• Do you have a jointly developed strategic framework in place with your partner(s)?
• Have you documented your needs based on your business’s strengths and weaknesses and shared them with your partner(s)?
• Do you have a measurement system in place to document and track your partnership’s mutual benefits?
• Are relational expectations documented between you and your partner(s)?
• Do you have a jointly developed partnership agreement in addition

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Subject: Partnerships / Alliances Questions

• Is there a right-size function or process to move offshore? Are 10 employees too few to move? Are 100 employees too many?
• How are functions delineated? Are they portrayed by technology, business process or organization chart?
• How will complexity and risk affect offshore decisions?
• What are the issues to consider in terms of systems interconnectivity?
• What is the lifecycle of the function that is moving

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Subject: Outsourcing / Offshoring Questions

The following are general questions that can be a starting point for an assessment of a potential vendor.

• Does the vendor have a published privacy policy and does it limit data sharing?
• How adequate are the vendor’s physical and electronic controls over data? Proof of controls would include self-certification such as a SAS 70 review or other independent checking.
• Does the vendor have

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Subject: Outsourcing / Offshoring Questions

1. How Deep Should the Relationship Be?
• What is the strategic importance of this process now and in the future?
• How complex is this process?
• How much change do you anticipate in this process over the life of the contract?
• How interdependent is this process with other processes in the firm?
2. How Broad Should the Relationship Be?
• Is the value in this process created through specialized expertise or through technology and repeatable

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Subject: Outsourcing / Offshoring Questions

• Do we pay attention to each stakeholder as an individual?
• Do we respect each person’s views and interests?
• Are we honest?
• Do we keep promises?
• Do we seek to “do good while doing well?”
• Do we create innovative solutions to important, unmet human needs?
• Do we look for validation of ideas in customer and end-user acceptance?
• Do we put the interests of all stakeholders on a par with each other?
• Do we

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Subject: Organization Questions

1. How do your customers view your organization?
2. How do your suppliers view your organization?
3. How do your employees view your organization?
4. Has your organization’s strategy been articulated and communicated?
5. Does this strategy make sense given the current and anticipated external threats and opportunities?
6. Where are the gaps in terms of internal strengths and capabilities?
7. Have the desired outputs of the firm and the level of

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Subject: Organization Questions

• Will it motivate you to join this organization and continue to motivate you once you are there?
• Does it provide a beacon for guiding the kinds of adaptation and change required for continual growth?
• Does it describe a future that is more attractive than the present?
• Will it challenge you?
• Can it serve as the basis to formulate strategy that can be acted on?

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Subject: Mission / Vision / Values

When strategic options and difficult problems arise, leaders ask questions such as:

• Does this align with our mission?
• Is this action in line with our vision?
• Are we adhering to our values?

Source:
The Foundation: Mission, Vision and Values
by Paul B. Thornton
CEO Refresher

Subject: Mission / Vision / Values

• What is the role of our organizations in responding to the need for meaning?
• What, if any, is the social contract between an employer and employee?
• Have we defined the mission of our organizations to include bringing purpose and meaning to those who are fulfilling the mission?
• How do we measure the effectiveness of our organizations?
• Can (should) our organizations become moral communities to help shape

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Subject: Mission / Vision / Values

• To what extent is the organization thinking about its future and about the larger implications of its behavior?
• What are people rewarded, recognized, fired and/or promoted for?

Source:
The decisiondriven organization
by Paul Rogers
Bain & Company

Subject: Organization Questions