| Plexus Consulting Group | Success Stories | ||
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The Licensing Executives Society |
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1800 Diagonal Road www.usa-canada.les.org
Plexus Consulting Group, LLC |
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Addressing the LES Foundation’s Purpose and Developing a New Strategic Approach for LES Introduction Established in 1965, the Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. and Canada), Inc. (LES) is a professional society comprised of over 6,000 members engaged in the transfer, use, development, manufacture and marketing of intellectual property. The LES membership includes a wide range of professionals, including business executives, lawyers, licensing consultants, engineers, academicians, scientists and government officials. Many large corporations, professional firms, and universities comprise the Society's membership. LES members enjoy formal and informal opportunities to share information on best practices, trends and the latest licensing resources. With more than 30 local chapters in key technology transfer centers throughout the U.S. and Canada, LES offers a full calendar of education and networking events. Through meetings, educational programs, and ongoing contact, LES brings together a broad range of licensing professionals with common interests and similar professional goals. LES provides members with the ability to respond to a changing business environment, through annual and seasonal meetings. Besides outstanding meetings, LES offers two main types of educational programs each year, the Technology Transfer Seminars and the Professional Development Series. Both programs attract individuals and teams that span a wide spectrum of job functions and industries and provide an abundance of the premier education opportunities for which LES is known. The Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. and Canada), Inc. is a member society of the Licensing Executives Society International, Inc. (LESI), with a worldwide membership of over 12,000 members in 30 national societies, representing over 80 countries. Situation The Licensing Executives Society retained Plexus Consulting Group to assess the various activities of its Foundation and the Society itself, and whether a shift in these activities and relationship between the two entities was necessary. The first phase of the project focused on the campaign that the LES Foundation should conduct, the means in which to conduct it, and clearly identifying and developing a purpose for the Foundation. The second phase included a thorough investigation into the Society’s strategic environment and the direction it wished to follow to adapt to changing industry demographics and mentalities. The growing concern around issues of Intellectual Property and the professionals involved in these issues led to the need for LES to re-evaluate the scope of its activities and possibly change its direction in the licensing industry. Together with Plexus Consulting Group, LES undertook a comprehensive planning process to redefine its purpose and how best to serve its members. The final phase consisted in studying the feasibility of the new activities identified in the strategic planning phase and how best to implement these changes. As new goals emerged from the research and planning sessions, it became important for LES to understand the potential of its new activities if it was to successfully address the new needs and concerns of its membership and the industry as a whole. Action Phase 1: To develop a purpose for the LES Foundation and clearly identify its objectives and mission, Plexus facilitated a session with the Foundation’s Board to brainstorm ideas and obtain a consensus regarding the Foundation’s future direction. The first part of the planning session focused on studying the Foundation’s strategic environment such as examples of public messages the Foundation needed to combat, the measurable objectives of the campaign, the target audience, how best to reach this audience, and who the principal beneficiaries of the campaign would be. Participants then focused their attention on the logistics of the campaign by defining its actual message, the best possible means to communicate this message, and identifying possible partners and allies in communicating the message. Before commencing the planning process for the Society itself, Plexus developed and administered a Board self-assessment survey to clearly understand the governance structure and whether it faced challenges that required alterations. To effectively develop a strategic vision and direction requires that the decision-making structure be organized and efficient, as well as recognized and trusted by the membership in order to successfully implement the new plan. Therefore, the survey focused on four broad topics: the Society’s mission and purpose, its organizational planning, its Board development, and the Committee structure and function. Phase 2: This survey set the ground-work to begin work on LES’s strategic future and a re-evaluation of its activities. This process began by thorough research along two lines: 1. Interviews with select opinion leaders who were representative of LES’s membership and whose opinions were well informed and respected, to focus on the biggest issues facing the Society and the industry as a whole 2. Focus groups, composed of key stakeholders, during which the interview results were reviewed, to which participants reacted in a way that further situated the association in its strategic environment. Once enough data had been collected to fully understand the challenges LES faced, Plexus facilitated a strategic planning session with the Society’s Board to review the research results and develop a comprehensive and thorough plan for the association’s future. This included updating the association’s Vision, Mission Statement and Principles to reflect LES’s current challenges and the industry’s changing environment, and integrate them into its activities and membership services to remain a leading organization in the licensing sector. In turn, this was finalized into a three-year business plan detailing the specific needs and responsibilities necessary for LES to follow the new path it had chosen, and was presented to the full LES membership. Phase 3: The final phase