| This article is to share some of the experience gained | | | | companies, they are neither Marketer not Engineer |
| during one of the Strategic Planning Review session. | | | | by profession. Most of them came from a |
| Unlike the regular Strategic Planning where several | | | | background of military. |
| analytical tools such as PEST, 5-forces of | | | | He also quoted Wall-Mart, how the power of |
| competitions, SWOT Analysis etc. are used. But this | | | | Critical-Mass can breakthrough a market like Japan. |
| case study is about using Benchmarking as a | | | | How Wall-Mart strategize to market a pair of suit |
| Strategic Planning approach. Does it worked? | | | | that is so affordable for daily change for the |
| In regular Strategic Planning, it is fair to mention that | | | | Japanese working class. |
| is time consuming for team member use various | | | | He quoted that when a new candidate join the |
| tools to analyze the business and competitive | | | | military, one main thing that he will not be send to |
| environment. The choice of PEST, 5-forces or SWOT | | | | train in handling a gun or some sort of weapon. |
| very much depends on the complexity and | | | | However, the first day of reporting to duty is to |
| competitive position of the business. These tools | | | | shave off his hair on the head. Once it is done, he |
| assist us to understand the business scenarios and | | | | has to take a shower and changed on to a new set |
| competitive environment as well as internal | | | | of military uniform. The next morning, they will be |
| capabilities. | | | | wake up at five in the morning for a morning |
| I was in the Budget Roll-Out session conducted by | | | | exercise. |
| one of the companies I worked with. It is a regular | | | | He further explained how he interpreted these |
| event at the end of the financial year. The CEO of | | | | events in the business sense. He quoted why these |
| the company communicates what has transpired | | | | success stories exists? He quoted for example that |
| between his management and the shareholder of the | | | | in military, while discipline is key to operation, the next |
| company during the budget review session. | | | | important factor is the alignment where all solders |
| During the session, the CEO of the company | | | | follow one direction. To reinforce these factors, all |
| reinstated the company direction and give a | | | | solders have to wake up 5 in the morning to break |
| presentation of the business outlook and without | | | | down your normal self. The objective is to force the |
| failed, he presented the company performance | | | | solders to get out of their comfortable box. |
| expectations and a total picture of the business | | | | In business strategies, there is no sure win strategy. |
| scenario. | | | | He quoted that the first person who conquer the |
| In between his talk, he quoted several examples of | | | | Mount Everest was indeed failed in his first attempt |
| Best-Of-The-Best: case studies by several successful | | | | but he challenged himself again until he succeeded. In |
| companies such as Honda USA, Porter-Gamble, Nike | | | | summary, in this complex business environment and |
| in the OEM and Li-Fong in Asia also in OEM; and | | | | ever changing landscape, leaders need to adopt to |
| changes in landscape in the Banking Industries in | | | | various resources for consideration in developing a |
| Malaysia. | | | | business strategy. A generic strategies such as |
| In his strategic development process, he selected a | | | | capture more market, reduce operation cost is no |
| few best practices by these companies and balanced | | | | longer adequate. Leaders need to have an open mind |
| them with his business environment. He then | | | | to capture key advantage of various options and to |
| developed a hybrid strategy called the orchestra | | | | develop a hybrid strategy to ensure its business |
| model. He advised the participants that during his | | | | successes. |
| dialog with some of the CEO of these successful | | | | |