reported 1,883 Zika-affected pregnancies and 72 babies born with Zika-related birth defects.

There’s been some controversy about whether Puerto Rico has been underreporting Zika-related birth defects, which fall far short of predictions. A 2016 JAMA Pediatrics study estimated that Puerto Rico would see between 110 and 290 Zika-related microcephaly cases by mid-2017.

The CDC is working with Puerto Rico to standardize its reporting.

Then there’s the question of whether the Puerto Rican Health Department’s announcement helps or hurts citizens. Officials may want to reassure the population and jump-start tourism, but they also need to address the ongoing risk to citizens and travelers. 

“The message should be, yes, it looks as though the epidemic is waning, but you still need to protect yourself,” Durbin said. “Even if the risk could be much smaller, the consequences could be devastating.”

Durbin also noted that Puerto Rico is moving into its summer season, when mosquitos are most active. “I think they are also expecting it to pick up again,” she said.

By Erin Schumaker
Puerto Rico Declared Zika Epidemic Over, But Experts Say That’s Premature

Puerto Rico declares Zika epidemic to be over

Puerto Rico’s Zika epidemic has ended, officials said Monday, noting substantially fewer new cases this spring.

Only 10 cases have been reported in each four-week period since April, a dramatic decrease from the more than 8,000 cases reported in a four-week period at the peak of the epidemic last August, according to a health ministry statement.

The island has been the part of the United States hardest hit by the mosquito-borne virus, with authorities counting more than 40,000 confirmed cases of Zika infection as of May 20, including 3,678 pregnant women. There have been 35 cases of Zika-related birth defects.

Health officials and experts have expressed concern about underreporting of birth defects in Puerto Rico. In the continental United States, with 1,579 Zika-infected pregnant women, there have been 80 pregnancy losses or babies born with birth defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the Puerto Rico ministry’s statement, CDC acting director Anne Schuchat said officials “cannot let our guard down.” The agency will continue to focus on protecting pregnant women and to work closely with local health authorities to support comprehensive Zika surveillance and prevention efforts, she said.

Cemeteries like this one in San Juan are perfect breeding grounds for the mosquito that can carry dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses. (Allison Shelley for The Washington Post)
By Lena H. Sun
Puerto Rico declares Zika epidemic to be over