Organisational strategy a sustainable advantage
In the dynamic world of business, organisational strategy is the blueprint that guides an organisation’s direction, goals, and actions. It’s a comprehensive plan that outlines how an organisation will compete, grow, and achieve its objectives in a competitive landscape. An effective organisational strategy not only aligns with its mission and vision but also adapts to changing market conditions and technological advancements.
Just having an organisational strategy does not always guarantee success without effective leadership, implementation and evolution (to deal with market conditions or disruption). But without operational effectiveness can an organisation or its strategy be truly successful? In other words, can a large organisation compete with new niche players/start-ups that target its traditional markets/products/services without necessarily being efficient in the delivery/support of those services targeted by competitors? Unlikely at best, but that is where innovation comes into it. Just having a strategy is not enough to remain in a unique position and does not create a sustainable advantage. So how does organisational strategy create that sustainable advantage?
Operational efficiency must support the Strategy
Organisational strategy must also address operational effectiveness focusing on how to carry out activities that support its services better/more efficiently than its competitors so that your customers love and actively promote your products/services. In the face of disruptive forces (such as new competitors and market changes), organisations must also decide what services to continue with and which to stop in order to remain competitive. “Strategy is about creating fit among a company’s activities. The success of a strategy depends on doing many things well (not just a few) and integrating between them. If there is no fit among activities; there is no distinctive strategy and little sustainability” (Porter, M.E. 2006, What is strategy? Harvard Business Review).
A strategy must include Innovation and Customers
Key inclusions to any strategy in this digital era must be how an organisation treats both its customers and innovation to enable digital outcomes to ultimately remain competitive and relevant. At the heart of any organisation must be the customer and how the products/services it creates are loved and actively promoted by those customers. Innovation allows an organisation to look at the world differently where:
- they can either innovate on or away from core business services/products in order to create this sustainability and growth.
- it can used to solve a technology issue that was thought too complex, create a new product or differentiate services in a crowded marketplace.
Innovation and continuous improvement within the strategy ensures that the organisation evolves and adapts to new developments such as industry distruptors. This could be large organisational changes such as a full-scale Digital Transformation or smaller initiatives. Investing in research and development, and fostering a culture of innovation by ensuring your teams can and have the time to experiment, will help maintain a leading position in the industry and keep your team engaged and happy.
How to communicate?
Once an organisational strategy has been created, it has to be clearly articulated to the rest of the organisation, and then supported, implemented and evolved by its leaders. Communication methods are critical to how the message is received by individuals and teams alike. Poor communication types are typically information bulletins, mass emailing, video and training sessions, sadly these are examples of methods traditionally used by many organisations to communicate strategy out to the rest of the organisation.
The richest communication types were found to be face-to-face meetings, large group discussions, working groups and presentations. “Strategies are approved but poorly communicated. This in turn makes the translation of the strategy into specific actions and resource plans…impossible. Lower levels in the organisation don’t know what they need to do when they need to do it, or what resources will be required” (Mankins, M.C. & Steele, R. 2005. Turning great strategy into great performance. Harvard Business Review).
Alignment with Vision and Mission
In the ever-evolving business landscape, aligning your organisation’s strategies with its vision and mission is not just a best practice—it’s a fundamental necessity. Your vision outlines the aspirational goals and long-term objectives that drive the organisation, while your mission defines its purpose and primary objectives. Ensuring that all strategic decisions, actions, and resources are in harmony with these guiding principles creates a unified direction and purpose.
This alignment fosters a cohesive organisational culture, drives consistent decision-making, and maximizes the impact of every initiative. It helps ensure that every team member understands and is motivated by the organisation’s goals, leading to improved coordination, performance, and overall success. By keeping your vision and mission at the heart of your strategy, you lay a strong foundation for sustainable growth and enduring competitive advantage. Untimately this coherence drives consistent decision-making and prioritisation, enabling the company and its people to stay focused on long-term objectives rather than short-term gains.
Leadership in Strategy
The ultimate leader when it comes to organisational strategy is the CEO who can become synonymous with a company’s identity and has the responsibility for leading an organisation by pursuing (or not) certain opportunities and how they all fit into the overall picture. This is why the job of strategy creation cannot be outsourced – it is up to all leaders in an organisation to make the strategy successful and where necessary raise any issues that may have an impact on an organisation and its ability to close the strategy to the performance gap.
“One of the leader’s jobs is to teach others in the organisation about strategy and to say no. Strategy renders choices about what not to do as important as choices about what to do. Indeed, setting limits is another function of leadership”. (Porter, M.E, 1996, What is strategy? Harvard Business Review)
A strategy must equal competitive advantage
Ultimately, organisations will have to continue to create/add value to its customers, suppliers and partners so that those parties are better off with your organisation than without. To retain competitive advantage organisations have to differentiate themselves from their competitors. “A company must continually improve its operational effectiveness and actively try to shift the productivity frontier; at the same time, there needs to be an ongoing effort to extend its uniqueness while strengthening the fit among its activities” (Porter, M.E, 1996, What is strategy? Harvard Business Review).
Having a strategy on its own is not enough, it needs to be effectively communicated and executed by visionary leaders who can inspire and empower others. Any strategy must also outline where/how to create differentiation, such as through innovation (how to do things better or more efficiently than your competitors) and customers (how to engage with and grow loyalty).
One of the crucial aspects of a successful organisational strategy is achieving a sustainable advantage. A sustainable advantage refers to a unique set of attributes, resources, or capabilities that allow a company to outperform its competitors consistently over the long term. Unlike temporary competitive edges, which may arise from short-term trends or immediate market opportunities, a sustainable advantage is rooted in deeper, more enduring elements that create lasting value.
A strategy must ultimately answer one fundamental question, what problem(s) am I here to solve for my customers?