Strategic management is an overview of the strategic planning process including mission statement, environmental scan, goals and strategy formulation, implementation, and control.
Statistics show that Small Businesses take up about 70% of all businesses. Below is a comprehensive framework of Strategic Management applicable for small businesses in most industries. This is a step by step template attempts to cover as comprehensively as possible the critical analyse you will need to prepare your strategic management proposal. Since every business has its own peculiarities, you may use this structure and tweak it for your respective industry and business. Almost every framework eventually focuses on small business marketing strategies. This will be the topic of our discussion throughout this blog, both online and offline.
1) SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
- SWOT Analysis – Internal Factors
- Tangibles
- Physical Resources
- Intangibles
- Patents, R&D
- Brandname
- First Mover’s Advantage
- Organizational Capabilities
- People Power
- Functionality
- Vertical Integration, Backward integration, Horizontal integration
- Supply Chain Capabilities
- Partnerships, Strategic Alliances
- Weaknesses
- Unclear strategic direction
- Obsolescence
- Financial issues
- Lack of Tangible/Intangibles/Organizational Capabilities
Evaluating Resources
- Portability
- Demand
- Scarcity
- Appropriateness
SWOT Analysis – External Factors
- Competition
- Strategic Industry Groups
- Environmental Scan – PEST Analysis – Industry Economics
- Demand & Supply
- Risks; Capital costs vs variable costs
- Industrial Norms
Environmental Scan – PEST Analysis – Industry Transformations
- Globalization
- Technology
- Demographic Changes
- Psychographic Changes
- Regulatory Transformation / Deregulation
- Risk factors – War, Economic Downturns, Recession, Business Cycle Vulnerability
Porter’s 5 Forces – THREATS
- New Entry Threats
- Customer Power/Buyer Power
- Substitution Threats
- Supplier Power
- Rivalry
2) DEFINE STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES
- Define Business Vision & Mission Statement
- Core Values
- Core Purpose
- Visionary Goals
- Define Strategic Decisions
- Expansion Decisions in Scale or Scope or Diversification using the following:
- Target Segmentation Analysis
- BCG Matrix
- Product Growth Direction Strategies i.e. Ansoff Matrix
- Competitive Advantage Model
- Product Life Cycle Analysis
- Focus of Resources
- Set Goals, Product & Market Strategy, Business Strategy
The above are supported by:
- Strategic Drivers – “7S”
- Strategy
- Structure
- System
- Style
- Staffing
- Shared Values
- Skills
3) IMPLEMENTAITON
- Define Chosen Strategy – Expansion in Scale/ Scope/ Diversification with set timelines and milestones
- Apply decisions on the following:
- Major Competitive or Market Strategies Adopted
- Scope of Products mapping Target Markets needs
- Quality
- Pricing
- Branding
- Product Innovation
- Distribution
- Service
4)IDENTIFY, PRIORITIZE & IMPLEMENT CHANGE
- Priority via Achieving Competitive Advantage
- Market Segmentation
- Key Success Factors By Segment
- Access & Anticipate of Competitive Response
- Exploitation vs Competition
- Reinforce Culture & Improve Communications
- 3 Phase Planning – Short, Mid, & Long Term Plan
5) CONTINGENCY PLANNING
- Scaling Down strategies should original plan meets with unforeseen financial or economic crisis
- Plan an exit strategy should the original plan fails
6) CONTINUOUS MONITORING WITH PRE-DETERMINED TIME LINE
Review Strategy – 3 Phase Planning – Short, Mid, & Long Term Plan
- Improve
- Monitor
