How Winning Companies Dominate Their Competitors
STRATEGY
PURE AND SIMPLE II
(Michel Robert/McGraw-Hill Professional Pub/
November 1997/269 pages/$24.95)
STRATEGY PURE AND SIMPLE II
How Winning Companies Dominate Their Competitors
MAIN IDEA
Most companies are so focused on operational issues they miss major trends and
changes that could have bought them vast new strategic opportunities. The key to
avoiding this problem is developing the skills required to think strategically.
The strategic thinking process, differentiating between operational issues and strategic
issues, suggests the key to corporate success does not lie in attempting to outperform
other companies operationally, but to out think them strategically.
From that perspective, the ultimate business strategy for dealing with competitors is one
that makes competition irrelevant.
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Main Idea
The strongest possible competitive position to be in is to have no competition.
Companies achieve that by developing and executing a distinctive strategy that makes
competition irrelevant.
Supporting Ideas
The objective in business is not to have an even playing field, but to find ways to tilt the
playing field to your advantage. A proactive business strategy will consistently keep all
potential competitors off balance and in a defensive frame of mind.
Many companies try to secure market share simply by outmarketing, outmanufacturing
or outperforming their competitors -- an imitation or cloning strategy. Imitation may be
an excellent form of flattery, but as a strategy it leaves much to be desired.
Instead of trying to outmuscle competitors, the focus should be on outthinking them with
a distinctive strategy that completely changes the rules by which everyone else is forced
to play.
In every industry that has ever been studied, significant changes in market share never
occur when every participant has tried to follow the leader. Big changes occur only
when someone does something distinctive -- usually something that goes completely
against conventional wisdom in that field. Only then will substantial and sustainable
shifts in market share occur.
Strategic thinking, therefore, always begins with the intent to formulate and develop a
strategy which will differentiate the company and make competition of little or no actual
relevance.
Key Thoughts
‘‘The companies that will prosper and outpace their competitors during the next two
decades will be those that will be able to outthink their competitors strategically, not out
muscle them operationally. The winning CEO in the future will be the one who can craft
a singular strategy that gives the company a distinctive advantage.’’
-- Michel Robert
‘‘In many industries, what some call hypercompetition is a self inflicted wound. The root
of the problem is failure to distinguish between operational effectiveness and strategy.
Operational effectiveness is necessary but not sufficient. A company can outperform
rivals only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve.’’
-- Michael Porter
‘‘To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.’’
-- General Sun Tzu
‘‘The conventional approach which still dominates drug development at the big houses,
relies on hit-or-miss screenings of thousands of compounds in the hope of finding one
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that has medicinal properties. Only 1 out of 10,000 winds up on the market. By contrast,
the biotech approach starts with the substances the body already manufactures, either
to heal directly or to act as signals that mobilize the response to an intruder. Biotech
companies analyze the structure of these compounds and use genetic engineering to
copy them. With the biotech approach, a remarkable one out of every ten possibilities
has proved out.’’
-- Fortune Magazine
Main Idea
Strategic thinking specifies and articulates what a business or organization will look like
in the future. Operational planning specifies how to get there.
Supporting Ideas
Strategic thinking is the framework for strategic planning and operational planning.
Most companies fall in one quadrant or another on the following chart:
Quadrant A companies have a clear business strategy, backed up by operational
strength. They have all the elements in place for sustained success.
Quadrant B companies have built success on operational strength but lack a vision of
where they’re heading. They’re likely to succeed for a period, but not over the longer
term.
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Quadrant C companies know where they want to be, but fail to implement ideas
effectively. Their business success is likely to ebb and flow with general market
conditions.
Quadrant D companies usually don’t survive long. They fail to move in any one direction
for an extended period, and lack an ability to execute.
Effective strategic thinking builds Quadrant A companies.
Key Thoughts
‘‘Not in a very long time -- not, perhaps, since the late 1940s or early 1950s -- have
there been as many new major management techniques as there are today: downsizing,
outsourcing, total quality management, economic value analysis, benchmarking,
re-engineering. Each is a powerful tool. But, with the exceptions of outsourcing and
re-engineering, these tools are designed primarily to do differently what is already being
done. These are "how to" tools.
Yet "what to do" is increasingly becoming the challenge facing management, especially
those of big companies that have enjoyed long-term success. The story is a familiar
one: a company that was a superstar only yesterday finds itself stagnating and
frustrated, in trouble and in a seemingly unmanageable crisis.’’
