MKTG 211 L2 How to Develop Strategies

The Process of Developing Strategies

Developing strategies is a process based on three principles: it should be structured, it

needs time (off) and it is a reflexive process.

As we said earlier, strategic thinking as a mindset can and should be internalized in our
daily routine. But, evaluating your business strategies and developing new ones should
not be a topic on your daily agenda, in the weekly meeting between 10–11 am or in the
lunch break. For this, you need to step back from daily business and take some devoted
time. Typically, this can be organized as a workshop or in some other kind of exclusive
setting, following a structured agenda and moderation, and ideally supported by tools
and methods.

The Process of Developing Strategies

Developing strategies is a process based on three principles: it should be structured, it
needs time (off) and it is a reflexive
process. As we said earlier, strategic thinking as a mindset can and should be
internalized in our daily routine. But, evaluating your business strategies and developing
new ones should not be a topic on your daily agenda, in the weekly meeting between
10–11 am or in the lunch break. For this, you need to step back from daily business and
take some devoted time. Typically, this can be organized as a workshop or in some
other kind of exclusive setting, following a structured agenda and moderation, and
ideally supported by tools and methods.

THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING STRATEGIES AS A REFLEXIVE LOOP

analyzing- creating- evaluating- deciding- implementing
 Analyzing and Identifying

To begin with, you analyze your starting point, from all different kinds of views: the
internal view on yourself and your company –vision, values, resources, competencies –,
the external view on your clients, the market, the stakeholders, the ecosystem, and –
last but not least – the bigger view on the economy and society in general. The more
you take in consideration, the more holistic you look at the present and the future, the
more impact you will create. Here’s a list of possible questions that may serve you as a
framework:
What is my / our vision?
What values do I / we stand for?
What topics, challenges and (social) problems do I / we want to adress?
What impact do I / we want to achieve?
What resources do I / we dispose of?
What core competencies do I / we bring in? What is my / our expertise?
In what market / environment / ecosystem do I / we act?
What are the rules, paradigms and dynamics of my / our field of business?
Who are my / our clients / beneficiaries / stakeholders / partners / communities?
What are their expectations and needs?
What changes in our market / environment / in society in general do I / we observe?

Henry Mintzberg, whom you know already from the first chapter, described strategic
thinking also as seeing – seeing from different perspectives. In his analogy of a bridge
he identifies seven perspectives you should consider:
1 Looking back: Where do I / we come from, what are the lessons from the past, which
strategies worked so far, which not?
2 Seeing from above: Take an overview and see the big picture, including trends, risks
and chances in the market.
3 Seeing below: Identify the necessary resources and skills, analyze your financial data
(costs and sales) as well as your strengths and weaknesses.
4 Seeing ahead: Focus on the future – What are possible scenarios?
5 Looking besides: What are my / our benchmarks, what strategies do they pursue?
6 Looking beyond: What is my / our vision, what do I / we aim for, even if it is not
realizable now?
7 Seeing through: Implement your strategies!
 Creating and Experimenting

The analysis provides you with important information, insights, views, assumptions and
challenges. Now, as a next step, the creative part of developing strategies comes into
play: Combining all the gathered factors, potentials and chances you can create ideas
and possible scenarios and design future options and solutions. It is an experimental
approach, a mix and match of factors and ideas. You can think about new areas of
expertise, new products and services, new markets, new cooperation projects, new
networks, and even new organizational structures within your own organization. You can
think about diversifying or focusing, growing or downsizing, scaling or pooling – the
more options you create, the more innovative the results will be. For those, who want to
be changemakers, you should think about what would trigger a systemic change and if
scaling is the next option.

Evaluating, Deciding and Fine-Tuning

As part of the reflexive process, you need to evaluate all the options before you can
decide which to pursue. Comparing the options with your vision, your values, your core
competencies helps you to clearly see where you identify most, what makes your heart
sing. At the same time, you should also take the time and effort for a kind of
assessment – that is “looking below” as we defined it in Mintzberg’s Strategy Bridge:
Looking at your resources, capabilities and finances and evaluate what is most feasible.
Fine-tuning means to think it well through – what are the details, what are the
consequences.

In an article for the Harvard Business Review from 1987 Mintzberg compares
developing strategies with “crafting”, based on skills, dedication, involvement,
experience, mastery of details and creativity. In his metaphor of a potter, managers are
crafts-man and strategy is their clay. “At work, the potter sits before a lump of clay on
the wheel. Her mind is on the clay, but she is also aware of sitting between her past
experiences and her future prospects. She knows exactly what has and has not worked
for her in the past. She has an intimate knowledge of her work, her capabilities, and her
markets. As a craftsman, she senses rather than analyzes these things; her knowledge
is “tacit.” All these things are working in her mind as her hands are working the clay. The
product that emerges on the wheel is likely to be in the tradition of her past work, but
she may break away and embark on a new direction. Even so, the past is no less
present, projecting itself into the future." (Henry Mintzberg, 1987)
 Planning and Implementing

A strategy is only a strategy when it is implemented and lived as well. As long as it is

just on paper, it’s a concept. Implementing requires planning, finally: planning the
activities, the resources, the finances, the timing, the organizational structure. Plans that
need to be integrated and incorporated in your daily business routine. Establishing a
strategic controlling is part of the planning (controlling the planning) as well as the
reflexive approach in the process (evaluating the outcome). What has been done, what
remains to be done, what is successful, what not, what is supportive, what not, what has
an impact, what not, etc. Questions and answers that may lead to adaptations in the
planning and – potentially – in your strategies. Welcome back in the loop.

In the fourth and last chapter of the book you will find a useful collection of tools and
methods that support the process of developing strategies, mainly in the analyzing and
creating phase. Prior to that, I collected the 10 most valuable assumptions and tips
serving as a guidance and framework when developing strategies. Some we have
already mentioned. They have, from my experience as a consultant, proved to apply
especially for creative and social entrepreneurs.