Commodity price volatility and the liquidity and credit crises have thrown the world into economic turmoil. In the current climate, having the right operating model can make the difference between just surviving and outperforming your competitors. According to High Performance Business research from Accenture, companies can take one of three approaches to achieve operational excellence.

A natural reaction to an economic downturn is to batten the hatches and ride out the storm. Yet the ability to make smart decisions now may be the key to sustaining high performance or positioning the company to achieve it in the future according to ongoing High Performance Business research conducted by Accenture, the global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company.

By Catherine Bolgar

Daniel R. DiMicco, chairman, president, and CEO, Nucor Corp., doesn’t predict things ahead of time. He follows a business model that focuses on long-term success.

Achieving high performance requires business performance over the long-term, through industry and economic cycles. Companies, such as Nucor, share how they harness the waves of change to create their future rather than predicting their future.

Bruce L. Downey, chairman and CEO, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., uses a risk-management strategy that focuses on the long-term and worries only about the things he can control.

Bruce L. Downey, chairman and CEO, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., analyzes risk by looking at its impact on the survival of his company as well as the prosperity that can be gained by taking the risk.

James E. Rohr, chairman and CEO, The PNC Financial Services Group, shares how risk management is integrated into the corporate culture so that all employees adopt risk management as one of their values.

Risk management is critical in today’s volatile global economy. On any day, a company may need to address political, economic or currency risk. It also needs to secure the business itself—its people, operations and data. Yet, to avoid risk completely means missed opportunity.

Risk management is critical in today’s volatile global economy. On any day, a company may need to address political, economic or currency risk. It also needs to secure the business itself—its people, operations and data. Yet, to avoid risk completely means missed opportunity.

Tom W. Storey, president, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, explains how his company’s brand strategy provides a differentiated guest experience through personalization that is based on technology and market segmentation.

James D. Weddle, managing partner, Edward Jones, and Thomas (Tom) W. Storey, president, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, discuss how corporate culture needs to support the brand to enable employees and partners to engage as an important extension of your brand strategy.

Great companies master the art and science—the logic and magic—of brand management and use a variety of marketing tools to communicate the brand in the market.

Brad H. Anderson, vice chairman and CEO, Best Buy Co., and William D. Green, Chairman and CEO, Accenture, discuss how today’s leadership needs to ensure flexibility exists in their business strategies. They also recommend developing a corporate culture that is open to change.

Accenture Chairman and CEO, William D. Green, believes that creating leadership positions in new developing markets helps in understanding how to be locally responsive.

Brad Anderson, vice president and CEO, Best Buy Co., describes how Best Buy’s corporate culture encourages employees to use insight from customer interactions to develop new growth opportunities for the company.

Accenture Chairman and CEO William G. Green, shares his globalization agenda that includes operating with a business strategy that protects market share and economic value in the changing global business environment.

Globalization has evolved. It now includes developing countries with large and fast-growing populations that may be customers and may also be part of a global workforce. This new multi-polar world, characterized by multiple centers of economic power and business activity, requires a new model to attain business performance.

What divides the winners from the losers in a recession? For many companies operational excellence is the key.

The dynamics of global competition are rapidly moving away from the traditional mix of product exports, reliance on local partners and single-nation headquarters. High performers are adopting a new way of doing business that exploits the power of being simultaneously global and local.