Everything starts with an Idea. We can say idea is the seed. But is it idea that only prevails? No..!

There is something or we should say somebody who is greater than any idea. He/she is the viewer of the idea. He/she is the leader who visualizes, conceptualizes and strives to realize the idea. Business is no different in that sense. Big corporations, large or small companies all starts with an idea that is natured under the care of a leader. But we observe that some succeeds, some fails, some become best, some manage anyhow and some are simply swallowed. Why is this difference? The difference is in the root that is a basic quality of a leader The quality is how visionary is the leader, his/her commitment, his/her innovative approach, learning capability and resources for information. A leader signs the deal to make a difference but its a visionary leader delivers the real difference in business excellence. Now comes strategy. What is strategy? Strategy is a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. Yes under conditions of uncertainty! In 1969, Peter Drucker coined the phrase Age of Discontinuity to describe the way change disrupts lives. In an age of continuity attempts to predict the future by extrapolating from the past can be accurate. But according to Drucker, we are now in an age of discontinuity and extrapolating is ineffective. He identifies four sources of discontinuity: new technologies, globalization, cultural pluralism and knowledge capital. Strategy is important because the resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited. Strategy is also about attaining and maintaining a position of advantage over adversaries through the successive exploitation of known or emergent possibilities rather than committing to any specific fixed plan designed at the outset. In present business scenario management gurus have identified strategy management at four levels - corporate, business, functional and operational
levels.

Corporate strategy answers the questions, "which businesses should we be in?" and "how does being in these businesses create synergy and/or add to the competitive advantage of the corporation as a whole?" Business strategy is the corporate strategy of single firm or a strategic business unit (SBU) in a diversified corporation. Functional strategies are specific to a functional area, such as marketing, product development, human resources, finance, legal, supply-chain and information technology. The emphasis is on short and medium term plans. Functional strategies are derived from and must comply with broader corporate strategies. Defining an operational strategy was encouraged by Peter Drucker. It deals with operational activities such as scheduling criteria. Mintzberg concludes that there are five types of strategies:

Strategy as plan a direction, guide, course of action intention rather than actual Strategy as ploy a maneuver intended to outwit a competitor Strategy as pattern a consistent pattern of past behaviour realized rather than intended Strategy as position locating of brands, products, or companies within the conceptual framework of consumers or other stakeholders strategy determined primarily by factors outside the firm Strategy as perspective strategy determined primarily by a master strategist

In short we can say strategy creates the system, maintains the system, reinvent the system to achieve the goal. In our model one can see that it is customer centric, but also it can be observed that it originates from the visionary leader that means that interests of all of business stakeholders external as well as internal are taken care. A systems perspective includes organizations leaders focus on strategic directions and on customers. It means that leaders monitor, respond to, and manage performance based on stakeholders goal. A systems perspective also includes using business measures, indicators, core competencies, and organizational knowledge to build key strategies. It means linking these strategies with organizations work systems and key processes and aligning resources to improve overall performance and organizational focus on customers and stakeholders. Thus, a systems perspective means managing organization as a whole to achieve success. A partnership is an arrangement in which parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. In the complete chain of business from leader to worker, supplier, consultant, distributer all are partners. Although as per their interest and position nature of their mutual partnership relations change. As it can be client-server type or it can be peer-peer type. To effectively execute the business processes with its increasing complexity partnership is the only tool to deal it and make it simple and controllable. Process is the path which starts at one defined point and ends at desired point. Business Process Management uses a systematic approach in an attempt to continuously improve business effectiveness and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility, and integration with technology.

Strategy is a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. Strategy is important because the resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited. Strategy is also about attaining and maintaining a position of advantage over adversaries through the successive exploitation of known or emergent possibilities rather than committing to any specific fixed plan designed at the outset. Strategic management analyzes the major initiatives taken by a company's top management on behalf of owners, involving resources and performance in internal and external environments. It entails specifying the organization's mission, vision and objectives, developing policies and plans, often in terms of projects and programs, which are designed to achieve these objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the policies and plans, projects and programs. Recent studies and leading management theorists have advocated that strategy needs to start with stakeholders expectations and use a modified balanced scorecard which includes all stakeholders. Strategic management can depend upon the size of an organization, and the proclivity to change of its business environment. These points are highlighted below: A global/transnational organization may employ a more structured strategic management model, due to its size, scope of operations, and need to encompass stakeholder views and requirements. An SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) may employ an entrepreneurial approach. This is due to its comparatively smaller size and scope of operations, as well as possessing fewer resources. An SME's CEO (or general top management) may simply outline a mission, and pursue all activities under that mission. Mintzberg stated there are prescriptive (what should be) and descriptive (what is) approaches. Prescriptive schools are "one size fits all" approaches that designate "best practice" while descriptive schools describe how strategy is implemented in specific contexts. No single strategic managerial method dominates, and remains a subjective and contextdependent process.

Strategy evaluation and choice

An environmental scan will highlight all pertinent aspects that affect an organization, whether external or sector/industry-based. Such an occurrence will also uncover areas to capitalize on, in addition to areas in which expansion may be unwise. These options, once identified, have to be vetted and screened by an organization. In addition to ascertaining the suitability, feasibility and acceptability of an option, the actual modes of progress have to be determined.These pertain to:

The basis of competition

Companies derive competitive advantage from how an organization produces its products, how it acts within a market relative to its competitors, or other aspects of the business. Specific approaches may include: Differentiation, in which products compete by offering a unique combination of features. Cost, in which products compete to offer an acceptable list of features at the lowest possible cost. Segmentation, in which products are tailored for the unique needs of a specific market, instead of trying to serve all consumers.

