Strategic planning is a systematic and huge project, usually large and medium-sized companies will find a third-party consulting company to help form the medium and long-term strategic planning of the enterprise, the author in the process of dealing with third-party consulting companies for many years, but also a certain understanding and refinement of the whole process of strategic planning.
Putting aside the cumbersome analytical tools and methodologies of strategic planning, a complete strategic plan only needs to be completed in seven steps.
1. Form an overall research idea
Four steps to strategic choice:
1. Clarify our goals and vision;
2. Clarify the market segments we want to participate in;
3. Clarify our business system and model to win the competition;
4. Clarify our resources and ability to win the competition.
A framework for strategic thinking about the company
For each step, there are a number of problems that need to be clarified, as the saying goes, do not fight an unprepared battle, the difference between a good strategy and a bad strategy, is that the first four steps are not meticulous, choice is more important than hard work, the wrong direction, all lost.
2. Forming a strategic planning framework
When third-party consulting companies do consulting projects, they often use the "strategic planning framework diagram", which details what needs to be done in the entire strategic planning work. There are two main phases:
Strategic planning process
The first stage is the analysis of industry trends and enterprise resource capabilities. Focus on macro, meso, and micro dimensions to gain insight into the opportunities and threats that exist in the industry in the next 5-10 years, as well as sort out the resources and capabilities owned by the enterprise itself. Strategic tools such as PEST analysis, Porter's five forces analysis, and VRIO core competitiveness analysis may be used in the analysis process.
The second stage is the development of enterprise development strategy and implementation path. According to the design of the strategy house, the overall strategic objectives and business portfolio strategy of the enterprise are first determined, and then the goals and strategies are designed for each business line, and finally more detailed strategies and tactics are formulated for R&D, production, marketing and other sections.
In addition to completing the medium and long-term design, the second stage should also determine some strategic tasks, which is the battle that the company must win in the future, only by winning these battles, the company is likely to grasp the favorable position of industry competition, occupy the strategic control point, and obtain a steady stream of revenue and profits. Therefore, for these strategic tasks, it is necessary to formulate a clear action plan, give resources to tilt, and help achieve the goal.
With a clear framework, strategists should be able to do more with less when they start planning.
3. Form a three-level strategic plan
Strategic planning is often carried out at three levels: company-level strategy, business-level strategy and functional-level strategy:
Strategy House Model
1. The company-level strategy needs to do three aspects of insight: external environment insight, internal core competitiveness insight and external best practice insight. After doing the insight, a number of development directions are screened out for the company's senior management to confirm, and finally the company's vision, mission, values and medium and long-term strategic goals are formed.
Company-level strategy
2. The business-level strategy needs to be based on the performance of the existing business in the market, which is divided into cash cow business, star business, skinny dog business and question mark business, and different businesses have to analyze their market potential to judge what trajectory will develop in the four quadrants in the future. Based on this, the business growth strategy is formulated, whether it is organic or exogenous.
Business-level strategy
3. The functional strategy needs to be based on the company's value chain activities, and the medium and long-term development strategies of each functional sector are formulated after the company's strategy and business strategy are clear. In particular, the human, financial, and material aspects that are closely related to business development need to be well planned.
Functional-level strategy
Fourth, the formation of organizational structure optimization suggestions
When consulting companies do consulting projects, they generally put forward optimization suggestions to the organization after strategic planning, so that the enterprise can better undertake the strategy and realize the important closed loop of "success = strategy * organization".
A strategy-based organizational design process
There are six main organizational forms, and enterprises should make more reasonable structural adjustments to the organization according to strategic planning.
The first type is the project team type. It is suitable for start-up Internet enterprises, the functional departments of such enterprises are not very mature, and 80-90% of the personnel of the enterprise may be project developers, and there are very few functional support personnel. Therefore, it is suitable to divide the organizational structure according to the project.
The second type: functional. This is the most common type of organization used by SMEs. According to the division of functions, the organization is divided into several centers/departments, each center/department performs its own duties and acts in accordance with the responsibilities of the department and the job responsibilities.
The third type: matrix type. This is a common type of organization used by large group companies. When the organization reaches a certain level, the functional structure will restrict the development of the organization and reduce the efficiency of the organization, because there are departmental walls, and there are no circles between departments, subsidiaries and subsidiaries, and between functions. Therefore, matrix organizations can alleviate this kind of problem to a certain extent.
Fourth: process-based. Small real estate companies are suitable for the process type. Because from land acquisition to construction application, to construction, marketing and delivery, it needs to be linked one by one, and the process is very close, and the loss of a link will affect the development of various tasks in the future.
Fifth: product type. A group company suitable for diversified development. Different product lines do not share functions, so each product line is equivalent to a business division, and each business department is small and has all kinds of organs. This type of organizational structure is mostly used in the FMCG and pharmaceutical industries. For example, Procter & Gamble, such as Pfizer, etc.
Sixth: regional/market/customer-oriented. The development of this kind of suitable business in various regions is different, and it needs to be developed in one place and one policy, so it is divided into different organizational structures according to the region, and then the functional departments are designed. Large-scale real estate groups generally use this structure to set up multiple city companies or regional headquarters across the country, which are responsible for local government public relations, development and construction, and marketing and promotion. Some public functions such as design center, engineering center, and procurement center are located in the headquarters.
There are six types of organizational structures
When an enterprise needs to do strategic planning, it is generally when the enterprise needs to make great strides in development or transformation, and the corresponding organizational structure will be adjusted, but everything will not be separated, and it must be transferred back and forth in the above six structures, what do you think?
5. Form strategic control points
The search for strategic control points is very important and necessary, the essence of strategy is trade-offs, so finding the strategic control points that can protect the company's profits is a process of trade-offs. Through SWOT analysis, combined with the internal and external situation, the consulting company will suggest that enterprises should give priority to grasping 3-5 strategic control points, establish differentiated advantages and barriers, and avoid getting lost in the trap of low prices with competitors.
Strategic Control Point Type
6. Medium- and long-term strategic initiatives
According to the viewpoint and content of strategic planning, the strategy decoding work is carried out, and the analysis results and suggestions obtained from the relevant SWOT analysis, five forces analysis, product matrix analysis, Ansoff matrix analysis, etc., are sorted out into a highly executable strategic initiative of the dynamic and object structure, as shown in the figure below.
Phased strategic initiatives
At this point, the strategic consulting company's work on strategic planning for enterprises has been completed. However, although this is the end of the work of the third-party strategic consulting company, it is the beginning of the strategic management of Party A's enterprise.
7. Carry out three-level strategic decoding
Usually, after the enterprise gets the planning report of the consulting company, it should carry out three strategic decoding work with the assistance of the consulting company.
Three strategic decoding
The first decoding is to decode the strategic plan into strategic measurement indicators and annual goals.
The second decoding is to decode the strategic plan into an annual business plan. Under the outline of the company's overall budget, through coordination and communication with surrounding departments, combined with the strategic arrangement of strategic planning, the implementation of the capital budget and manpower deployment for the coming year, and at the same time detailed analysis and promotion of specific major market opportunities to ensure the consistency of actions and strategies.
The third decoding is the decoding of strategies at the departmental level and the formulation of performance plans for positions. This is the process of decoding the organization's strategic planning and decoding content to the subordinate organizations and grassroots positions to which it belongs, and formulating the corresponding PBC.
After the completion of these three strategic decoding, the strategic plan can be turned into tangible measures and actions that can be implemented, so as not to be shelved.