Loyalty: A Lost "Best Practice" In Business
One of the most often espoused strategies in business management is called “best practices.” The hypothesis of “best practices” is if the executives of a company research, understand and then mimic the “best practices” of their most successful competitors, then their own success will be assured and come with less effort. In reality, fealty to the idea of studying and copying the “best practices” of the competition is, for a variety of reasons, often more destructive than constructive. But that does not stop many from pushing the idea as a panacea for management. Some business consulting firms even specialize in the area of “best practices” and offer ready-made templates to standardize business processes. These templates are sold as a map for management to adopt the best practices of other companies and they encompass virtually every process and procedure of the company. The allure of adopting a “best practices” management strategy is obvious, but the efficacy of this approa...