Description
Book SynopsisFormulating a strategy is one of the most important but also one of the most difficult challenges faced by businesses: How may one translate a concern into a structured issue and the hypotheses for addressing that issue? How should one approach the designing and executing of the analyses through which these hypotheses can be tested, thus creating the insights from which new strategic options can be developed? And how can one identify the best bets from among the many different strategic options available, and determine how these may be translated into a coherent business strategy that the organization and its stakeholders can buy into?
This book helps to answer these questions for the senior manager responsible for company strategy; the project manager who's been asked to chart and defend a new strategic course of action; and the student wishing to learn the ropes of strategy-creation. This book offers no theoretical strategy frameworks. Nor does it propagate a specific strategy of
Trade Review
"...the authors help answer...questions for the senior manager responsible for company strategy, the project manager...and the student..." (Gulf Business, January 2008)
Table of Contents
Preface vii
Introduction xi
What is this book all about? xi
Introduction to the Allware case study xxv
Part I – The preparation phase 1
Introduction 3
1 Days 1 to 5 – We create a question out of a concern 7
2 Days 6 and 7 – We set up a project organisation 27
3 Day 8 – We structure the question 39
4 Day 9 – We formulate hypotheses 51
5 Day 10 – We make a work plan 57
6 Allware: the first two weeks 79
Part II – The analysis phase 89
Introduction 91
7 Days 11 and 12 – We develop the analyses further 95
8 Days 13 to 17 – We collect data 117
9 Days 18 to 42 – We carry out the analyses 135
10 Days 43 to 45 – We present the conclusions 149
11 Allware: on with the analysis 171
Part III – The decision-making phase 181
Introduction 183
12 Day 46 – We put forward a few business options 185
13 Day 47 – We set up scenarios 193
14 Days 48 to 57 – We model the results 199
15 Days 58 to 60 – We choose the strategic direction 209
16 Days 61 to 65 – We write the strategic plan 215
17 Allware: make a choice and carry on 221
Part IV – The implementation phase 225
Introduction 227
18 Set up an organisation to implement the strategy 231
19 Draw up the implementation plan 237
20 Direct progress 247
Afterword 259
Profile of OC&C Strategy Consultants 263
Index 267
