Strategy can be a success or another thick booklet accommodate swelling trade one of the cabinet drawers in your office. Approximately 95% of these strategies fail to materialize. Is your strategy succeed?
As a manager you are required to build a strategy for the organization you manage. Building a strategic plan is an opportunity to look deeper on core competencies and precisely focused preparation in front of the competition provided the certainty or uncertainty in which you operate. A strategic plan is required for each type of business and any size – whether you work alone from home and whether you are running a publicly traded company.
In the first stage it is advisable to reconsider and examine the business strategy – what is the compass or what is the North Star of your targeted (strategy of the company, or the business unit you are heading).
Your business strategy should answer basic questions and simple to understand (but not necessarily easy and practical implementation).
Where I would like to lead the company / business unit? In other words, the organization where I want to be in three years or more?
This simple question focuses on one of three levels of business: growth, positioning and efficiency. (A detailed list of questions certainly will help you focus your strategy).
The main questions I need to ask them first refer to the basic notion of the organization:
• Do I act in a competitive market or trying to build a new niche?
• Do I want to beat the competitors through aggressive approach, purchase them or merge with them and perhaps make them less relevant market?
• Do I fight existing market or trying to create new demand through products / services unique solutions?
Each strategy deals with several levels of generic – growth, positioning and efficiency.
First level – growth
Business growth reflected growth in profitability and / or an increase in revenue – seemingly very clear to all of us want to sell more, get higher revenue, but what’s our choice when there is no necessary correlation between revenue growth and growth in profitability, what is more true to the organization, which serves our opinion, the the ultimate goal and where we want to see our organization in three years?
• What revenue target that I am planning?
• What is the working assumptions on which I based the definition of income target?
• What are the core anchors Eshel organization or practice what is required to maintain the income from the core activity?
• What are the growth engines I plan to develop them, what is required to do, how to act and what revenue forecast areas / new products.
• What% revenue growth I craves and how I plan to reach my goal?
What earnings target to which I aspire to?
• What are the working assumptions on which I based the definition of target profitability?
• What activities or areas that will contribute to reaching the target of profitability?
• What are the risks I’m taking?
• What changes reasonably expected scenarios (most favorable scenario, adverse scenario most likely scenario)?
What is my target market share? Or what my target segment unique?
• Is it important for us that growth will be reflected in market share, is important for us to lead the market, what implications, what investment required, how it will affect the profitability of the organization?
• What is the market share which I directed and why?
• What is my choice to be a leader in this market, or perhaps both or just survive?
• What is my position on the market – what my current market share?
• What is the way I plan to work (protecting my position, or attack to reach a higher place)?
• What is a segment of customers which is important for us to grow? What we take the right steps to grow in that segment? (As we more accurately segment to which we turn, more focused message we give to, recognizing the need of the segment and what the response and our response to what is the purpose of the segment).
• Who are the customers to which I directed? What their unique needs? For what purpose they are looking for a solution? What bothers them / their pain? What I am going to offer them?
Competitive analysis and market trends
• where the market is going? What key trends in the market?
• Who are the major players in the market? Who is my competition and what field?
• What is the strategy of the competitors and what threat to me?
• What places should I take and what defense strategy places where I need to run an attack strategy?
• Who is the competition and / or areas of activity to gain?
Core competencies and entry into new sectors?
• What are the core competencies of the organization? What do we know?
• What is required to improve, innovate and develop core capabilities to match the needs of the market?
• What are the new directions of activity are in synergy with the core activities of the organization?
• What areas of activity and / or products / services should organize to enter them?
• What is right organization developing a product / service or a merger or acquisition?
• What activities should the organization to outsource?
• What is the cost / benefit of each alternative?
• What is risk management in all alternative?
• What is the change in the market and what effect that any alternative?
Level two – positioning
The positioning of the product / service / organization and my perception relies on differentiation I can produce, the perceived uniqueness, added value and contribution to the client, the status of the organization / product / service market.
• What added value and contribution to the client company / sole bring (whether foreign customers or clients face)?
• What is the differentiation of the organization / product / service (what is special and what is different and not the same as others)?
• What is the value of differentiation in the eyes of customers? Some are willing to pay for differentiation?
• What stands in the market? What should I say (the Company / unit)?
• What is important for me to preserve and why? What is important for me to improve and how much? What is important for me to change and why?
• What is important for me to have the status of the company / unit. What’s important to me to say?
• What needs to happen and change in order to maintain and / or improve and / or change the positioning of the company / unit?
• What are the areas which should enter in order to improve the positioning of the organization?
Third level – Efficiency
Organizational efficiency is a strategic objective significance aggressive and competitive conditions is reflected in the development of advanced technology, stripping processes, the availability of financial savings translate service.
• What is my target efficiency? In what areas? A few percent?
• What is the purpose of the efficiency? What is improving? What she serve?
• What technological systems and / or processes that have to buy / build for efficiency?
• What are the core processes to improve / streamline them?
• What is important for me to improve the level of work processes, the level of simplicity and understanding?
• What is my target financial savings?
• What is my goal stripping processes?
• What is my target service availability and customer satisfaction?
essence
Strategy is the direction and where you hope to bring to your organization, to create a precise strategy for you to identify and map well to the external environment in which you operate, market, trends, competitors. Accurately define the place of your organization in this market and choose to run Red Ocean – Multi competitors working aggressively price or alternatively operate blue ocean through a unique niche that can be translated into measurable added value and customer value. After selection and focus is important to examine the core competencies and activities which anchors organization has a comparative advantage, it has a lean and is the core activity of the organization. The choice of headings expanding operations and creating growth engines is significant in defining the strategy of attack is to acquire companies, merge or develop your own. All of the alternatives brings benefits and requires in-depth discussion. Select one of the alternatives set investment strategy. All this and more is the basis for the decision and building a strategy for your organization.
Sometimes, when a manager has no good answer regarding one of its decisions is used to point out that this strategic decision. My clients, needless to say do not think or act that way.
Strategy is to target it where I’m aiming. Setting a plan and resources on how to reach the goal I set for myself – this is the translation strategy. Long-term plan is the result of the strategy is not necessarily the strategy itself.
This questionnaire could be used as a basis for building your business strategy and is part of a broad questionnaire, rich and detailed.