Strategic
Thinking
and
Planning
Why think strategically?
Studies indicate that:
•90% of all businesses lack a strategic plan
•Only 19% of workers say they can effectively translate
the company’s top goals into the work they do
[“The Greatness Challenge,” Franklin Covey]
•Businesses that are committed to strategic thinking
and planning show an increase of 12% on the bottom
line and 11% on the top line, greater above those that
don’t do strategic planning. (This is in addition to
“business as usual” growth).
[Strategic Management Study, by M3 Planning]
•You can impact your
company’s future and
profitability by thinking
strategically about your
business
•The first rule of a successful
business strategy is….
Get a business strategy !
[Robert Heller]
What is strategy, or strategic
thinking?
•When you think strategically, you lift
your head above your day to day work
and consider the larger environment in
which you are operating
•You ask questions and challenge
assumptions about how things work in
your company and your industry
•A company’s strategic plan is the “game plan” for
positioning the company in its chosen market arena,
competing successfully, satisfying customers, and
achieving good business performance
•To move from where you are today to where you want
to go, you have to first determine your ‘strategic
position’, or where you stand today
•You use insights gained to make prudent choices and
select appropriate courses of action
Gather information...
•Collect and effectively analyse information concerning
your strategic position, and general trends that might
affect your business
•The skill to gather data, analyse information, and use
the information to improve business processes and
efficiencies is an effective strategic thinking skill
•Identify patterns in your data that may be useful when
developing your strategic plan
•Using the S.W.O.T analysis is a trusted business tool
for identifying your opportunities and threats
S.W.O.T analysis…
Conducting a S.W.O.T analysis allows you to:
1. Understand your competitors’ strengths
and weaknesses
2. Focus on how you compare to your
competitors
3. Identify what activities you need to focus
on, and what activities are not necessary
4. Identify what activities you excel at
and need to continue to support
Does your company have the
capabilities to execute its strategy...?
•No organisation can successfully execute strategy
without the right people, processes and technology
capabilities
•You need a clear idea of what
your capabilities are and where your
deficiencies are
•Identify and assess capability
gaps and the management process
required to close the gaps
Vision and direction……
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Clarify your company direction
and purpose
Develop a sound strategic vision
The strategic vision needs to be realistic,
keeping in mind the necessities of the
enterprise and what is achievable
The goals should be specific and easily
measurable
Where do you want to be in 3 to 5 years
time?
Decision-making……
•
Use the strategic vision of the company
as a basis for all significant decisions
•
When making decisions, ask the
question: Does what we are considering
support the company’s strategic vision
and direction?
Strategic Planning...
•The strategic plan is the
“bridge” or road map
between where the
organisation is now and
where you want it to be
•There are different types of
strategic plans at different
levels within the organisation
Different types of strategic planning at
different levels within the organisation
External issues
Customer
perspective
Product/Service
perspective
Price
Quantity
Availability
Selection
Functionality
Service
Brand
Internal issues
Financial
perspective
Operational
structure
Productivity Operations
Strategy
Customer
management
Revenue
Innovative
Growth
processes
Stategies
Regulatory
and social
processes
Learning and
Growth
Human
capital
Information
capital
Organisation
capital
Learning and Growth Strategy
Human Capital
>Skills
>Training
>Knowledge
>Collaboration
>Roles and
responsibilities to
align with company
goals
Information
Capital
Organisation
Capital
>Systems
>Skills
>Databases
>Training
>Networks
>Knowledge
>Teamwork
Operational Structure
How to improve systems and operations
Operations
Management
Processes
Customer
Management
Processes
>processes
that produce
and deliver
products and
services
>processes
that enhance
customer
value
Innovative
Processes
>processes
that create
new products
and services
>Creativity and
innovative
thinking
Regulatory
and Social
Processes
>processes
that improve
communities
and the
environment
Customer/Client Management
Processes
•Customer management processes cut across all
your customers-current and new
•When acquiring and serving customers or clients
evaluate the following:
•Selection – are you identifying the right customers
whose problems you can solve?
•Acquisition-how many prospects are you turning
into customers?
•How effective is your marketing strategy?
•Retention – are you able to deliver what you
promised?
•Relationship – are you building on and growing your
relationship with your existing customers?
Resources
•Look at your resources – the assets that your
organisation uses to bring revenue into your business
..
Intangible
Tangible
Financial
Brand
Production facilities:
buildings, plants,
machinery, capacity,
investment, IT
resources
All items available
to finance or pay
for your strategic
decisions
Goodwill
Intellectual property
Reputation
•From a strategic perspective, you need to look at
what assets you have vs. what you need to
achieve your strategic plan
An example of a Strategic Map
Sustained shareholder value
Financial
Perspective
Customer
Perspective
Productivity Strategy
Revenue Growth Stategies
Improved cost
structure
Increased asset
utilisation
Enchance
customer value
Expand Revenue
Opportunities
price
availability
FunctIonality
Partnership
quantity
selection
Product/Service attributes
Internal
Perspective
Operations
Management
Customer
Management
Processes that
Processes that
produce and deliver enhance customer
products and
value
services
Learning &
Growth
Perspective
service
Relationship
brand
Image
Innovative
Processes
Regulatory &
Social Processes
Processes that
create new
products and
services
Processes that
improve
communities and
the environment
Human Capital
Information Capital
Organisational Capital
Skills, training,
knowledge
Systems, databases,
networks
Skills, training,
knowledge, teamwork
On-going monitoring &
Implementation
•Roll out specific action steps
•Ensure that action plans get underway
and work gets done
•Establish goals and action plans on an
annual basis
•Management to make a solid
commitment to the strategic planning
process and to view the process as an
“annual tune up” of the company
Accountability……
•
Accountability and high visibility are
needed to help drive change
•
Each measure, goal, data source and
initiative needs to have an owner
It’s a discipline, and an on-going
process….
•Approach strategic thinking as a
discipline — an ongoing process that
requires you to make connections
between seemingly unrelated things, to
think creatively, and then to prioritise and
make “trade-offs”
•It’s not a linear process, it’s circular,
incorporating the driving of continual
improvement, and moving the
organisation forward towards its vision
Summary of the characteristics of
successful strategic thinking
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Seeing opportunity
Having a clear vision and
direction
Engaging in problem-solving
Ongoing planning
Ongoing monitoring and
implementation of the plans
Accountability
Common mistakes
•Confusing marketing with
strategy
•Pursuing size above all else
•Thinking that growth is a
strategy
•Focusing on high growth
markets
Benefits of thinking strategically
•You chart a course that aligns with the overall strategy of
your company
•You make careful long-term decisions that complement and
align with decisions that others in your organisation are
making
•You gain your employees' commitment to supporting your
decisions
•You boost your company's performance and maximise
business results
•You foster a culture that supports fresh thinking and
embraces strategic initiative
“There are three
types of companies –
those that make
things happen,
those that watch
things happen, and
those that wonder
what happened”Anonymous
Presented by:
Name of presenter:
Position in firm:
Firm name:
Disclaimer- Whilst every care has been taken in
the compilation of this seminar, presentation
and handouts, no responsibility of any nature
whatsoever shall be accepted for any
inaccuracies, errors or omissions, nor for the
accuracy of any information contained in the
seminar handouts.