Company strategy. Business strategies - optimal ways to develop a company Examples of business strategies

When Mark Zuckerburg launched Facebook in 2004, he was not a pioneer. At that time, there were already dozens of social networks with millions of investments and thousands of registered users. But still he managed to create the most popular social network on the planet.

How did Facebook get ahead of its larger, much better-funded competitors? The answer is simple - it's all about a well-thought-out strategy, which over the years has become a clear advantage.

What is strategy?

If you ask several people to answer the question “What is strategy?”, you will most likely get several completely different answers. For example, the author of the widely known treatise “The Art of War”, Sun Tzu, talks about strategy like this:

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest path to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

In modern management theory, the term “strategy” appeared only in the 1960s, but representatives of Eastern philosophy were the first to use it in their works.

Henry Mintzberg, professor of management at McGill University, can rightfully be considered one of the most significant figures in modern strategic management. In his book “Schools of Strategy. “Strategic Safari: A Tour through the Wilds of Management Strategies” Mintzberg proposed 5 different interpretations of this term (Mintzberg’s 5P):

• strategy as a plan (a Plan);
• strategy as a pattern (a Pattern, a principle of behavior, a stable pattern of actions);
• strategy as a perspective (a Perspective);
• strategy as a position (a Position);
• strategy as a clever move (a Ploy).

At first glance, the definitions are completely different, but they are all similar in one thing: these are means of achieving a given goal under conditions of uncertainty.

Strategy is the answer to the question “How?”

The highest goal of any business is to realize the full potential of the idea found and create a working business model. Many entrepreneurs often make the same mistake: they start improving the product without paying due attention to the vision (a concise and inspiring statement of how top management sees the business developing in the foreseeable future) and strategy (the plan for achieving the strategic vision).

Strategic pyramid: vision - why, strategy - how, product - what?

Vision and strategy are the main components of the pyramid presented above, because without them, even the best product may not survive the competition in the market. A vision is what helps define long-term goals, and a strategy is what helps achieve those goals.

Strategy as a pattern

Any science is built on collective knowledge. The same can be said about innovation.

Sam Walton, an American businessman, founder of the WalMart and Sam's Club chains, traveled a lot (and long distances were never an obstacle for him) to study his competitors. He took ideas from what he saw to try them out in his stores. What can I say: even Google borrowed a model from its competitor Overture.

However, ideas for creating something new do not necessarily come from competitors. In 1831, when going around the world on the Beagle, Darwin took with him Lyell’s book “Principles of Geology”, and 5 years later he returned from the voyage with a huge amount of materials confirming the scientist’s ideas. However, the greatest treasure that Darwin returned home with was the conviction that all species of plants and animals undergo a long process of gradual, continuous change, ultimately leading to the emergence of new species.

Ironically, Charles Lyell, through whose influence Darwin wrote the main work of his life, On the Origin of Species, criticized the theory of evolution for many years.

Many innovative business models have been built on ideas borrowed from other industries. History knows a lot of examples when a company that released an analogue of a product that had been on the market for a long time turned into an industry leader. However, blindly copying will not lead you anywhere good. Borrowing an idea and borrowing a strategy are two different things.

Strategy as differentiation

Someone else's idea may prompt you to create a strategy, but one way or another you will still need to think about how your product will differ from the products of your closest competitors. In other words, you have to find the “unfair advantage.” ;)

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results each time,” Albert Einstein.

The bad news is that you're unlikely to discover your unfair advantage right away. Most likely, intuitively you know exactly where to look for it, but you don’t yet know how. Therefore, initially your “unfair advantage” is a secret. ;)

“A secret is a unique opportunity that no one else knows about,” Peter Thiel, Zero to One.

The secret of the social network Facebook was related to its users: Zuckerberg realized that people love to communicate (gossip, tell each other about their hobbies, etc.), but the modern rhythm of life prevents them from doing this. Zuckerberg decided that to create a new social network, it was necessary to simply eliminate all the shortcomings that were in existing social networks, and not try to follow the example of competitors. The Harvard campus—or any other university or college campus, for that matter—was an ideal petri dish for experiments.

