Question

What element of the strategy process is most important?

Answer 1

The most important elements of a standard strategic process include:

1. Mission , vision and desire

An overall, lasting statement of why your company exists and what it hopes to be is your mission statement. It includes the objectives you want to achieve and describes how you want to achieve them. A strategic plan requires that you clearly state the purpose of your company, first of all why it is present. Why were you creating this company and what do you expect to achieve by developing it and offering it to the public?

In five years or a decade or two your vision statement will be shorter and more concise and you will portray how your business should look. These elements of your strategic plan might take time to work through, but they are the foundations needed to further develop the plan.

You can take a great first step towards creating a plan that can lead to success, by concretizing your thoughts about your business purpose and values.

It can help you to consider the largest and audacity goal of your organization when developing these aspects of your strategic plan. Some business authors followed Jim Collins and Jerry Porras who in their 1994 book "Created in the Last" memorably called such aspirations "Big, Hairy, Audacous Goals."

If you identify these BHAGs, you can avoid the tendency to think too small but these goals must be measurable and achievable in order to be effective. Just remember that it usually takes ten or two years for BHAGs to be successful. Exactly why you may be encouraged to take smart, strategic decisions in order to achieve them with an increased sense of urgency. This is why they can help you to take action.

2. Kernwerte

You will then generally focus on the elaboration of core value statements with your mission and vision statements.

Your core values indicate your enterprise's central "must" and "must notices" — the key principles which must guide leaders and employees through daily and long-distance decisions.

Experts do not generally advise the imposition of these values on a company from the top down. Instead, try to strengthen the values that already exist within the culture of your company. Probably you already know the core values. It helps to strengthen the important component of their articulation in the minds of all stakeholders.

3. Weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats

The current situation of your company from these four key perspectives is revised by a SWOT analysis of its strengths , weaknesses , opportunities and menaces. It provides an overview of the paths open to you and the troubles you may experience, as well as the assets you can draw to help.

Your plan should also include a test of your competitive advantage – your unique point of sale – which puts you at the forefront of the market.

4. Operational Tactics, Strategies and Goals

Your long-term goals are what you need to focus on to make your vision a reality. These targets usually have several years or more time horizons.

You will group the overall means under "general strategies" you will use to achieve your goals and thus your vision. With these in place, you can organize short-term priorities and performance initiatives that detail the resources you use to achieve them. And to become even more specific about operational issues, you must examine how you intend to achieve your goals and respond to them.

5. Measures and flows of funding

You have to incorporate a means to monitor the output and performance of your company against regularly planned objectives. Financial analysis, which takes account of past and forecast results, will also be required. You need not detail the figures in your strategic plan; you need to get an overview of your resources – and potential investors.

You don't need a complex , multi-page plan either. Some companies have done well with a short but well-designed document which helps everyone in the company focus on the same objectives. Such a shorter plan will allow an entrepreneur and his team to break down their fundamental identity and objectives to their most understandable and operational elements.