Structure of a Strategic Analysis
Good to great to unstoppable
Introduction
Background (of the situation)
Discuss the present competitive advantage position of the firm.
How it came to be in this position?
What is the current outlook for it?
Objective (i.e., of the study; an *.ain; two sentences maximum; one sentence preferred.)
Briefly outline the forthcoming contents of this report.
Existing Organization Profile
Describe and assess the organization as it is now, including such aspects as (partial list).
Introduction to this section
Business definition (e.g., product, market, geographic scope)
7S: strategies (e.g., business, corporate; include here discussions of: strategic intent [e.g., vision, mission, etc.); core competencies; bases for/nature/degree of any competitive advantage(s) and how they have/are changing], organizational structure, systems, style, skills, staff, shared values; discuss nature/degree of 7S internal consistency/alignment.
Relevant financial and non-financial assessment of firm and/or business unit success to date.
Integrate the 7S alignment and business unit success to support the competitive advantage positions you describe in the Introduction above.
Strategic Analysis
Introduction to this section
External environment analysis (e.g., general, competitive/industry) with diagnoses and implications immediately following each analysis.
Internal environment analysis (e.g., RBV, VC) with diagnoses and implications immediately following each analysis; include any relevant financial analyses; for the RBV and VC, include the ‘VRIS’ plus ‘Implications for Competitiveness’ plus ‘Competitive Strategy Supported’ assessments integrate the foregoing analyses, diagnoses, and implications, and explicate the key (current and future, external and internal) strategic issues that are to be addressed; be sure to explicitly link the strategic issues to the analyses from which they are derived.
Strategy Formulation
Introduction to this section
Describe the alternative competitive (business) and corporate strategies you will evaluate; explain why you are considering these alternatives, and how they are related to the strategic issues you derived above.
Describe the criteria you will employ to evaluate the alternative strategies and to select the strategies to be implemented; explain why you are using these
criteria (avoid a ‘pro vs con’ or ‘advantages vs disadvantages’ type of discussion).
Evaluate the alternative strategies and then select the recommended strategies; include any relevant financial analyses; explain your evaluations and selections (avoid a ‘pro vs con’ or ‘advantages vs disadvantages’ type of discussion).
If recommending a differentiation strategy, explain/justify the bases for differentiation; if recommending an OCL strategy, explain how/why it will be
attained.
Explain how/why your selected/recommended strategies will promote the attainment of the afore-stated study Objective.
Strategy Implementation
Introduction to this section
As needed, formulate / reformulate the mission statement and explain why it is needed and ‘better’ than the existing mission statement.
Describe your strategy implementation plan (e.g., compare, contrast 7S now versus 7S needed to show what should be done and how; include any relevant
financial analyses); be certain to support (avoid a ‘pro vs con’ or ‘advantages vs disadvantages’ type of discussion); discuss nature and degree of internal
consistency / alignment of 7S needed.
Discuss the relevant aspects of control, monitoring, and evaluation of success of strategy and of strategy implementation
Recommended Organization Profile
Future 7S details (note - when explicitly and clearly identified, this section may be included in the ‘Strategy Implementation’ section above).