STRATEGIC THINKING

Strategic Thinking and Strategic Leadership

Strategic Thinking and Strategic Leadership

Introduction

A strategy is basically a plan to achieve a goal. In the world of business, strategy considers market opportunities, organizational competencies and existing competition. Business strategic development and implementation can make foremost contribution to the success of the organization since strategy development involves examining internal and external aspects and recognizing a contribution that the business can make to the community whereas strategy implementation involves building up a mission associated with the strategy and interpreting it into actionable operational, financial and people strategies. (DeWitt & Meyer, 2005, pp.28)

Discussion

How a Strategy is Developed and Implemented

Business strategists deem the resources accessible to the organization in forms like facilities, money, technology, employee skills and business expertise. Strategy development involves formulating a general approach on how to utilize these resources to strike market opportunities in a way that provides some benefits against business rivals. The strategy also deems likely technological, economic and other forms of threats that can harm the business. The verdicts on these issues are then enunciated in a mission statement. Mission statements are generally developed on the grounds of a business analysis, for instance a SWOT analysis that identifies the market opportunities, internal strengths, environmental threats and weaknesses of the organization. Idyllically, the mission ought to tap the market opportunities that are extremely well-matched to the strengths of the organization.

A strategy should help business owners to achieve the objectives of their business. Hence, it is true that a business strategy is the driving force behind any organization. Businesses are said to be self-sustainable systems, where if a single thing is changed in the system; it encompasses a positive or negative chain reaction. Similar to an organism, businesses get to learn how to acclimatize to the change if it is positive, and reform the situation if it is negative.

Organizations have a number of development phases that includes creativity, direction, delegation, and consolidation. An organization can begin with easygoing rules and regulations; however as time passes management takes up more competent policies that hold back creative thinking. Organizations grow-up and lose prospect of their mission statements and goals, with more of a stress placed on individual initiatives or projects. As a business goes into maturity procedure, policies and departments are refined to reassemble the organization. (Johnson & Scholes & Whittington, 2011, pp.510)

There are two traditional ways to develop a business strategy; one is using the bottom up model and other is using the top down model. The bottom up strategy is utilized when employees produce ideas and thoughts on the floor and the finest results are moved forward to the management whereas top down model is employed when business owners form the strategy and execute the changes without including the employees feedback. Unluckily, both strategies fall short to include the feedback of the employees. However, the latest technique of developing a business strategy employs a collaborative procedure, which is when employees and managers work together and exchange information to create a endurable ...