At Accendor, there are a number of different research areas we follow on a daily basis. Unlike other research firms, we work collectively on these, and discuss their implications regularly amongst each other. We recognize that it is insufficient to simply look at one domain on its own: if you disagree, consider 2008’s rapid run-up in the price of energy, followed by its immediate collapse. Understanding how much of this was a supply and demand imbalance, how much was spill-over from the machinations of the financial sector (speculation on futures contracts, for instance) and how much a feeding frenzy from expectation needed the merger of multiple disciplines.

1. Collaboration & Peer-Based Organizational Models: Building on a decade of original work by Accendor’s Jon Husband (Wirearchy), Accendor looks at collaboration issues — including social media and its impact on businesses — through the prism of organizational change to integrate these into a residual hierarchical management culture. We also concern ourselves with questions of managerial effectiveness, and maximizing departmental/team output.
   
   

2. Economics and Currencies: Accendor’s clients operate in multiple markets; we follow world, regional and national economies and apply this to potential costs they will incur and the likelihood of market success in those areas. We also follow currency movements and the underlying reasons for these, as this is an area of deep fragility in the world economy.
   
   

3. Energy: Accendor follows production numbers for oil and gas, including questions of quality (a refinery built for light sweet crude, for instance, isn’t an important source of refined products when available feed stocks are mostly heavy oils). We look at alternative energy, quality of the power grid, etc. to determine where and when energy availability and cost might affect business strategy and location performance.
   
   

4. Globalization Effects: Accendor pays close attention to issues of offshore availability & local market distress, shipping issues, border security issues, and other factors that affect decisions about sources of supply, manufacturing and distribution. We look at the various scenarios companies may choose to follow to optimize the market in various ways beyond “mass markets”. We also look at issues of operating in disruptions and disasters.
   
   

5. Governance: We concern ourselves with policy in governance, both at the Board of Directors level and for cross-functional purposes within organizations (inter-business unit, inter-regional or spanning functions such as technology). We look at ways to do “governance light”: effective mechanisms that don’t overburden an organization, and help teach functional managers to emerge as general managers.
   
   

6. Human Resources: Accendor is interested in the ways existing human resources practices inhibit the evolution and optimization of the human element in work. These include the evolution of job design, of pay grading systems, of compensation methods and of evaluation of contribution to the organization. Throughout, our interest is in improving managers as people managers rather than in the creation of “systems” managers are fitted into.
   
   

7. IT Management: Accendor follows the methods associated with managing an organization’s technology investment well. We understand and work on organization issues — and apply Cognitive Edge’s Cynefin model to decomposing functions, rather than the functional or process models currently in use — and have a focus on effective corporate measurement and control. (We use our partners to drill down into IT’s Architecture, Development/Solutions and Systems Integration relationships; we have an Infrastructure and Planning capability of our own.)
   
   

8. Marketing Strategy: Accendor follows the latest uses (and abuses) of social media and collaboration tools to aid in marketing and customer retention/acquisition. We concern ourselves with the structure of management decision making in this area: how can different campaigns, in different markets, for different products/services, be compared and a portfolio of marketing investments be evaluated?
   
   

9. Partnering: Accendor is interested in the various forms partnerships between businesses take, from manufacturing/design/subcontracting agreements, to outsourcing of processes and functions, to licensing and distribution of product. We are concerned to find and examine situations where cross-cultural factors come into play, and where approaches have been taken to minimize reliance on a legalistic appeal to contracts, and to judge long-term benefits achieved by dispute anticipation and avoidance.
   
   

Accendor then applies these fields, via its Managing in Turbulent Times model (which is designed to deal with fragmentary and incomplete data) to deliver a comprehensive approach taking business strategy, financial needs, measurement schemes, competence and talent and sunk investment inhibitors into account in advising its clients.