Three speakers took the stage to school us . This presentation is from the first speaker Gethin James, a Planning Director at VCCP. This is the fourth event from the 'School of Planning' sessions run by Open Strategy and VCCP.

2. HEADLINE GOES HERE
1953

3. 1959 1966
63%
0%
49%
10%

4. BCG PERSPECTIVE

5. “In truth we had no
strategy other than the
idea of seeing if we
could sell anything in
the United States”

6. BUTCHERING

8. WEAKNESSES
B.A ain’t going in
no plane
STRENGTHS
Welding
Murdoch’s Mad
OPPORTUNITIES
Old school bus &
some scrap metal
THREATS
Villagers kidnapped
by outlaws
INTERNAL
CAPABILITIES
EXTERNAL
CONDITIONSPLAN

9. A strategy is a a one of a kind
response to a specific situation
It is a simple and informal
process of conscious thought
It is the sole responsibility
of the strategist
Implementation can only happen
after strategy is fully formulated

12. The Demand Chain
The McCann WorldGroup Way
Brand Building the Nestlé Way
The Virgin Way
The Profero Way
The Diageo Way of Brand Building
The Lowe Institute Toolkit
Unilever’s Crafting Brands For Life
The VCCP Methodology

13. Produce each of the component
parts,
assemble and hey presto: strategy.
For clients, often closely linked
with budgeting process
But analysis is not synthesis

15. MASS
NICHE
UNDIFFERENTIATED DIFFERENTIATED
COST FOCUS
PIONEER
PREMIUM NICHE
COST LEADERSHIP
FAST FOLLOWER

16. Market structure drives deliberate positional strategies
There are limits to the desirable strategies in any given situation
End up with a basic number of “generic” strategies
But unable to distinguish getting there from being there

18. Long Legs
Short Legs
Not powerful Powerful
Tortoise
Panther
Hare

20. Searching for new opportunities from doing
something new or something in a new way
Requires vision: insight / foresight
The process is semiconscious at best
Deliberate in overall vision,
emergent in how details unfold
An agile, responsive structure is desirable
Dramatic leaps forward are possible
in the face of uncertainty

21. WHAT IS STRATEGY?
A POSITION?A PLAN? A PROCESS? A PERSPECTIVE?

22. HOW IS STRATEGY DONE?

24. YOU’RE BIASED
Search for supporting evidence
Inconsistency
Conservatism
Recency
Availability
Anchoring
Illusory correlations
Selective perception
Regression effects
Attribution error
Wishful thinking & optimism
Underestimating uncertainty

26. Strategic decision making is not rational but a vain attempt to be rational
Concepts, maps & frames are distortions of the world
Strategy is interpretative
Information > Shared meaning > Frame > Socialise > Decide > Act

27. THE LEARNING SCHOOL

28. THE LEARNING SCHOOL
Strategy is the process of learning over time
Behaviour stimulates thinking retrospectively
Novel strategies emerge
At the limit, strategy formation
& implementation are
indistinguishable
Strategies appear first as patterns
out of the past, only later as plans for
the future, and ultimately perspectives
to guide overall behaviour

30. THE POWER SCHOOL

31. THE POWER SCHOOL

32. THE POWER SCHOOL
Organisations consist of individuals with dreams, hopes, jealousies, interests and
fears
Developing strategy is a political process
There are coalitions of interest groups with enduring differences
in values, beliefs, interests and perceptions of reality
Who gets what
Goals and decisions emerge from bargaining, negotiation and jockeying

33. HOW IS STRATEGY DONE?
POWER
GAMES?
MENTAL
CONCEPTION?
EMERGENT
PATTERNS?

34. IS THERE A GRAND UNIFIED THEORY?

37. Purpose of strategy is to maintain stability but to
periodically recognise the need for transformation
There’s a time and a place for each approach
Defend, Prospect, Analyse & React

38. STABILITY <> CHANGE
PROCESS POSITIONPLAN PERSPECTIVE
POWER
GAMES
EMERGENT
PATTERNS
MENTAL
CONCEPTION