In your search for a premium competitive advantage, have you ever tried crafting and executing a business strategy?
If so, you'll know that achieving a competitive advantage is difficult to sustain because business strategy execution needs to be linked to your business strategy, your business operations and your IT systems. Business strategy is a hot topic, not just now, but almost always. Strategy execution consulting firms, such as SAP BW Consulting, Inc. help craft and execute and advanced, effective strategies, based on the Balanced Scorecard Strategic Management Methodology.
In our strategy execution consulting practice, we have seen that many people have found the key to successful strategy execution by using a balanced scorecard approach to business strategy management. Others have said that they already use the balanced scorecard approach yet their corporate strategy has not resulted in sustained competitive advantage nor in meeting their strategy ambitions.
But there are a few things you should know before you develop and implement a business strategy to ensure your strategy execution process is initiated optimally. After all, strategic execution is the key to success!
In our work as corporate strategy execution consultants we have consistently seen a few things you need to know to make sure you select a strategy mapping and execution approach that will let you successfully execute your corporate strategy to achieve your mission and vision.
Strategy Execution Requires Expertise in Multiple Dimensions
Speaking of vision, one of the key prerequisites in the Balanced Scorecard Methodology is the development of a vision, specifically a quantified vision. Coming up with this is a key part of the strategic planning process and radically impacts the decision making process.
In its’ simplest form, it is a statement such as we are currently doing $1 billion a year in sales and in 3 years we have a vision of doing $1.5 billion a year in sales. That $ .5 billion, the delta, is what all of your strategic plans must be focused on achieving.
More importantly, each element of the strategic plan, e.g., each initiative, must be designed to deliver a specific quantity of the $.5 billion a year delta.
If you're looking to realize your quantified vision, the best method to ensure you end up with something that lets you realize a business strategy is by looking for these 5 things:
While not necessary, some great bonus features of a great business strategy are ease of execution, data or fact based foundation, and simplicity in terms of ability to communicate it both internally and externally.
In terms of building a solid fact based foundation, experience from thousands of companies has clearly proven the need and absolute necessity of having a rock solid data warehouse.
It is not just that you need a data warehouse, like SAP Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW), to supply information to Strategy Management Software Solutions like SAP Strategy Management (SSM) or Business Unit Managers, it is that bad data leads to bad strategy execution and ultimately, potential failure of your entire strategic plan.
Just how drastic is the effect of bad data? It is reported that the U.S. economy suffers more than $600,000,000,000.00 (yes, Billion) dollar loss each year from bad data!
As you can see, there are a few things you should know before you sign up for the next strategy webinar or certification bootcamp. Strategy development is not as simple as buying some software sample templates or reading a few business strategy pdf books or viewing DVD’s on strategy.
Now that you know 5 critical elements of strategy execution, you're better prepared to develop a successful business strategy without worrying about how to get from strategy to execution.
It must be emphasized that leadership plays a key role in setting strategic goals, objectives, and creating initiatives for an organization. Strategic initiatives are the actions and projects that an organization undertakes to achieve its strategic goals and objectives. These initiatives are driven by the organizational strategy, which is the overall plan or roadmap that guides the actions and decisions of the organization. The leadership team is responsible for defining and communicating the strategic goals and objectives to the rest of the organization, ensuring alignment with the overall strategy. They also play a crucial role in creating initiatives that support these goals and objectives, by identifying opportunities, allocating resources, and providing guidance and direction to the teams responsible for executing these initiatives. In this way, leadership sets the direction and priorities for the organization, ensuring that strategic goals and objectives are effectively implemented and achieved.
Need a Balanced Scorecard Strategy Management Consultant to help you with these items? Our corporate strategy execution consulting practice is ready to work with you to set and achieve your goals.
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