102.10 - Business Strategy |
One can NOT be everything to everyone, thus "strategy" is devised to determine who, what, when, where, why and how you are going to use limited time and limited resources to attract and sell to or serve those you intend to engage with in commerce.
Below is an outline for this page:
Below is an outline for this page:
- Formal Definitions
- Formal Curriculum
- Important Questions for Understanding
- Discussion -- A Silly Game of Strategy
- Discussion -- Strategic Thinking and this website
1) Formal Definition
Business Strategy
- Business (or Strategic) management is the art, science, and craft of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its long-term objectives.
- It is the process of specifying the organization's mission, vision and objectives, developing policies and plans, often in terms of projects and programs, which are designed to achieve these objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the policies and plans, projects and programs.
- Strategic management seeks to coordinate and integrate the activities of the various functional areas of a business in order to achieve long-term organizational objectives.
- A balanced scorecard is often used to evaluate the overall performance of the business and its progress towards objectives.
ref: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Business_Strategy
Strategy
- A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a goal
ref: https://learn.saylor.org/course/view.php?id=54
2) Formal Curriculum
Most undergraduate and Graduate Schools have a class in the final semester called Strategic Management. It is one of the Apex classes for business students. It typically involves case studies across the spectrum of business subjects and students are asked to make judgments of what they might do.
Strategic Management
Strategic Management
- Introduction to Strategy
- Strategic Planning
- Creating Competitive Advantage
- Corporate Strategy
- 21st Century Strategy
ref: https://learn.saylor.org/course/view.php?id=54
3) Important Questions for Understanding
Business Strategy
- Are you a good strategist?
- Can you create your own strategy or do you need help with it?
- Can you stick to a Strategy?
- Do you realize it will never be black and white?
- Does thinking strategically feel comfortable or uncomfortable?
4) Discussion -- A Silly Game of Strategy
Strategy is what grows immensely when you move from the game of checkers to chess.
Strategy is what grows immensely when you move from the game of go-fish to Bridge.
Many really enjoy Strategic Thinking. Many associate it with Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking. In business, picking a strategy, executing it and achieving the desired result is a "creative event". We feel this aspect of "Creativity" in business is often overlooked, and this is where the fun in each day can come in.
An Example of a Silly game of Strategy in Daily work...
Many people would never put that much "thought" into sweeping an office. For goodness sake, just go into each room and do it already, right?!? Well, for some, using a strategy is also part of stating an intention and moving with intention. That is part of mindfulness. And if he/she does the same thing regularly, she may enjoy competing with myself on a time and quality scale. Likewise, if she's realized what it's like to work with only the mental engagement necessary to complete a task, this strategy may have some advantages.
Ultimately, as you get more conscious of time and business, small games like this should become more relevant, because each minute saved is a minute earned. Likewise, you may get to the point where little thinking is required if you do the same thing over and over, and a meditative state while in repetition can be achieved for some who figure out the tricks. It's called 'getting in the flow' and it can be done with most any task.
The key to flow is the ability to do a job "correctly" while in it. Many people confuse space cadets for flow masters. The two can look similar, the difference is the quality and quantity of work that transpires during comparable engagements in the two different states.
Strategy is what grows immensely when you move from the game of go-fish to Bridge.
Many really enjoy Strategic Thinking. Many associate it with Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking. In business, picking a strategy, executing it and achieving the desired result is a "creative event". We feel this aspect of "Creativity" in business is often overlooked, and this is where the fun in each day can come in.
An Example of a Silly game of Strategy in Daily work...
- The Task -- Sweep the Office
- The Goal -- Do it as fast as possible with the least amount of missed spots and errors while moving the least amount of furniture.
- The Strategy -- Start in the front room, go down the left side of the hall first and then come back down the right. Work this way because the trash can is at the end of the hall on the right and the harder rooms are on the left, so once one is half way through the work, the harder thinking is done and that second half can be "enjoyed" a little more.
Many people would never put that much "thought" into sweeping an office. For goodness sake, just go into each room and do it already, right?!? Well, for some, using a strategy is also part of stating an intention and moving with intention. That is part of mindfulness. And if he/she does the same thing regularly, she may enjoy competing with myself on a time and quality scale. Likewise, if she's realized what it's like to work with only the mental engagement necessary to complete a task, this strategy may have some advantages.
Ultimately, as you get more conscious of time and business, small games like this should become more relevant, because each minute saved is a minute earned. Likewise, you may get to the point where little thinking is required if you do the same thing over and over, and a meditative state while in repetition can be achieved for some who figure out the tricks. It's called 'getting in the flow' and it can be done with most any task.
The key to flow is the ability to do a job "correctly" while in it. Many people confuse space cadets for flow masters. The two can look similar, the difference is the quality and quantity of work that transpires during comparable engagements in the two different states.
5) Discussion -- Strategic Thinking and this website
As you become more familiar with the other major components of this website, you should start to realize all we're doing is sharing "strategies" for static and dynamic things related to business. Systems and Processes are in fact just "strategies" for dealing with time and space.
As your systems and processes start to meld into a routine, you should then be able to start focusing on higher strategies related to your overall business and after those start to gel, it's time to start focusing on the work-life balance and life goals.
From this perspective, hopefully you can see how the practice of "strategizing" is invaluable to aspects of your world that go well beyond business.
Please note, "strategizing" does not necessarily correlate to "thinking". Strategies can be developed intuitively and one strategy could be to hang loose and only make decisions as situations arise until the timing delivers an opportunity where more strategy is required to capitalize. Most Strategy Planning starts out as a mental exercise, but don't block out the gut when developing strategies, as it is often a heck of a good guide too and in fact filled with very similar electrical content as the mind above.
As your systems and processes start to meld into a routine, you should then be able to start focusing on higher strategies related to your overall business and after those start to gel, it's time to start focusing on the work-life balance and life goals.
From this perspective, hopefully you can see how the practice of "strategizing" is invaluable to aspects of your world that go well beyond business.
Please note, "strategizing" does not necessarily correlate to "thinking". Strategies can be developed intuitively and one strategy could be to hang loose and only make decisions as situations arise until the timing delivers an opportunity where more strategy is required to capitalize. Most Strategy Planning starts out as a mental exercise, but don't block out the gut when developing strategies, as it is often a heck of a good guide too and in fact filled with very similar electrical content as the mind above.