Understanding Strategic Business Planning for Business Analysts.
Matthew Coppola- Talk at the BA World Conference.
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1: Pin-point the key resources and capabilities in your company
We do this from a demand and supply side point of view
From the demand side look at what factors determine why some firms in your industry are more successful than others and on what resources and capabilities are these factors based?
Take for example….Volkswagen
Volkswagen are known for their:
- Low cost production
- Car models with the latest technologies
So what capabilities and resources do these key success factors imply?
- Manufacturing capabilities
- Brand strength
From the supply side we then look at the company value chain, which is all the value adding activities performed by the organisation
For Volkswagen, activities in their value chain would range from new product development to dealership support
Next we look at the capabilities at each stage of the value chain and the resources that underpin the capabilities
For example, dealership support would have the human resources underpinning it.
So to improve this value adding activity Volkswagen could engage in sales/customer service training for its sales and support staff.
Step 2: Evaluate the key resources and capabilities in your company
For each resource and capability, we will want to assess their importance – that is, to what extent do they add value to the organisation?
Would you say 3M’s capability in creating new and innovative projects by applying their unique adhesive technology is important to 3M?
Well yes, definitely.
Next we assess their relative strength
This is done simply by asking the question:
How do they compare to the competition?
Step 3: Construct strategy implications
Once we know our key strengths we then decide how we can exploit them most effectively.
There are also some strength’s an organisation may have which we call inconsequential strengths.
They are strengths, but do not add to the organisations competitive advantage.
An organisation may respond to such strengths by reducing the level from the resources and capabilities.
For example an online banking system may be the result of a strong, but underutilised branch network being minimised.
Every organisation has its weaknesses, but it needs to determine how it can improve on them and reduce any vulnerability to them.
4. Goals and Objectives
A successful strategy is one that focuses on goals which are simple, consistent and has the future in mind.
Goals are important to have and in strategy they define a direction to move to.
However goals will change over time and they need to take into account different circumstances the organisation finds itself in.
