Introduction to Strategy Jill Bamburg Bainbridge Graduate Institute

Introduction to Strategy Jill Bamburg Bainbridge Graduate Institute October, 2007

What Is Strategy? • Can be at all organizational levels: company, business unit, functional area, product, customer, etc. • Big picture, long-term, major impact, significant, a platform for other decisions and actions • Uncertainty, big bets on an unknown future

Three Important Threads With apologies to Henry Mintzberg • Plan: Michael Porter et. Al. • Process: An OD perspective • Pattern: Henry Mintzberg

Strategy as Plan • The mainstream view: Harvard, GE, Mc. Kinsey, BCG • Key authors: Porter, Prahalad & Hamel, Kaplan & Norton, Slywotzky • Rational, systematic, analytical, predictable, uses numbers, left-brained

Strategy as Process • Mission, vision, values Strategy Implementation • Multi-stakeholder process • Focus on alignment

Strategy as Pattern with thanks to Henry Mintzberg Int e Str nde ate d gy De libe rate Str at egy Unrealized Strategy nt e g er Em gy e t a Str Realized Strategy

My Biases • Plan: My focus • Process: Alignment = key issue • Pattern: Strategy and Innovation Focus and Opportunism

Strategy as Plan(ning) Mission, Vision, Values Environmental Scanning Strategy Formulation External Creation of Alternatives Internal SWOT Evaluation of Alternatives Selection of Alternatives Strategy Implementation Evaluation & Control Balanced Scorecard Annual Planning and Budgeting Cycle Unplanned Opportunities?

Environmental Scanning • External • Internal • SWOT • PEST(E): Political, Economic, Sociocultural, Technological, Environmental • Industry Analysis, Competitive Analysis • • • Core competencies Value chain analysis Resource assessment • Strengths, Weaknesses/ Opportunities, Threats

Strategy Formulation: Choosing among Alternatives • Creation • Forecasting • Backcasting • Scenario Planning • Evaluation • Criteria • Evaluation against criteria • Plotting: BCG, GE, 2 x 2 s, others • Selection • Judgment • Politics

Implementation (and Evaluation/Control) Strategic Planning FUTURE FOCUSED Balanced Scorecard Annual Planning and Budgeting GROUNDED IN HISTORY

Unplanned Opportunities • The Problem • ALL organizational resources are fully committed to existing programs --------THE ORGANIZATIONAL IMMUNE SYSTEM------ • Some Solutions • • • Slack Skunkworks R&D Venture funds Acquisitions Systems for innovation