The Craft of Strategy Formation

Formulating a strategy is one of the most important but also one of the most difficult challenges faced by businesses: How may one translate a concern into a structured issue and the hypotheses for addressing that issue? How should one approach the designing and executing of the analyses through which these hypotheses can be tested, thus creating the insights from which new strategic options can be developed? And how can one identify the best bets from among the many different strategic options available, and determine how these may be translated into a coherent business strategy that the organization and its stakeholders can buy into? This book helps to answer these questions for the senior manager responsible for company strategy; the project manager who s been asked to chart and defend a new strategic course of action; and the student wishing to learn the ropes of strategy-creation. This book offers no theoretical strategy frameworks . Nor does it propagate a specific strategy of any kind. It is, quite simply, a cook book describing a step-by-step, focused and fast approach for creating a new strategy at medium-sized and large businesses. It is a proven method used by top management consultants to help clients develop new strategies. The Craft of Strategy Formation provides a crisp account of the consecutive steps to take (and pitfalls to watch out for) when typically vague business concerns need to be translated into actionable strategy fast. Featuring the tried-and-tested analytical and organizational approach of top management consultants, this integral account of how strategy is crafted in practice offers a welcome break from traditional handbooks featuring largely isolated frameworks, tools and cases; highly theoretical academic treatises; and largely anecdotal infotainment books for the general reader.

Formulating a strategy is one of the most important but also one ofthe most difficult challenges faced by businesses: How may onetranslate a concern into a structured issue and the hypotheses foraddressing that issue? How should one approach the designing andexecuting of the analyses through which these hypotheses can betested, thus creating the insights from which new strategic optionscan be developed? And how can one identify the "bestbets" from among the many different strategic optionsavailable, and determine how these may be translated into acoherent business strategy that the organization and itsstakeholders can buy into?This book helps to answer these questions for the senior managerresponsible for company strategy; the project manager who'sbeen asked to chart and defend a new strategic course of action;and the student wishing to "learn the ropes" ofstrategy-creation. This book offers no theoretical strategy"frameworks". Nor does it propagate a specific strategyof any kind. It is, quite simply, a "cook book"describing a step-by-step, focused and fast approach for creating anew strategy at medium-sized and large businesses. It is a provenmethod used by top management consultants to help clients developnew strategies.The Craft of Strategy Formation provides a crisp accountof the consecutive steps to take (and pitfalls to watch out for)when typically vague business concerns need to be translated intoactionable strategy fast. Featuring the tried-and-tested analyticaland organizational approach of top management consultants, thisintegral account of how strategy is crafted in practice offers awelcome break from traditional handbooks featuring largely isolatedframeworks, tools and cases; highly theoretical academic treatises;and largely anecdotal "infotainment" books for thegeneral reader.

Preface viiIntroduction xiWhat is this book all about? xiIntroduction to the Allware case study xxvPart I - The preparation phase 1Introduction 31 Days 1 to 5 - We create a question out of a concern 72 Days 6 and 7 - We set up a project organisation 273 Day 8 - We structure the question 394 Day 9 - We formulate hypotheses 515 Day 10 - We make a work plan 576 Allware: the first two weeks 79Part II - The analysis phase 89Introduction 917 Days 11 and 12 - We develop the analyses further 958 Days 13 to 17 - We collect data 1179 Days 18 to 42 - We carry out the analyses 13510 Days 43 to 45 - We present the conclusions 14911 Allware: on with the analysis 171Part III - The decision-making phase 181Introduction 18312 Day 46 - We put forward a few business options 18513 Day 47 - We set up scenarios 19314 Days 48 to 57 - We model the results 19915 Days 58 to 60 - We choose the strategic direction 20916 Days 61 to 65 - We write the strategic plan 21517 Allware: make a choice and carry on 221Part IV - The implementation phase 225Introduction 22718 Set up an organisation to implement the strategy 23119 Draw up the implementation plan 23720 Direct progress 247Afterword 259Profile of OC&C Strategy Consultants 263Index 267