It turns out that strategy is one of those words that we inevitably define in one way yet often use in another way. How do you go about analyzing how well your organization is positioned to achieve its intended objective? This is a question that has been asked for many years, and there are many different answers. Some approaches look at internal factors, others look at external ones, some combine these perspectives, and others look for congruence between various aspects of the organization being studied. Ultimately, the issue comes down to which factors to study.

1. ENACTUSO6U

4. MCK 7-S MODEL

5. MCK 7-S MODEL

6. 7-S CHECKLIST QUESTIONS:
Strategy:
 What is our strategy?
 How do we intend to achieve our objectives?
 How do we deal with competitive pressure?
 How are changes in customer demands dealt
with?
 How is strategy adjusted for environmental
issues?

8. Strategies haveTWO essential characteristics: They are
developed consciously and purposefully.

9. EMBRACE – EXTEND – EXTINGUISH

10. EMBRACE – EXTEND – EXTINGUISH
Microsoft adopted a strategy of:
 Developing of software substantially compatible with a competing product,
or implementing public standards. [EMBRACE]
 Addition and promotion of features not supported by the competing
product or part of the standards, creating interoperability problems for
customers who try to use the ‘simple’ standard. [EXTEND]
 When extensions become a (de facto standards) because of their dominant
market share, they marginalize competitors that do not or cannot support
the new extensions. [EXTINGUISH]

11. Planning includes the ability to:
 Identify opportunities.
 Analyze problems.
 Establish priorities and needs.
 Allocate available resources.
Planning also includes the ability to establish:
 Policies and procedures.
 Objectives and standards of performance.
 Forecasts and budgets.
 Programs and schedules.

12. And this will happen by answering FIVE basic questions:
 Where are we now? [THE SITUATION]
 How did we get there? [OUR MOMENTUM]
 Where are we going? [THE DIRECTION]
 Where should we be going? [THE DESIRED DIRECTION]
 How will we get there? [OUR STRATEGIC PLAN]

13. VS.

14. The FuturesWheel

15. HOWTO USETHETOOL!?
 Identify the change: Write the change that you need
to consider in the center of a piece of paper, or on a
flipchart.This could be an event, trend, problem, or
possible solution.

16. HOWTO USETHETOOL!?
 Identify Direct, First-Order Consequences: Now, brainstorm possible
direct consequences of that change.Write each consequence in a circle,
and connect it from the central idea with an arrow.These are "first-
order" consequences.
 Identify Indirect, Second-Order Consequences: You now need to
brainstorm all the possible "second-order" consequences of each of the
first-order (direct) consequences that you wrote down in Step 2, and add
them to your diagram in the same way. Then, repeat this by
identifying the third-order consequences, fourth-order
consequences, and so on.

17. HOWTO USETHETOOL!?
 Analyze Implications: Once you've completed all of the levels of the
Futures Wheel, you'll have a clear picture of the possible direct and
indirect consequences resulting from the change. List these.
 Identify Actions: Where the possible consequences that you've
identified are negative, think about how you'll manage them.Where
consequences are positive, think about what you'll do to take full
advantage of them.

19. IMPACT ANALYSIS

20. HOWTO USE IMPACT ANALYSIS
1. Prepare for Impact Analysis
 The first step is to gather a good team, with access to the right
information sources. Make sure that the project or solution
proposed is clearly defined, and that everyone involved in the
assessment is clearly briefed as to what is proposed and the
problems that it is intended to address.

21. HOWTO USE IMPACT ANALYSIS
2. Brainstorm Major Areas Affected
 Now brainstorm the major areas affected by the decision or
project, and think about whom or what it might affect.
 Different organizations will have different areas – this is why it's
worth spending a little time getting this top level brainstorming
correct.
 As follows we show a number of different approaches that may be
useful as starting points for identifying the areas that apply to you.

22. A. Organizational Approach:
 Impacts on different departments.
 Impacts on different business processes.
 Impacts on different customer groups.
 Impacts on different groups of people.
B. McKinsey 7Ss Approach:

23. HOWTO USE IMPACT ANALYSIS
3. Identify All Areas
4. Evaluate Impacts
5. Manage the Consequences

24. THE RISK IMPACT/PROBABILITY CHART

25. The Risk Impact/Probability Chart is based on the principle that
a risk has two primary dimensions:
 Probability – A risk is an event that "may" occur.The probability of it
occurring can range anywhere from just above 0 percent to just below 100
percent. (Note: It can't be exactly 100 percent, because then it would be a
certainty, not a risk. And it can't be exactly 0 percent, or it wouldn't be a
risk.)
 Impact – A risk, by its very nature, always has a negative impact.
However, the size of the impact varies in terms of cost and impact on
health, human life, or some other critical factor.