-- Peter Drucker
Main Idea
The main reasons man companies fail to think strategically:
1. Ambiguity
2. Domination of operational thinking
3. Reactivity rather than proactivity
4. Complacency, Inability to think long-term
5. Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up
6. Historical vs. Visionary
7. Risk avoidance vs. opportunity exploitation
8. Focus on strategic planning rather than strategic thinking
9. Lack of a formal process for strategic thinking
Supporting Ideas
1. Ambiguity
Each member of the management team means something different -- even when they
say the same thing.
2. Domination of operational thinking
Most management attention is directed towards the "how" of the business rather than
worrying about the "what" issues.
3. Reactivity rather than proactivity
Letting the company’s direction be shaped by external factors rather than making
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conscious, rational decisions.
4. Complacency, Inability to think long-term
Thinking that because things are going fine at present, there’s no need to worry about
long-term planning.
5. Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up
Operational systems tend to be "bottom up" -- dealing with the knitty gritty. The
strategy of the company, by contrast, will be "top down" -- specified by those in
positions of responsibility.
6. Historical vs. Visionary
Traditional corporate planning took past performance as a base and extrapolated
forward. Strategic planning looks at how best to alter products, markets and
customers.
7. Risk avoidance vs. opportunity exploitation
Companies which are required to meet near-term targets tend to avoid taking risks,
particularly those which are long-term results oriented.
8. Focus on strategic planning rather than strategic thinking
Strategic thinking focuses on qualitative issues which don’t necessarily translate
directly into numbers. Formal strategic planning, by contrast, can be highly structured
and quantitative -- defeating the essential conditions for good strategic thinking to
flourish.
9. Lack of a formal process for strategic thinking
The fact that many companies do not have an established process for strategic
thinking leads many people to think (incorrectly) it is of little consequence.
Key Thoughts
‘‘Management should understand that strategic planning encompasses two distinct
functions: long-range planning and strategy formulation. Confusing these two activities
has contributed to the sorry record of strategic planning. They are better performed
separately.’’
-- Milton Lauenstein
Main Idea
The four key questions, which will influence the future strategic direction of a company,
are:
1. What products/services will get less/more emphasis?
2. Which customers will receive/not receive products,services?
3. Which market segments will we pursue / not pursue?
4. Which geographic markets will we seek / not seek?
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Supporting Ideas
The key roles management plays in effecting the look and feel of a company over time
are:
1. Allocation of resources to those business areas showing the greatest potential for
growth.
2. Making a decision about which opportunities to pursue and which should not be
pursued.
Assessing future opportunities is a critical test of a company’s strategy. Every company
or organization has one key element around which its competitive position is built. This
key element or strategic driver may be:
1. A unique product or service concept strategy
In this case, future products will likely be enhancements of current products.
2. A specific user or customers category
Here, business growth will depend on adding new products that existing customers
have an affinity for.
3. A market- or category-driven strategy
The company has anchored its business to a specific market or category. Again,
expand by adding complementary products.
4. Production capacity driven strategy
Strategy is to exploit production capacity by keeping it fully deployed. Grow by adding
more similar jobs.
5. Technology / know-how driven strategy
Expand by applying technology to new markets, or by acquiring complimentary
technologies.
6. Sales/marketing driven strategy
Based on owning a unique sales or distribution channel. Expand by adding more
products.
7. Distribution method driven strategy
Based on owning a unique way of moving products or services to the customer. Again,
add products to expand.
8. Natural resource driven strategy
Based on exploitation of resource rights. Expand by negotiating additional resource
rights.
9. Size / growth driven strategy
Based on economies of scale delivering a competitive advantage. Build by increasing
volumes further.
10. Rate of return / profit driven strategy
Based on being willing to do anything legal that shows a profit. Expand by adding more
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profit generating enterprises.
The key strategic questions are:
1. What is the company’s current driving force?
2. What should its future driving force be?
3. What are the direct implications of the driving force on products, markets and
customers?
Main Idea
Until a company analyzes where its key element or driving force is derived, it can’t
develop an effective strategy. That one element or driver will be the key to building and
sustaining the company’s competitive advantage.
