Chris Hall21st January 2015

What is Strategy?

TIME

Source: London Business School Sloan Program

HOW

Who needs one?MNC to SME to start upProfit/Non ProfitCorporate/Business Unit/Product

Agenda for change -2011Economic Strategy (Vision2020)Tax Strategy

Personal financeHobbies and Interests

Strategy Creation Process

ANALYSIS

FORMULATION & CHOICE

IMPLEMENTATION & CONTROL

VISION, MISSION, VALUES

Source: IOD Course: Directors Role in Strategy & Marketing

Execution – Competitive Advantage

Strategy

CultureOrganisation

Source: O2 Leadership Program, Oxford Business School

Example – IOM ICT Strategy

Vision, Mission, Values

Research & Analysis

Options & Scenarios

Strategic goals

Action Plan & Targets

Strategic Plan

(5 yrs)

•Vision & Mission•Industry & Trends•Current situation•Research & Conclusions•Strategic Priorities, Balanced Scorecard,•Risks & Mitigation

Business Plan (1 yr)

•Objectives and targets•Action plans•Resource allocation and budgets•KPIs/measurement

ICT Vision & Targets

VISION “To achieve continued and sustained GDP growth for the next five years through defined organic and inorganic growth in high added value niche services”

MISSION “For ICT to be widely recognised across the IOM as a critical sector for future economic growth and as a good choice for a future career”

TARGET • Double ICT GDP in size in real terms by 2017/18• To create over 580 new ICT jobs by 2017/18

ICT Strategic Priorities

Developing SkillsSupporting

Existing Business

Attracting New Inward

Investment

Supporting Entrepreneurs

582 NEW JOBS

ICT Strategy – Priorities for Action

37

• Recruit executive to lead MICTA • Work with MICTA to stimulate new export sales • Quick fixes to make it easier to import ICT skills

Supporting existing business

• Increase focus on ICT sector •Proactively promote IOM to target UK software SMEs • Promote IOM to successful/new entrepreneurs

Attracting new inward investment

•Provide support and education to encourage local technology entrepreneurs

•Investigate feasibility of attracting an incubator or accelerator to the IOM to support ICT start ups

Supporting Entrepreneurs

Developing Skills • Short term fixes to encourage import of skills•Promote and publicise ICT as a career• Ensure ICT syllabus in schools fit for purpose• Support development of MEF ICT

Top Tips• Diary out time

– Planning is time well spent• External support may add value

– Avoid group think by getting extra input in-house or from external advisors/facilitators/consultants

• Think the unthinkable– Don’t discount idea because “its never been done before”

• Action Orientated– Strategy needs to be backed up with clear execution plan and SMART actions

• Communicate, communicate, communicate– Key role of leader is to ensure everybody in team understands strategy

• Regular reviews – Good board meeting is one third looking backwards, 2/3rd looking forwards

Further Information

Conclusion

“The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.”

Sun Tzu