1. Characteristics
In this case, the strategic process is a deliberate process, that is, a process carried out consciously and intentionally by the company’s top management in order to create strategies. Or, in other words, it is a sequence of actions consciously and intentionally carried out by the company’s top management with the aim of formulating and/or implementing strategies.
This process usually consists of the following actions, stages or phases that are carried out in a sequential order:
– Strategic thinking: reflection on the business project, meaning, on what the company wants to be and do, consequently defining the vision, mission, general objectives and values of the organization.
– Strategic analysis: internal and external analysis of the company.
- Internal analysis.
Analysis of the internal characteristics of the company: ideological aspects (vision, mission, general objectives and values); organizational aspects (management style, organizational culture, organizational structure and functions, power structure and relationships, business processes and systems); resources (tangible, intangible and human), capabilities and competences; etc.
- External analysis.
Analysis of the company’s environment: generic environment (macroeconomic, political, social aspects, etc.) and competitive/sectorial environment (customers, competitors, substitute products, possible entry of new competitors, suppliers, public administrations, etc.).
– Strategic formulation: formulation and selection of strategies.
– Strategic programming: Programming of the selected strategies in order to implement them.
– Strategic implementation and control: implementation of the selected strategies and control of said implementation.
This sequence of actions is carried out in order to formulate and implement the company’s strategies.
As a consequence of developing the action of strategic formulation, the ‘premeditated’ or ‘intended’ strategies are obtained, generally speaking, or the ‘planned strategies’ in the event that the subsequent strategic programming activity has also been carried out.
As a result of the development of the strategic implementation action, the purpose of which is to implement the premeditated strategies, the deliberate strategies appear, which refer to the part of the strategies actually followed by the organization that corresponds faithfully to the intentions or plans envisaged in the premeditated strategies; and the unrealized strategies, which refer to the intentions or plans envisaged in the premeditated strategies that are not realized in reality.
It is important to bear in mind that it is not necessary to carry out all the actions, stages or phases described above, and different types of sequences can be developed depending on the characteristics of each specific case, such as, for example:
- Strategic thinking –> Strategic analysis –> Strategic Formulation –> Programming –> Implementation and control.
- Strategic thinking –> Strategic analysis –> Strategic Formulation –> Implementation and control.
- Strategic analysis –> Strategic Formulation –> Programming –> Implementation and control.
- Strategic analysis –> Strategic Formulation –> Implementation and control.
- Etc.
The main actors of the deliberate strategic process are the company’s top managers, although, depending on their management style, the complexity and size of the company, the turbulence of the environment, etc., they may rely on other people (strategic planners or analysts, middle managers, other people belonging or not belonging to the organization) for the development of some of the actions, stages or phases. For example:
- The strategic analysis activity may be carried out by the company’s top managers, or by the top managers and middle managers, or by strategic analysts, or by external consultants (people from outside the organization), etc.
- The programming activity may be carried out by the top managers and/or middle managers, or by strategic planners or analysts, etc.
- Etc
In this respect it is also interesting to note the existence of a rather unique type of deliberate strategic process, referred to as ‘democratic’ in nature (Hamel, 1996), which is characterized by the fact that the top management of the company is responsible for encouraging and listening to the voice of an important cross-section of the organization, including people from different functions and hierarchical levels (middle managers, employees, etc.), involving them in strategic analysis tasks and, above all, in the search for new innovative ideas that can influence the company’s strategy.
Lastly, it should be noted that the different actions, stages or phases described above can be carried out formally, as in the case of Strategic Planning, or informally, as in the case of the strategic process promulgated by the Design School.
For purely pedagogical reasons, manuals and teaching on Strategic Management have mostly followed this theoretical and prescriptive [1] approach, emphasizing the rational and deliberate aspect of the strategic process. This tendency has also been observed in practice, for reasons of applicability, mainly in consulting firms and in the strategic planning departments of public administrations and large corporations.
2. Context
Deliberate strategic processes are applicable when the following conditions are met:
– Environmental conditions:
A stable or predictable environment or controllable by the organization, allowing external circumstances to be known beyond the period of implementation of the premeditated strategies.
– Internal conditions:
- The main actors of the strategic process (top management of the company) must be able to gather and assimilate all the necessary information (both internal and external) prior to the development of the strategic formulation phase.
- The organization must be sufficiently docile to be able to implement the premeditated strategies as they were formulated.
[1] The prescriptive approach to the strategic process is based on prescribing how strategies are to be created in organizations. A contrast to this approach is the descriptive approach, which is not based on prescribing how strategies are to be created but on describing how strategies are actually formed.
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.
