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Title: What are our Results – Electrolux

Shawn Harden

Southern Wesleyan University

June 30, 2017

What are our results?

According to Peter Drucker, the fourth question that a company should ask is what their results have been after the first three questions. Asking this question enables the company to know whether it is heading in the right direction. This question is therefore meant to help the organization measure its results, using already established criteria. The company may adopt the key performance indicators (KPI), or a balanced scorecard to achieve this. Organizations can cover this question by setting the right objectives. After the results are in, the organization should be able to apply the right tools in interpreting the results. The tools should be balanced so that issues of customer satisfaction, financial performance and operations, as well as social responsibility can be well assessed. The organization therefore avoids using one measure such as financial performance exclusively to measure performance (Drucker, 2008).

Defining results

Electrolux Major Appliances is one of the biggest manufacturers of home appliances. This is defined by the number of units it produces per year, when compared to others. The measurements are however not only based on this measure alone. The organization also considers financial performance to be an important result by which it can answer the question of how it can define its success. The company therefore defines performance as the production of 60 million products in a year, and a profit increase of 5.4% annually (Drucker, 2008).

Defining success

Based on its financial report for the year ending 2016, the company considers itself to be highly successful. It was able to deliver on its two measures used to define success. In addition, it was able to generate as much as 12billion Swedish Kroner. This made it among the biggest companies in the world, with business interests in more than 150 countries. The company has also thought of itself as successful since it has been able to strengthen its position in the market through the acquisition of new businesses, as well as entrance into new markets around the world. This will enable it meet its performance measures more easily (Electrolux, 2016).

What needs to be strengthened – or abandoned

The company has been enjoying strong results in emerging markets. These markets are located mainly in Asia, Latin America and to a lesser extent, in Africa. The company has used this to further enhance its market presence, and become the preeminent force in its industry. Electrolux has similarly been able to strengthen its business in the United States, with acquisition of existing businesses. This means that the company has been able to answer the question of what it needs to strengthen, or abandon. It is instructive to note that the analysis of the company has not disclosed any plans to cut back on any area of its operations as yet (Drucker, 2008; Electrolux, 2016).

Conclusion

Electrolux, by being able to answer this question, is able to go on the next question, which deals with the plan to be employed in achieving the desired results noted above., More importantly though, the company has been able to set the objectives it needs, and then set out to achieve them with overwhelming success. This can be attributed to several factors. Among the most important is its ability to accurately measure performance, and therefore know its next course of action accurately (Drucker, 2008).

References

Drucker, P. (2008). The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Electrolux. (2016). Annual Report - 2015. Stockholm: Electrolux.