Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) To Zero-Based Everything: A Business Guide to Augmenting Zero-Based Budgeting to Achieve a Step-Change in Performance

by Sam Schreim, Business Model Hackers

Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) is making a comeback and has made it to the top of the list of most adopted management tools among executives in leading global organizations. As we enter an unprecedented era of economic unpredictability, disruptive technologies, globalization and fierce competition, companies are increasingly finding themselves in search of money to invest in new initiatives which have caused a resurgence in ZBB as a tool of choice among executives. The last time anyone wrote about the subject was in the 1970s. Does this method still hold ground? Are companies using ZBB in the same manner they used to as in the ’70s? Not exactly. Companies that are simply joining the herd and inappropriately adopting the approach as a one-time fix and a cost-cutting tool are disrupting and crippling operations while facing a huge internal backlash. ZBB is a way of life! What was once used as a scary cost-cutting tool in the ’70s has now been revamped as a framework for replacing the once-a-year budgeting process with continuous business monitoring, with ZBB being adopted to drive efficiency and reallocate resources to unleash hidden values and fuel growth. Companies are seizing this opportunity and are adopting the zero-based method to rethink the status quo. This book covers the entire spectrum of the “Zero-Based” approach and illustrates how ZBB is being adopted not as a one-time fix but as an integrated change management tool that optimizes usage of resources across the value chain and instills accountability for cost across the entire organization. Adopting ZBB is a cultural shift and requires the adoption of “Zero-Based Thinking” across the organization. You should buy this book whether you are contemplating reinventing your existing budgeting process or you are already working on a ZBB initiative and need to make sure you are on the right track. If you’ve never heard of ZBB, you should buy this book as the cost of not knowing is not zero-based.

61 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 11, 2019

Reviews

[Rashid Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outlines a continuous business evaluation and improvement approach

It's been a while since I've come across a business centric book that makes a lot of practical sense. Zero-Based Budgeting outlines the 'what and how' of continously evaluating a business, to rapidly locate and fix resource drain and reorient business. Agility is something that pops out. A must read for every business leader.

[Christine Reidhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zero-Based Mentality

Zero-based is a mentality that is used to change workplace culture. This method is not a one-time fix, but something you integrate across the entire organization. If you are looking to revise your existing budget, this is a great book!

[Ben Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Repetitive, but good content

Very clearly presents the concepts, but states and restates them so many times that I sometimes got a little confused as to whether I had accidentally gone back a page instead of forward.