A Key to the Descriptors

The 40 questions in the Archetype Assessment are designed around four market descriptors and four organizational descriptors, which you will recognize from previous chapters.

The four market descriptors are:
1. the availability of resources (e.g., people, capital, and raw materials)
2. the degree of competition
3. the complexity of relevant technology and market characteristics (e.g., how hard it is to meet customer needs and/or use the relevant distribution channels)
4. the stability and predictability of business opportunities (e.g., the likely extent of future competition and/or the economic, political, and regulatory climate)

The four organizational descriptors are:
1. your organization's receptivity to new information about itself, its markets, the relevance of its mission, and how well it is functioning
2. interdependence: how well your organization manages collaboration, especially internally, but also with other organizations that are necessary for delivering its products and/or services to customers
3. market orientation: whether your organization builds its structure and culture primarily around serving customers, or primarily around accommodating its own internal functions
4. strategic focus: whether, in making strategic decisions, your organization relies primarily on external information (customer satisfaction feedback, changes and innovations by competitors, national and regional economic changes, etc.) or on internal information (sales goals, process problems, inventory levels, etc.)

Using your answers to the 40 questions in the assessment, you will rank your own organization in terms of these eight descriptors. Using the eight measurements thus created, you will plot your organization on a grid which represents all the potential market archetypes.

Let me stress once again that there is no right or wrong place for an organization to be on any of these eight scales. Being collaborative, for example, is not inherently superior to being secretive. In certain markets secrecy can be crucial to success, while in others it can be entirely counterproductive. The issue is not what structure, approach, or process is ipso facto superior, but which is best for a particular market environment.

Keep in mind that the purpose of this assessment is to create an accurate picture of your own organization as it actually functions-not an idealized vision of what it could be, or a replication of the sugar-coated image your communications people may publicly disseminate. The more honest you are in your answers, the more accurate and valuable the assessment will be.