Strategic thinking

STRATEGIC THINKER
•
•
•

management|consulting

Analyzes and reﬂects on competitive advantage, business models and markets
Leader and contributor in strategy meetings, conferences for company an clients.
Proactively leads strategic initiatives for company and clients.
BOOSTER 2

BOOSTER 1
Preparation [alone / group of 3]
Review Huawei Case Study
Review Materials on Analytic Tools
•
•

Intended Learnings
Understanding Strategy  
and Strategic Management
Application of Basic Strategic Tools
Content
What is Strategy
Strategic thinking vs. Strategic Planning
What is Strategic Management
Traditional Conceptions of Strategy
Introducing Analytical Models
SWOT / PEST
Market Based View
• Porter’s Five Forces
• Porter’s Four Corners
• Generic Strategies  
(Cost vs. Differentiation)
Resource Based View
• Core Compencies

[...]
Exercises
Applying basic strategy analysis tools
Discussion of Huawei Case Study

Homework in Mentee Peer Group of 3
Case Studies
Review the strategy of your LoB
Review the strategy of your competitors
Oracle, Salesforce.com, Local Players
Read Chapter on Strategic
Management in “Creating Dynamic
Capabilities” Alsleben’s Book
•
•
•

•

Suggested Mentor Assignments
Case Studies
Review the strategy of your LoB
Review the strategy of your competitors
Oracle, Salesforce.com, Local Players
[optional] read suggested Strategy
Books
Watch iTunesU Strategy Lectures
•
•
•

•

•

Intended Learnings
Understanding Your companys
Strategy  
and Competitive Positioning
Understanding and Application of
Modern Strategy Concepts
Content
Review of Booster 1
Presentation of Homework / Discussion
of Your company’s Strategy.
•

•

!

Strategy in High Velocity Environments 
The ﬂuid organization 
Dynamic Capabilities

!
Conclusion
!
!

Exercises
Driving Strategy 
Creating dynamic capabilities for your
own LoB/Unit

Why this module?


Traps

Best
Buddy

Cheese


战略
WHAT IS
STRATEGY ?

Warmup: What is strategy? What does it include?


Gather in your groups of three
and discuss:

•

What is strategy?

•

What elements does it involve?

•

Why is strategy important?

A Dictionary deﬁnition of Strategy


strategy |ˈstratəәjē|
noun ( pl. strategies )
!

a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim: time
to develop a coherent economic strategy | shifts in marketing strategy.
!

• the art of planning and directing overall military operations and
movements in a war or battle. Often contrasted with tactics (see tactic).
!

• a plan for such military operations and movements: nonprovocative defense
strategies.
!

ORIGIN early 19th cent.: from French stratégie, from Greek stratēgia
‘generalship,’ from stratēgos (see stratagem) .

Chinese Strategy

战

略


Zhàn - war, warfare, battle

!

 

Lüè - Plan, Brief Account

An business definition of Strategic Management


"The field of strategic management deals with
(a) the major intended and emergent
initiatives (b) taken by general managers on
behalf of owners, (c) involving utilization of
resources (d) to enhance the performance (e)
of firms (f) in their external environments."


战略
STRATEGIC PLANNING
VS.
STRATEGIC THINKING

Strategic Planing Process (fixed cycles)


Strategic Targetplanning

Create a Vision

Corporate Policy
Corporate Mission
Formulation of Strategic Targets

Strategic Analysis

Define Objectives

Environmental Analysis

Corporate Analysis

Prognosis

Strategy Development
Strategy Formulation

Define Strategies

Corporate Strategy
Business Unit Strategies
Functional Strategies

Evaluation and Selection of Strategies

Implement

Strategy Implementation
Implemention Plan
Implementation
Implementation Controlling

Control

Strategy Controlling

Source: (Welge & Al-Laham, 2008, p. 186)

Limitations of Strategic Planning


Strategies can only be implemented as designed if:
•

Strategic intentions have been precisely communicated so
that everybody in the organization understands the goal
without any ambiguities.
!

•

Strategic intentions are accepted among all employees,
sharing these intentions.

!

•

No outside forces interfer with the strategies or change
outcomes. The environment is either perfectly calm,
predictable or under full control of the organization.

Source: Mintzberg and Waters (1985, p. 258)

Emerging Strategies vs. Intended Strategies


•

Few strategies in organizations can be clearly labeled as
intended or emerging; various forms of strategies exist in the
continuum between the two extremes (Mintzberg & Waters,
1985).

Emergent strategies “do not mean that management lost
control over organizational events, but that it is prepared and
capable to learn as a reaction to the environment and the
processes in the organization (Ortmann, 2010, p. 3).

•
Emerging

•

•

Intended

Intended strategies are often brought bottom down by a
company’s management. More often however strategies
develop in an unintended way from the actions and decisions
taken in the enterprise – they emerge and can only be
recognized as such ex post as a consistent “pattern in a
stream of decisions” (Mintzberg & Waters, 1985, p. 257).

Management should thus remain constantly aware of emergent
strategies, identify them and potentially support them if they
are congruent with the organization’s overall targets and goals.

The resource allocation process
Filters

Response to
unforeseen
opportunities
and crises

d op

ack
Feed
b

Results

crise
s an

p
Loo

ing
and
erst
und

Actual strategy
that is
implemented

Ne w

ck
dba
Fee

ter
Bet

New products,
services, processes,
and acquisitions

port
unit
ies

Decisions about what to do,
what not to do, and what to
prioritize

Analytical project
followed by
implementation

Emergent
Strategy:

Loop

Resource Allocation
Process:

Intended
Strategy:


Definition is the process by which technical and
economic characteristics of a project are
determined. New projects represent a response to a
problem or opportunity perceived by operational
managers;

!

