Harvard Business Publishing

Cisco have learned a valuable lesson. I mean creating a buffer zone between the core DNA and the acquired companies. The best practices should be those that integrate local practices and cultures - otherwise you will create a culture of resentment and alienation. It is best to send a team to the smaller company to find out what makes them work best within their own terms, otherwise it is like those anthropologists such as Bronislaw Malinowski and Margaret Mead who described phenomena with preconceived ideas of what they wanted to see - later it was payback time when the subjects of their research got to tell other researchers what was going on from their perspective. Force feeding best practices leads to dire consequences later.

I agree with Scott's views. A very relevant example from the developing economy such as India is Tata Group. This over hundred years old group has been a major industry group based in India with business interests ranging from Steel, Automibile, Information Technology, Hospitality, Telecom, Power, FMCG and Retail has gradually upped its ante inthe Global M&A scenario. In all the cases they have adopted stratgies according to the sitution. For example when they bought over Tetley, they left the company in its original state and its only after many years there seems to be some integration move. The Corus acquisition too is following the same foot steps. Mind you in most of these acquistions, the acquired company is much bigger than the acquirer. even then Tata's have been successful. The reasons as I see them are -
1. Let the senior management team from the acquired company continue with day-to-day operation and minimal interference from Tata's.
2. No aggressive moves such as shwoing the doors for existing employees.
3. No relocation of manufacturing units.
4. Form a strategic coordination group with key members from both the companies on board.

Even Oracle has followed a less aggressive poilcy when it comes to their M&A policies. We ca see a stark difference right from PeopleSOft to Siebel to Hyperion to i-flex solutions. The difference is stark specially with its approach towards i-flx solutions. They have carved out a financial services vertical and are trying to integrate the company in this vertical with independent management reporting to Oracle.

Best practice has become one of the most overused terms in business. In reality there are too many “better practices” out there masquerading as “best practices.” Simply put, a best practice must:
• Effect a measurable change in performance
• Apply to a broad spectrum of organizations
• Be proven in practice
• Exploit proven technologies
• Ensure an acceptable level of control and risk management
• Match the skills and capabilities of the organization

When are "Best Practices" not Best Practices? As soon as that label is pasted on them. When solving new problems, we tend to look at what has worked in the past. We should constantly be striving to create "Next Practices." We can read about and examine what has worked in the past as a guideline, but new ones should constantly be developed.

When Are "Best Practices" Not Best Practices?
Scott
I think you have one excellent point. The theory is that the manager should find a successful company, find out what practices have made them successful, mimic those practices, and expect success.
Blindly worshiping at the altar of best practices is dangerous. It is like a fake coin that passes many hands only to be found out later.

I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla MBA PhD
P.O.Box 6044
Dar-Es-Salaam
Tanzania
East Africa

Best practice is not just a mimic, here we need to use our commonsence, as the author said we need to identify the market & the situation and once if they are similar then we can mimic the best performer. This is what usually companies do, but i would like to say THE INNOVATION APPROACH is the best thing. Why do you want to mimic some one, try some thing different, use your brain and find out a better solution than best practice. Nothing is 100% perfect, there is always a room for improvement. Best practice will no longer be the best practice if you can come up with a new practical best approach.

Whenever an organization performs extraordinary or there is an autobiography by some very successful CEO, people start finding some 'Eternal Truth' within those success stories.

We all miss the point that any best practice or eternal truth is spontaneous! It is changing every moment... for every country... in every situation. So while knowledge of such practices is important, it is equally important to fine tune it according to times, place and situations.

Scott,
I fully agree with you, but one may not know when "best practices are not best anymore" until there is a fatal error within the copying organization(s).
Hence, the spine of this write-up is for managers to carefully re-evaluate policies and principles before applying them to their organization(s) also, social and environmental factors should be considered among other factors responsible for non-total compliance. However, one may apply practices in phases/partial rather than copying entirely.

Scott, I agree and have been saying much the same in the Talent Acquisition space for some time. The minute an organization wins an award, other recruiting departments scramble to read their list of best practices . . . assuming that copying them will offer the same results (and/or assuming that they'll look good rolling out Google's or MS's recruiting best practices at their own mid-size organization).

Are they using a technology we're not? Buy it! Are they using an employment branding firm we're not? Hire 'em! Are they sending out gift cards to interviewees? Let's get on that asap!

There is only one problem: They're not Google or MS! They don't have the brand in the talent marketplace. Put simply, they don't have the margin for error.

Now, to be fair, the blind rush to the altar of best practices permeates many business functions - in fact, I am one of those people who is 1. a Small Biz owner, and 2. Sat through countless hours of an MBA curriculum. As I sat there, I realized that the things we were learning were more about best practices and equations (i.e. CAPM) that were only relevant if you were on the F500 side of the fence. It was more a course in yesterday's best practices than increasing critical thinking ability.

As such, the cycle perpetuates and the false thinking (of Best Practices) continues to loop . . .

Hello Scott,

Thank you fot this article.

The issue I see here is the fact that companies look at their competitors models and take it as "best practices" as you eluded to and stop thinking whether it would work for them or not.

However, on the other hand if they would have taken this as "generally accepted practices", they would have customized the model to fit their organizational culture and business needs. This notion that they are "best practices" puts the companies into trouble and they try to copy blindly as you mentioned.

Thank you once again on this.

Ali

when are "best practices not best practices"

i agree on your point, that sometimes the best practice may not be a good or the best practice depending on the circumstances and even the culture and structure of the company and its environment. Its good to know and understand first the main core of the business, before adopting changes or mimic the the best practice. The primary objective is/should be- where the company is leading to? if that "best practice" is a big help for growth and sustainability then there's no second thought about it. As we can see with many big companies, they copied some best concepts and practices from other companies and often times developed it, because they believed that it would be more advantageous in terms of business path.

In 2007 Pfizer reached a settlement with Nigerian Government for what was proved to be wrongfulness of business conduct. In one way or the other the clinical trial for a polio vaccine that went wrong could be equated to the best practice that engulfed by its medicore of health intervention at market prices through internationally acclaimed ethos of innovation, social responsibility and research for development in health in underdeveloped communities.

How does one mark an ethical boundary for the genuine corporate social upliftment responsibility and host of the benefiting authority corrupting the very fundamental deliverable of best business practice for both economic and social reasons?