Business Strategy Navigation 2009 – Part 6
July 29, 2009
Welcome Back. We've got lots of in depth business strategy to share with you today.The Ride, Part II: Implementation
Once the ship has hit the water, it’s time to move. The most intricate and brilliant execution plan is worthless hidden in a desk drawer beneath a stapler and dirty coffee mug. Strategy’s beauty lies in its careful implementation-and ubiquitous involvement. Any disturbance of the status quo is bound to make waves among employees and managers all-too-familiar with alleged strategic panaceas. Front-liners must be assured that the strategy is relevant and necessary. The American Productivity and Quality Center suggests company-wide education and involvement: “There must be a sense of urgency and a convincing argument that the proposed [strategy] will mitigate wasteful, whimsical changes.”
A well-designed strategy avoids such “wasteful, whimsical changes” by consistently involving representatives from all areas and levels in its creation and implementation. None of the new initiatives is irrelevant, because each builds on the input of those it affects. None is an annoying surprise, because each initiative addresses a widely understood goal. And nothing happens suddenly or irrationally: “a management system does not appear instantaneously,” write Kaplan and Norton. “Because of its scope, complexity, and impact, a new management system must be phased in over time.” A Strategy International execution plan facilitates strategic planning with the benefits of short-term proactive change. It does not expect-or, indeed, allow expectation of-sudden results, but promotes steady, directed, creative work toward a discernable future goal. It harnesses the creativity and proactivity of all of the organization’s members in its movement toward a final objective.
Tomorrow we will delve into metrix, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
Strategically Yours,
Bob
Business Strategy Navigation 2009 – Part 5
July 29, 2009
The Ride, Part I: The future trends and strategy
Magellan’s strategy was clear and simple: reach the Spice Islands via circumnavigation in order to secure spice trade for Spain and adventure for himself. His plan? Sail west, with prevailing winds. Seek (by trial and error) a channel through the enormous roadblock known as South America. Maintain knowledge of present position and plan for future direction.
It is safe to assume that during the two-year trip, Magellan and his crew constantly assessed this plan’s rationality and feasibility. It is also safe to assume that Magellan did not need a wide-ranging measurement rubric to track each strategic move. Here lies the difference between the Renaissance explorer and the Information Age manager.
To develop a business strategy, corporate leaders must identify and understand the future trends in their industry that will impact the demand for their products and services. The leaders need to create a database of activities. The Trends Analysis should result in a grouping of converging trends. These are the opportunities for future growth.
So how do the leaders drive the organization to succeed. They create a competition strategy. Michael Porter defined competitive strategy in 1996.
“Competitive strategy is about being different. It means… choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities than rivals.” “Strategy is making tradeoffs in competing. The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
Further strategy is a unique way of creating and delivering value that pervades the entire organization. It is your enduring reason for being that makes your customers want you to flourish and thrive. It is what you do that creates value and makes you hard for others to imitate.
My definition of business strategy … an integrated and align set of strategic initiatives (tactics) all working together to create unique customer value and thereby unique customer perception.
Once armed with a well-framed strategy statement, a business must hit the road. Beat the pavement. Spend deserved time and resources creating a detailed, albeit flexible, roadmap that takes you from here (current reality) to there (objectives).
Again, commitment to adaptability is vital. Strategy, write Kaplan and Norton, “must reflect the structure of the organization for which [it] has been formulated.”
Both-the structure and the strategy-must be persistent but flexible enough to facilitate innovation and market adaptation. A strategy designed to propel a company toward an ambitious goal cannot be represented by a stodgy table or bar graph. The strategy map’s structured chaos perfectly captures the paradox of direction and flexibility that characterizes successful strategy. For this reason, Strategy International consultants help businesses create execution plans, aphoristic visual representations of the whole strategy process from confronted reality to trends, objective to initiative.
Tomorrow we’ll continue this discussion with part 2 of “The Ride: Implementation.”
Strategically Yours,
Bob
Business Strategy Navigation 2009 – Part 4
July 28, 2009
Set objectives
Having adequately assessed the present, embark on the adventure of the future. The most unpredictable and chaotic market environment is navigable with skill and control. A clear vision of your ideal future allows for well-defined, progressive movement.
