Alongside the idea of less vertical cooperate management structure I believe that another prior industry standard should be viewed from a different angle. For a long time the idea of workers (employees) as representative individuals have been overlooked in order to serve the “overreaching” goal of a business which is to generate profit whatever means necessary. However, taking a step back, is this practice logically sustainable?
But wait, who cares about sustainability? What is it? Well typically it is associated with non-renewable resources, which is a portion of the idea, however I would like to expand this idea into a broader sense. Sustainability from the corporate executive perspective should be viewed as an opportunity to expand the perspective of the given business model to in-cooperate a multitude of otherwise overlooked aspects of the business whilst keeping the end strategy of achieving higher profits (easier said than done). Starting with a business employees. Ensuring your workers work in a relative enjoyable environment improves the productivity of your workers, ensures worker security and boosts the overall mental state of the entirety of the business. As an example, Goldcorp offers their employees with free lunches throughout the work week, a massive expense for the corporation. Thus, according to the goal of achieving maximal profits, this practice MUST follow as illogical. Yet, employees remain at their desks during the hour, of which further work gets done and boosts productivity for the remainder of the day. Allowing more work to get done at increased efficiency.

As remarked in one of my peer’s blogs, where it was found that an organized group with a specific plan preformed at a higher degree of efficiency without one signifying leader, but instead worked together more as a unit to accomplish the set goal. The past few blog posts have remarked upon some of the changing philosophies of how, and why certain business practices are conducted. Leadership is a fundamental trait in many different avenues of life, business included, alongside the ability to articulate your ideas to other peers or co-workers proves invaluable in the cooperate world. However, as shown in the experiment above, the greater the power of one individual to invoke his/her own beliefs leaves creative thought process handicapped. For surrounding employees are more reluctant to challenge the decisions made by this “global” leader and thus less input & shared creativity is able to flourish under these circumstances. Thus, similar to the effects of more horizontal (less steep corporate ladder), the ability to effectively and efficiently communicate ideas in a team bases would enable corporate executives to gain further insight into the effects of their decisions, putting the minds of many – working together.

Link – Increased adaptability in teenage brains can be implemented into becoming a business practice

I find it remarkable in this day and age that the majority of marketing practices deduced through market research still stand to this day. Setting goods at $99.99 instead of $100.00 is such a business practice norm now that we, as consumers, have become so used to it that may believe that it no longer really matters when it comes down to purchasing something at the local grocery store. Yet, that marketing strategy is still in practice today because of its effectiveness on the consumer’s purchasing philosophy.
Personally I find it intriguing to read/hear about a new innovative marketing strategy that a business implemented before anyone else and then the rest of the world catches up and implements the strategy into their business. Architecturally, there is much consideration that goes towards the design of a store and the layout of products in order to capture the interest of their target customers the most. Where even the geometry of a store’s structure can be attuned for a specific customer basis. Market research is an interesting field of study because of its ever changing atmosphere, parameters and must be responsive to the dynamics the market. Yet, although modern and dynamic research is critical to targeting and discovering better ways of optimizing distribution of product, there are still some fundamental core values that remain almost inert as part of human nature.

The classical business model that was a standard across industries in the 20th century are now beginning to be challenged. This idea of a vertical cooperate ladder has left many corporations stagnated, unable to innovate or adjust to changing variables in their respective industries.
However, branding this form of corporate practices as ineffective and outright backwards is misleading, as many companies, fortune 500s included, depend on this vertical chain of command as a fundamental practice of their business. Corporations require leadership, deviation of tasks, roles and heads of departments to run a successful business.
However, for modern start-up companies I believe that these previous notions are becoming a lot looser and different parts of a given business are beginning to integrate more with one another. As more visual representation, this corporate ladder is becoming stumpier and greater equality is shared amongst employees.
In a lot of ways the benefits of this system is sometimes not recognized, and is dependent on a multitude of variables. Industry, identity and age of a company plays key roles in the hierarchical structure of it. However, narrowing the distance between the top and the bottom generates a more efficient, sustainable and dynamic business with multitudes of inputs being generated from all levels of the company: shift from A->B.

Image provided by the bbc