Strategic Management

Strategy Formulation

 

Strategic Planning

Traditional Static and New Dynamic Approaches

Vadim Kotelnikov

Vadim Kotelnikov, founder of 1000ventures - personal logo Vadim Kotelnikov

Founder

   

 

Vadim Kotelnikov advice quotes

In today's uncertain and turbulent environments, organizations must develop capabilities for dynamic planning and resource allocation − it is essential to strategic flexibility, agility and achievement.

Vadim Kotelnikov

Vadim Kotelnikov, founder of 1000ventures - personal logo    Business e-Coach    Innompic Games icon

 

 

 

Comprehensive strategic planning and strategic programming is more closely linked to firm performance in stable industries than in unstable industries.

Dynamic organizations such as start-ups, new business ventures, and opportunity-driven businesses need a more flexible approach, such as milestone charts and strategic simulation, to business management.

 

   

 

 

 

 

Two Integral Parts of a Strategic Plan

❶ What to do   ❷  How to do

The problem with many strategic plans is that they are long on the "what to do" and short on the "how to do it". It's OK, if the plan lists some predefined tasks, such a startup development program. If you plan to create something new, describe how you are planning to approach each "what to do".

 

 

12 Elements of Strategic Planning   ▪  Meeting   ▪  15 Strategist Rules

 

 

Jack Welch advice business quotes

Stretch essentially means using dreams to set business targets – with no real idea of how to get there. If you do know how to get there – it's not a stretch target.

Jack Welch

GE

 

 

 

Benefits of Strategic Planning

→ Inspires and facilitates strategic leadership, strategic thinking, strategic innovation, and strategic action

→ Provides a big-picture scenario for strategic simulation  and strategic experimentation

→ Stimulates change and strategic creativity... More

 

Strategic Thinking  >>  7 Focus Areas  |  7 Principles  |  Key Elements  |  Framework

 

 

 

 

The Starting Point

A key starting point of strategic planning is the acceptance of the counterintuitive notion that this planning process should not be designed to develop a complete strategy. Real creative strategies are rarely made during formal meetings, they are more likely to be invented informally and often in real-time – when you ideate on autopilot,  or during quiet moments of reflection or subconscious thinking, or when you ask learning SWOT questions after experiments with a new strategic idea.

 

 

Milestone Chart

The milestone chart of your envisaged entrepreneurial journey leads to fulfillment of your entrepreneurial vision and provides a roadmap to strategic achievements. A milestone chart is also an important tool of internal and external communication with existing and prospective strategic partners... More

 

"You can never plan the future by the past." ~ Edmund Burke

"Long range planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the future of present decisions." ~ Peter Drucker

 

New Purpose of Strategic Planning

in the Era of Rapid Changes

  1. To take a fresh look at the substance of a business unit and corporate strategy

  2. To rethink the process by which strategy is made

 

New Goals for Strategic Planning

  1. To build "prepared minds" – to make sure that decision makers have a solid understanding of the business, its strategy, and the assumptions behind that strategy, thereby making it possible for executives to respond swiftly to challenges and opportunities as they occur in real time.

  2. To increase the innovativeness of your company strategies – to provide a strategic focus that creates culture for and drives strategic creativity.

Business Plan Business Plan Effective Planning 1000ventures.com 1000advices.com Ten3 global polls "Advise!" Ten3 global polls "Advise!"

 

Five Popular Innovation Myths

By Tom Peters

  1. Myth One: Substantial strategic or technological planning greatly increases the probability of a "no surprises" outcome... More

Planning

The Importance of Values and Mission

Business Plan

Planning for a Strategic Alliance

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis for Startup Ventures

Learning SWOT Questions

Strategy Formulation

Strategic Programming

Strategic Thinking

Critical Question Analysis

Strategic Learning

The Role of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Strategy Implementation

Impediments To Strategy Implementation

 

 

 

 

Areas of Applications

New Approaches to Strategy Formulation

The currently dominant view of strategy is the resource-based theory. Traditional strategy models, such as Michael Porter's five forces model, focus on the company's external competitive environment. Most of them do not attempt to look inside the company. In contrast, the resource-based perspective highlights the need for a fit between the external market context in which a company operates and its internal capabilities. According to this view, a company's competitive advantage derives from its ability to assemble and exploit an appropriate combination of resources. Sustainable competitive advantage is achieved by continuously developing existing and creating new resources and capabilities in response to rapidly changing market conditions... More

New Goals for Strategic Planning

In the new business environment of rapid changes, heightened risk and uncertainty, developing effective strategies is critical. They prepare executives to face the strategic uncertainties ahead and serve as the focal point for creative thinking about a company's vision and direction.