The elements of a proactive future focus are simple:
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Purpose. In general terms, the purpose of any business is to satisfy its stakeholders (this group includes shareholders, customers, executives/ partners, and the community).
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Mission. Your business’ mission is its objective goal, the peak toward which you propel yourself. A mission may be purely financial (“we will achieve billion-dollar annual sales”), product-oriented (“we will develop the most fuel efficient compact car on the market”), or customer-focused (“we will attain 99% customer retention”). If purpose is your reason for existing in your eyes, mission is your reason for existing in consumers’ eyes.
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Vision. A vision is exactly as it sounds: a mental picture of the way your business will look, feel, and appear once you have fulfilled your mission.
A caveat: Though definition of these terms is necessary, the key to successful navigation of an unpredictable environment is adaptability. Vision can easily change since, as part of the system, it is largely subject to the whims of the environment. According to the Columbia School of Business, strategy should actually serve to “build flexibility into your system…some way of keeping uncertainty alive and kicking.” This requires creativity: the vision must entail and encourage originality.
Tomorrow we’ll begin part one of “The Ride: The future trends and strategy”
Strategically Yours,
Bob
Business Strategy Navigation 2009 – Part 3
July 23, 2009
Right Now: Current Reality Assessment
As Magellan gazed at the mouth of the waterway to bear his name, he had a choice. He could worry himself blind about the future; turn left and take the (safe bet) long route; stab blindly into potentially vicious waters; or take stock of his situation and make an educated guess. Fortunately, he chose the last. The first step in business strategy is similar: confront reality. Kaplan and Norton say it well: “Merely slapping performance measures on existing processes may drive local improvement but is unlikely to lead to breakthrough performance for the entire organization.” Your “existing processes,” mindsets, and goals must be assessed before strategy can begin. Without knowledge of your company’s present situation (or “current reality”), movement from that situation is arduous, if not impossible.
Elements to consider in your current reality assessment include:
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Determine the key performance metrics
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Determine where business performance is weak.
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Assess where you are strong.
Tomorrow we’ll continue this discussion with Setting Objectives.
Strategically Yours,
Bob
Business Strategy Navigation 2009 – Part 2
July 9, 2009
The State of the Environment
It hardly takes a rocket scientist to point out the economy’s unpredictability. It is painted vividly all over business today: the Herculean rise and Icarean fall of dot.coms; the ever-present fear of “getting Amazoned” by the newest phenom; fickle and unrepresentative market data; a “winner takes all economy” that rewards aerodynamic little prodigies with world-power status; and heavy dependence on intangible assets. This—an environment stocked with and characterized by uncertainty—is the market we inherit. Our only hope of navigation is strategy—the sort that flooded the explorers with both order and industrious creativity.
Getting Started: The Need for Strategic planning
Unpredictability offers managers three options: to idly float with the environment’s current and winds; to drop anchor and cling to the present (albeit mediocre) position; or to harness the currents and charge ahead. The first two represent stasis and, therefore, death. To survive, an organization must be dynamic. Does your company exhibit “a sense of urgency, or complacency?” If you recognize the urgency of the present, be proactive and commit to strategy. If complacency defines you, move.
What I do with my organization, Strategy International, is partner with companies to develop business strategy according to a time-tested, proprietary strategy design: a choice blend of plan and action that has produced visible change for clients in a range of industries. In our experience, the process of designing a strategy (defined by CEO Bob Jonas as “a plan for the skillful conduct of a large field of operations towards the achievement of a known goal”) consists of seven elements:
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Current Reality Assessment
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Set objectives
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Define Future demand
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Craft Competitive Strategy
- Strategy initiatives
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Plan Strategic Actions
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Execute the plan
All of these, by necessity, happen in the market environment. The secret is to create a competitive advantage strategy that both adapts to and controls that unpredictable medium.
Next week we’ll continue this discussion with the first element: Confront Reality.
Strategically Yours,
Bob