In order to reveal your own secret and ultimately understand what your “unfair advantage” is, you will need to study not only analogues of your products, but also, possibly, their anti-analogues. The concept of anti-analogues, first described in the book Searching for a Business Model by Randy Komisar and John Mullins. How to save a startup by changing the plan in time” is to study the negative experience of competitors received when introducing innovative products to the market.

For a company to be successful, it is necessary to draw up a competent strategy for its development. This is done based on the goals of the organization and the specifics of its activities.

What is a development strategy?

The concept of strategy comes from military vocabulary. This term refers primarily to planning. That is, the company's management plans further actions taking into account the expected results. The strategy determines the following nuances of the organization’s functioning:

• Direction of activity.
• Tools for achieving your goals and objectives.
• External and internal positioning system.
• Company mission.
• The procedure for dealing with external and internal influence on the organization.
• The social role of the company.

The strategy determines the basic features of functioning. It is necessary to quickly achieve your goals.

Why do you need a strategy?

There are three reasons for forming a development strategy:

1. Understanding the long-term goals of the organization.
2. Formation of activity goals.
3. Mutual understanding of all company owners regarding further development.

Forming a development strategy is especially important for large enterprises that expect to remain in the market for a long time.

Types of development strategies

In 21st century management, there are different types of strategies:

1. Basic. Represents planning of the general direction of development of the organization. Applies to all types of company activities. Includes a product strategy, a combination of solutions in various areas. This is considered to be the most difficult strategy. This is explained by its scale.
2. Competitive. Necessary for the formation of competitive advantages. Involves creating approaches for activities in each area. Used in addition to the basic method.
3. Functional. It is formed for each of the organization’s divisions that are included in the overall production scheme. It is required to develop an action plan for each functional area. Its main goal is the distribution of resources of departments, their activities in accordance with the overall strategy of the company. Functional planning includes the R&D strategy. It is needed to summarize information about new products.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION! These types of strategies are not interchangeable. They can be used in combination with each other.

Development strategies for enterprises with niche specialization

It is advisable for medium and small companies to choose a specific niche. This is necessary to gain a competitive advantage. There are a number of forms of strategies specifically for niche companies:

• Conservation strategy. It is required if it is necessary to maintain the current position of the organization. Does not imply expansion of work. This form of planning has a significant disadvantage: it does not guarantee the preservation of a competitive advantage.
• Intruder detection strategy. Relevant when the company is in distress. If an organization can no longer function autonomously, it seeks a company to acquire it. In the future, the organization will also be able to function, but as a relatively independent unit.
• Niche leadership strategy. This is relevant in the presence of several circumstances: the organization is developing dynamically and claims to have a monopoly in a niche; there are sufficient financial resources available to ensure accelerated growth.
• Strategy for going beyond niche boundaries. This method is relevant only if the company operates within a narrow niche. Expanding a niche involves facing competitors. For this reason, an enterprise must have the resources to guarantee a competitive advantage.

Each of these strategies can be called effective. However, methods will be effective only if they are selected in accordance with the specifics of the company.

What does a strategy plan include?

The development strategy combines the following points:

• Company mission. This is a set of values ​​that guide an organization in carrying out its activities.
• Organizational structure. Involves the division of manufactured products. It also includes dividing the organization into divisions.
• Competitive advantages. They represent a company's advantages that can be compared to competitors.
• Products. Includes those products, the sale of which forms the main profit of the enterprise.
• Resource potential. It is a complex of resources involved in the manufacture of products.
• Intangible potential. These are the organization’s capabilities to attract investment and meet current needs.

The strategy combines the possibility of merging with another company and corporate culture.

Steps to formulate a company development strategy

Let's look at the step-by-step steps to create a strategy:

1. An analysis of the current state of the enterprise is carried out. It makes sense to evaluate the company's activities over a certain period. When analyzing, you need to take into account a number of indicators: product sales, profit making, financial potential.
2. Combining the plans of the enterprise with its resources. Executing the strategy requires certain resources. Even if the management's ambitions are great, but there are no funds to fulfill them, the plan will fail. Therefore, you need to find the optimal balance between desires and capabilities. To do this, you need to have objective data about available resources.
3. Preparing to introduce changes. As part of this, new positions are being created and personnel composition is changing.
4. Risk analysis is carried out. At this stage, compensatory measures are planned.
5. Based on the data obtained at the stage of the company’s activity, the existing strategy is adjusted.

