SPROⓇ , developed by ADL in the early 1990s, and its evolutionary version, VSPROⓇ , are presented in detail here.

In the 1990s, against the backdrop of failed business process redesigns (BPR) due to large mergers and acquisitions, ADL advocated that aligning Strategy, Process, Resource and Organisation was the key to becoming a truly highly profitable company, and the SPRO model was born. This concept was first introduced in the book 'The Highly Profitable Revolution in Manufacturing - Six 'Big Hit Projects' for New Development', written by ADL and published by Diamond, Inc. in November 1994 in Japan.. In the said work, S was introduced as Stakeholders, but through various project discussions it has now become established as S for Strategy.

Subsequently, as BPR and corporate consolidation and mergers progressed, some companies were able to get on a growth trajectory, while others were unable to grow as expected. Analysis of the differences between the two revealed that companies with a shared vision and values at management and among employees had higher growth potential, leading to the birth of the VSPRO model, which combines vision at the top of SPRO.

The VSPRO model enables the internal environment of a company or business to be evaluated from five perspectives: vision (V), strategy (S), process (P), resources (R) and organisation (O). When representing the VSPRO model in a diagram, the vision of the company is placed at the top, and the strategy to realise that vision, the processes to implement the strategy, the resources to implement the strategy and processes, and the organisation to implement the strategy and processes are placed below the vision in a triangle. The diagram is shown in Fig. (Fig. A).

Since the 2000s, the VSPRO model has been established as an important framework for organising issues and formulating concrete measures in corporate management, including not only business strategy but also R&D strategy and organisational reform. It is also used as a basic concept that can be applied to today's Purpose Management or Ambidextrous Management.

VSPROⓇ , SPROⓇ , the VSPRO logo and the SPRO logo are registered trademarks No. 6825253, 6820305, 6825254 and 6820306 by Arthur d. Little Japan.

Figure A: VSPRO is a tool for analysing management systems.

The most important point is whether the vision (what the company wants to be) is well defined and shared throughout the company. If the vision is not shared in the management system, differences in perception of the current situation and values will prevent the company from clarifying the direction it should take, and even if a strategy is formulated, it will not fully permeate the processes, resources and organisation, and will not produce the desired effect.

On the other hand, if the vision (what you want to be) is clear and the organisation's vision is aligned with the vision of the individual, the blurring of the direction to be taken is reduced. This creates a virtuous cycle in the four elements, whereby strategy, process, resources and organisation are organically combined, and the speed of growth is accelerated.

A framework called VSPRO-L has also been developed as an evolution of VSPRO. It is an addition of Learning (L), which explains the importance of the cycle of the management system planned and implemented in VSPRO, and the importance of continuous organisational growth while evolving through learning about issues and areas for improvement.

The VSPRO-L model is attributed to Dr Peter Senge (Professor at MIT), who founded Innovation Associates (a subsidiary of ADL in the 1990s), who proposed the concept of the 'Learning Organisation' in his writings and popularised the importance of organizational learning in major European and American companies. The new concept of VSPRO-L is now used in a variety of ADL consulting projects.

■ History of SPRO and VSPRO

Early 1990s: ADL US office developed SPRO.

Nov 1994: Introduction of the SPRO model in a book written by ADL and published by Diamond, Inc. in Japan, 'The Highly Profitable Revolution in Manufacturing - Six 'Big Hit Projects' for New Development'.

around 1998: the VSPRO framework, which adds a V to SPRO, has been used for executive training, vision camps and other consulting projects.

By 2000: it had culminated as VSPRO-L, with an L added to VSRO.

June 2014: The 'SPRO' is mentioned on the manufacturing.com website as being a model for ADL.

In the article 'Extracting your company's strengths to discover innovative themes' on the Monozukuri.com website, 'ADL's SPRO model' is introduced following McKinsey's 7S model as a 'cut-out for extracting strengths'.

May 2017: V-SPRO-L is listed on the Globis website as originating from ADL.

In an article on the GLOBIS website introducing the book "New Edition of the GLOBIS MBA Management Strategy", under the heading "Is your organisation capable of driving and implementing change and strategy?" under the heading "V-SPRO-L is a framework developed by the ADL to hold the big picture in corporate transformation." The article states.