Impetus is the force that moves a project towards
funding. Decisions to fund a project often do not
depend on the future predicted net present value,
but on the track record of the middle manager
between operations and top management that
determines the selection of a project. As predictions
about the future are inherently difficult top
managers are more likely to approve projects that
have been successful in the past. Middle managers
therefore act as a filter as they carefully weight risk
and reward and typically sponsor projects that have
a low probability of failure;

!

Structural context is the set of forces that shapes
the previous processes of definition and impetus.
The structural context with its organizational roles,
responsibilities and incentive systems therefore
shapes strategy.

Modern Strategy Conceptions

Mechanical System


Biological System

Strategic Thinking (continuous)
Controlling

Analysis

4) Are%we%on%track%to%
get%there?%

3) How%do%we%get%
there?%

Strategy


1) Where%are%we%today?%

2) Where%are%we%going?%

Vision


战略
TOOLS FOR
STRATEGIC ANALYSIS

BUSINESS MODEL ANALYSIS


(attributes of the Environment)

(attributes of the organization)

External Origin
Internal Origin

SWOT

Helpful

to achieve the objective

Harmful

to achieve the objective

S W

O T

STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

HIGH

Renzhen Fei
KEEP

SATISFIED


Weicheng Li
MANAGE

CLOSELY

Zhang Hua
POWER

Winfried Mueller
MONITOR
Mei Li

LOW
LOW

KEEP

INFORMED

INTEREST

HIGH

Porter’s ﬁve forces - Industry Competitiveness



战略
COMPETITIVE
STRATEGY

The Prisoner’s Dilemma (1/3)
SCENARIO:
!

After a bank robbery the police
interrogates the two suspects
independently from each other.
!
•

If both confess each others crime they
both go to jail for 5 years.
!

•

If one accuses the other and that
remains silent he walks out free, while
the other goes to jail for 20 years.
(whistleblower bonus)
!

•

!

If both remain silent, they have to
spend one year in prison.


The Prisoner’s Dilemma (2/3)


Exercise: The Prisoner’s Dilemma (2/3)

(-5;-5)

(0;-20)

(-20;0)

(-1;-1)


COOPERATE

CHEAT

COOPERATE

(20;20)

(0;30)

CHEAT

Exercise: The Cooperation Dilemma (3/3)
http://bit.ly/13SnJnr

(30;0)

(10;10)



战略
CASE
STUDY
REVIEW

Strategic Thinking: Case Study


任正⾮非

Strategic Thinking: Case Study

• What

were key factors of Huawei's success?  

• Using

a SWOT analysis how would you assess

Huawei against other competitors (e.g. Cisco). 

• Huawei

wants to go global, use the PEST tool to

assess they current strategic position in foreign
countries. 
• If

you were the CEO of Huawei, what strategy

would you deﬁne to go global?


DYNAMIC
STRATEGY
&
THE ADAPTIVE
ENTERPRISE

战略

Strategies can only be implemented as designed if:

Conditions
Strategy precisely
communicated - everybody
understands.

All accept Strategy

No outside forces interfer
with the strategies

Inhibitors

Facilitators

Bounded Rationality
!
Complexity
!
Time, Resources

Transparent and Open
Communication
!
Simpliﬁcation
!
Stakeholder speciﬁc messages

Opposition
!
Snipers
!
Political Behaviour

Change Management,
!
Encouraging Emerging
Strategies
!
Stakeholder Management

High Velocity Environment
!
Institutional Resistance
!
Competitor‘s Strategy

Organisational Learning 
The adaptive Enterprise
Competitive Strategy

Organizational Learning


Post-mortem is a process, usually performed
at the conclusion of a project, to determine
and analyze elements of the project that
were successful or unsuccessful. Project
post-mortems are intended to inform process
improvements which mitigate future risks
and to promote iterative best practices. Postmortems are often considered a key
component of, and ongoing precursor to,
effective risk management.

ORG-LEARNING: SINGLE LOOP LEARNING


Single-loop learning involves connecting a strategy for action with a result.
For example, if an action we take yields results that are different to what we
expected, through single-loop learning, we will observe the results,
automatically take in feedback, and try a different approach.

http://www.afs.org/blog/icl/?p=2653

ORG-LEARNING: DOUBLE LOOP LEARNING


This cyclical process of applying a new strategy to achieve an expected or desired
outcome may occur several times and we may never succeed. Running out of strategies
may push us to re-evaluate the deeper governing variables that make us behave the
ways we do. Re-evaluating and reframing our goals, values and beliefs is a more complex
way of processing information and involves a more sophisticated way of engaging with an
experience. This is called double-loop learning and looks at consequences from a wider
perspective.

Organizational Learning


The Adaptive Enterprise


Haeckel, S. H. (1999). Adaptive enterprise : Creating and leading sense-and-respond organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School Press



SEIZE
SENSE

Analytics

to learn and sense
to learn and sense

Structures

processes, culture for seizing

opportunities

TRANSFORM
Change

continuous alignment

and realignment

Conclusion: Strategic Management


CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS
CHALLENGE STATUS QUO
DRIVE CHANGE
COMMUNICATE
MANAGE AGILE & LEAN
LEAN FROM MISTAKES


战略
SUMMARY

Assignments until Day 2

• What

were key factors of Huawei's success?  

• Using

a SWOT analysis how would you assess

Huawei against other competitors (e.g. Cisco). 

• Huawei

wants to go global, use the same SWOT

tool to assess they current strategic position. 
• If

you were the CEO of Huawei, what strategy

would you deﬁne to go global?

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS


DR. MARKUS ALSLEBEN

Alsleben Ltd. (HK)

Management Consulting
+852 63408158

Front Side: 2c Black/RED embossed print
Card Paper 1077

Strategic thinking

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