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| Vecta on Vision-Led Strategy | ||||||||||
| When the world only
changed slowly and locally, Machiavelli defined strategy
as the means to overcome one's enemies; Porter visualised
Machiavelli's "enemies" as the five forces
actign on a business from buyers, industrial competitors,
potential entrants, substitutes, and suppliers and
identified cost and differentiation as key elements of
generic industry strategies. Grove added complementors to
Porter's five forces and indicated that really effective
companies added customer intimacy to cost and
differentiation. Nowadays, with international air travel, mobile communications, and the Internet, the fallout from events such as BESE, SARS, power outages, or 9/11, propagates across the world very quickly. Businesses operate in a very uncertain world. |
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| Vision-Led Strategy
(VLS) is built around Scenario Planning, the technique which has been
singularly successful in helping corporations explore the
effects of events whose likelihood and impact are
uncertain. As a result, they develop robust plans that
are more likely to deliver the required result despite
unexpected events. VLS also integrates organisational learning techniques to extend involvement and consultation, so creating a widely Shared Vision of the organisation’s future and wider agreement on priorities and actions both in the organisation and with its partners. Vision-Led Strategy has four key components: |
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| A well-articulated
shared vision remains important so that everyone knows
where the company is going; however that vision needs to
be tested for resilience against many possible future
outturns. The strategic options open to a business unit are still based on some combination of the three generic dimensions of customer intimacy, operational excellence and technology/product leadership within the unit's prevailing and anticipated competitive landscape; with a need to emphasise or de-emphasise aspects according to the scenario being played out at the time. Organisations need a clearly articulated vision that is wldely understood and clear indicators of which scenario is more represenatative of the near future so individuals can make better decisions. Interviews, desk research and workshops provide the facts and opinions that must be analysed objectively so management can determine a company's condition, ambition and ability/resistance to identify, prioritise, and implement the relevant strategic options. Only individuals people can choose which option to take, when, and how. |
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| Vision-led strategy avoids both the situation where the company is being bet on a single possible future and that where everyone in the company has their own vision of where the company is going. By developing a shared vision and a limited number of future scenarios with the indicators that identify which future is more likely, companies can align more of their staff onto similar paths. Companies should review the resilience of their future views and the degree to which that understanding is shared throughout their staff. | ||||||||||
Our Strategy Experts Network is dedicated to exploring the key issues related to developments in business strategy. This involves projecting the evolution of market areas and approaches, identifying strategic business needs and understanding revenue models and valuations. |
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Our extended network ensures we have the expertise to help you solve just about any business or technology problem. |
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| More info from: Frank.Morris@vecta5.com | ||||||||||
Vecta Consulting Limited, Mulberry House,
2 The Spinney, © 2001-2014 Vecta Consulting Limited |
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Vecta5 |
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