Ph.D. David L. Rainey

Acting Dean, Rensselaer at Hartford
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

„Reducing Costs through High-level Program Management“

The Changing Business World

The business world has changed dramatically, yet most strategic leaders and their companies are still struggling with adapting the constructs that were prevalent in the twentieth century. Today, strategic leaders have to focus on solutions, systems, and the whole extended enterprises as well as all of the underlying elements. One of the most important keys to success is to develop, implement, and manage high-level, strategic programs.

High-Level Strategic Programs

High-level strategic programs involve the development, demonstration and management of action plans and initiatives translate the aspirations through significant improvements in processes, products, systems, solutions, operations, and outcomes. From a cost reduction perspective, the paradigm shift is to focus on the big picture and drill down to the core levels at the bottom of the company rather than the traditional approach of starting with the pieces and parts and building upward.

Focus on the System

While cost reduction in the past generally focused on the parts, products, and production or simple methods like outsourcing, the key to success is to develop and implement a holistic scheme for truly reducing costs across the whole enterprise without sub-optimizing any element thereof. Through program management methodologies, strategic leaders and practitioners create the means and mechanisms for their organizations to orchestrate improvements in costs that provide exceptional business value.