<div><BR>Business failure is not limited to start ups. Industry Watch (published by BDO Stoy Hayward, an accounting firm) 'predicts that 17,043 businesses will fail (in the UK) in 2006, a further 4 per cent increase from 2005'. In America between 1990 and 2000, there were over 6.3 million business start-ups and over 5.7 million business shut-downs.<BR>Risk of failure can be greatly reduced through effective organisational design that encourages high performance and adaptability to changing circumstances. Organisation design is a straightforward business process but curiously managers rarely talk about it and even more rarely take steps to consciously design or redesign their business for success.<BR>This new Economist guide explores the five principles of effective organisation design, which are that it must be: driven by the business strategy and the operating context (not by a new IT system, a new leader wanting to make an impact, or some other non-business reason). involve holistic thinking about the organisation be for the future rather than for now not to be undertaken lightly - it is resource intensive even when going well be seen as a fundamental process not a repair job. (Racing cars are designed and built. They are then kept in good repair.)<BR></div>