The key to the long-term success of an organization has changed from sustainable competitive advantage to continuous self-renewal. This article details the process of corporate renewal and revitalization. The key to making the process of corporate renewal work is a carefully planned sequence of steps, which would lead to revitalization. The framework of sequential steps includes reorganizing, realignment and rejuvenation. Reorganizing is breaking down the firm into small units in which, individual initiative and discipline can be instilled.

Realignment is cohesiveness of cross-business units relationships, and providing the necessary support, stretch and trust for them to work effectively together.

Rejuvenation is ensuring continuous learning across the entire organization.

The model is illustrated using detailed examples from Kao Corporation of Japan.

There are ample examples in the corporate field in which many organizations have tried to transform themselves through revitalization and self-renewal. Yet, for every successful corporate transformation, there is an equal story of a prominent failure.

What accounts for the success of some corporations and the failure of so many others? In observing, how the successful corporate transformation processes have differed from those that struggled or failed outright, it is observed that first successful transformation processes almost always followed a carefully phased approach that focused on developing particular organizational capabilities in an appropriate sequence. Second, the managers of the successful companies recognized that transformation is as much a function of the individual's behaviors as it is of the strategies, structures and systems that top management introduces. As a result, rather than becoming preoccupied with downsizing and re-engineering programs, they focused much attention on the changes required to fundamentally reshape the company's cultural context.

A study of the failure of corporate transformation efforts reveals that companies that failed tried to change too much, rather than change too little. Faced with the extraordinary demands of their highly competitive, rapidly changing, operating environments, managers have eagerly embraced the flood of prescriptive advice that consultants and academics have offered as solutions, typically in the random sequence of a supply-driven market for management fads. In many companies, the frontline managers were bewildered when faced with multiple, inconsistent priorities. In contrast, companies that were most successful in transforming themselves into more flexible, responsive organizations pursued a much simpler, more focused sequence of actions.

HRM Review Magazine, Behavioral Framework, Corporate Transformation, Realignment Methodologies, Organizational Rejuvenation, Transformational Change Processes, Organizational Transformation, Organizational Collaboration, Corporate Culture, Strategic Alignment, Organizational Regeneration.