In today’s rapidly changing business world, one of the key methods for improving organizational performance irrespective of size and sector is Strategic Management. It is the method of determining goals, designing strategies to achieve them, putting those strategies into action, and establishing deadlines, responsibilities, and evaluation mechanisms.
There are five (5) key steps in the process, namely:
- Goal Setting
- Environmental Scanning & Analysis
- Strategy Formulation
- Strategy Implementation
- Strategy Evaluation
Strategy Formulation involves establishing goals and determining the proper plan of action to achieve those goals. An organization uses strategy formulation to plan for success and make improvements to its strategies as may be needed per time. It is essential for achieving and measuring the attainability of goals because after creating strategies, an organization would typically educate its employees on the organization’s purpose, goal, and workplace objectives.
Effective strategy formulation ensures organizations compete favorably and are profitable as they grow. Regardless of the size and sector of an organization, lack of systemic planning results in failure. Long-term plans and short-term tactics must be effectively implemented if success is to be achieved and sustained over time. Irrespective of whether a business is a startup or an established one, the process for formulating its strategy is the same, they may, however, simply vary in scale and/or input. In business, there are three levels to strategy formulation, and defining a strategy for each of these levels will help the organization align its efforts with its objectives, thereby optimizing its operations.
It may also help the organization to visualize its future and determine the best steps to take in scaling its operations along with changing market conditions. We’ve enumerated the three levels of strategy as labeled below:
- Business Level: Defines its target market and strategies to compete with other organizations within the market;
- Corporate Level: Involves defining the structure of the organization, across all its business units;
- Functional Level: Defines the growth map of the organization.
Unfortunately, there is no prior data or experience to rely on when it comes to a startup, hence extensive research is required to attain a strong understanding of the sector and its nuances. It is also important that such an organization identifies the steps that will aid the formulation and execution of its defined strategy, thereby benchmarking them against the top players in the industry. This, in no way, makes them less effective but rather forms the foundation upon which subsequent strategies will be built. To help startups formulate a strategy, Cynet guides them through the following steps:
- Develop a Strategic Mission
- Establish Organizational Goals
- Create Departmental Plans
- Conduct Periodic Performance Analysis
- Implement a Plan of Action
Startups must invest in quality; all employees must participate fully to ensure excellent deployment, and this necessitates the persuasion and adoption of specific business processes by all personnel. Startup leaders must specify the characteristics or values that will be used to identify company employees as well as to guide them – Integrity, punctuality, respect, passion, and other traits are examples of such qualities. Specifically, before launching, Startups should consider the following strategies:
- Operational Strategy
- Competitive Strategy
- Marketing Strategy
- People Strategy
