How to write a strong business strategy

Strategy types

It’s important to realise that there are different types of strategies and different processes for strategy development which are adopted by different types of businesses, large and small. Renowned academic and strategy guru Henry Mintzberg is credited with coming up with these six broad definitions:

• Planned: strategies that are formulated centrally (usually by ‘head office’)
• Imposed: strategies either dictated by a parent company, or by economic or other circumstances
• Opportunistic: deliberate strategies to respond to opportunities as they arise
• Entrepreneurial: strategies that are driven by an entrepreneur which may not be written down, but may be understood by those around them. 
• Emergent: strategies that evolve in an unplanned and sometimes unintentional way
• Realised: strategies which are the outcome of combining planned and emergent strategies

Strategy formulation is an inexact science. Everyone is on a continuous learning curve. “No organisation, not even the ones commanded by those ancient Greek generals, knows enough to work everything out in advance, to ignore learning en route,” Mintzberg wrote in this essay on crafting strategy published in the Harvard Business Review.

Strategy process

The terminology used in developing a strategy can often be perceived as “navel gazing”, and far removed from the day-to-day realities of owning and managing a small business. This is not necessarily true, as an understanding of the terms and their relevance to small businesses is hugely beneficial.

The process of developing a strategy involves stepping back from day-to-day operations to answer some big picture questions about what a business stands for, as well as its purpose.  You should define the following terms:

• Vision: What is the future direction of the business?
• Mission: What business are you in? How does the business create value for customers, shareholders, staff and other audiences?
• Values: What does your business believe in and stand for?

Marketing, often seen as ‘fluffy’, is at the core of the development of a business strategy, and how businesses create their long-term value.

Strategic analysis is necessary to get to understand where the business is, where it is going and how it can make forecasts. That analysis may be based on reviewing and interpreting both internal and external data, and market trends.

Such analysis is an essential part of the next stage of the process, which is about defining the strategic direction of the company. This includes:

• Agreeing on a broad direction for the business
• Setting objectives, which should be aligned to the business’s vision
• Reviewing various options and making decisions

Strategic implementation

This is the process whereby the strategy gets turned into an operational plan or a series of plans with clear objectives and actions to be pursued by a business. A clear vision should make sense to everybody. It should allow for objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to be set. A mission statement needs to grab the attention and interest of your employees and customers.

Don’t underestimate values. They set the tone for how people behave and how your business is perceived, both internally and externally. Values underpin many successful businesses and dictate how a range of activities are pursued, from dealing with customers, to entering new markets and even recruitment.