What is Business Strategy anyway ?....

Business Strategy ?......heres a text book definition

The Goal of Business Strategy is to maximize the business’s Asset value over the foreseeable future by optimising the use of its resources.

Those strategic resources include money, people, knowledge, assets, relationships, intellectual property or any other factor that can be levered to increase an business's value.

"In real life - strategy is pretty straightforward ....you pick a general direction and implement like Hell" Jack Welch - his main principles are below

■ Step 1: Come up with a smart, realistic way to gain a sustainable competitive

advantage.

■ Step 2: Put the right people in the right jobs to drive Step 1 forward.

■ Step 3: Actively seek out the best practices to achieve the goal set in Step 1,

whether inside or out of the organization, adapt them and continually improve

them.

so for me its pretty straightforward ...(in theory!)

• Decide what you want to do (Markets)

• Agree how you are going to do it (Marketing Strategy)

• mobilise your resources to do it (Align Resources)

• do it (Operations)

• adapt, review and improve all areas as needed

the world is full of highly paid consultants and executives who over complicate strategy.

Sure its very complicated at times and the stakes are incredibly high .....but history teaches us that over-complication is the enemy of success.

"Keep it simple Stupid" (Kiss)

My Takeaways

• Do your homework and research thoroughly, spread the net as widely as possible - prioritise facts and knowledge, seek varied input and expertise across a wide range of sources

• Make decisions based on a rational review of all important factors

• Seek agreement between the key parties / sponsors at each stage

• Communicate strategies regularly to all Partners and Employees (Involve)

• Build Flexibility into all solutions and processes

• Challenge assumptions and decisions all the time - review review review

• Fail Fast and Fail Cheap (MVP/Pilots)

• Be swift and bold in implementation (Speed is vital to market in most cases )

• continually review, adapt and improve all areas of your Strategy(s)

based on my experience I have found that most companies eventually fail because of the last point....They do not adapt their business Strategies to the continually changing market landscape. The Business world is littered with failed Blue Chip Companies and that fate definitely sits in the hands of the CEO and the Board.

I'll take a quick look at Marketing Strategy next .....

Neil