Strategic Thinking Characteristics

Study Notes

Strategic thinkers possess six key characteristics: intent-focused, comprehensive, opportunistic, long-term oriented, built on the past and present, and hypothesis-driven.
Intent-focused: A strategic vision of the firm's goals and future direction.
Comprehensive: A systems perspective, understanding the firm's role within a larger system of value creation and its linkages with other components.
Opportunistic: Seizing unanticipated opportunities.
Long-term oriented: Looking several years into the future to define the firm's path.
Built on past and present: Learning from past experiences and building on existing realities.
Hypothesis-driven: A process of critically evaluating ideas and taking calculated risks.

Strategy is a process where organizations assess future prospects to achieve objectives.
It's the approach of specifying company goals and methods for achieving them.

The key activities begin with a situation analysis of the organization's broad and operating environments, including internal and external stakeholders.
This process involves establishing strategic direction through mission statements and visions.
It includes formulating specific strategies and implementing them by designing an organizational structure, controlling processes, managing relationships with stakeholders, and managing resources to develop a competitive advantage.

An organization's internal environment includes bundles of resources categorized as financial (monetary), physical (land, buildings, equipment), human (employee skills), organizational knowledge and learning, and general organizational resources (reputation, brand names, contracts).

The external environment includes groups, individuals, and forces outside an organization. It also includes significant stakeholders that impact the organization.
Examples of external stakeholders include competitors, customers, suppliers, financial intermediaries, local communities, unions, activist groups, and governmental agencies.
The broad environment encompasses sociocultural, economic, technological, political, and legal factors.
These forces can have a substantial impact on the organization, despite its relative independence.

The broad environment includes technological, political, economic, and sociocultural influences.
Technological influences can affect how organizations use technology and manage innovation.
Political influences reflect the legal and regulatory environments relevant to the organization.
Economic influences impact consumer demand, cost factors, and market conditions.
Sociocultural influences cover aspects like societal values, trends, and demographics.
The operating environment includes competitors, customers, suppliers, and the local community.

Strategic surveillance is the process of gathering information from broad, operating, and internal environments.
This information forms a crucial part of a company's business intelligence.
Business intelligence encompasses the collection and analysis of data on markets, technologies, customers, competitors, and broad social trends.

Realized strategy results from the combined impact of both deliberate intended strategies and emergent strategies.
Deliberate strategies are pre-planned and developed through a structured process.
Emergent strategies react to unforeseen opportunities and problems.

Strategy is structured hierarchically, including corporate, business, and functional levels.
Corporate strategy defines the overall direction of the organization, including its domain of activity.
Business strategy focuses on competitive positioning within a specific business area.
Functional strategies provide detailed plans for functional areas like marketing, operations, and finance, to achieve competitive advantage.