SmartOrg, Inc. Introduces Advanced Systems for Smart Decision-Making; Empowering Organizations to Become the Smartest and Best Valued in their Industries

Business Wire, Oct 30, 2000

Business Editors

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 2000

Father and son team, Jim and David Matheson, authors of the best seller, "The Smart Organization," and partners at consulting firm, Strategic Decisions Group (SDG) are forming a new company called SmartOrg. Inc.

SmartOrg, Inc., will provide application software enabling companies to generate key managerial decision-making processes that will dramatically increase a company's internal value. The Company will deliver web-based education, training and systems to support organizational decision-making. The firm's products and services are based on the groundbreaking concepts of "The Smart Organization" introduced by two of the company's founders in The Smart Organization, a Harvard Business School Press best seller.

The Decision Quality Association (DQA), a former SDG service now part of SmartOrg, set the stage for development of SmartOrg systems. The DQA proved that companies could create new opportunities and substantially improve performance through better organizational decision-making. Founders and members of the DQA include Boeing, AT&T, Nortel Networks, Conoco, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, DuPont, Sanofi Synthelabo, Mitsubishi, and Tachion Networks.

"This is an excellent opportunity for us as well as our clients to capitalize on our latest resources," says David Matheson, President and CEO. "Technology has reached a point where the intellectual capital formerly available to an elite few can be deployed on a much larger scale and at much lower cost. This means executives can now be sure that every decision in the organization is up to the highest standards."

SmartOrg's application software will be particularly important in areas such as R&D, where every decision has enormous downstream implications. In today's sensitive market economy, the decision-making process needs to be well-timed and of the highest quality. By delivering web-based services and systems we bring the power of decision quality to organizations of all sizes -- from Fortune 100 Companies to Silicon Valley start-ups."

Jim Matheson, Chairman and CFO, sees SmartOrg as an important step in meeting management needs. "For decades we helped executives create immense improvements in value through consulting projects based on Smart Organization principles. However, many of these were `one off' projects that had valuable impacts but that seldom resulted in lasting change. In a few cases, diligent organizations retained their learning and changed their culture, with enormous value increases of 30% to 100% or more. Many firms, however, were unable to change on their own. After working with hundreds of clients, we saw an opportunity to provide broad-based software and services that could assist companies to implement the practices, processes, and tools used during our consulting engagements."

SmartOrg systems raise decision quality by embedding smart organization principles into every decision -- from large to small. A revolutionary new system, Decision Navigator, will significantly increase the effectiveness of line management. Other products, like Decision Advisor(R), increase staff effectiveness by supporting development and analysis of advanced financial and decision models.

"We are proud of our SDG heritage," says David Matheson, "and we look forward to a continuing professional relationship with SDG and its outstanding staff of consulting professionals when our clients need management consulting assistance."

SmartOrg's Founders Represent Leaders in Their Fields

Chairman and CFO, Jim Matheson, Ph.D., is a world recognized authority in decision analysis, a founding director and CTO of SDG. He has decades of consulting experience in R&D and strategy. Jim is a consulting professor in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. With David Matheson, he is co-author of the best selling book The Smart Organization: Creating Value through Strategic R&D (Harvard Business School Press, 1998).

President and CEO, David Matheson, Ph.D., a former SDG principal, led and developed the groundbreaking research that identified the "Nine Principles of the Smart Organization" and demonstrated that these principles drive performance. As a consultant, David has more than a decade of experience in the U.S. and Europe assisting companies to derive superior value from their investments.

Vice President Sales and Marketing, Don Creswell, was formerly General Manager of SDG's Decision Quality Association and Vice President of SDG Decision Systems, a developer of decision software. He also managed the Smart Organization practice area within SDG.

Director, Systems Architecture, Peter McNamee, Ph.D., is a former SDG principal and chief architect of Supertree(R) and Sensitivity(R) decision analysis software. Peter has been a decision consultant to a wide variety of companies ranging from the world's largest corporation to Silicon Valley start-ups. He is the author of the Guide to the Dialogue Decision Process and co-author of Decision Analysis for the Professional, both leading texts.