Myrna and Associates
Leaders in Strategic Planning

Do you have a Neanderthal business model?

Is your company living hand to mouth? Is every employee focused on finding and processing enough revenue to survive this month? If so, you have a Neanderthal business model.

The Neanderthals had physically larger brains than we do. On average, the height of Neanderthals was comparable to that of contemporaneous Homo sapiens, though they were much stronger, having particularly powerful arms and hands.

Yet, they disappeared over 24,000 years ago while modern Homo sapiens spread across the entire earth. Why?

There are many theories, but the most interesting to me is the simple matter of each species’ “monthly nut.” It is estimated that to sustain the average Neanderthal you needed 152,250 calories/month. To sustain the average Homo sapiens you needed 60,917 calories/month. That difference carried three major impacts:

• The typical Neanderthal community needed to devote 100% of each member’s available time to the search for food.
• The typical Homo sapiens community had enough surplus food every month to devote significant time to innovative, non-calorie producing activities.
• The ability of the Homo sapiens community to survive periodic bad times and increased competition was substantially greater than the Neanderthals’.

Economically speaking, the year 2009 was one of those periodic bad times. Congratulations to your company for surviving! But how robust is your company compared to your competitors? How much “investment” resource is available each month, above and beyond what’s needed to cover this month’s expenses?

It’s human nature to focus on the tactical, urgent challenges of today while putting off the investments that will make the future better. However, there’s wisdom in a business model that focuses on increasing sales while decreasing the cost of supporting them, making your company more robust and sustainable. This is the goal and outcome of a well executed strategic planning process. Look at our web page listing the other benefits of strategic planning.