A company's strategy consists of the competitive moves and business approaches that managers employ to grow the business, stake out a market position, attract and please customers, compete successfully, conduct operations, and achieve targeted objectives.
Changing circumstances and ongoing management efforts to improve the strategy cause a company's strategy to evolve over time—a condition that makes the task of crafting a strategy a work in progress, not a one-time event.
A strategy cannot be considered ethical just because it involves actions that are legal. To meet the standard of being ethical, a strategy must entail actions that can pass moral scrutiny and that are aboveboard in the sense of not being shady or unconscionable, injurious to others, or unnecessarily harmful to the environment.
A company's business model deals with how and why the revenues and costs flowing from its strategy will result in attractive profits and return on investment. Without the ability to deliver profitability, the strategy is not viable and the survival of the business is in doubt.
A strategic vision describes the route a company intends to take in developing and strengthening its business. It paints a picture of a company's destination and provides a rational for going there.
An effectively communicated vision is a valuable management tool for enlisting the commitment of company personnel to actions that get the company moving in the intended direction.
A company's values are the beliefs, business principles, and practices that guide the conduct of its business, the pursuit of its strategic vision, and the behavior of company personnel.
Objectives are an organization's performance targets — the results and outcomes it wants to achieve. They function as yardsticks for tracking an organization's performance and progress.
Financial objectives relate to the financial performance targets management has established for the organization to achieve. Strategic objectives relate to target outcomes that indicate a company is strengthening its market standing, competitive vitality, and future business prospects.
A company exhibits strategic intent when it relentlessly pursues an ambitious strategic objective and concentrates its full resources and competitive actions on achieving that objective.
Every company manager has a strategy-making, strategy-implementing role - it is flawed thinking to look upon the tasks of managing strategy as something only high-level managers do is flawed thinking
A company's strategy is at full power only when its many pieces are united.
A company's strategic plan lays out its future direction, performance targets, and strategy. A company's vision, objectives, strategy, and approach to strategy execution are never final; managing strategy is an ongoing process, not a start-stop event.
Excellent execution of an excellent strategy is the best test of managerial excellence — and the most reliable recipe for winning in the marketplace.