Supporting Ideas
Some common questions about the concept of a strategic driver:
1. Can a company have more than one driving force?
Not if it wants to succeed. To achieve long-term success, a single driving force must
permeate everything the company does. To do otherwise confuses the market and
lowers business volumes.
2. Isn’t profit ultimately the only strategic driver?
Actually profit is the result of the strategy employed – a measure of its effectiveness.
It’s seldom the sole reason for a company’s existence. Profits are necessary to survive
over the long haul, but almost all companies are based on something other than pure
profits alone.
3. Shouldn’t every company be customer driven?
Every organization needs to be sensitive to the needs of its customers or it will not
succeed, but that is not necessarily the main focus of the culture within the company.
4. Don’t companies naturally evolve from one driver to another?
No. A good strategy stays in place until management elects to change it. Otherwise,
the company is just drifting along at the whim of external forces. Strategy is proactive.
5. Do all companies in the same industry have the same strategy?
No. Several companies, each with different driving forces, will usually exist in each
industry.
6. Can’t all 10 driving forces be pursued simultaneously?
This is a path which leads to diminished results, since no single factor is optimized.
Instead of averaging out, the company ends up excelling at nothing -- and confusing
the marketplace in the meantime.
However, if your company is not continuously trying to improve the quality of its
products, increasing its level of customer service, reducing its manufacturing costs and
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growing revenues and profits from year to year, it won’t be in business long enough to
take advantage of its driving force anyway. Those goals are assumed to be held by all
organizations.
Key Thoughts
‘‘What you are trying to do in defining your driving force / strategic drive is to answer the
following question:
Which component of the business goes beyond the givens and represents our area of
strategic advantage and strategic leverage against our competitors?’’
-- Michel Robert
‘‘My success in business has largely been the result of my ability to focus on long-term
goals and ignore short-term distractions. When your business is healthy, it is difficult to
behave as if you are in a crisis. That’s why one of the toughest parts of managing,
especially in a high-tech business, is to recognize the need for change and make it while
you still have a chance.’’
-- Bill Gates
Main Idea
1. A good business concept statement should be one or at most two paragraphs long
with every single word well thought out.
2. The ability of people to execute a business concept statement is inversely
proportionate to its length.
Supporting Ideas
Mission statements, strategic concept statements, business concept statements are all
the same thing. They identify which areas of the business are more important than
others so that consistent decisions can be made throughout the organization.
Key elements of a good statement:
1. The first sentence specifies the company’s driving force or strategic lever.
2. Next, the specific areas in which that driving force will be applied should be specified.
3. The statement must have an underlying tone of growth and long-term success
4. The statement must reflect present conditions and future intent.
Examples:
1. Our strategy is to market, manufacture and distribute saw blade products made from
strip metal stock that provide exceptional value.
We will concentrate on high performance, material separation applications where we
can leverage our integrated manufacturing capabilities to develop customized,
innovative, consumable products with demonstrable advantages that bring premium
prices.
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We will seek out customer segments and geographic markets where the combination
of superior distribution and technical support services will give us an additional
competitive advantage.
2. Our strategy is to leverage our know-how in the formulation and manufacturing of
polymer based composites.
We will seek growth opportunities and niche applications in market segments for which
we can design differentiated value-added, consumable products.
We will concentrate in geographic areas with growing demand where we can supply
superior technical support.
3. Our strategy is to fulfill the complete spectrum of health care needs of cancer patients
and their families.
We respond with treatment options that truly make a difference, delivered by the ablest
professionals in a seamless and sensitive manner.
We will concentrate on geographic markets in which we can develop competitive
advantage with all constituencies involved in cancer care.
Our intent is to be the recognized leader in providing positive, measurable outcomes.
Key Thoughts
‘‘A mission statement is defined as a long awkward sentence that demonstrates
management’s inability to think clearly.’’
-- Dilbert
‘‘Follow me.’’
-- Lawrence of Arabia
Main Idea
Companies or organizations that excel over an extended period of time do so because
they deliberately cultivate specific areas of excellence.
An area of excellence is a skill, competence or capability the company cultivates to a
level of proficiency greater than anything else it does, and better than any competitors
can do.
Supporting Ideas
No single company has sufficient resources to develop expertise in every business field.
Areas of excellence are an integral part of the development of a coherent business
strategy. They can be used in this way:
1. A company must determine which specific strategic area will drive its business
concept, and the subsequent direction of the company.
