ABSTRACT
FFEA®, Future-Focused Entrepreneurship Assessment, is a system that enables companies and other organizations to investigate to which extent they are “fit for the future.”
FFEA rhymes with “tea”, is based on a management philosophy that describes four perspectives from which companies see themselves and their relations with the outside world. The perspectives, called “diligent,” “targeted,” “systemic,” and “holistic,” together form the basis for an assessment instrument that is the core of FFEA. The FFEA assessment is done by a group of stakeholders of the company (such as management, employees, customers, owners, suppliers, banks, neighbors, community representatives, societal or environmental action groups, etc.), who together reach consensus about (1) the current perspective of the company in relation to a series of different topics and (2) the “desired” perspective that is to be reached after, for instance, a couple of years.
The purpose is to investigate how likely it is that the company will survive, prosper, and fit within a sound society and environment. If weaknesses are found during the assessment, plans are made to make improvements, in order to increase the company’s “Future-proof Resilience”
The conclusions of a FFEA assessment may be that only minor improvements are necessary. On the other hand, it may appear to be of vital interest to drastically change the way in which the company acts, thinks, or even sees itself, leading to a process called “change the company mission.”
32The result of the assessment is a concrete action plan.
The chapter first describes why this future-proof resilience of companies is directly linked to the future-proof resilience of society as a whole. The link between the two is CSR (corporate social responsibility). Motivations of companies for CSR are discussed, making clear why CSR is essential for their continuity. Cases are offered, such as Eastman Kodak, Xerox, the music industry, and the Royal Dutch Shell Company.
The four FFEA perspectives are introduced, after which the entire FFEA system is explained, including its assessment procedures. Next, it is shown how FFEA is to be applied as an integrated part of the quality management cycle. This is illustrated with two practical cases.
After a FFEA assessment is finished, it may be concluded that, as a part of the action plan, special attention is to be given to a number of FFEA’s 30 topics. For most of these topics, FFEA offers extra tools, the so-called “FFEA Extensions.” A selection of them is described in this chapter.
The final part of the chapter explains the origins and theoretical backgrounds of FFEA, enabling the reader to study the way in which the system was developed, based on a range of management theories.
One of the sources of FFEA is AISHE, which was developed – just like FFEA – by the author of the present chapter. AISHE, the “Assessment Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education,” was applied hundreds of times in higher education institutions, before it was used as the main source for FFEA.
The AISHE Certificate is currently applied as a model for a certificate that will be launched as an extension to FFEA. Companies which are awarded the FFEA Certificate can thus show that they are “Future-proof Resilient.”
