The Building Blocks of Business and Stock Strategy

A military person can explain strategy crafting best. Business and stock investors have borrowed the term from the bloody stretches of the battle-field. It is said that business mimics war. This is certainly true of strategy.

Strategy is creative though one may employ process to fashion the outcome. As with numerous artists who work with the same media, various teams of business managers and stock investors may craft different strategies out of a single set of Environment Scans, Goals, and Assumptions.

There is one major and a minor aim for strategy.

It should leverage strengths and opportunities as much as possible.

The lesser aim is to shield weaknesses and to protect from threats.

The major aim contributes the goals, while the other protects from unfavorable developments.

Strategy should open as many degrees of freedom as possible. It should work in a broad range of situations.

Execution of strategy takes major resources. It is expensive to change strategy. That is why crafting deserves all the attention we can provide.

Secrecy and surprise are important elements of strategy. Many professionals go to all legal lengths to throw competitors and adversaries on wrong tracks.

However, strategy does not need to be expressed in writing, so that it can be reviewed in future. Written strategy helps large teams pull in the same direction. Strategy must be written succinctly, comprehensively, expressively, and in inspiring manner.

We shall consider examples of strategy tomorrow.