26. THE CORNERS OFTHE CHART HAVETHESE CHARACTERISTICS:
 Low impact/low probability – Risks in the bottom left corner are low level,
and you can often ignore them.
 Low impact/high probability – Risks in the top left corner are of moderate
importance – if these things happen, you can cope with them and move on.
However, you should try to reduce the likelihood that they'll occur.

27. THE CORNERS OFTHE CHART HAVETHESE CHARACTERISTICS:
 High impact/low probability – Risks in the bottom right corner are of high
importance if they do occur, but they're very unlikely to happen. For these,
however, you should do what you can to reduce the impact they'll have if
they do occur, and you should have contingency plans in place just in case
they do.
 High impact/high probability – Risks towards the top right corner are of
critical importance.These are your top priorities, and are risks that you must
pay close attention to.

28. TO USETHE RISK IMPACT/PROBABILITY CHART,WE HAVETO
FOLLOWTHESE STEPS:
 List all of the likely risks that your project faces. Make the list as
comprehensive as possible.
 Assess the probability of each risk occurring, and assign it a rating.
For example, you could use a scale of 1 to 10.Assign a score of 1
when a risk is extremely unlikely to occur, and use a score of 10
when the risk is extremely likely to occur.
 Estimate the impact on the project if the risk occurs. Again, do this
for each and every risk on your list. Using your 1-10 scale, assign it a
1 for little impact and a 10 for a huge, catastrophic impact.

29. TO USETHE RISK IMPACT/PROBABILITY CHART,WE HAVETO
FOLLOWTHESE STEPS:
 Map out the ratings on the Risk Impact/Probability Chart.
 Develop a response to each risk, according to its position in the chart.
Remember, risks in the bottom left corner can often be ignored, while
those in the top right corner need a great deal of time and attention.

30. "Position" is another way to define strategy – that is, how
you decide to position yourself in the marketplace. In this
way, strategy helps you explore the fit between your
organization and your environment, and it helps you
develop a sustainable competitive advantage.

32. PEST APPROACH
PESTAnalysis is a simple and widely used tool that helps you analyze the
Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, and Technological changes in your
business environment.This helps you understand the "big picture" forces of
change that you're exposed to, and, from this, take advantage of the
opportunities that they present.

33. There are variations of PEST Analysis that bring other factors
into consideration.These include:
 PESTLE/PESTEL: Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Legal, Environmental.
 PESTLIED: Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Legal, International,
Environmental, Demographic.
 STEEPLE: Social/Demographic, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal,
Ethical.
 SLEPT: Socio-Cultural, Legal, Economic, Political, Technological.
 LONGPESTLE: Local, National, and Global versions of PESTLE. (These are best used for
understanding change in multinational organizations.)

34. PEST ANALYSIS IS USEFUL FOR FOUR MAIN REASONS:
 It helps you to spot business or personal opportunities, and it gives you
advanced warning of significant threats.
 It reveals the direction of change within your business environment.This helps
you shape what you're doing, so that you work with change, rather than against
it.
 It helps you avoid starting projects that are likely to fail, for reasons beyond
your control.
 It can help you break free of unconscious assumptions when you enter a new
country, region, or market; because it helps you develop an objective view of
this new environment.

35. HOWTO USETHETOOL:
Follow these steps to analyze your business environment, and the opportunities
and threats that it presents.
 Use PEST to brainstorm the changes happening around you. Use the
prompts below to guide your questioning, and tailor the questions to suit the
specific needs of your business.
 Brainstorm opportunities arising from each of these changes.
 Brainstorm threats or issues that could be caused by them.
 Take appropriate action.

37. ANOTHERTOOLTO BE USEDWHILE EVALUATING OUR STRATEGYAS A
POSITION ISVRIO ANALYSIS:
 VRIO is an acronym for the four question framework asked about a resource or capability
to determine its competitive potential: the question of Value, the question of Rarity, the
question of Imitability (Ease/Difficulty to Imitate), and the question of Organization
(ability to exploit the resource or capability).
 VRIO falls into the internal analysis step of these procedures, but is used as a framework
in evaluating just about all resources and capabilities of a firm, regardless of what phase
of the strategic model it falls under.