Suitability

Suitability deals with the overall rationale of the strategy. Does the strategy address the mission? Does it reflect the organization's capabilities? Does it make economic sense?

Evaluation tools include strength, weakness, opportunity, threat (SWOT) analysis.

Feasibility

Feasibility is concerned with whether the organization has the resources required to implement the strategy. Resources include capital, people, time, market access and expertise.Evaluation tools include: cash flow analysis and forecasting break-even analysis resource deployment analysis

This has to be in-line with demand forecasting.

Acceptability

Acceptability is concerned with the expectations of the identified stakeholders (shareholders, employees and customers, etc.) with the expected financial and non-financial outcomes. Return deals with stakeholder benefits. Risk deals with the probability and consequences of failure. Employees are particularly likely to have concerns about non-financial issues such as working conditions and outsourcing.Evaluation tools include: what-if analysis stakeholder mapping

Implementation

While products and services that fit the strategy may receive additional investment, those that don't must also be addressed, either via consolidation with another product/service, divestment to another firm, immediate retirement or harvesting without further investment. Additionally, the exact means of implementing a strategy needs to be considered.These points range from: Alliances with other firms to fill capability/technology/legal gaps Investment in internal development Mergers/acquisitions of products or firms to reduce time to market

Countries such as India and China require market entrants to operate via partnerships with local firms.

The strategy hierarchy

Most corporations have multiple levels of management. Strategic management can occur at corporate, business, functional and operational levels. Corporate strategy answers the questions, "which businesses should we be in?" and "how does being in these businesses create synergy and/or add to the competitive advantage of the corporation as a whole?" Business strategy is the corporate strategy of single firm or a strategic business unit (SBU) in a diversified corporation. Functional strategies are specific to a functional area, such as marketing, product development, human resources, finance, legal, supply-chain and information technology. The emphasis is on short and medium term plans. Functional strategies are derived from and must comply with broader corporate strategies. Defining an operational strategy was encouraged by Peter Drucker. It deals with operational activities such as scheduling criteria.

Move from sales focus to marketing

The 1970s also saw the rise of the marketing oriented firm. From the beginnings of capitalism it was assumed that the key requirement of business success was a product of high technical quality. If you produced a product that worked well and was durable, it was assumed you would have no difficulty profiting. This was called the production orientation. The 1950s and 1960s was described as the "sales era". Its guiding philosophy of business is today called the "sales orientation".[who?] In the early 1970s Theodore Levitt and others at Harvard argued that the sales orientation had things backward. They claimed that instead of producing products then

trying to sell them to the customer, businesses should start with the customer, find out what they wanted, and then produce it for them. The customer became the driving force behind all strategic business decisions. This marketing concept, in the decades since its introduction, has been reformulated and repackaged under names including market orientation, customer orientation, customer intimacy, customer focus, customer-driven and market focus.

Strategic change
In 1969, Peter Drucker coined the phrase Age of Discontinuity to describe the way change disrupts lives. In an age of continuity attempts to predict the future by extrapolating from the past can be accurate. But according to Drucker, we are now in an age of discontinuity and extrapolating is ineffective. He identifies four sources of discontinuity: new technologies, globalization, cultural pluralism and knowledge capital. Mintzberg concludes that there are five types of strategies:

Strategy as plan a direction, guide, course of action intention rather than actual Strategy as ploy a maneuver intended to outwit a competitor Strategy as pattern a consistent pattern of past behaviour realized rather than intended Strategy as position locating of brands, products, or companies within the conceptual framework of consumers or other stakeholders strategy determined primarily by factors outside the firm Strategy as perspective strategy determined primarily by a master strategist

In 2010, IBM released a study summarizing three conclusions of 1500 CEOs around the world: 1) complexity is escalating, 2) enterprises are not equipped to cope with this complexity, and 3) creativity is now the single most important leadership competency. IBM said that it is needed in all aspects of leadership, including strategic thinking and planning.

Partnership
A partnership is an arrangement in which parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.

Systems Perspective
A systems perspective includes organizations leaders focus on strategic directions and on customers. It means that leaders monitor, respond to, and manage performance based on stakeholders goal. A systems perspective also includes using business measures, indicators, core competencies, and organizational knowledge to build key strategies. It means linking these strategies with organizations work systems and key processes and aligning resources to improve overall performance and organizational focus on customers and stakeholders. Thus, a systems perspective means managing organization as a whole to achieve success.

Process Management
Business process management (BPM) has been referred to as a "holistic management" approach to aligning an organization's business processes with the wants and needs of clients. BPM uses a systematic approach in an attempt to continuously improve business effectiveness and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility, and integration with technology. In fact, BPM offers an approach to integrate an organizational "change capability" that is both human and technological. As such, many BPM articles and business pundits often discuss BPM from one of two viewpoints: people and/or technology. Forrester Research, Inc recognizes the BPM suite space through three different lenses: human-centric BPM integration-centric BPM (Enterprise Service Bus) document-centric BPM (Dynamic Case Management)

There are four critical components of a BPM Suite: Process Engine a robust platform for modeling and executing process-based applications, including business rules Business Analytics enable managers to identify business issues, trends, and opportunities with reports and dashboards and react accordingly Content Management provides a system for storing and securing electronic documents, images, and other files Collaboration Tools remove intra- and interdepartmental communication barriers through discussion forums, dynamic workspaces, and message boards

BPM also addresses many of the critical IT issues underpinning these business drivers, including: Managing end-to-end, customer-facing processes Consolidating data and increasing visibility into and access to associated data and information Increasing the flexibility and functionality of current infrastructure and data Integrating with existing systems and leveraging emerging service oriented architecture (SOAs) Establishing a common language for business-IT alignment