Introduction
A multi-billion-dollar company with top brands in the aerospace, defense and other industries wanted to launch a program on Strategic Partnering for Finance Leaders that would build on the success of a multi-year partnership in the Global Leadership Forum.
Goal of the Relationship
The Wharton School teamed up with the company in 2007 to help its top financial officers become strategic counselors better able to help the CEO chart strategy and execution. Wharton, with its global reputation for working closely with strategic thinkers, also has wide experience managing sensitive and proprietary knowledge.
Business Challenge
New challengers, higher costs, and rapidly advancing, more integrated technologies require industry players to become more technologically and financially competitive. In today’s dynamic aerospace and defense industries, finance executives must evaluate technology and marketing expenditures more closely to achieve strategic goals. They must also position their organizations for increasing internal and external partnering that drives growth.
The Wharton Solution
Wharton finance expert John R. Percival, PhD, teamed with the Wharton Executive Education client services team and a company steering committee to create a customized, one-week program for company finance officers. Key learning components included strategic thinking, profitable growth, partnering/influence, and change. The program’s mix of learning styles included lectures, case studies, group exercises and peer-to-peer workshops.
Impact on the Company
Approximately 100 of the company’s financial officers have completed the program and are now better able to manage risk, plan, and evaluate strategic growth opportunities. They have learned the latest techniques for measuring and allocating resources dedicated to marketing, technology, and intangible assets.
The Continuing Relationship
The company will continue to send financial officers to future Strategic Partnering for Finance Leaders programs. Wharton also is helping the company to develop its next generation of high-performance leaders under the Global Leadership Forum. The program, aimed at helping the world-class company to become a network enterprise, has made the company a recognized corporate leader in executive development.
What Academic Directors Report
“Sometimes finance people can think too narrowly on the effects a potential project may have on expenses in the P&L, as opposed to thinking more positively about its value as an investment,” notes John R. Percival, PhD, academic director. That is particularly true in aerospace and defense, where long product cycles force one “to look a minimum of 20 years down the road while other businesses have trouble projecting out three to five years.” This program helps participants to broaden their view to better understand investment potential, to become more proactive in their strategic thinking, and to communicate their technical knowledge more clearly to others, Percival says.
"It has been a very effective partnership throughout the years as we continue to move and make change and evolve strategies," says Gwen Callas-Miller, executive director of the program. "Wharton has been very responsive, and there is a lot of relationship building between Wharton and key executives in the company."