38.  The Question ofValue: "Is the firm able to exploit an opportunity or
neutralize an external threat with the resource/capability?“
 The Question of Rarity: "Is control of the resource/capability in the hands of
a relative few?“
 The Question of Imitability: "Is it difficult to imitate, and will there be
significant cost disadvantage to a firm trying to obtain, develop, or duplicate
the resource/capability?"
 The Question of Organization: "Is the firm organized, ready, and able to
exploit the resource/capability?" "Is the firm organized to capture value?

40.  What is the first thing that pops in your mind when you hear the term
corporate culture? A great many people refer to the classic phrase coined by
the McKinsey organization, that culture is "how we do things around here".
And while that may be true, there are so many elements that go into
determining what you do and why, that this definition only scratches the
surface.
 The choices an organization makes about its strategy rely heavily on its culture
– just as patterns of behavior can emerge as strategy, patterns of thinking will
shape an organization's perspective, and the things that it is able to do well.

41.  For instance, an organization that encourages risk-taking and innovation
from employees might focus on coming up with innovative products as the
main thrust behind its strategy. By contrast, an organization that emphasizes
the reliable processing of data may follow a strategy of offering these
services to other organizations under outsourcing arrangements.
 To get an insight into your organization's perspective, use cultural analysis
tools like the CulturalWeb, and the Congruence Model.

42. THE CULTURALWEB

43. The CulturalWeb identifies six interrelated elements. By analyzing the factors in
each, you can begin to see the bigger picture of your culture: what is working,
what isn't working, and what needs to be changed.The six elements are:
 Stories –The past events and people talked about inside and outside the
company.Who and what the company chooses to immortalize says a great
deal about what it values, and perceives as great behavior.
 Rituals and Routines –The daily behavior and actions of people that signal
acceptable behavior.This determines what is expected to happen in given
situations, and what is valued by management.

44.  Symbols –The visual representations of the company including logos,
how plush the offices are, and the formal or informal dress codes.
 Organizational Structure –This includes both the structure defined by the
organization chart, and the unwritten lines of power and influence that
indicate whose contributions are most valued.
 Control Systems –The ways that the organization is controlled.These
include financial systems, quality systems, and rewards (including the way
they are measured and distributed within the organization.)

45.  Power Structures –The pockets of real power in the company.This may
involve one or two key senior executives, a whole group of executives, or
even a department.The key is that these people have the greatest amount
of influence on decisions, operations, and strategic direction.

46. THE CONGRUENCE MODEL:
 The Congruence Model is based on the principle that an organization's
performance is derived from four elements: tasks, people, structure, and
culture.The higher the congruence, or compatibility, amongst these
elements, the greater the performance.
 The higher the congruence, or compatibility, amongst these elements, the
greater the performance. For example, if you have brilliant people working
for you, but your organization's culture is not a good fit for the way they
work; their brilliance will not shine through. Likewise, you can have the latest
technology and superbly streamlined processes to support decision making,
but if the organizational culture is highly bureaucratic, decisions will
undoubtedly still get caught in the quagmire.

47.  To avoid this type of incongruence, the Congruence Model offers a systematic
way to consider the root elements that drive organizational performance.The
following diagram shows how the four critical elements relate to strategy and
performance:

48. STEP ONE: ANALYZE EACH KEY ELEMENT SEPARATELY:
Tasks: First you need to understand what work is at the core of your organization's
performance. Here you are looking at the critical tasks that are done within the organization
from two perspectives:What work is done, and how is it processed.
 Does the work require specific knowledge or skill?
 What are the intrinsic rewards involved in completing the work?
 Is it mechanistic or creative?
 How does the work flow?
 What sort of approach is needed to do this work best? Quick?Thorough?
Caring?Analytical? Precise? Enthusiastic? ...
 Where are the interdependencies?

49. STEP ONE: ANALYZE EACH KEY ELEMENT SEPARATELY:
People: You know what work is done; now you have to look at who does it.You need
to know what types of people are currently performing the organization's critical tasks.
 Who interacts to get the work done? Bosses, employees, peers,
external stakeholders.
 What skills do the people possess? Knowledge, experience, education,
competencies.
 Is there a demographic profile?Age, gender, ethnicity.
 What are these people's preferences and expectations for
compensation, reward, career progression, recognition, and
organizational commitment?

50. STEP ONE: ANALYZE EACH KEY ELEMENT SEPARATELY:
Organizational Structure: This element involves looking at the formal structure,
systems and processes that support the organization.
 How is the company organized? Mechanistic or organic.
 Are there distinct business units or other separations? Regional, functional,
by product, by market.
 How distinct and/or rigid are the lines of authority?
 How standardized is the work? Rules, policies, procedures.
 How is work measured and incentivized and rewarded?

