Strategy in Action: The Execution, Politics, and Payoff of Business Planning - Softcover

Yavitz, Boris

 
9780029346709: Strategy in Action: The Execution, Politics, and Payoff of Business Planning
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0029346703 ISBN 13: 9780029346709
Verlag: Free Press, 1984

Inhaltsangabe

From Simon & Schuster, Strategy in Action is Boris Yavitz and William H. Newman's guide to the execution, politics, and payoff of business planning.

Two management consultants explain how to transform business objectives into strategic action, detailing measures for changing business practices, eliminating ineffective personnel, and instilling confidence through well-defined statements of goals and missions.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Boris Yavitz is Paul Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Business Responsibility at Columbia University and former Dean of the Graduate School of Business. A director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and of several leading corporations, he has served as a consultant in strategic planning and executive development for many domestic and foreign firms.

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Chapter 1

The Realm of Strategy

The word strategy means many things to different people -- ranging from on-side kicks for football fans, to naval blockades for military commanders, to any alternative for operations researchers, to recognition of China for heads of state. Thus in this opening chapter we need to identify the distinctive role of business strategy in the management of a company.

Turning the concept of strategy into an effective managerial tool requires considerable skill -- as we shall show in later chapters. But before embarking on the main message of the book, we want a common understanding of what the shouting is all about.

PLACE OF STRATEGY IN SHAPING AND GUIDING A COMPANY

What Strategy Is Not

Discussions about strategy with many executives have revealed several sources of confusion. If we immediately set these aside, the nature of strategy becomes clearer.

1. Strategy is not a response to short-term fluctuations in operations or the environment, nor is it the response to the frequent short-term reports on, for example, sales, labor turnover, weekly output, or competitors' prices that every manager receives. Instead, strategy deals with the predetermined direction toward which these quick responses are pointed. It is concerned with the longer-term course that the ship is steering, not with the waves.

2. Strategy is not a set of numbers merely projected out three to five years; it is not an extrapolation exercise based on this year's balance sheet and profit-and-loss statement. Rather, the emphasis in strategy is on the quality and texture of the business. New services, the focus of research, market position, foreign sources of materials, government sharing of high risks -- these are the kinds of issues that are molded into a verbal statement of where and how the company hopes to move. General Electric and several other companies, for instance, insist that the qualitative strategic plan be a separate document from the subsequently prepared financial projections.

3. Strategy is not a rationalization of what we did last year or of what appears in next year's budget. With a bit of imagination and artful wording, a statement that looks like a strategy can be written around almost any set of activities of a going concern. An actual strategy, in contrast, is a longer-term plan that sets the direction and tone of the shorter-range plans. Unless the strategy provides underlying guidance, its preparation is mere window dressing.

4. Strategy is not a functional plan, not even a long-run one -- such as a five-year marketing plan or a seven-year production plan. Rather, strategy involves the integration of all these functional plans into a balanced overall scheme. In some circumstances one function may drive the others -- product development, say, may determine marketing efforts or vice versa. Nevertheless, it is company strategy that sets the priorities and weighs or minimizes the risks. An overall viewpoint is essential.

5. Strategy is not a statement of pious intentions or optimistic wishes. Merely envisioning a future world and selecting an attractive position in that world is not a strategic plan. Instead, a strategy must be feasible in terms of resources that will be mobilized, and it must identify ways by which at least some form of superiority over competitors is to be achieved.

6. Strategy is not a cluster of ideas in the minds of a few select leaders of the company -- ideas labeled strategy if and when they are voiced because they come from key individuals. Rather, the concepts are disseminated and understood by all managers to at least the middle levels of the organization and perhaps below. Unless there is such widespread understanding, coupled with acceptance and preferably commitment, not much progress toward strategic goals will occur.

This list of "is not's' sets some helpful boundaries on the meaning of company strategy. By weeding out what may mistakenly be called strategy, we can focus on the potential power of the main concept. Of course, the converse of the "is not's' generates a set of positive characteristics -- namely, that strategy focuses on basic longer-term direction, is primarily qualitative, provides guidance for preparation of short-term plans, integrates functional plans into an overall scheme for the company, is realistic and action oriented, and is understood throughout the top and middle levels of the organization.

Realistic Mission Anchored to Action Programs

The nature of company strategy can also be suggested by sketching in broad strokes the analytical process by which a particular strategy is formulated. Methods and problems in designing a strategy are explored in Chapter 6; here we are making a quick pass to show the qualities of the end product.

An essential feature of all strategic planning is a forecast of the world ahead -- or, at best, a forecast of those parts of the environment that will have significant impact on the company's successes and failures. Of course, there will be a variety of uncertainties, and our strategic planning will have to deal with them. Nevertheless, forecast we must if we are to grasp full advantage of the changes that lie ahead.

This scenario of the future should cover social, political, and technological changes as well as economic shifts (see Figure 1-1). Ideally, we would like to spot each change that will create significant opportunities or threats to our industry and then relate that external change back to the particular parts of our operations that will be affected. Analysis of these anticipated developments should enable us to decide what strengths or capabilities, such as access to low-cost materials or strong market position, will be crucial for future success. Conversely, the forecasts should warn us of weaknesses that would spell disaster.

A second kind of forecast and analysis focuses on our company's strengths and weaknesses relative to present and anticipated competition. Future actions by these competitors sharply impacts on the strategy that makes most sense for us.

Then, we need to be creative and skillful in identifying future opportunities where our relative strengths give us a comparative advantage. On the down side, we try to spot declining or unprofitable segments that require a fresh approach or withdrawal.

From such a set of forecasts and analyses -- which, in fact, are much more complex, as will be seen in later chapters -- a picture emerges of where and what we would like our company to be in that future world. What are the particular products or services we believe we can provide to what markets in a distinctive manner with the resources we can mobilize? This becomes our strategic mission. As events unfold we may adjust the target, but at any point in time the strategy tells us the best direction to move.

A desired position in a predicted future world -- that is, a company "mission" -- can be treated as the bulls-eye or target of the strategy. But the main role of strategy is to evolve a trajectory or flight path toward that bulls-eye. Typically, a company must initiate at appropriate times a whole series of programs or action plans if it is to attain its desired domain. As Figure 1-1 suggests, to move from our present position to the desired position may require launching new products, building a reservoir of technically trained people, negotiating a merger, or perhaps liquidating part of our present operations. When and how to move aggressively on these programs is an important aspect of the strategy. The tie to current activities comes largely, though not entirely, through these thrusts.

This essential tie between mission and thrusts can be compared to the realities of a chess game. A series of smart moves...

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Verlag
Free Press
Erscheinungsdatum
1984
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0029346703
ISBN 13 
9780029346709
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
288
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV, GPSR Europäische Union
info@simonandschuster.nl

Herculesplein 96
AA Utrecht
3584
Niederlande

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