It is important to bear in mind, as previously mentioned, that there is no single optimal form of strategic process or optimal combination of strategic processes for all organizations, but rather that each organization, depending on its internal characteristics and the characteristics of its environment, will have a type or combination of types of strategic processes that best suits its specific problems at any given time.
In general, it may be the case that an organization requires the use or development of deliberate strategic processes, or emergent strategic processes, or strategic processes composed of deliberate and emergent actions, or a particular combination of the aforementioned different types.
In the first instance, the organization will have to define and establish those deliberate strategic processes whose characteristics best fit its specific problems: more or less formal or informal, with the required frequency, with the necessary participants, using those systems or tools that may be useful, etc.
In the second instance, the organization should encourage the emergence and development of those types of emergent strategic processes that are best suited to its specific problems: ‘top-down’, ‘bottom-up’ or ‘democratic’ type [1] emergent processes. In this respect, it should be noted that, although these processes may arise without being encouraged by the company’s management, there is no doubt that their conscious encouragement (through a high degree of openness to interaction with the environment, a participative management style, an open and tolerant organizational culture, etc.) will increase the likelihood of their occurrence.
In the third instance, it may be that the organization requires the emergence and development of emergent streams of actions (top-down, bottom-up or ‘democratic’ type) that generate new strategic decisions, concepts, visions, ideas or initiatives, or new incipient patterns of behavior, in order to subsequently promote or deliberately implement those ideas, initiatives, incipient patterns, etc. deemed appropriate. Or it may be that the organization needs the development of streams of deliberate and emergent actions motivated and/or framed by broad guidelines for action by the company’s top management (strategic visions, personal interests, assumptions and beliefs, general criteria, etc.). Or the organization may need some other type of strategic process composed of deliberate and emergent actions.
In the fourth instance, it could be that the organization requires a deliberate strategic process and, at the same time, the emergence and development of different types of emergent strategic processes and/or different types of strategic processes composed of deliberate and emergent actions. Or it is possible that the organization needs some other possible combination of the different types of strategic processes.
The next blog entry (Entry 12) will describe the process that the top management of a company can follow in order to define and establish the most appropriate strategic processes for their organization at any given time.
In any case, it is important not to confuse the obligation of the company’s management to define, establish, encourage or promote those strategic processes it considers most appropriate for its organization at any given time, with the fact that some or many of the strategies finally realized in the company have been developed outside those processes and even in totally unexpected and unusual ways. Management must be concerned with the strategic processes of the company, being aware of the great diversity of forms that these may take, and therefore being open to processes that arise and develop outside what is established, encouraged or expected.
In relation to the latter, it should be taken into account that the company’s top management must continuously monitor and analyze the strategic processes that are being deployed in their organization, and may act as follows with respect to those processes that develop outside of what is established, encouraged or expected:
– Allowing these strategic processes to develop on their own, without deliberately acting on them, if possible [2].
– When the time is right, paralyzing these strategic processes, discarding or saving (in case they may be useful in the future) the incipient emergent strategies that may be forming.
– When the time is right, deliberately pushing forward the development of these strategic processes.
Finally, considering the great dynamicity and hostility of most of today’s economic sectors, it may be interesting to cite a series of principles to be taken into account in the strategic process in order to increase the possibilities of generating innovative strategies (Hamel, 1996 and 1998) [3]. These principles are:
- Strategic planning is incapable of creating innovative strategies, plunging companies into incrementalism. In the vast majority of organizations, it is a kind of calendar-driven ritual, a reductionist process based on extrapolation and the assumption of industry rules. Creating strategy is not following a procedure, it is a quest.
- For strategic innovation to take place, there must be a change in perspective, i.e., the world must be looked at differently.
- Industry conventions must be challenged or questioned.
- Maintain new types of conversations, which transgress the usual topics limited to the organization and the sector.
- In most companies, strategic orthodoxy has strong advocates in top management, constituting a major obstacle to the generation of revolutionary strategies.
- Revolutionaries exist in all companies, even in successful ones, especially in the lower hierarchical levels of the organization.
- Anyone (middle managers, front-line employees, etc.) can be a strategy activist, generating ideas that can shape the future of the company.
- Unleash the deep sense of discovery that resides in most human beings, focusing it on the search for new innovative strategies.
- Change is not a problem, as long as the company’s personnel are involved in the search for and generation of revolutionary new strategies (in this way, their commitment is obtained, avoiding resistance to change).
- Incorporate new voices in the strategy creation process, making it a participatory and pluralistic process. Or, to put it another way, democratize the strategy creation process by increasing the spectrum of the type of participants in said process. In this respect, top management must not only invite new voices, but also create a climate in which they feel confident to express their opinions and views, allowing them the possibility of influencing the company’s strategy (top management should not ignore the usually surprising results of this participatory process, unless they want to discourage its participants).
- Launch low-risk market experiments to maximize the organization’s learning about which new strategies might work and which might not.
[1] The existence of this type of strategic process (‘democratic’ type emergent process) has recently been considered in this field of study, being defined (theoretically) and verified (empirically) for the first time during the research carried out in his doctoral thesis by Roch (2016 and 2019). This type of strategic process is also described in the book: “The strategic process of the firm: Theory and cases” (Roch, 2024).
[2] In many cases it is not possible for a strategic process to be fully developed without the company’s management deliberately acting on them.
[3] Hamel (1996) considers that, in today’s world, it can be very dangerous for a company to devote itself solely to pursuing incremental improvements when some of its rivals are dedicated to reinventing the rules of the industry. The world has never been more hospitable to revolutionaries or more hostile to conservatives, due to phenomena such as deregulation, technological upheaval, globalization and social change. Hamel (1998) states that in the new economy, which is full of discontinuities, strategy innovation is the key to wealth creation. He defines strategy innovation as the capacity to reconceive the existing industry model in ways that create new value for customers, wrong-foot competitors, and produce new wealth for all stakeholders.
If you are interested in going deeper into the strategic process, allow me to recommend you: - Book: "The strategic process of the firm: Theory and cases" (Roch, 2024). - Courses and consulting program on the strategic process.
