Why business strategist must wade through both conceptual and contextual thinking?

Business strategist for that matter any type of strategist must have excellent ability to think in terms of concept and in terms of the context where he is in.

It was Lord Buddha who originally introduced the first conceptual framework in human history wherein he presented the philosophy of Buddhism. He was able to do so after rigorous training of the mind focussing and variable analysis. He came out with cause and effect, a theorem all of us know and most of us practise.

Conceptual thinking is not necessarily a gift. Anyone can develop it by applying concentration & focus over a subject/issue/problem, developing alternative solutions, evaluating pros and cons of each of the alternatives, making trade-off if necessary and finally optimizing the use of means one has and achieving the ends one seeks. This optimization gives out the line of best fit or the right way which is chosen as strategy.

But no business strategist can stay in the high pedestal and dictate the chosen business strategy as the best and ram it on the throats of the operational managers. Before finalizing a strategy he must listen to those who are going to execute and must be able to foresee typical conditions that could prevail at the time of implementation.

Understanding the context in which line managers will be placed is the key factor that determines suitability of adopting a particular strategy. Everyone working in a firm understands that making profit is key for survival and at the same time a firm need to understand that it must give customers value proposition which they cannot simply reject.  

In a competitive and ever changing market place, a product however much innovative it is cannot command big following unless line managers fine-tune customer relationship, target customers and distribution channels.  Contextual thinking will highlight how all three aspects can be motivated to buy more and sell more. Paraphernalia of contextual thinking includes among other things, communication, demand management, persuading, trouble shooting, negotiation and decision making.

 

Cheers!

 

Muthu Ashraff Rajulu

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail:   cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist