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Drucker’s 5 key questions in a downturn

Chemical companies, Economic growth
By Paul Hodges on 26-Nov-2009

Drucker.jpgPeter Drucker wrote some of the most useful, and widely read, books on management. The title of one of his main works, ‘Management, Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices’, sums up his serious approach to the role.

This month is the centenary of his birth, and the Financial Times marks it with a report of a celebratory conference held in his birthplace, Vienna.

Drucker developed 5 key questions, to help managers “look out of the window and see what is visible, but not yet realised” by their competitors:

• What is our business (or mission)?
• Who is our customer?
• What does the customer value?
• What are our results?
• What is our plan?

These questions remain as powerful today, as they were when Drucker first developed them to help managers battle the major downturn of 1974.