Highlights of business strategy

Strategy, the word itself means many things to many people. Added with business it gets into more murky water than ever. Basically strategy must bundle three connected items means, ways and ends in an overall of value proposition. Before highlighting, let me start with definition of business strategy:

1.        A convenient way to define business strategy is to state, “A well thought out long term plan under the umbrella of business concept incorporating chosen methods, moves or a series of maneuverers chalked out by senior managers for obtaining a set of specific objectives of a business”. This definition characterises strategy as long-term, multi-dimensional, complex, and high-flown and having huge impact on business performance

2.        Analysts consider strategy as the thinking part of the business process driven by the vision of the stakeholders

3.        Although static at the beginning, strategy gives direction and sense of purpose in movement towards achieving business objectives adapting to circumstances arising in the market place

4.        Value optimization is the anchor on which strategy is fastened; by this, business seeks best possible benefits in a sustainable manner and over a long-term span

5.        Integration is the means whereby strategy connects various competing and complementary elements within a business. Like an alchemist, business strategist tries to drive the best mix, blend or configuration of resources and capabilities of business. In sum, strategy fuses many parts together to form a meaningful whole with a view to achieve set goals & objectives

6.        When you begin, business strategy is definitely of static nature. Never the less as you go on implementing it you need to look how it performs in the ever changing environment. Here the theme is nuanced so that business is able to respond to major changes taking place. Put it in another way, you can make broader adjustments to your strategy statement so that cognition of the impact of changes is reflected. We call this as “adaptive strategy”

7.        Here are two quotations from wartime leaders on adaptive strategy:

Sir Winston Churchill “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results”

Charles de Gaulle “You have to be fast on your feet and adaptive or else a strategy is useless.”

8.        Having said that, business strategy has a disadvantage in that it is not equipped to react to each and every change in a short time frame. Factoring market movements, alteration in consumer preferences and shift of business cycle into strategy takes quite some time, however much you are adaptive.

 

Cheers!

 

Muthu Ashraff Rajulu

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail:   cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist