Print this pageThe Reason for Developing the Strategic Management Framework
Formation of Business Architecture Consultancy
After 24 years of consulting and corporate experience, Kim took the opportunity to purse answers to the questions that, at the time, most intrigued him based on his twenty plus years of experience. During those years, he had consulted on business improvement and strategy, developed systems, developed business processes, done process reengineering, redesigned work, redeveloped an organization, developed quality systems, developed products, started-up new businesses, created business models, produced strategy, executed strategic plans, worked with people from the front line jobs to reporting to the board.
What became evident to him over time is that strategy overall is incredibly difficult and misunderstood. Strategy execution itself is extremely difficult, but the execution tools, methods, and knowledge exist to execute strategy well when coupled with management discipline. The nagging questions that developed over time were not regarding strategy deployment or execution. Amongst the flurry of activity, dictates, anguish, and incremental successes, there was the nagging question of whether or not the "right" or "best" strategy was being pursued.
Defining the Right Questions
Given the opportunity to do unrestricted research regarding strategy, Kim set out to first formulate the right questions about strategy, then to answer them, with the objective in mind of providing guidance to organizations struggling with strategy. The questions were of the following nature. What provides a business with a competitive advantage? If we know what provides the advantage, how does an organization then pursue developing that advantage? How does an organization best adapt to the inevitable and continually changing environment? What does is mean to be a learning organization and how does that integrate with strategy? For all the talk of business models, what exactly is a business model and what "model" best represents a business and compliments strategy creation and execution?
These questions were summed up into one crystallizing question, "Is there a definable way to develop a sustainable competitive advantage, or are some companies just lucky?" This question became the focal point and rallying cry for the research. A second tier, but equally important question arose, "Should all companies explicitly pursue a competitive advantage, or should they just keep plugging along, focus on continuous improvement of existing operations and do long-term planning, while waiting for some strategic insight, disaster, or some other event to strike to trigger a transformation?"
The answers to these questions could not address just parts of a business; it had to address the whole. The answer also could not address just part of the strategy process, but needed to define the whole process of strategic management and its integration with the rest of what makes a business a business. In order to become proficient and continually improve, the strategic management process needed to be explicit, formal, continuously and cyclically executed, measured, and improved upon. A useful answer has to be useful for all times, all circumstances, and be industry independent. The answer also could not presume to be final or a full recipe for success. Management science is far too immature to come out with the "laws of strategic management".
Answering the Questions
Research informed and supplemented by years of experience, was critical to developing legitimate answers. The research brings together the wisdom of hundreds of management science practitioners, from corporate leaders to academics to consultants. The research, first and foremost, is for the legitimacy of the answers found and conclusions reached. The plethora of data, information, and ideas subsumed into the strategic management framework also makes connections across diverse ideas, tools, and practices, making for a rich body of knowledge. Many diverse aspects of strategy have been pulled together into an integrated whole.
The answer to the nagging questions is the strategic management framework for competency development. This framework defines the essential elements, as they are currently known, which produce and sustain a competitive advantage. The ideas brought together from extensive research and filtered through the mesh of Kim's experience and judgment; define the philosophical basis for, the structure of, and the tools, techniques, and methods of the strategic management framework. This framework facilitates initial learning, through its logical arrangement and memorable constructs, and ongoing learning, because it is in fact a framework, not dogma. The framework is meant to serve it users for years to come as it accommodates the adoption of new methods and techniques. Now, Kim's in-depth knowledge, combined with the strategy related constructs, models, and framework, gives organization leaders a resource with a depth of experience and knowledge to effectively collaborate with them in developing and instituting sustainable competitive advantages and superior returns.