2. Next, two or three specific areas of excellence must be identified. These will be the
two or three skills required to successfully execute the company’s strategy.
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3. These areas of excellence should then receive preferential treatment in the allocation
of resources. Companies should avoid the temptation to be distracted away from what
has made them successful. Instead, ways should be found to increase resources in
these areas to develop skills and competencies far greater than competitors will offer.
Examples:
1. For a technology / know-how driven company, the areas of excellence are usually:
1. Research (basic or applied)
2. The ability to create new markets driven by needs
3. Applications marketing - finding uses for technology
2. For a distribution method driven strategy, the areas of excellence may be:
1. The most efficient distribution method
2. An ability to optimize the system’s effectiveness.
3. For a product or service concept driven business, areas of excellence may include:
1. The quality of the product and ongoing enhancements
2. Service
Each of the strategic drives will have different emphasis on various areas of excellence.
The key lies in stressing only those areas of excellence which are aligned with the
overall business concept.
Key Thoughts
‘‘It took the Marriott company over a decade to figure out that it had special expertise in
running hospitality and food service operations.’’
-- Bill Marriott
‘‘Our distribution facilities are one of our keys to success. If we do anything better than
other folks, that’s it.’’
-- Bill Glass, CEO, Wal-Mart
‘‘The main difference between us and our competitors is that we have more capacity to
track, trace and control items in the system.’’
-- Fred Smith, CEO, Federal Express
Main Idea
Successful companies find ways to leverage their unique set of capabilities (their driving
force and their areas of excellence) across the largest number of products and markets.
Supporting Ideas
Strategic leverage means that instead of being content with simply achieving 1 + 1 = 2,
companies seek out innovative ways to achieve 1 + 1 = 3 or 4 or 5. To do that,
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something that is developed for one product, customer group or geographic market
must then be applied to all the company’s products, customers and geographic markets
if the company is to stay ahead of its competitors.
An example: Walt Disney Corporation
It develops a character, Aladdin, and builds an animated film around that character.
Then, it introduces Aladdin look-alikes at Disneyland and Disney World. Next, Aladdin
dolls are sold at the company’s theme parks and at Disney stores across the world.
Then, the film is shown on Disney’s cable channel. Next, the Aladdin character is
licensed to other product manufacturers. Next, the video version of the film is sold. And
so on. At every step of the process, Disney is leveraging the value of the character it has
created.
A company can only achieve this if the management:
1. Understand which strategic area drives the business enterprise, and thus the
direction of the organization.
2. Identifies specific areas of excellence within the company which should be fueled with
the resources required to develop a level of proficiency greater than any competitors.
By and large, most innovations stem from prior knowledge. This is equally true for
product and service innovations. Therefore, a company which has unique strategic
capabilities is ideally positioned to develop breakthroughs that would not be available to
any other organization. Management’s challenge, then, is to leverage those
breakthroughs across as many markets and as many products as possible.
Key Thoughts
‘‘You have to be in command of your core technology. For us, it’s power
semiconductors (electronic switching devices for high voltage transmission), and I
wouldn’t dream of buying them from the Japanese.’’
-- Percy Barnevik, CEO, ABB
‘‘We’ve been accumulating optoelectronics know-how for 21 years.’’
-- Haruo Tsuji, President, Sharp
‘‘I’ve always liked this about the strategic thinking process. It brings a sense of
ownership, it brings a sense of entrepreneurship, it brings a sense of teamwork and
consensus. The people become integrated in the process. That’s what it comes down to.
It diminishes egos. It diminishes ultimatums. It diminishes the possibility of the company
getting off into something that we shouldn’t be into. There are so many checks and
balances. Turf issues are forgotten. You bring down the wall on egos.’’
-- Jim Moonye, CEO, OM Group Inc.
Main Idea
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The best way to outperform a competitor is to change the rules of play.
Supporting Ideas
How does a company change the competitive rules for an industry?
1. The mark of a successful strategy is that you influence what happens in your industry.
Therefore, look for a strategy that will give control, rather than simply reacting to what
every one else is doing.
2. Identify which competitors will be attracted to your strategy.
3. Anticipate what each of your competitor’s driving force is at present, based on what
they’re currently doing in the marketplace.
4. Based on their respective driving forces, develop a competitive profile for each of
your competitors. Try to understand how they will respond to specific market moves.
