Strategy

The need for orientation increases with rising uncertainty about the development of markets, customer needs or social trends. One way to create this orientation is to develop and implement a strategy. It provides the management, the employees, and all external stakeholders with a binding organisational orientation for the coming years.

Whereas previously a strategy could be extrapolated from the past, today it often requires fundamental discussions of principles, sometimes also reliable analyses and possibly various strategy drafts that allow for different options or scenarios for future development.

The (formulated) strategy embodies the firm’s or the organisational unit’s actions and behaviour through which it ensures its survival and expansion within its environment. It shows how what has been achieved and proven is secured and where new things need to be acquired or developed.

Methodologically, there is a wide spectrum for strategy development and implementation. Sometimes a swot analysis and sufficient space for joint reflection serve. In other settings with high complexity and a volatile environment, more differentiated approaches are needed. Keywords here are flexible time horizons, bottom-up, OKR, integration in circle organisations and agile structures.

We support companies and organisations in finding their conscious strategic direction.

We take on the following tasks on behalf of our clients:

• advice on drawing up and implementing strategic development processes,
• support for devising organisational and environmental analyses,
• facilitating strategy workshops,
• project support for the implementation of the strategy and any follow-up tasks.

Andreas Kurt

onion: process & innovation

I originally studied behavioural biology and spent several years observing the hierarchical behaviour of wild chimpanzees in the West African rain forest, which in one way or another proved to be an excellent basis for my later career, for daily management tasks and present-day consultancy activities. Apart from a broad range of insights, I have brought with me an inner peacefulness and the ability to continually see things afresh and to delight in my surroundings.

For about 20 years I have been accompanying companies, organisations, leaders, and teams on their way to a sustainable future. This includes developing and implementing strategies, reviewing and digitalising processes and adjusting structures. For the latter, I particularly focus on guidance on new organisational forms (holacracy, circle models).

I offer a wealth of experience in the development of solutions around process and innovation management. I help companies, organisations, executives, and teams to find solutions in the field of process and innovation management. For me it is important that the solutions that are chosen are in line with the client’s strategy and can be firmly embedded in corporate culture, so that the processes are adopted in full, and the innovations develop in a sustainable way.

Professional background

• Independent consultant since 2004, director of Tarana GmbH, Fislisbach
• Joined onion: Consultancy Network in 2008
• Member of the senior executive and Head of Patents and Design at the Federal Institute for Intellectual Property, pioneer of new public management and successful advocate of good governance in the federal administration (1999–2004)
• Head of Marketing at the Federal Institute for Intellectual Property (1996–1999)
• Involvement in and manager of various development cooperation projects and in national park management in African countries

Educational background

• CAS for board members, Rochester-Bern
• Courses in industrial economics, political economics and intellectual property rights
• M.Sc. in biology, University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, specialisations: behavioural biology and ecology

Clientèle

• Public sector and closely linked organisations
• Innovative companies, in particular in the technical field
• Associations and societies, in particular in the fields of environment and healthcare
• Universities, academies and research institutions

Miscellaneous information

• Board memberships since 2004
• Publications: Agile Methoden in der Verwaltung. Ja, das geht! November 2020: www.agile-verwaltung.org
• Projects published in Public Management by Norbert Thom (2008) and Fallbeispiele zur Betriebswirtschaft (Case Studies in Industrial Economics) by Jean-Paul Thommen (2008)
• For further information, see also www.tarana.ch