Bla Bla ? Boston Consulting Group Article: Strategy Development in ...

To build a rigorous business strategy, organizations must conduct strategy development beginning with a collective set of beliefs around its current situation and identified strategic challenges. The next steps, on a high level, include defining what the future state vision of the company is and then going into the details of planning how to get to that state. In order to understand your strategic challenges, you must begin with a complete, end-to-end understanding of your situation. Proper strategy development involves more than a focus on maximizing profitability. strategy development is about value creation, strategy is about selectivity, and strategy is about flexibility.

Business strategy includes the topics of corporate strategy, marketing strategy, sales strategy, as well other areas of strategic thinking. Sales strategy includes distribution strategy, indirect sales strategy, and business development. When we speak about growth strategy, we include both natural growth and inorganic growth, namely mergers and acquisitions. Marketing strategy and sales strategy are usually discussed in unity, but are distinct in nature. Business strategy development is many times defined with the context of a yearly strategic planning session or workshop, typically conducted in a week long day remote conference space with management and key stakeholders, both inside and outside the organization. Marketing strategy includes advertising strategy, go-to-market strategy, in addition to SEO strategy.

The way business leaders evaluate and analyze strategy within that of contemporary businesses has been shaped by military strategists since the beginning of organized warfare. Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War, which has been adopted into a business strategy book. In his book Art of War, he spoke about several fundamental factors in military strategy and each of these factors relates to a popular concept of business strategy. Sun Tzus thoughts about the factor of land, in todays business landscape, translates to markets, industry structures, value propositions, and Porters Five Forces. Sun Tzu hinted at indirect strategies when he said winning without fighting is the pinnacle of skill on the battlefield.

Strategy development has evolved through 5 key phases over the years. Much of business strategy is also hinged on ideas in the 1970s, where the core theme was around thinking strategically to out maneuver competition and the business frameworks of alternative strategies, portfolio analysis, and the BCG Growth Share Matrix were actively used for the first time. In the current day, the strategic development theme is on integrating strategic planning and implementation with a stress on the key concepts of core competencies, strategy planning and execution, and balance scorecard analysis. Changes to strategic mindset represent a changing landscape, emerging business leaders, and emergence of disruptive technologies and changes. Strategy development started with a focus on financial planning in the 1950s, moving to long-term corporate planning in the 1960s, to strategic planning in the 1970s and eventually to a focus on strategic management in the present day.

Today, there are two primary schools of thought around strategic management. In organizational configuration, the organization engages in behaviors based on adaptation to contexts. Henry Mintberg also advocates a transformation of business processes, where management recognizes the need and has the ability to manage complete business operational transformation. Mintzberg proposes for an organization, bottom-ups process to drive strategy development that hinges upon organizational configuration.

Bower believes that the strategic planning and budgeting process is at the heart of the strategy development process. In the RAP business framework, when market context is discussed, we are analyzing the demands of the largest customers,and technology development. Strategic intent is defined as the perceived and communicated official strategy. Resource allocation based strategy planning and budgeting is a bottoms up driven way to identification and selection of business opportunities. Bowers school of thought is called the Resource Allocation Process RAP framework. Organizational context is made up of governance and the organizational structure, basis of performance measures and incentives, and the managers beliefs and cognitive frames. Capital market context is also looked at, which is defined as demands and influences of sources of capital, including financial institutions.
Strategy Development

Source: http://blasite.com/2011/09/boston-consulting-group-article-strategy-development-in-a-blue-ocean/

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