Organisations can be described in a number of ways including being customer or business centric. These two qualities are defined below:
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A customer centric organization focuses on meeting customer’s needs. Such an organisation will aim to have strong marketing and research functions[1]. A business centric organization focuses on maximising value for shareholders and profitability and will focus on operations and sales.[1] |
Organisations such as Microsoft and Apple are often presented as businesses that thrive wholly on innovation, thus are deeply customer centric. On the other hand, Public organisations are presented as business centric aiming to deliver quality and value to the community.
Business and customer centricity are often presented in terms of either/or; that is, an organisation is one or the other. If the focus and strengths of an organisation lie in customer centricity their survival may prove very difficult. They may excel at marking and sales, but this is not enough. If the organisation is to preserve profitability, it must have a level of operational excellence underpinning sales. Also needed is business centricity, for example, fulfilling orders in the most efficient way is a key success factor. Without effective fulfilment, customer needs will not be met due to poor quality, long delivery times etc. Conversely, an organisation which has operational excellence will not last long if they don’t have the right products or services to sell.
This separation of business and customer centricity is countenanced by the many articles and books that specifically address each topic; a quick Google search will reveal that they tend to be addressed as completely separate topics. In the real world of management practice, the two should not be divided. They may be separated in terms of knowledge, tools and techniques relating to each topic. Both business and customer centricity have their own theoretical foundations, tools and techniques. Considering them as separate issues may be necessary for the practical delivery of improvements using relevant tools and techniques. However, management must keep an aggregate perspective, allowing the organisation to maintain balanced functional improvement. Management must strive to achieve a balance in overall functioning for the organisation to remain effective; the company must be both customer and business centric. Without such a balance, the organisations viability may be threatened.
To maintain continuous improvement an organisation may cycle through business and customer centric tools and techniques; this will allow the most useful approaches and ideas to be adopted. Such development activities should be undertaken within an overarching framework where business and customer centricity are considered together.
1. http://www.linkedin.com/answers/management/organizational-development/MGM_ODV/664471-30261347
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