| The strategy cycle is a simple tool that will | | | | to customers. |
| help you to achieve the goals of your | | | | |
| organisation. Consisting of four main phases, | | | | A good example of this would be the marketing |
| the cycle is an iterative process that you | | | | department implementing a campaign to |
| can use to build and improve your business | | | | increase sales, without informing the |
| year after year. | | | | production department, who will not have had |
| | | | enough time to prepare for the increased |
| Research | | | | level of demand. |
| | | | |
| Successful business relies on informed | | | | Other important factors to consider during |
| decision making. Managers with access to | | | | the planning process include: |
| information on the market, competitors and | | | | |
| their own business will be better placed to | | | | -- Determining how the success of the |
| set goals and devise strategies, than those | | | | strategy will be measured |
| who are less well informed. | | | | |
| | | | -- Outlining the key milestones and stating |
| Larger organisations often have business | | | | when these will be achieved |
| intelligence units, specifically tasked with | | | | |
| the collection and analysis of data, but | | | | -- Financial planning to agree appropriate |
| there is nothing to stop managers from | | | | budgets for each activity within the strategy |
| smaller businesses from spending a couple of | | | | |
| hours each month collecting their own | | | | -- Undertaking a risk assessment and |
| business intelligence. | | | | identifying ways to mitigate major risks |
| | | | |
| Often a manager's personal knowledge and | | | | -- Establishing an approval and sign-off |
| experience of the market can be just as | | | | process for each activity |
| effective as expensive research studies and | | | | |
| decisions are made through 'market sensing' | | | | Implementation |
| as opposed to 'market research'. | | | | |
| | | | Strategy implementation involves the delivery |
| As the strategy cycle is an iterative | | | | of a number of inter-related activities to an |
| process, the results of previous strategies | | | | agreed standard and schedule. This is often |
| should feed into the business intelligence, | | | | referred to as project management. |
| along with any important experiences or key | | | | |
| learning's gained. | | | | To successfully deliver projects, managers |
| | | | need to have good communication, financial |
| Planning | | | | and time management skills, so that they can |
| | | | liaise with staff, contractors and customers |
| After analysing the business intelligence to | | | | (both internal and external), whilst ensuring |
| identify the most important internal and | | | | the project remains on schedule and within |
| external factors affecting the organisation, | | | | budget. |
| managers can begin to formulate appropriate | | | | |
| strategies for meeting their goals. | | | | In larger organisations there may be a number |
| | | | of inter-related projects taking place in |
| Organisational goals are the aspirations that | | | | order to meet an objective. This is often |
| the business seeks to achieve. These | | | | referred to as programme management, with a |
| generally revolve around growing the business | | | | programme board regularly monitoring each |
| and increasing profitability, but can also be | | | | project to ensure it is delivering. |
| industry specific, such as a technology | | | | |
| company wanting to become the leading | | | | As each milestone activity in the strategy is |
| innovator. | | | | completed, it should be reviewed and |
| | | | signed-off by designated managers. Activities |
| To make these goals possible, managers set | | | | that are not delivered to time or quality |
| objectives which provide a more tangible | | | | should be reviewed to understand why and |
| destination for the business to move towards. | | | | corrective action undertaken to try and get |
| | | | the delivery of the strategy back on track. |
| For example, a business seeking market | | | | |
| leadership would probably set objectives | | | | Measurement |
| around increasing sales and reducing costs. | | | | |
| It would then be up to the heads of finance, | | | | Once implementation of the strategy is |
| marketing, HR, R&D and production to develop | | | | complete, it is important to assess the |
| strategies to achieve these objectives. | | | | degree to which it enabled the objective to |
| | | | be achieved. Without proper measurement it |
| A strategy can be described as a collection | | | | will be difficult to accurately understand |
| of activities that will enable the | | | | what worked and what improvements might be |
| organisation to reach it's objective. A cost | | | | needed for future strategies. |
| reduction strategy may involve staff | | | | |
| redundancies, renegotiation of contractual | | | | The method of measuring the strategy should |
| terms with suppliers and the development of | | | | be closely related to the objective that was |
| more efficient supply chains. | | | | set. Therefore an organisation whose |
| | | | objective was to increase sales turnover, |
| Throughout the planning process, managers | | | | would use the increase (or decrease) in |
| should constantly consult with other heads of | | | | actual sales as one of its measurements. |
| department and with employees further down | | | | |
| the line who will be responsible for | | | | On some occasions it will not always be |
| implementing the strategy activities. | | | | possible to use internal data to measure |
| | | | strategy success, especially for less |
| Without suitable levels of communication, the | | | | tangible factors such as brand awareness. In |
| different parts of the business will not be | | | | these cases it will be necessary to seek |
| able to take an integrated approach towards | | | | external data in the form of market research |
| the objectives, often resulting in | | | | surveys and opinion polls. |
| duplication of effort or inability to deliver | | | | |