ATTENTION! The developed strategy is not forever. It must be reviewed periodically to take into account new factors. For example, market requirements may change, and new competitors may appear.

Examples of successful company development strategies

Let's look at some illustrative examples of the strategy.

1. The Coca-Cola brand is developing through a steady expansion of its capacity. When the manufacturer entered the Russian market, it encountered a strong competitor - the Pepsi brand. As a result, Coca-Cola began to increase its production capacity. In particular, measures were taken to create a production basis. In the 90s, a bottling plant was put into operation. The brand first penetrated into large regions, and then into small ones. All this provided the necessary competitive advantage.
2. Another example is the Hilton hotel complex. The constant basis of his strategy is the construction of luxury hotels. However, at some stage the market became oversaturated. That is, new luxury hotels have simply become unclaimed. Therefore, Hilton management began building hotels with affordable prices. Expansion of the niche implied a clash with competitors. However, Hilton management foresaw an important competitive advantage - high quality service.

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Classmates

Dynamics is the key to prosperity and success of a business. Even the most successful enterprise can collapse before our eyes if you stop keeping your finger on the pulse.

A correctly chosen business strategy for the development of an organization allows not only to satisfy absolutely all the wishes of consumers, but also to do it much faster than competitors.

Choosing a path

Any competent manager sooner or later begins to ask questions:

• is it worth continuing to move in the existing direction;
• is it worth closing the existing direction;
• how to correctly move to a different stream of development and what kind of activity should be chosen at this stage.

All these questions directly depend on the status that the organization currently has in the market. The manager must understand exactly what tasks the enterprise copes with 100%, and where there are still weaknesses.

When choosing the right direction for the development of an organization, it is worth using reference business development strategies.

In this case, you will adhere to a specific plan that has been extensively tested in practice and invariably gives a positive result.

Reference or, as they are also called, basic strategies are invariably associated with the following factors:

• development industry;
• the position that the company managed to occupy within its niche;
• product;
• technology;
• market.

Each of the above factors can be in one of the states: new or existing.

Global basic strategies are divided into four groups, each of which has its own characteristics and characteristics.

Group No. 1 – concentrated growth

This strategy is directly related to changes not only in the product, but also in the market itself.

If a strategist (company owner) relies on concentrated growth, then it is necessary:

1. Improve your own products.
2. Start producing something new. The development sector does not change.

To sell manufactured products, you need to strengthen your position in the market. If already known distribution channels do not give the desired effect, it is necessary to radically change the market.

Types of strategies #1:

1. Market development. The product remains the same, but the sales market changes.
2. Strengthening market positions. In this case, the firm tries to achieve horizontal integration by promoting old products. This type of development involves a huge amount of marketing effort.
3. Product. In this case, the company produces new products, but sells them through old distribution channels.

A clear example of efficiency.

The Coca-Cola company entered the Russian market much later than its eternal rival, Pepsi.

But the company's management is well aware of its disadvantageous position, and the Coca-Cola holding spends huge amounts of money on building a production base.

In 1994, a company plant was built in Moscow and a little later - in Pulkovo near St. Petersburg. The company did not spare more than one hundred million US dollars for this event.

But the brand’s popularity began to rapidly increase, and soon, even in rural areas, people were drinking Coca-Cola.

Group No. 2 – integrated growth

Following the path of integrated growth, the company will develop and strengthen its position by adding new structures.

The company can expand both from within and by acquiring new property. In this case, the status of the company within the industry changes.

Types of strategies #2:

1. Vertical, forward-moving integration. The structures that connect the consumer and the enterprise come under the latter’s total control.
2. Vertical backward integration. In this case, control over the supplier is strengthened. This effect can be achieved by creating your own subsidiary structure, which should carry out the supply. Instead of losses, supplies begin to bring additional profits.

An example of efficiency.

In the 90s, six meat companies divided the market among themselves. The result was fierce competition.

The Mimox company in 1997 was the undoubted leader, owned 30% of the market and was the leader in Moscow in the production of meat products.

