Introduction

Investors want to see sustainable, significant, improvement in measurable terms. To achieve such improvement, the organization must have a strategy that insulates it from huge swings when there are economic downturns or major new competitors. To accomplish such a strategy, an organization must do more than meet its goals in a given time period.

All of the ideas and the new frame of reference that we have described in previous chapters are prerequisites to a good, long-term strategy. But they may not be enough to sustain your organization for the next fifteen years. The problem is that a good strategy implies not just one thing, it implies three different things that are often in conflict with each other.

• Make money now and in the future.

• Provide satisfaction to the market, now and in the future. (By the market, Goldratt means more than just customers and prospects. He also includes suppliers, the communities you operate in, the environment, etc.)

• Provide a secure and satisfying environment for employees, now and in the future.

It makes no difference which of the three conditions you call your goal and which you call necessary conditions, the strategy will be identical. Companies may claim that their goal is to satisfy their customers, now and in the future. That is OK, as long as they recognize that making money and satisfying employees are necessary conditions to sustain customer satisfaction. Or, a labor union could say...