51. STEP ONE: ANALYZE EACH KEY ELEMENT SEPARATELY:
Culture: Here you are concerned with the unwritten rules that define how work is really
done – which depends on attitudes, beliefs, commitment, motivation, and so on, as well as
the formal elements of process and structure that you have already examined.This element
is the hardest to define, and often the one with the most influence.
 What do people really do to get work done?
 How does information flow around the organization?
 What are the beliefs and values of individuals in the organization?
 What leadership style is adopted?
 Is there a political network in play?

52. STEPTWO: ANALYZE HOWTHESE ELEMENTS INTERRELATE INYOUR ORGANIZATION
 Work and People: Is the work being done by the right people?
 Work and Structure: Is the work done in a well-coordinated manner given the
organizational structure in place?
 Structure and People: Does the formal organization structure allow the people to
work together effectively?

53. STEPTWO: ANALYZE HOWTHESE ELEMENTS INTERRELATE INYOUR ORGANIZATION
 People and Culture: Are the people working within a culture that best suits them?
 Culture andWork: Does the culture support the nature of the work that needs to be
done?
 Structure and Culture: Do the formal and informal structures work cooperatively
or do they compete?

54. STEPTHREE: PLANTO CREATE AND MAINTAIN CONGRUENCE

55.  If strategies can be intended (whether as general plans or specific ploys),
surely they can also be realized. In other words, defining strategy as a plan is
not sufficient; we also need a definition that encompasses the resulting
behavior.
 Thus the last definition is proposed: Strategy is a pattern, specifically, a
pattern in a stream of actions. By this definition, Strategy is consistency in
behaviors, whether or not intended.

56. AS AN EXAMPLE; WE INTRODUCEVIPPTRASHION BINS BY LEVER COUTURE.

57. AS AN EXAMPLE; WE INTRODUCEVIPPTRASHION BINS BY LEVER COUTURE.

58.  Tools such as USP Analysis and Core Competence Analysis can help you with
this.A related tool,VRIO Analysis, can help you explore resources and assets
(rather than patterns) that you should focus on when thinking about strategy.
 Your USP [Unique Selling Propositions] is the unique thing that you can offer
that your competitors can't. It's your "Competitive Edge." It's the reason why
customers buy from you and you alone.
 USPs have helped many companies succeed. And they can help you too when
you're marketing yourself (when seeking a promotion, finding a new job, or just
making sure that you get the recognition you deserve.) If you don't have a USP,
you're condemned to a struggle for survival – that way lies hard work and little
reward.

59. TO USETHIS ANALYSISTOOL, WE HAVETO FOLLOWTHESE FOUR STEPS:
1. Understand the CharacteristicsThat CustomersValue
 First, brainstorm what customers value about your product or services, and
about those of your competitors. Move beyond the basics that are common to
all suppliers in the industry, and look at the criteria that customers use to
decide which product or service to buy.
 As with all brainstorming, by involving knowledgeable people in the process,
you'll improve the range of characteristics you'll identify. So talk to
salespeople, customer service teams and, most importantly, to customers
themselves.

60. TO USETHIS ANALYSISTOOL, WE HAVETO FOLLOWTHESE FOUR STEPS:
2. RankYourself andYour Competitors byThese Criteria
 Now, identify your top competitors. Being as objective as you can, score
yourself and each of your competitors out of 10 for each characteristic.Where
possible, base your scores on objective data.Where this isn't possible, do your
best to see things from a customer's perspective and then make your best
guess.

62. TO USETHIS ANALYSISTOOL, WE HAVETO FOLLOWTHESE FOUR STEPS:
3. Identify WhereYou Rank Well
 Plot these points on a graph.This helps you spot different competitors'
strengths and weaknesses.
 And, from this, develop a simple, easily communicated statement of your
USP.

64. TO USETHIS ANALYSISTOOL, WE HAVETO FOLLOWTHESE FOUR STEPS:
4. PreserveYour USP (and use it!)
 The final step is to make sure that you can defend your USP.You can be sure
that as soon as you start to promote a USP, your competitors will do what they
can to neutralize it. For example, if you've got the best website, they'll bring in
a better web designer. Or if you've got a great new feature in your product,
you'll see it in theirs next year

66.  If you've established a USP, it makes sense to invest to defend it – that way;
competitors will struggle to keep up: By the time they've improved, you've
already moved on to the next stage.
 And once you've established a USP, make sure that the market knows about
it!