consisted of studying the interest and viability of the objectives set forth during the previous phases of the project. Plexus conducted two feasibility assessments to determine whether LES’s intention to develop a government relations program and a certification curriculum would be greeted with industry approval and would further LES’s mission and its members’ needs. After conducting research into the competitive environment and what role LES could play as an advocacy group, recommendations were developed about the program that would be best for LES along with a description of what this might imply for its staffing and governance structures. The second report undertook a market assessment and outlined the strategy, backed by a business plan, through which the Licensing Executives Society (LES) could begin putting a professional certification program in place. This business plan was developed based on the results of surveys that assessed the perceptions of key stakeholders regarding potential goals and uses for the program, the desirability in a potential program and level of interest in participating in such a program. Key Findings Phase 1: The work Plexus conducted to help define the LES Foundation’s purpose led to the identification of the main beneficiaries of the campaign as being the pharmaceutical, the software and the music industries, namely the companies in the three industries most affected by Intellectual Property law violations. The brainstorming session also defined what the Foundation was trying to convey as being the “Value of Ideas”. This was to occur through a four-step process: 1) recognition of new ideas (creation); 2) protection of the idea and see its value (protection); 3) move the idea into reality (effectuation) and; 4) reward the idea’s creator (recognition). The Board Assessment Survey led to some interesting findings regarding the Society’s governance structure and Board composition and an analysis of the responses indicated opportunities for enhancements in the governance of LES in four broad areas:
In light of these findings and developments, LES was ready to tackle its core activities and redefine its strategic direction and vision. The qualitative interviews and focus groups led to considerations about LES’s turnover rate and the possible interest in the creation of a certification program. The changing nature of the industry and the Society’s member demographics further pointed to the fact that licensing was increasingly becoming a profession in its own right and should be considered and addressed as such, potentially by creating a certification program to ensure quality and homogeneity in the licensing world. In order to redefine its role and position in the licensing industry, LES identified three goals to drive the Society’s new activities: 1. Certification: Develop, offer and conduct a certification program and examinations 2. Government Relations: Create and present course and related materials for Congressional staff 3. Globalize society functions: recruit 33% of members from outside the USA/Canada Phase 3: Once the Society’s strategic plan completed, there remained to carefully study whether the goals identified therein were viable and would be met with interest among the licensing industry. The Certification Program Feasibility Assessment, after comprehensive research and benchmarking, concluded that such a certification program would be a valuable endeavor for the Society and fulfill an important need for the licensing industry. In order to successfully establish this program, LES needed to: • Identify appropriate standards - Utilize existing standards (if
appropriate ones exist) or develop new ones. However, it became apparent that the certification program needed to be kept separate from LES in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. In this regard, the LES Foundation would be the ideal legal entity from which to run this project. Moreover, if LES were to seek industry donations for starting and running this program as noted above, it was recommended that the LES Board of Directors give consideration to bringing in individuals from the offices of corporate CEOs who could bring along with them the ability of their companies to make financial contributions. The Government Relations Functions Assessment produced some interesting results as to the exact nature and role of a potential advocacy branch to LES’s activities. A competitive analysis of other players in the Intellectual Property Public Policy Arena uncovered three types of possible competition: very large organizations (American Bar Association, PhRMA, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, etc.); small, specialty or ad-hoc organizations that represent the interests of newly emerging industry sectors; and LES-like organizations in terms of size and dedication to IP policy. Discussions with policy makers highlighted their skepticism regarding the creation of another IP advocacy group but welcomed the opportunity to test ideas on the private sector to see if policy initiatives they are considering will be well-received. In this regard, they solicit and receive testimony from public interest groups and are eager to accept invitations to appear before conventions and meetings such groups organize, in which policy makers and their staff have an opportunity to meet and interact with broad based constituent groups. It became apparent from this assessment that there was no organization that serviced all industry sectors, both the buyers and sellers of IP, and had as unbiased or broad-based perspective as LES. However, it appeared imperative that LES remain independent and refuse to play a partisan role in many policy debates. There were a number of things it could do that was consistent with its mission and vision. These included:
The comprehensive process Plexus undertook for LES led to a restructuring
of the Society’s Board, its activities and focus, as well as developing
a new purpose for the Foundation. Moreover, the assessment of the
Society’s desire to create government relations and certification
programs pointed to the Foundation as being the best legal entity
to run these programs from in order to maintain LES’s commitment to
impartiality. This further points to the Foundation’s new campaign
and purpose and would help it pursue its mission.
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