Business Strategy for the
HR Practitioner
29th March , 2012
Define strategy:
A road map for businesses to go where they want to go
How do we
get there?
Where do
we want
to be?
Where are we now?
Alice speaks to Cheshire Cat
`Would you tell me, please,
which way I ought to go from
here?'
`That depends a good deal on
where you want to get to,' said
the Cat.
`I don't much care where' said
Alice.
`Then it doesn't matter which
way you go,' said the Cat.
The cycle of HRs involvement in
business strategy
• HR plans in isolation
• HR strategy's reactive following business
plan publications
• HR inputs as an equal partner in strategy
formulation
Dave Ulrich: What you need to be good at to be Business
Partner
Strategic
contribution
defined:
Achieving results
Effective relationships
Communication skills
- Culture management
- Fast change
- Strategic decision
making
- Market driven
connectivity
Brockbank W. and Ulrich D. 'HR competencies that make a difference' in Storey J., Wright P.M. and Ulrich
D. 2009 (eds) 'The Concise Companion to Strategic Human Resource Management', OU Business School
and Routledge, London and New York.
Can you identify the business strategy?
Tesco vs. Asda
Louis Vuitton vs. Burberry
BP vs. Shell
PWC vs. Deloitte
Allen & Overy vs. Linklaters
Amazon vs. Waterstones
Cirque du Soleil vs. Northgate Arinso
Kornferry vs. Digby Morgan
Examples of business strategy
• High volume, low margin – dominating market share through price
and supply chain management
• Build market share through acquisition exploiting economies of
scale
• High value, high margin niches through brand building
• Create a new market or redefine old market
• Cartels with high barrier to entry – global players
with a key focus on service delivery
• Niche markets with high barriers to entry
Tools and techniques to help determine
business strategy
Porter’s 5 Forces
SWOT Analysis
trengths
eaknesses
pportunities
hreats
PEST Analysis
olitical
conomic
ocial
echnological
Kotler's 4 P’s
rice
roduct
romotion
lace
Threat of new
entrants
Bargaining
Bargaining
power of COMPETITIVE power of
RIVALRY
suppliers
buyers
The McKinsey 7S framework
tyle
tructure
taff
kills
ystems
hared Values
trategy
Threat of substitute
products
Adapted from M.E. Porter; Competitive Strategy,
Free Press, 1980.
What HR brings to the strategy party
We understand what employees want
and therefore can build engagement
We understand where talent lies inside
and outside the organisation
We can identify whether an acquisition
will be successful/we can put in place the
preconditions for a successful acquisition
We can create an agile organisation
Case Study
Savile Group plc
(see additional handout)
Concluding Remarks
•It’s not rocket science
•Need to understand your business,
your market, your point of competition,
what we bring to the party.
•The HR imperatives that arise from
business strategy
Contact Us