Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management

If where an organization allocates its resources determines its strategy, why is it that so few companies actively manage the resource allocation process? "Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management: Aligning Investment Proposals with Organizational Strategy" goes beyond platitudes about why you should use corporate portfolio management (CPM) by offering a practical methodology to bring this powerful discipline to your organization. "Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management" takes an expansive view of where CPM can be utilized by demonstrating that it can be used across any business line, product group or functional area, e.g., IT, R&D, innovation, marketing, salesforce, capital expenditure, etc. CPM is appropriate anywhere discretionary investments are being selected and executed. As a result, other terms used to describe portfolio management such as IT portfolio management, enterprise portfolio management, and project portfolio management are all merely subsets or slices of CPM. The book is written by Anand Sanwal, an expert on CPM, who has led American Express' CPM discipline (referred to as American Express Investment Optimization). American Express' CPM efforts are widely recognized as the most extensive, substantial and progressive deployment of CPM across any organization. Sanwal avoids academic theories and consultant jargon to ultimately deliver pragmatic and proven recommendations on how to make CPM a reality. The book features a foreword by Gary Crittenden, former CFO and EVP of American Express, and several case studies from leading financial services, technology, and government organizations utilizing CPM. Additionally, the book has received significant praise from thought leaders at Google, HP, American Express, The CFO Executive Board, Gartner, Accenture Marketing Sciences, The Wharton School of Business and many others.

About the Web Site xiii Foreword xv Preface xvii Acknowledgments xxv Chapter 1 Overview of Corporate Portfolio Management 1 Why Is CPM Important? 3 Framework for CPM Success 4 What Should Be Considered an Investment? 11 Mismanaging Your Corporate Investment Portfolio: The Seven (and a Half) Deadly Sins 15 Chapter 2 Bringing CPM to Your Organization 29 Four-Step Roadmap for CPM Success 30 Techniques and Tools to Optimize Your Corporate Portfolio 79 Chapter 3 Applying CPM to Functional Areas within the Organization 91 Information Technology 91 Innovation/Research and Development 95 Marketing/Advertising and Promotion 101 Capital Budgeting and Capital Expenditure 104 Sales Force 108 Chapter 4 Case Studies 111 American Express 114 TransUnion 134 Hewlett-Packard 139 Cisco Systems 147 State of Oregon Department of Human Services 159 Appendix Useful Tools, Frameworks, and Practices to Enable CPM 171 Personnel Survey: Understanding Current Company Practices and Attitudes Toward CPM 171 HP’s Strategic Financial Analysis Curriculum Outline 180 Useful Information (Diagrams, Exhibits, and Text) for Building Your CPM Business Case 183 Index 187