But after 10 months the situation changed radically. They lost most of their possessions, falling back two units and becoming only “No. 3” in the meat business. Everything was heading towards the sale of a controlling stake.

In six months, the general director managed to radically change the situation and save the enterprise from ruin.

The Mimox company simply abandoned the intermediary between the plant and wholesale warehouses, and also built its own markets. It was understood that one market would be engaged in wholesale trade, and the other in retail trade.

Group No. 3 – diversified growth

This strategy is applied only if the company has reached its peak and in this market can no longer sell certain products in a specific industry.

Types of strategies #3:

1. Centered diversification. Search and implementation of additional resources for the production of new products (services).
2. Horizontal diversification. Searching for development opportunities in an existing market through a new product using new technologies.
3. Conglomerate diversification. The company decides to conquer new markets using the products it already produces.

An example of efficiency.

The supplier of raw materials for the Neftehimprom financial and industrial group bought shares in Dneproshin. Controlling stake.

It turns out that Neftehimprom has entered the tire production. Previously, he was involved in oil refining and tire sales.

Now he decided to manufacture tires and absorb smaller companies.

Group No. 4 – reduction

When a business has exhausted its resources and needs to regroup its forces, downsizing strategies are used.

This usually occurs after a long period of growth or to try to maintain its position during a downturn in the economy.

Targeted and planned reduction strategies are used to achieve results.

Almost always, downsizing strategies have a very painful impact on the state of the enterprise. But sometimes a strategist simply has no other way.

Types of strategies #4:

1. Liquidation. The company has completely outlived its usefulness and can no longer evolve further.
2. "Harvesting". The company refuses long-term and very promising cooperation in order to receive a one-time income in the near future.
3. Reduction strategy. If there is a chance to develop another, more profitable business, this strategy is used.
4. Reducing costs. The company is trying to cut costs and reduce costs.

All of the strategies listed are basic and truly effective. If a person does not see a way out of a dead end, this does not mean that there is none. There is light even at the end of the tunnel.

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BUSINESS STRATEGY

Every successful company must have a business development strategy, understanding that this is very important for achieving new successes in the future.

Business strategy is an integrated model of actions designed to achieve company goals. The content of a strategy is a set of decision-making rules used to determine the main directions of activity. In other words, it is a plan for how to take the company from where it is now to where it wants to be. That is, finding a way to achieve your business goals.

The following elements influence the choice of a particular business strategy:

• market
• industry
• manufactured product
• technology used
• the company's place in the industry market

How to develop an effective enterprise strategy?

When choosing a strategy, you must first find answers to the following important questions:

1. What specific product (service) does your company offer for sale?
2. Which customers and what market are your products (services) intended for?
3. Why do customers need the service you offer?
4. Who are your main competitors? What is their market share?
5. What are your competitors' main strengths?
6. What are the main weaknesses of your competitors?
7. What are the technical alternatives to your product/service?
8. What are your company's strengths?
9. What are your company's weaknesses?
10. What strategies should you employ to make the most of your strengths?
11. Does the corporate culture match the objectives?
12. What promising opportunities are there in the chosen direction?
13. What potential threats and risks may there be in the chosen direction?

Based on the answers received, you can develop a plan to achieve your goals, identify possible options for solving this problem, and evaluate resources and capabilities. And start taking action. But you need to remember that The strategy development process does not end with any immediate action. Usually it ends with the establishment of general directions, progress along which will ensure growth and strengthening of the company’s position.

The formulated strategy should be used to develop strategic projects using the search method. The role of strategy in search is, first, to help focus attention on specific areas and opportunities; second, discard all other possibilities as incompatible with the strategy.

The company's strategy is developed and implemented at all levels of strategic management:

"First level. Corporate". Present in companies operating in several business areas. Here decisions are made on purchases, sales, liquidations, repurposing of certain areas of business, strategic correspondence between individual areas of business is calculated, diversification plans are developed, and global management of financial resources is carried out.

"Second level. Business areas." The level of the first managers of non-diversified organizations, or completely independent ones, responsible for the development and implementation of business strategy. At this level, a strategy is developed and implemented, based on the corporate strategic plan, the main goal of which is to increase the competitiveness of the organization and its competitive potential.

