Success is more than just survival

You might assume all high-technology businesses must perform at a high level to survive, but not all high-tech businesses are high performing.

High-tech companies must be agile, responsive, forward-thinking and up-to-date, but those characteristics do not describe high performance.

A "high-performance" company outperforms the competition over an extended period and satisfies customers, stockholders and employees.

Many high-tech companies have not existed for "an extended period of time," and many cannot claim to have satisfied all of their constituents. For example, Microsoft Corp. certainly has outperformed the competition, but many customers - key constituents - are not satisfied. The federal government clearly is not satisfied with Microsoft.

Is that enough to determine whether a company is high performing? Small businesses and entrepreneurs first must determine how to measure high performance. Successful organizations should measure customer satisfaction. Most organizations monitor investor/ stockholder satisfaction and many measure employee satisfaction.

Sales, profitability, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and investor satisfaction are good measures of competitive performance.

Survival over an extended period in a fluid marketplace is another measure of success. Traditionally, surviving five or more years has been viewed as successful.

Companies may survive through mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and alliances - a technology developed by the company may be the only surviving part of the business or may form the core surviving firm.

Most investors hope to see a return on investment over time. Customers want continued product service or support for the life of the product they bought.

A successful business must make sure all stakeholders are satisfied with its product or service, customer service and support, return on investment and employee relationships.

Entrepreneurs and managers often spend so much energy on the day- to-day demands of survival and don't spend enough time satisfying key constituents. Owners and managers worry about hiring and retaining employees, especially in the current tight labor market. They also must strive for increased market share and ensure the business has sufficient capital. However, most owners and managers don't spend enough time on pulling the entire package together.

Organizational structure is the key contributor to a high- performance organization. No matter how well organized a company may be, a poor product or service will hurt the organization's performance.

No single organizational design works for all companies - for some organizations, a hierarchy works best; for others, a team-based structure fits. The best performing organization is whatever produces high-quality products or services to satisfy customer, stockholders and stakeholders.

All high-performing organizations have a few characteristics in common: a flat, empowering structure; clear goals; clear roles and boundaries; multidirectional communication; unified commitment; supportive context; on-going training; and an emphasis on continuous improvement.

High performance is a goal that is never really achieved. High performance organizations set such high standards that their goals are constantly pushed to a higher level.

- Essica D. Williams, (719) 548-8227, [email protected] The Colorado Institute for Technology Transfer and Implementation helps entrepreneurs turn technology ideas into businesses. Essica Williams is executive director of the institute, which is based at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

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