Strategic or institutional management is the conduct of drafting, implementing and

evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its long-
term objectives.It is the process of 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. A balanced scorecard is often used to evaluate
the overall performance of the business and its progress towards objectives.

“Strategic management is an ongoing process that evaluates and controls the business and the
industries in which the company is involved; assesses its competitors and sets goals and strategies
to meet all existing and potential competitors; and then reassesses each strategy annually or
quarterly [i.e. regularly] to determine how it has been implemented and whether it has succeeded
or needs replacement by a new strategy to meet changed circumstances, new technology, new
competitors, a new economic environment., or a new social, financial, or political environment.”

ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES

Organizational strategy is concerned with envisioning a future for your family

business, creating value in the eyes of your customers, and building and sustaining a
strong position in the marketplace.

Organizational Strategy - Vision, Mission, Competitive

Advantage
The first critical strategy element is Vision, Mission and Competitive Advantage,
which describe the business a company is in, it's current and long term market
objectives and the manner in which it differentiates itself from the competition.

• Focused Purpose
o Clearly defining short-term purpose
o Ensuring mission is realistic
o Serving the best interests of all stakeholders
o Defining a point of differentiation
• Future Perspective
o Clearly defining long-term outlook
o Appealing to the long-term interests of the company's stakeholders
o Providing a foundation for decision-making
• Strategic Advantage
o Competitive advantage is a key driver to forming an organizational
strategy
o Competitive advantage is clearly understood by all stakeholders
o Employees clearly understand how their role supports the company's
organizational strategy

Organizational Strategy - External Assessment

A second key strategy element is External Assessment, which reflects an
organization's approach to gathering and analyzing essential market data. Included
in this data are developing competitive profiles, studying macro and micro economic
information, identifying industry opportunities and threats, and understanding what
it takes to be successful in a given market.

• Customer Profile
o Clearly defining reasons why customers buy products or services
o Clearly defining benefits that customers seek
o Clearly defining reasons why customers would not buy products or
services
o Assessing customer bargaining power
o Knowing customer preferred choice of distribution channel
• Industry and Competitive Analysis Is Essential Component of Organizational
Strategy
o Identifying primary competitors
o Identifying potential and indirect competitors
o Clearly defining strengths, weaknesses and strategies of competitors
o Assessing the threat of substitute products or services or new entrants
into the marketplace
o Understanding what it takes to be successful in a given market
o Comparing customer growth rate with industry standards
o Ongoing market evaluation process
• Environmental Assessment
o Defining and clarifying regulatory requirements
o Assessing vulnerability to adverse business cycles
o Summarizing opportunities and threats due to:
 Economic conditions
 New technology
 Demographic structure
 Legal or political events
 The natural environment
 Socio-cultural norms
• Key Success Factors Are Identified With a Critical Thinking Process
o Implementing a critical thinking process
o Clearly measuring competitive intensity
o Clearly defining product or service demand within your market
o Clearly defining drivers to success within your industry
o Consistently monitoring key influences within your industry

Organizational Strategy - Internal Assessment

Internal Assessment is the key strategy element that reflects the company's ability
to objectively evaluate its own strengths and weaknesses. This would include
evaluating the company's management processes and how effectively it utilizes a
"value chain" analysis approach. (Value Chain components are Research &
Development, Production, Marketing, Sales and Customer Service)

