Monthly Archives: July 2014

Strategic Planning: Who are your customers?

Strategic Planning, Strategy

When you study strategy, strategic management and other aspects of forward view of the organization you come across a lot of models and frameworks.

You have Porter’s “Five Forces”, the Boston Consulting Group’s “Growth-Share matrix, the Balanced Scorecard, the innovation funnel, the Harman Fan, and more besides. You no doubt have favourites, have perhaps massaged some of them to fit your circumstance, even seeing one or two as meaningless.

Well, Derek Abell’s perspectives on customers stands out to me.

Derek taught and performed research at Harvard Business School, and the same in Europe. From 2003 he was establishing business schools throughout Eastern Europe and Russia as well as consulting to many international organisations.

His theory, which has been established in practice, is basically when looking at your customers, there are three components:

  • Customer needs
  • Customer groups
  • Distinct competencies that you have in meeting these needs

So, who are your customers, what are their needs & what do you bring to the table?

For more, visit Dellium Advisory, follow on Twitter, connect using LinkedIn, or review my IT-centric blog.

Strategic Planning: What is your vision?

Strategic Planning, Strategy, Vision

The vision statement indicates the characteristics of your organisation in the future and can help answer many questions about what it does.

Now, it is important that a vision statement be able to stand the test of time and provide guidance to decision makers as they determine the direction of the organisation into the future. It’s vital that your vision statement is a reflection of your intent.

Most vision statements include some aspects of three important elements:

  • a core ideology
  • an envisioned future
  • recognition of service to stakeholders

The core ideology of the vision statement contains a statement about the firm’s values and “reason for being.” The envisioned future is a statement that describes what the organisation will be like if it achieves its most important goals. What does success look like. Whilst the final part of the vision statement is the recognition of how the organisation serves its stakeholders, including owners/creditors, employees and customers, as well as the community and society.

 

 
For more, visit Dellium Advisory, follow on Twitter, connect using LinkedIn, or review my IT-centric blog.

Focus your organisation’s energy

Strategic Planning, Strategy

We all know that strategic planning is good. But why?

One of the outcomes of planning your organisation’s strategies is that it brings focus to what you are doing. With that focus comes a more effective and efficient release of, if you will, organisational energy.

Think of a top athlete. That athlete puts aside all distractions in order to focus their energy on winning.

Think of an A-grade student. That student ensures that their attention is devoted to subject mastery.

Think of your business, your company, your organization. To achieve the best outcome, to realise efficient resource usage, to be the most productive: there needs to be focus to all of your activities.

And without a properly formed and considered strategic plan to guide the release of the energy that is within your organisation, sub-optimal outcomes are yours.

Investment is wasted, staff are not used appropriately, business development resources are wasted. Business direction is a circle instead of an arrow.

Good strategic planning will focus your organisation’s energy.

 

For more, visit Dellium Advisory, follow on Twitter, connect using LinkedIn, or review my IT-centric blog.