Many companies get little value from their annual strategic-planning process however. To meet the new challenges, this process should be redesigned to support real-time strategy making and to encourage 'creative accidents'1.

Innovation-driven Dynamic Planning  Process

If you develop new products, especially new-to-the-world products, any forecasts will be wrong as new technologies and products unfold in ways that nobody can imagine. For new product and technologies, business strategies emerge during experimentations as a probe-and-learn process. It's really a "Ready – Fire – Aim", not a "Ready – Aim – Fire" process. It's a jazz improvisation: the drive to capitalize on entrepreneurial opportunity need to be combined with sound strategic thinking.

Increasing the Innovativeness of Your Company Strategies

No strategic-planning process can guarantee brilliant flashes of creative insight, but it can provide increase the odds that they occur and are pursued.

 Case in Point  Google

"We run the company chaotically. We run it at the edge," says Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google. "But the truth is the company is pretty thoroughly planned financially. We have a three-year financial plan that we're submitting to the board. We model our financials, cash flow. And it's possible for us to predict reasonably accurate cases there. We have a one-year strategic plan, about what we want to be next year. What are the markets we want to enter."

Preparing Minds

Dwight D. Eisenhower said it best, "Plans are nothing; planning is everything." 

A successful strategy process would help your company to react quicker to emerging opportunities and make faster decisions than your competitors do. It would ensure that your corporate leaders have a strong grasp of the strategic context they operate in before the unpredictable but inevitable twists and turns of your business push them to make critical decisions in real time.1

Personal Strategic Planning

The first step is to clarify your values. If you want to discover your strengths in the work world, first you would define your values as they apply to employment. Often, both companies and individuals will choose values such as integrity, quality, respect for others, service, profitability, innovation, entrepreneurship, and market leadership.

The second step is to use those values to define your position with regard to your work. The values you choose, and the order of priority you place on your choices, will determine your approach to your work.

Your next step in personal strategic planning is to create your personal mission statement. This is a clear, written description of the person you intend to be. This is often even more important than setting specific financial or business goals.7... More

Learning SWOT Questions

SWOT analysis is an effective strategic planning tool. “SWOT” stands for “Strengths”, “Weaknesses”, “Opportunities” and “Threats”.

SWOT matrix can also be effectively used as a strategic learning tool for analyzing feedback received from experimentation, beta testing, test marketing of new products and for making strategic decisions... More

Strategic Motivation System

It is obvious that in order for the development of a strategic plan to be efficient, motivation is required. But without strategic motivation, the successful implementation of this plan is impossible. The specifics of strategic planning largely determine the details of the systems of motivation... More

 Discover much more in the

FULL VERSION of e-Coach

12 Essential Elements of Strategic Planning...

Increasing the Innovativeness of Your Company Strategies...

The Importance of Values and Mission...

The Six Keys to Designing Effective Strategy Conversation...

Analysis of the Business Environment...

Business Portfolio Analysis...

Milestone-based Thinking...

Strategic Innovation: Road-Mapping...

Strategic Learning...

Dynamic Strategy as a Source of Sustainable Competitive Advantage...

Working On Your Business...

Strategy Management...

Strategic Programming...

Launching a Crusade...

Strategy Innovation...

New Systemic Approach to Strategic Management...

Strategic Project Management...

FutureStep - a New Strategic Management Process...

 Case in Point  Unilever...

 Case in Point  Silicon Valley Firms...

 Case in Point  Canon...

 Case in Point  Microsoft...

 Case in Point  Charles Schwab...

 Case in Point  Canon...

 

 

 

References:

  1. "Tired of Strategic Planning?", The Times of India

  2. "Successfully Devising Corporate Plans", Brian Houlden

  3. "Mergers and Acquisitions", J.Fred weston & Samuel C. Weaver

  4. "The Power of Simplicity", Jack Trout

  5. "Changing Strategic Direction", Peter Skat-Rшrdam

  6. "Developing a Strategic Business Plan", White Paper by PlanWare

  7. "The Importance of Values and Missions", Brian Tracy

  8. "Develop a Clear Vision," Brian Tracy