Strategy is about winning. Strategy is not a detailed plan or program of instructions; it is a unifying theme that gives coherence and direction to the actions and decisions of an individual or an organization.
Two basic components of strategy analysis:
1) The analysis of the external environment of the firm (mainly industry analysis) and
2) The analysis of the internal environment (primarily analysis of the firm?s resources and capabilities).
Madonna in popular entertainment, General Giap and the North Vietnamese armed forces in warfare, and Lance Armstrong in cycling. Can the success of these diverse individuals and the organizations they led be attributed to any common factors?
For none of these three examples can success be attributed to overwhelmingly superior resources:
- Madonna possesses vitality, intelligence and magnetism, but lacks outstanding talents as a vocalist, musician or actress.
- The military, human, and economic resources of the Vietnamese communists were dwarfed by those of the U.S. and South Vietnam. Yet, with the U.S. evacuation from Saigon in 1975, the world?s most powerful nation was humiliated by one of the world?s poorest.
- Lance Armstrong possessed a powerful combination of physical and psychological attributes. Yet these endowments were not markedly superior to other top-class cyclists?especially after Armstrong?s near-death encounter with cancer.
Nor can their success be attributed either exclusively or primarily to luck. For all three, lucky breaks provided opportunities at critical junctures. None, however, was the beneficiary of a consistent run of good fortune. More important than luck was the ability to recognize opportunities when they appeared and to have the clarity of direction and the flexibility necessary to exploit these chances.
The key common ingredient in all three success stories above was the presence of a soundly formulated and effectively implemented?strategy.?These strategies did not exist as a plan; in most the strategy was not even made explicit. Yet, in all three, we can observe a consistency of direction based on a clear understanding of the ?game? being played and a keen awareness of how to maneuver into a position of advantage.
- Underpinning Madonna?s many years as a superstar has been a strategy built on dedication, opportunism, reinvention of herself and a well-coordinated multimarket presence.
- The victory of the Vietnamese communist forces over the French and then the Americans is a classic example of how a sound strategy pursued with total commitment over a long period can succeed against vastly superior resources. The key was Giap?s strategy of a protracted war of limited engagement. With the U.S. constrained by domestic and international opinion from unleashing its full military might, the strategy was unbeatable once it began to sap the willingness of the U.S. government to persevere with a costly, unpopular foreign war.
- Lance Armstrong?s domination of the Tour de France from 1999 to 2005 was because he and his team did the most effective job of analyzing the requirements for success in the race, developing a strategy around those requirements and executing it almost faultlessly.
What do these examples tell us about the characteristics of a strategy that are conducive to success? In all three stories, four common factors stand out :
1. Goals that are simple, consistent, and long term.?All three individuals displayed a single-minded commitment to a clearly recognized goal that was pursued steadfastly over a substantial part of their lifetime.
- Madonna?s career featured a relentless drive for stardom in which other dimensions of her life were absorbed within her career.
- North Vietnamese efforts were unified and focused on the ultimate goal of reuniting Vietnam under communist rule and expelling a foreign army?from Vietnamese soil. By contrast, U.S. efforts in Vietnam were bedeviled by confused objectives.
- On his return to professional cycling in 1998, Lance Armstrong committed to a single goal: winning the Tour de France.
2. Profound understanding of the competitive environment.?All three individuals designed their strategies around a deep and insightful appreciation of the arena in which they were competing.
- Fundamental to Madonna?s continuing success has been a shrewd understanding of the ingredients of stardom and the basis of popular appeal. This extends from the basic marketing principle that ?sex sells? to recognition of the need to manage gatekeepers of the critical media distribution channels. Her periodic reincarnations reflect an acute awareness of changing attitudes, styles, and social norms.
- Giap understood his enemy and the battlefield conditions where he would engage them. Most important was appreciation of the political predicament of U.S. presidents in their need for popular support in waging a foreign war.
- Lance Armstrong and team director Johan Bruyneel took analysis of the requirements for success in the Tour de France to unprecedented levels of detail and sophistication.
3. Objective appraisal of resources.?All three strategies were effective in exploiting internal strengths, while protecting areas of weakness.
- By positioning herself as a ?star,? Madonna exploited her abilities to develop and project her image, to self-promote and to exploit emerging trends while avoiding being judged simply as a rock singer or an actress. Her live performances rely heavily on a large team of highly qualified dancers, musicians, vocalists, choreographers and technicians, thus compensating for any weaknesses in her own performing capabilities.
- Giap?s strategy was carefully designed to protect against his army?s deficiencies in arms and equipment while exploiting the commitment and loyalty of his troops.
- Armstrong?s campaign to win the Tour de France was based on two key strengths: unmatched determination to win and superior team-building capability.
4. Effective implementation.?Without effective implementation, the best-laid strategies are of little use. Critical to the success of Madonna, Giap, and Armstong was their effectiveness as leaders in terms of their capacity to reach decisions, energy in implementing them, and ability to foster loyalty and commitment among subordinates. All three built organizations that allowed effective marshaling of resources and capabilities and quick responses to changes in the competitive environment.
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Whether we look at warfare, chess, politics, sport, or business, the success of individuals and organizations is seldom the outcome of a purely random process. Nor is superiority in initial endowments of skills and resources typically the determining factor. Strategies that build on the basic four elements almost always play an influential role.
They are goal focused; their career goals have taken primacy over the multitude of life?s other goals?friendship, love, leisure, knowledge, spiritual fulfillment. They know the environments within which they play and tend to be fast learners in terms of understanding the keys to advancement. They know themselves in terms of both strengths and weaknesses, and they implement their career strategies with commitment, consistency and determination.
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The author of the aboved writing: Robert M. Grant
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