Shared Services: Mining for Corporate Gold [Hardcover]

Barbara. Quinn (Author), Robert. Cooke (Author), Andrew. Kris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 2000

"This book is required reading for executives in charge of or part of a corporate staff function. Well written in a way that engages the reader to rethink what and how we deliver value as staff groups." Gordon D. Shank, Chief Marketing Officer, Levi Strauss & Company "There really is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and this book is it. It should be required reading for any company contemplating shared services and for those that already have them who are looking for the next steps." H. Glen Walker, Vice President Finance and CFO for Europe, MEA and Asia, Whirlpool Corporation "Provides a thoughtful analysis of the benefits of a consolidated service structure. Executives and managers responsible for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of core functions will find the book particularly useful." John E. Cleghorn, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Royal Bank of Canada The challenge of reducing costs and increasing efficiency is one that faces large and small companies alike. As competition intensifies in every market, it's not surprising that organizations should be seeking new ways of reducing overheads and improving the efficiency of their internal units. Organizations can either hack out inefficient staff group bureaucracies and hand them over to eager consulting outsource suppliers or adopt the only new creative business strategy to come along in the last fifty years: shared services. "Finally a truly insightful and easy-to-understand reference on how to build and manage shared services the right way...Should be on the 'must read list' for any executive considering implementing shared services or needing a different approach to get the most from supporting services." Dennis Wymore, Manager Shared Services Consulting, Shell Services International, Inc. "Quinn, Cooke and Kris have combined their very considerable experience and insight into shared services with the learnings from dozens of top flight companies to produce a first class guide to setting up solid customer driven shared services operations which produce real 'gold ' in the bottom line. This book is a must for any manager trying to establish or improve shared services operations." Dr Richard D.Hays, author of Internal Service Excellence: a Guide to Building World Class Internal Service Excellence Shared Services enables companies to retain internal control of core functions while still maximizing on cost efficiencies. The concept is simple: bring together functions that are frequently duplicated across divisions, subsidiaries or operating units and offer these services more efficiently and at a lower cost, through a shared services centre. Shared Services: Mining for Corporate Gold provides an understanding of what shared services really is. It outlines how to assess its viability for your organization and how to proceed with planning and implementing it. Providing in depth coverage from the initial size- up, assessing outsourcing possibilities, establishing the infrastructure and shifting the culture, it is the definitive guide to shared services. "Shared services offer the potential to transform the competitiveness of European Enterprises in the coming decade. This empirically-based study outlines important lessons from leading-edge companies and provides busy executives -- in both the public and private sectors -- with a checklist for action. " Andrew Tank, Executive Director, The Conference Board Europe "The shared services concept is an idea whose time has come. This book is essential reading for anyone trying to put the concept into practice. " Peter Moller, Partner in charge of European shared services, Arthur Andersen "The Michelin guide of

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Shared Services enables companies to retain internal control of core functions while still maximizing on cost efficiencies. The concept is simple: bring together functions that are frequently duplicated across division, subsidiaries or operating units and offer these services more efficiently and at a lower cost, through a shared services centre.

Shared Services: Mining for Corporate Gold provides an understanding of what shared services really is. It outlines how to assess its viability for your organization and how to proceed with planning and implementing it. Providing in depth coverage from the initial size-up, assessing outsourcing possibilities, establishing the infrastructure and shifting the culture, it is the definitive guide to shared services.

The challenge of reducing costs and increasing efficiency is one that faces large and small companies alike. As competition intensifies in every market, it's not surprising that organizations should be seeking new ways of reducing overheads and improving the efficiency of their internal units.

Organizations can either hack out inefficient staff group bureaucracies and hand them over to eager consulting outsource suppliers or adopt the only new creative business strategy to come along in the last fifty years: shared services.

About the Author

BARBARA E. QUINN is one of the founders and managing partner with CAIL Consulting Group, Inc., a company based in Canada with offices and strategic partners in the United States and the United Kingdom. CAIL Consulting Group Inc. specializes in helping internal staff groups position themselves as "supplier of choice." The group has helped numerous organizations design and successfully implement shared services. Barbara is a strong and outspoken advocate for retaining corporate staff groups in-house provided that they operate as a business and are completely client focused. She recently co-authored the immensely popular and much sought after professional journal Adopting and Implementing Shared Services. This work was commissioned by the Certified Management Accountants Society, AICPA, and the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants. Formerly the head of human resources for Levi Strauss and Company Canada, Barbara has a Masters Degree in Education, a Batchelor of Arts Honours Degree and an undergraduate certificate in Psychology. With her extensive shared services expertise, Barbara is a frequently sought-after conference presenter.

ROBERT S. COOKE is one of the founders and a managing partner with CAIL Consulting Group, Inc., which works exclusively with corporate and internal staff groups on improving their effectiveness and profile within an organization. Robert has a reputation for creating provocative dialogue and for being relentless in his challenge for corporate staff functions to become a well-run business. He co-authored the professional journal Adopting and Implementing Shared Services. With extensive international corporate and consulting experience, combined with an MBA and Batchelor of Science Degree, Robert is a much sought-after chairman and conference presenter on the subject of designing and implementing shared services.

ANDREW KRIS is a prominent commentator on the worldwide development of shared services and founder of the Shared Services Forum, the leading news, advice and information website on shared services. A Brussels, Belgium-based partner in Amrop International, Executive Search, Andrew's experience in leading and restructuring business units and internal services in The Dow Chemical Company is the foundation for his work as an international headhunter and shared services expert. Passionate about eliminating corporate bureaucracies and the liberating impact of internal enterprise, Andrew is a challenging and sought-after speaker in corporate boardrooms and at international conferences.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Financial Times Prentice Hall (May 16, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0273644556
• ISBN-13: 978-0273644552
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,092,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving Internal Services to a Market Economy, September 20, 2001

By 

Rodrigo Flores (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shared Services: Mining for Corporate Gold (Hardcover)

Moving Internal Services from Soviet-Style Monopoly to a Market System

This book is an excellent introduction to the implementation of shared services by people with lots of pragmatic experience. It's required reading at my company.

If you are just starting out, it provides a good map of what shared services are and how to go about implementing. If you have done it, it might remind you of the original vision.

Also, the book is well written, making it easy and enjoyable to read--which means that I actually read it instead of leaving it on the table hoping for osmosis to kick in.

As someone involved the creation of software to automate and support shared services at Newscale, I found the focus on "running Shared Services as business" (and all that implies) the clearest difference between the new way and the old way.

This means, frankly, that while cutting costs is the primary driver for shared services, the path has to take account five elements that are non-obvious today: 1) how do I plan and execute my service workflows, 2) how do I enable my internal customers to procure my offers and those of outsourcers? 3) how do I manage the business relationship with the business units, 4)how do I charge for services and manage the Shared Services business unit), 5) how do I design and create my service "products"?

In other words, run a business that produces value for customers at a profit -- just like a market economy. Which sounds obvious and simple, but it's not. Just ask the Russians...or the dotcoms.