strategy formulation

Good Afternoon

Have you ever wondered how James Dyson was able to build business when people had already been sweeping carpets with vacuum cleaners for decades?

And how Zara have created such a devoted following for its  fashionable clothes in a hotly contested market?

These successful companies leave clues about how to create and exploit unique strategic positions that enable them to muscle into established markets, make long-lasting connections with new customers AS WELL AS existing customers and often go on to market leadership.

What about you? Do you have this kind of connection with your market – like Dyson and Zara do?

Think about this…

If you are planning ahead, and want to check to find out what to do to create real value for your customers AND stay two steps ahead of your competition then stay on this site for a series of posts on an easy to follow system for crafting today’s – and tomorrow’s – BREAKTHROUGH BUSINESS STRATEGIES.

With best wishes

Andrew Pearson
Unique Business Strategies

I mentioned last time that any effort to craft strategy must be aimed at creating a UNIQUE STRATEGIC POSITION. I also mentioned that current practices are inadequate. What is required is a dynamic approach that replicates the success of strategic innovators.

Such an approach is to be found in this THREE-Fold framework of strategy formulation that concentrates on:

1. Customers and value; the issue here is to question how to achieve full value and service for customers – something that strategic innovators understand – the majority give the area lip service ONLY.
2. How we respond to customer demands for value with a proposition based on our market mission, distinctive capabilities, strategic assets and our ability to differentiate against the competition instead of unimaginative ‘me-too’ responses to every problem and opportunity.
3. Building an organisational environment that supports creativity and inventiveness, excellent relationships with customers, staff, collaborators the development and implementation of our strategy.

More next time

Best wishes

Andrew Pearson

If you’ve been following my earlier posts on business strategy you might be asking how strategic innovators achieve the results they do.

I believe there is only ONE system to formulate a superior strategy and implement it. It’s not “my” system, it is THE system. Many use the same basic system. Some do it better than others. Some understand it better than others. But, at the end of the day, it’s the
same system.

I call the system the “The Complete Purpose Driven Strategy System”, a SEVEN Step Guide to Creating a UNIQUE STRATEGIC POSITION for Your Business.

I’m going to explain this system to you over the next few posts. And along the way, I’ll present each part of the system and share some insights that are exclusively my own.

Each post will show you why creativity and innovation is more important in strategy formulation than analysis and process. And if you’re serious about differentiating your business they will reveal how to invent fresh strategic positions and leverage more success from your current strategies.

A fuller account of the ‘SEVEN Step Guide to Creating a UNIQUE STRATEGIC POSITION for Your Business‘ is being offered as a free e-Book download for a limited period from andrew@real-results.org

Best wishes

Andrew Pearson

What companies like Apple, Starbucks, Dyson, Virgin, Amazon.com and even Skoda – and many businesses like them – have shown us, is that a superior strategy is as much about being simultaneously in tune with customers as it is with being two steps ahead of competition.

Should we question conventional strategizing processes?
Yes we should! For the most part I don’t think it’s too much to say that what really characterises the pursuit of these goals today is, alas, superficial strategy formulation – a judgement based on contemporary observation in the light of what successful businesses have achieved.

Why is this? There are several reasons; a preference for the status quo, inadequate relationships, poor processes and a general lack of creativity are but a few. But one stark fact stands out. It’s this; we are told WHAT to do to strategize but not HOW to strategize in practice!  

And why is this, you may ask? Because of the dubious nature of conventional strategic formulation, and its application, I would answer.

The character of conventional strategic planning
The structures and frameworks taught by most business schools, consultancies and training organisations are too rigid. They analyse the past to death and prescribe the future through bifocals based on 4-box matrices. However, the future is not contained in the ‘Boston Box’, Porter’s 5-Force Model or even a S.W.O.T – or anything like these models.

Such processes can not possibly help managers invent new and lead the way in how things are done to create value for customers and stakeholders 

Increasingly the really overwhelming competition for a company or a product does not appear from the expected and anticipated sources – the traditional ‘me-too’ competitor – it comes from someone you’ve never even heard of, let alone dreamt that they could take your business away from you.

So where do we go from here…?

I’ll tell you in my next post

Best wishes

Andrew Pearson