• Finance
o Adequate funding of key initiatives
o Utilizing a comprehensive pricing model
o Consistently performing within a range of financial goals
o Having a targeted long-range financial plan
o Employing a "Cost / Benefit" approach to resource allocation
o Financial plan allowing for economic or environmental disruption
o Financial plan allows for flexibility
o Employing the "If / Then" model when forming organizational strategy
• Research and Development
o Fully integrating all appropriate departments with R&D
o Maintaining a creative and innovative process
 o Ensuring R&D has all required resources to successfully fulfill its
function
• Production
o Fully integrating all departments to support production
o Strategic partners consistently fulfill production commitments
o Production process is cost-effective
o Production process is flexible, fast and responsive
• Marketing
o Coordinating all departments to support marketing
o Having a clearly defined marketing plan
o Branding plays a critical role
o Utilizing a marketing system or database to track customer and
market information
o Employing an effective product / service management process
o "Competitive advantage" is a key driver for all marketing decisions
o Employees take pride in the ability to promote products and services
o Monitoring the ROI of all marketing campaigns
• Sales / Distribution
o Consistently achieving sales goals
o Ensuring that sales teams / channels possess required skills to achieve
plan
o Ensuring that sales teams / channels are provided with the necessary
information to achieve their goals
o Employing a well-defined sales management process
o Coordinating all departments to support our sales process
o Tracking sales activity from lead generation through close
• Does Your Organizational Strategy Emphasize Customer Service?
o Clearly defining customer service standards
o Meeting or exceeding customer expectations
o Measuring customer satisfaction
o Managers and employees share a high commitment to achieving
customer loyalty
o Maintaining a customer relationship management system that provides
critical service information to make the best decision
o Maintaining a high rate of repeat business, customer loyalty and
referrals

Organizational Strategy - Objectives, Initiatives and

Goals
Objectives, Initiatives and Goals are the final element of organizational strategy and
illustrate a company's ability to articulate what it wants to accomplish, how it will do
it, and when it will be achieved. Included in this process are defining direction,
aligning financial and human resources, instilling accountability and determining
critical measurements.

• Organization Strategy Needs Vital Direction

o Identifying key strategic objectives
o Prioritizing action items by their importance to strategic intent
o Ensuring objectives are quantifiable and measurable
o Those responsible for implementation participate in the strategic
planning process
o Plans must specify how each area will contribute to achieving strategic
plan
• Resource Alignment
o Allocating sufficient resources to achieve strategic intent
o Clearly defining resources necessary for each objective
 o Evaluatiing individual or group capacity prior to assigning workload
• Organization Accountabilities
o Ensuring that employees understand how their roles and
responsibilities relate to strategic objectives
o Holding individuals accountable for their work
o Employee goals reflect accountabilities and timeliness
o Employing an internal system to routinely review the status of key
objectives
o Measuring key financial indicators
o Utilizing a uniform format to measure and report

Organization Strategies
(top)

Definition: This is the component that holds everything together and forms
it into a living whole. Organization consists of the structures, systems,
policies, procedures and activities of a business, the manner in which it
exercises authority, takes decisions, communicates, coordinates and
integrates its activities.

• Establish clear job descriptions for every position, and create a

system whereby the responsibilities and authority of each position
are clear to other people in the company.
• Analyze the jobs of executives, managers, and supervisors to identify
tasks that can be delegated to lower levels and the conditions
necessary to make that delegation effective.
• Conduct an analysis of major activities in the company (such as
selling, order taking, etc.) to identify ways to increase speed, reduce
cost, eliminate unnecessary steps, and improve quality. Also, insure
there are systems for every activity.
• Assess the effectiveness of important systems in the company (e.g.
accounting, budgeting, personnel, information, planning) in terms of
their speed, their personnel requirements, quality of work, cost of
operations, and whether fully being utilized.
• Try to coordinate and integrate any two systems to create a powerful
organization.
• [GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR VALUES] Apply the value to every activity
(and sub-activity); to every system (including every procedure), and
to every job position task (and sub-task) in the company.
• Implement organizational values such as coordination, integration,
discipline, freedom, standardization, teamwork, and communications.
• Determine whether we can innovate any new systems that will
further improve our performance. Determine if there are systems
successfully employed by other companies that could be used by our
company.

http://www.gurusoftware.com/Gurunet/Business/Topics/Strategies.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_Strategy
http://www.family-business-experts.com/organizational-
strategy.html