The Power of Strategic Thinking Lock in Markets - Case Study Example

Business Strategy By Key words: Strategic Management, global mind-set Business Strategy Introduction Today’s business environment is very different from the one of previous years. In today’s world, global competition cannot just be restrained to competition based on products, trading blocs or companies but as competition based on mind set. Strategic thinking focusses on higher levels of business strategies with an aim of developing opportunities for the purpose of creating value. It is now based on comprehending and focusing on the vital drivers of the economy and always challenge the traditional way of thinking regarding the drivers. The new way of strategic thinking is through brainstorming for new ideas and through the application of possibility thinking with an aim of developing strategic goals and direction .It is a way that has specific purposes and characteristics and a well-defined way of thinking. Studies conducted by the Wall Street Journal assert that corporations emphasized on strategic thinking as the skill they sought most after in an executive above other skills. Strategic thinking involves challenging assumptions that have been rooted in an industry, the ability to embrace change and current trends, visualizing as to the direction a company should take and providing leadership for the future. It also involves developing new opportunities that create value today and into the future. A strong foundation promoting critical thinking is important to facilitate the growth of any critical thinking platform. It should also be coupled with a deep understanding of the fundamental drivers affecting an organization and challenging the traditional way of thinking. Strategic thinking has been described as an imaginative strategy which is used to rewrite the rules relating to the competitive game and pursue the potential future by dealing with current realties and creating alignments. Strategic thinking main goal is to create strategies that are in alignment with the organization’s vision in order to gain a competitive edge over its competitors. Strategic intent Strategic intent is a statement by a company from high level management stating its desire to achieve its vision. It has been termed as a statement of design responsible for the creation of a better future and it is simply a company’s vision of what it aims to achieve in the long term. However, strategic intent must convey a sense of discovery, opportunity and direction that can be advantageous to the employees (Pitt 2001). It is not a fit exercise but a stretch exercise. This is because strategic intent formulates a picture of a customer’s daily routine and anticipates changes pertaining to the present world by describing discontinuities. It gives description on matters such as a customer’s wants and the factors required for meeting a customer’s needs. Commentators often suggest that in order to achieve great things, ambitious plans must be laid out and it is not crucial whether the vision is detailed but the direction of the vision is what is most crucial. Initially, strategic development involved assessing the current markets of the business, its competitors and resources which was then followed by strategic development and implementation. In recent years however, a broader strategic formulation referred to as strategic intent was devised which focused mainly on a business’ capabilities, innovation and collaboration in order to achieve improvement. In companies that employ strategic intent in its decisions, they are different from the traditional strategy methods of planning. Such companies advocate for goals that are supportable they establish the criteria by which progress is measured and develop active processes of management. A good example is the implementation of strategic intent principles by Toyota’s system of hoshin kanri. Strategic thinking can be effectively used in a progressive regime that supports strategic planning besides being important in the survival of the company in recent times where change is occurring in a very fast rate. Strategic stretch It pushes the boundaries on what matters that seem impossible to accomplish. Radical changes cannot be achieved unless one strives to achieve the impossible as per the standards set. It is only through the pressure accompanied with striving to break the measures of the current standard that people work harder and achieve the impossible. Strategic stretch has been compared to an elastic rubber band. When an elastic band is pulled on one side, both sides move in the same direction but if you pull on both sides that’s when the band stretches. Also, the harder one pulls the band, the more space is created. Just like an elastic band, if one wants to impact change in a company, they need to stretch the current practices in any way they can and by using all their effort because sooner or later changes will be inevitable. This is the objective of strategic management. In essence, one cannot stop advocating and pushing for change otherwise the system reverts to its original state with average results. Only through consistency in the effort applied through shared and focused intent in the whole organization can it experience long term success? The organization should be focused on winning, motivating its employees through constant communication of the organization’s objectives, allowing room for contributions from teams and individuals, guiding resource allocation effectively and sustaining motivation levels among the staff can strategic intent be termed as successful. It is important to note that strategic intent should be developed even in the absence of resources since funds can always be raised when a strategic intent is well established. Funds can be leveraged through channeling them on key goals, combining resources that add value, conserving the resources and recycling them in the shortest time possible. Therefore, companies should never curtail their ambition to match the availability of resources. The number of companies able to stretch their capabilities and businesses in several ways at the same time to achieve growth are very few. Many businesses prefer to develop their growth strategy through solid strategic growth initiatives, operations and through organization. This strategy is not bad but still rooms for the incorporation of stretch growth. A good example is the by analyzing a company’s product offerings to establish whether there are gaps where the customer base, customer satisfaction levels or service levels might be stretched. Other areas could also be stretched such as the company’s