flevyblog

Flevy Blog is an online business magazine covering Business Strategies, Business Theories, & Business Stories.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN ORGANIZATION & CHANGE IT/MIS Other

The Essential Components of Any Business Strategy

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, KPI Compilation: 800+ Corporate Strategy KPIs (186-slide PowerPoint presentation). This presentation is a comprehensive collection of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) related to Corporate Strategy. A KPI is a quantifiable measure used to evaluate the success of an organization, employee, or process in meeting objectives for performance. KPIs are typically implemented [read more]

Also, if you are interested in becoming an expert on Strategy Development, take a look at Flevy's Strategy Development Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can you stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

* * * *

A business operating without a strategy is a business that is essentially flying blind. Without a solid plan in place, managers don’t know how to direct those that work beneath them. Similarly, if there isn’t any clear direction coming from management, your front-line workers will be much less effective at promoting your business vision and ethos.

But if you don’t put your business strategy together in the right way, you will end up sending out a message that is as confused as it is ineffective. It isn’t exactly easy to produce a solid business strategy, but it definitely is easy to avoid writing a disastrous one. As long as you strive to include and focus on the right elements, you can put together a business strategy good enough to conquer the world. Or at least your industry.

Financial Projections

There are lots of metrics you can use to determine how healthy a business is, but few are as simple or as universal as profitability. The more money a business has coming in, the healthier it is. After all, making money is what businesses are set up to do.

But simply writing down your income and expenses and then calculating the difference between the two isn’t enough. Your financial projections shouldn’t just let you know how much money you have available. They should also contain predictions about the amount of money you expect to have in the future and how you plan on spending it. Make sure that you regularly update your financial forecasts to take into account everything that has happened, and is expected to happen.

Clear Marketing Objectives

Marketing is both an art and a science. It requires a creative approach, but one that is also considered and methodical. An effective marketing strategy requires a whole host of factors to all come together at once in order to be effective.

You need to market through the right medium and with the right message. Of course, finding the medium and the message is where the challenge lies. Think about who your ideal customer is and the kind of media they are likely to consume; this is the best way to reach them. You then need to think of what exactly to say to them.

If you aren’t completely confident in your ability to handle your own marketing, it is better to hire someone else to do it for you. Otherwise, you will only end up wasting time and money. There are now marketing firms to cater to virtually every business niche. For example, if you run a law firm, you can hire a specialist in law firm internet marketing.

Consideration for Your Workers

If you want your workers to be able to implement your business strategy properly, you will need to craft a strategy that your frontline workers can get behind. Trying to encourage your workers to enthusiastically support something that they barely understand is doomed to fail.

Make sure that your business strategy takes into account your workers, their talents and their relationship with your business. If you are relying on your workers to deliver your strategy, it is important that you present them with one they can get behind.

Good planning is essential for the success of any business. A clear and concise business strategy will always beat one that is convoluted and bloated. Keep it simple and focused, and you stand the best chance of success.

144-slide PowerPoint presentation
Frameworks are powerful tools Strategy Consultants leverage to address their clients' business issues in an organized, thorough, and efficient fashion. In this presentation, we provide primers to 20 consulting frameworks used by Strategy Consulting firms. These frameworks have been categorized [read more]

Want to Achieve Excellence in Strategy Development?

Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Strategy Development. Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.

"Strategy without Tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without Strategy is the noise before defeat." - Sun Tzu

For effective Strategy Development and Strategic Planning, we must master both Strategy and Tactics. Our frameworks cover all phases of Strategy, from Strategy Design and Formulation to Strategy Deployment and Execution; as well as all levels of Strategy, from Corporate Strategy to Business Strategy to "Tactical" Strategy. Many of these methodologies are authored by global strategy consulting firms and have been successfully implemented at their Fortune 100 client organizations.

These frameworks include Porter's Five Forces, BCG Growth-Share Matrix, Greiner's Growth Model, Capabilities-driven Strategy (CDS), Business Model Innovation (BMI), Value Chain Analysis (VCA), Endgame Niche Strategies, Value Patterns, Integrated Strategy Model for Value Creation, Scenario Planning, to name a few.

Learn about our Strategy Development Best Practice Frameworks here.

Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources


324-slide PowerPoint presentation
Curated by McKinsey-trained top managers. Unlocking Success with the Complete Chief Strategy Officer Business Toolkit In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, the role of a Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) has become more critical than ever before. The CSO is not just a [read more]


 
153-slide PowerPoint presentation
 
 
23-slide PowerPoint presentation

About Shane Avron

Shane Avron is a freelance writer, specializing in business, general management, enterprise software, and digital technologies. In addition to Flevy, Shane's articles have appeared in Huffington Post, Forbes Magazine, among other business journals.




Complimentary Business Training Guides


Many companies develop robust strategies, but struggle with operationalizing their strategies into implementable steps. This presentation from flevy introduces 12 powerful business frameworks spanning both Strategy Development and Strategy Execution. [Learn more]

  This 48-page whitepaper, authored by consultancy Envisioning, provides the frameworks, tools, and insights needed to manage serious Change—under the backdrop of the business lifecycle. These lifecycle stages are each marked by distinct attributes, challenges, and behaviors. [Learn more]

We've developed a very comprehensive collection of Strategy & Transformation PowerPoint templates for you to use in your own business presentations, spanning topics from Growth Strategy to Brand Development to Innovation to Customer Experience to Strategic Management. [Learn more]

  We have compiled a collection of 10 Lean Six Sigma templates (Excel) and Operational Excellence guides (PowerPoint) by a multitude of LSS experts. These tools cover topics including 8 Disciplines (8D), 5 Why's, 7 Wastes, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and DMAIC. [Learn more]
Recent Articles by Corporate Function

  

  

  

  

  


The Flevy Business Blog (https://flevy.com/blog) is a leading source of information on business strategies, business theories, and business stories. Most of our articles are authored by management consultants and industry executives with over 20 years of experience.

Flevy (https://flevy.com) is the marketplace for business best practices, such as management frameworks, presentation templates, and financial models. Our best practice documents are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier consulting firms (like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, BCG, and Deloitte) and used by Fortune 100 organizations. Learn more about Flevy here.


Connect with Flevy:

     
  


About Flevy.com   /   Terms   /   Privacy Policy
© . Flevy LLC. All Rights Reserved.