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In our fast-paced world of innovation and disruption, agility and adaptability are keywords that are a part of strategy building. In this article, Mark Hess shares insight on refreshing a strategy.

Are You (and your team) Prepared for What Comes Next?

The pandemic has brought changes to virtually every business and industry. Some of the changes have been small, but many are significant. Some are positive changes, some are negative. These changes happened in a relatively short period of time. It is a tribute to business owners and their employees that businesses adapted as quickly as they did. Since the beginning of 2022 businesses have stabilized into a “new normal”, adapting to the market environment as it stands today. As you begin the process of making business plans for the future, you should consider how much of the “new normal” is here to stay. Which customer needs are temporary, and which are permanent? Which activities previously done in person will return and which ones will not? Now is the time for you and your team to take a few steps back and consider whether you need to refresh your go-forward growth strategy.

What is Strategy?

At the highest level, strategy is about deciding what you are going to do, and equally important, deciding what you are NOT going to do. For businesses, a well-defined strategy allows you to answer and be aligned around key questions for your business. The critical questions are:

Where will we play?  — Which products or services will we offer? Which customer segments will we pursue? In which geographies will we operate? What sales channels will we use?

How will we win?  — What is our unique value proposition? What are our competitive advantages?

What capabilities must be in place?  — What are our core competencies? Where are our capability gaps to execute the strategy?

The answers to those questions must also sync and reinforce each other. For example, if you are selling the most high-end product on the market an unlikely competitive advantage would be the lowest cost of goods in the industry. More likely would be an outstanding engineering and design team.

Key points include:

• The importance of a well-defined strategy
• When should a strategy change?
• Post-pandemic business

Read the full article, Time to Refresh Your Strategy, on Maven-Associates.com.