"Third. Functional". Level of managers of functional areas: finance, marketing, R&D, production, personnel management, etc.

"Fourth. Linear". The level of managers of departments of an organization or its geographically distant parts, for example, representative offices, branches.

A business strategy is not universal and always leads to success. Business success, as well as strategy itself, is an equation with many variable variables. Where your developed strategy will lead you depends only on you. But what it should be, a strategy, is unambiguous.

Markides believes that new strategic positions appear constantly. In his view, “a new strategic position is simply a new viable who-what-how combination”: it could be a new customer segment (new who), a new offering (new what), or a new way of distributing or manufacturing a product (new “how”)

He cites the Edward Jones partnership, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, as an example of this approach.

New strategy allowed the company to grow at an uncanny speed: since 1981, Edward Jones has expanded by 15% annually, without making any acquisitions.

“We choose individual, not institutional clients,” the company’s leaders explained their approach to the author. - We buy safe securities and hold them for a long time, rather than trying to maximize commissions on trades. Instead of large offices in large cities, we have small offices in small towns to make it convenient for the client. Our offices are serviced by one person.”

Search for business strategy tools and opportunities

The point of searching for means and opportunities to achieve the strategy is very important in this context. Researchers studying the antecedents of firm creation use the term “strategic assets” to refer to skills, resources, assets, and competencies that have value.

According to its characteristics, any strategic asset:

a) rare (not available to competitors);

b) it is not easy to copy;

c) It is not easily replaced (Pepsi and other soft drink competitors cannot copy or replace the Coca-Cola brand, and this asset gives the company a sustainable advantage).

But the initial strategic asset is not enough - it needs to be constantly replenished. One of the ways to replenish is continuous training (the company must not only learn, but also consciously use the results of this process to cost reduction And increasing efficiency).

The second way is to use the company's competencies to create new assets faster and cheaper than competitors. The third way to build strategic assets and capabilities is to use the strategic ladder.

This means that after setting a grand final goal for the company, it is necessary to build a development plan through a “countdown” (do not outline plans based on the current situation, but determine intermediate points to the final task).

According to Markides, formation of a strategic ladder includes three stages:

1. Developing the overall strategic goal of the company.
2. Based on this long-term goal, you should develop medium- and short-term tasks that need to be solved on the way to achieving it.
3. Starting from the present and looking to the future, identify the sequence of skills and abilities needed to achieve each successive goal that becomes a rung on the strategic ladder, and then invest in developing those skills.

That is, periodically ask the question: how to develop, expand, advance? There are two ways, according to Markides: to become better or to become different. The author examines both ways in detail.

On the first it is important to focus on the existing strategy and improve it through restructuring, refocusing, reengineering, empowering employees, etc., on the second, as we already wrote, find new “who”, “what” and “how”. But in fact, he concludes, creating a new and unique strategy requires both.

At the same time, it is also important that the company’s employees should develop an emotional attachment to the strategy. It is not enough to intellectually agree with the common sense contained in the new strategy. Without emotional attachment, staff may be reluctant to put real effort into making it happen.

Finding Emotional Commitment is a four-step process. In the first stage, your goal is to communicate your strategy clearly and clearly. The purpose of the second stage is to ensure that people agree to follow this strategy. But all this is still quite close to rational commitment, which does not necessarily translate into action.

Convincing people not only to agree with the strategy, but to accept it and begin to implement it is the goal of the third stage. In the fourth and final stage of gaining commitment, employees are fully, passionately committed to serving the strategy, while the company stimulates them with quick wins and successes, demonstrates in word and deed its personal commitment to the strategy, allows people to take initiative and contribute to the implementation of the strategy, and so on. .

One of the most famous examples of achieving impressive emotional commitment to a strategy is the situation at Apple Computers.

This is how, in general, Markides's vision of the problem of forming a unique strategy looks like. But it is not a fact that it is the only true one.

Markides himself writes that he discussed most of the ideas with hundreds of company executives around the world, but... “They disagreed and argued with me and helped structure my thoughts much better than I could have done on my own,” - he concludes. Probably, most readers will also be able to argue with the professor from London, and this is good, because in an argument, as the saying goes, truth is born.