5. Manage the competitor’s strategy by taking actions in the marketplace that will exploit
the weak points of your competitor’s strategies. That is, based on their driving force
and business concept, make strategic moves that will exploit weakness in your
competitor’s businesses.
6. In addition to exploiting weak points in your competitor’s strategy, you can also
proactively act to neutralize competitors. Do that not by copying but by attacking their
strategy and areas of excellence directly. If you can dilute your competitor’s areas of
excellence, you can then gain control of the marketplace, and start setting the agenda.
7. Choose your competitors rather than letting them choose you. A company chooses its
competitors by limiting the market within which it competes, and avoiding being drawn
into markets by mistake. You can also limit the competitors you go after -- attacking
them one at a time rather than all simultaneously.
8. Resist the urge to attack a competitor’s weaknesses – that will only make them
stronger in the longer term. It’s far better, and ultimately more productive, to attack
them head on – in their areas of excellence and in their business strategy. That’s
where the real control of any market will reside.
Key Thoughts
‘‘What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.’’
-- General Sun Tzu
‘‘I have studied the enemy all my life. I have read the memoirs of his generals and
leaders. I have even read his philosophers and listened to his music. I have studied in
detail the account of every damned one of his battles. I know exactly how he will react
under any given set of circumstances. And he doesn’t have the slightest idea what I’m
going to do. So when the time comes, I’m going to whip the hell out of him.’’
-- General George Patton
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Main Idea
The key to corporate longetivity -- a fountain of youth, in essence -- is strategic product
creation and innovation. That is, the creation of new products for the markets of the
future.
Supporting Ideas
To avoid corporate stagnation:
1. Avoid the urge to think your cash cow must stay unchanged. Instead of protecting it,
keep finding ways to enhance and improve it.
2. Avoid the urge to consider your market to be mature. That’s a frame of mind only.
There are always new opportunities available -- especially if you’re fragmenting the
market into more specific niches on a regular and consistent basis.
3. Avoid thinking your product is a commodity unable to be differentiated. It’s just a cop
out. There are always ways to distinguish and add value to your product which will be
distinctive and unique.
4. Avoid thinking only small companies can innovate. New product innovations can
come from entrepreneurial employees just as readily as they can come to
entrepreneurs.
5. Avoid thinking innovators are born, not made. Product creation can be accomplished
by anyone. It’s a function of the management system rather than a trait of personality.
6. Avoid thinking product creation is too risky. It’s far riskier to let your competitors
innovate while you hold the status quo. Make prudent investments in new products and
services.
7. Avoid thinking that product or service innovation needs vast amounts of resources.
Some of the greatest products in history have been developed on shoestring budgets
-- it may even be a factor that stimulates rather than impedes the creative process.
Key Thoughts
‘‘Being customer-driven is certainly a good thing, but if you’re so much customer-driven
that you’re merely following yesterday’s trends, then ultimately, customers won’t be
driving your supposedly customer-driven products. Let’s face it. The customer is, at best,
just a rear view mirror. He can tell you what he likes about the choices out there. But
when it comes to the future, why, I ask, should we expect the customer to be the expert
in clairvoyance or in creativity? After all, isn’t that what he expects us to be?’’
-- Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman, Chrysler
‘‘I’ve never gambled in my life. To me, a gambler is someone who plays the slot
machines. I prefer to own the slot machines. Less risk.’’
-- Donald Trump
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‘‘If the market you’re in isn’t growing, you’d better find a way to make it grow.’’
-- D. Wayne Calloway, CEO, PepsiCo
‘‘The best defense is pre-emptive self-destruction and renewal. We have to be willing to
cannibalize what we’re doing today in order to ensure our leadership in the future. It’s
counter to human nature, but you have to kill your business while it is still working.’’
-- Lewis Platt, CEO, Hewlett Packard
Main Idea
Although everyone seems to believe in the myth of rapid technological change, in the
real world, technologies change over an extended period of time. The only people that
can be surprised by these changes are those who have not been looking for signs of
change.
Supporting Ideas
Consider some of the changes that are taking place:
1. By the year 2010, more than 50-percent of the world’s population will be 55 years or
older. Therefore, products must be developed with older consumers in mind.
2. Until the mid-1970s, the world economy was in push mode -- anything that was
produced was gobbled up by eager customers. Since then, business has operated in
pull mode -- where the customer’s preferences rule.
