Strong Strategy versus Weak Strategy
03. Feb, 2010 
3 Comments
There maybe examples of a Strong strategy that are elegantly simple, however it has been my experience that Weak strategies begin with over simplified value propositions that are drowned in superfluous analysis.
Strong strategies are developed from the top of the organization down, versus from the bottom up. In the past 15 years I have watched as process improvement approaches have driven bottoms-up strategy development. I have seen many instances where executives within an organization typically are asked to build strategies only for the next level up in the organization. The goal is to create a solution which can be delivered within existing operational budgets (the next level up in the organization) and do not require consensus with other operational groups.
A Strong strategy typically involves more than just one goal, for instance sales, revenue, and net income. Not just cost improvements. When a company engages in cost improvement strategies at the operational level to meet a budgetary target they typically end-up with weak strategies that can leave a negative impact on the whole organization. For example, a company jumps into offshoring in order to decrease the labor cost per hour for their operations, but they take offshore processes that have not been transformed and optimized. As a result, it is a new mess for less, over-achieving on cost reduction and creating bonuses for operational management, but sales and revenues suffer because customer loyalty is negatively impacted.
Strong strategy finds its grace in a balance of goals not in brevity or simplicity. Balance requires investigation of multiple scenarios and a thoughtful decision-making process. In the end a Strong strategy is one that is adaptable, because the organization knows exactly why it chose it, and for what reasons it will have to change in order to meet changing objectives.
Ed Fullman
Partner, Adam Smith Consulting
ed.fullman@adamsmithconsulting.com
This post is spot on!
I spent over a year putting our strategy together for deploying a new customer service technology and 80% of the time was spent helping my boss and his boss politically maneuver.
Instead of gaining consensus early from the sales side and the head of customer service, my bosses focused on trying to “sneak” the solution into the company through existing operating budgets.
In the end I am getting stuck with having to evangelize the senior users and department heads that have been given no incentive to adopt the new solution.
I think a good strategy is one that can summarize on 1 page how the strategy relates to the overall business goals. If you can’t do that then the strategy will only coincidentally succeed.
Couldn’t agree more.