What do we mean by business improvement? In general people tend to think about improving parts of a business (e.g. production, sales) or even parts of a business process (e.g. improving new leads generation within sales). This is usually because we are responsible for a small part of the business, so we focus on improving that. Our environment supports that by rewarding us for perceived improvements. Perceived is the key word to me: is it really an improvement that ultimately improves the bottom line? Or is it more like window dressing?
In my view, improving a business should either measurably improve the profit, or the continuity of a company, and preferrably both. Otherwise it’s not an improvement.
So what about improving e.g. working conditions for personnel? To me, the same applies: either it improves profit levels or business continutiy, or it’s not an improvement. Maybe this sounds harsh. However, business continuity for me is also: can a company stay in business for the long run? To me: only when it respects it’s environment, including the people it employs.