3. To service the pull economy, markets must be fragmented into niches and specific
products developed for each niche if a company is to succeed.
4. Products, therefore, are becoming differentiated more and more by their niche
specific traits. Instead of moving towards the commodity approach, products are now
moving towards a niche specific orientation.
5. Niche specific products can have premium pricing which reflects their value to the
consumer, rather than having a generic price for a commodity product. Higher margins,
therefor, are achievable for high value-added products and services.
6. Niche products, in general, have shorter economic lives than commodity products.
Therefore, manufacturing flexibility rather than economies of scale are vital in the pull
economy.
7. In a pull economy, both product innovation and process innovation must be practiced
on an ongoing basis.
8. In a pull economy, brand loyalty becomes less of an issue. Value-for-money and
loyalty to yourself become more important than loyalty to a brand.
9. In push economies, manufacturers set the market rules. In pull economies,
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customers not only set all the rules but also change them at will. As a result, successful
companies need to be both nimble and responsive.
All of these factors are long-term trends that are changing markets and the competitive
dynamics therein. They’re also obvious -- as long as someone is keeping an eye out for
them.
Key Thoughts
‘‘U.S. industry clings to outmoded strategies, like inflexible mass production of a large
number of standard goods that do not reflect the growing demand for individualized
custom quality products. This system, pioneered by Henry Ford, can be likened to a
giant wheel of production, where workers, suppliers and other participants are highly
specialized cogs. The objective is to keep the wheel turning, no matter what. Anyone
who misbehaves is replaced. By contrast, the new systems of production, both in
best-practice U.S. companies and abroad, entail a nimbler approach where broadly
trained workers produce shorter runs of tailored goods. They are winning over the older
system of mass production.’’
-- Michael Dertouzos, Director,
MIT Lab for Computer Science
Main Idea
One of the modern corporate buzzwords is strategic alliance. Most will fail in the real
world, however. The only strategic alliances which will succeed will be those between
companies that have driving forces and areas of excellence that align to create
synergies.
Supporting Ideas
The don’ts of strategic alliances:
1. Don’t form an alliance to correct a weakness. Successful alliances are always 50-50
partnerships.
2. Don’t form an alliance with a company which is trying to correct its own weakness -for the same reason.
3. Don’t form an alliance to license your proprietary technology to another party. Exploit
it for yourself.
4. Don’t form an alliance around a product or a market – they change too quickly.
The do’s of strategic alliances:
1. Do form an alliance to exploit a unique strength that you possess -- because nobody
else will be able to supplicate what you’re doing.
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2. Do form an alliance with a partner who is equal to your organization in all important
areas.
3. Do form an alliance with another company if both you and they have neither the ability
nor the desire to acquire the other party’s unique strengths.
4. Do form alliances around the basis of unique skills, capabilities, know-how or
technologies. The alliance can then work together to develop markets.
Key Thoughts
‘‘A few years ago, at our annual CEO Symposium, we invited four of our CEO clients to
speak about the pros and cons of alliances and acquisitions. Between the four of them,
they had been involved in over 200 such ventures. To a person, they concluded that if
they had to do it over again, they would not repeat making any of those acquisitions.
The trauma of trying to merge organizations, structures, processes and systems, skills
and competencies, and, most significant of all, cultures, is not worth the effort. Each of
them offered that, after their experiences, they should have built these businesses
in-house.
In fact, one CEO offered a remarkable piece of advice: "Rather than buy the company,
buy their key people and grow the business yourself. It’s much cheaper and much
easier."’’
-- Michel Robert
‘‘The best competitive position to be in is to have no competition. That position can only
be achieved by not playing the game the way your competitors play the game, but rather
by formulating and deploying a distinctive strategy that changes the rules in your favour.
By changing the rules of play, you neutralize and paralyze the leader. While the leader
is temporarily immobilized and on the sidelines, you can make significant gains against
that competitor.’’
-- Michel Robert
Main Idea
Strategic thinking is the process used by the leader of a company or organization to
articulate a clear, concise and explicit strategy and vision for the organization as a
whole.
Supporting Ideas
The schematic diagram below summarizes the various elements that are part of the
strategic thinking process (as set out in this summary), and the interrelationship that
exists between these elements in any company or organization.
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* * *
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