geographical reach, the business model used, the distribution channels used by the company, adoption of new technology and if stretched in a variety of directions, a combination of growth ideas may spark growth to a higher level than previously thought possible. It is a gradual process but with efficient and focused execution, sustainable long term growth is achievable. It is crucial to maintain visionary goals and some observers have blamed the collapse of manufacturing industries in the U.S to the erosion of ambitious goals. By pursuing a company’s goals vigorously, leaders and mangers become more equipped in dealing with complex changes more productively. A lot has been learnt about the dynamics that make one company more successful than the other and generally, why a particular company is able to develop different forms of competitive advantage while other companies lag behind and try to ape the company. It is necessary that companies develop a balance between resource availability and ambition. High level managers in competitive companies are able to create a competitive advantage by concentrating the company’s resources on strategic goals, complementing different resources, accumulating resources productively, through the conservation of their resources and recovering resources quickly from the market place. Strategic Alignment It is the result of an organization combining its business objectives and strategy with the employees and the business units coupled with its functions (Luftman 1996). It is therefore more than a top down process as it is the positioning of the business’ functions in a way that the alignment leads to an optimum relationship between the parts and functions. It aids in improving the performance of the company’s results and facilitating the organization to obtain a competitive edge over its competitors. It is important than when arranging the organization, proactive actions and forethought be placed in aligning it to external conditions and factors. In the alignment of the employees’ performance with the strategic direction of the company, leadership and monitoring is required but when different functions of the organization in different departments of the organization is required, diplomatic handling of the various personalities and integration is necessary on a wide scale in the whole organization. Global mind set It is worth noting that a global mind set is a crucial element of globalization and consequently, a fully globalized organization is not a structure but more of a mindset. For the development of global mind set to be possible in an organization, there is need for individual managers to portray a global mentality which is comprised of three aspects. The managers have to think on a global basis by being able to recognize when it is more advantageous to develop a consistent global standard and by also thinking locally since the process of establishing global mindedness stature in manager requires that he/she have a deeper understanding of the company’s cultural and local differences. This should be followed by a mindset of thinking in global and local terms at the same time by recognizing situations that require compelling elements of both global and local perspectives (Robert 2000). The corporate version of a manger’s global mind set is created from policy development that is led by a core group. The core group of mangers should have a global mentality as an important part of the company’s global mind set. However, the global mind set can only be deep rooted in an organization with the help of executives by developing the power, process and structure of the organization .By doing so, lower levels will be imparted upon the global mind set which will trickle down to the other lower level employees in important arts of the organization. Initially, a close knit group of leaders could deal with tensions in the organization through informal dialogue but nowadays, businesses have grown in such a way that they are more dispersed, complex and fast paced meaning that a small network of managers can no longer deal with the situation. This situation has led to the need for the creation of a wider base of managers that share in decision making based on a global basis. Managers should be educated on global matters and expand on their knowledge in order to develop corporate cultures locally and globally. It is therefore why a global mind set is an important evolutionary adaptation technique that aids companies to give respect, recognition and representation to its employees while simultaneously improving its competitive edge and agility. The global economy has forced many organizations to take part in a customer oriented, very volatile market for quality goods and services at competitive prices. Simultaneously, globalization has forced communication between clients, colleagues and customers who have different cultures and languages. One of the ways that organizations have resulted to coping with the phenomenon of globalization is through the use of virtual teams which enable companies to respond to demands on a global scale. The increased use and popularity of the virtual teams has promoted the establishment of global mind set among managers, leaders, and employees in dealing with issues such as working with people with different cultures and languages. There are a lot of international assignments and cultural adaptation training, and cross country teams that have been used to create global competencies and individual weaknesses. The key competencies of an effective global virtual leadership and awareness, interpersonal skills and communication geared towards a mutual understanding and development of trust which is coupled with cultural intelligence. If effectively managed, the global virtual teams increase the advantages of teamwork and have greater potential for the innovation of better ideas than traditional teams. Conclusion Establishing global minded managers has never been more important given the various challenges that are against the creation and adoption of virtual teams. Therefore, managers that have a global mindset are better equipped with maximizing the effectiveness of virtual teams and gaining a sustainable competitive edge above their competitors. References Pitt, Martyn., 2001. "In Pursuit of Change: Managerial Constructions of Strategic Intent." Strategic Change: 5-21. Print. Robert, Michel., 2000.The Power of Strategic Thinking Lock in Markets, Lock out Competitors. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill. Print. Luftman, Jerry N.,1996 .Competing in the Information Age: Strategic Alignment in Practice. New York: Oxford UP. Print. Read More