Strategic thinking is essential for managers to face the future which is unpredictable. For instance, strategic thinking helps a manager to take appropriate decisions with regard to how, where and when to aim at a customer group that would help him to mobilize the resources and set appropriate objectives. Organizations face problems when they fail to distinguish between operational efficiency and strategy since both are entirely different (Porter, 1996). Operational effectiveness is only about doing things better than others. On the other hand, strategy is about choosing diverse ways to deliver values and services to customers. As part of product positioning strategies, effective managers combine their creativity, knowledge, technology and vision to add value to both the organization and customers. In the current global competitive market, companies face a constant threat from imitators. Strategies to face imitators include raising barriers like improved technology, product image or intellectual property rights. More importantly, Porter highlights that strategy involves combining the right group of activities while leaving certain unwanted activities to face competition. No doubt, capital, technology and skills are the three essential parameters for business success. However, ensuring proper interconnection between these assets and different organizational functions like communication and decision making makes effective success strategies.
I learned the importance of having appropriate business strategies in light of businesses moving faster in a globalised economic scenario. Towards competing with other business organizations, many a time companies pay interest to factors that focus on achieving short term results rather than long term ones. This article gave a new insight about planning long term business strategies for sustainable business growth as against short term ones focusing on current profit alone. I understood the importance of developing and exploring my own ideas instead of reacting to the product development or promotion strategy of a competitor. I can now clearly see that many organizations are unnecessarily wasting time and resources in ensuring a comfortable competitive edge to their products and services against another popular product in the market; instead, I believe that focusing one’s resources on developing new product and service ideas driven only by the passion to serve the needs of customers would help achieve business success. In other words, a company can transform from good to great by demonstrating a distinct pattern from other companies belonging to the same industry (Collins, 2011). Most importantly, I learned that strategy is about making right timely choices. I believe a continuous aspiration to take risks and an enthusiasm to embrace change are the two most important qualities required for strategic planning.
I can apply the ideas of Porter to design business strategies suitable for different market segments after thoroughly understanding the market and the unique needs of the customers, instead of focusing on immediate profits. Doing this, I can build strong brand loyalty amongst the customer segments I serve. Simultaneously improving operational effectiveness and exploring new business ideas would give me an added advantage against my competitors who may be concentrating only on either of the two factors, and not on both. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com is a successful current business leader who stands away from the crowd, thanks to his strategic thinking and attitude towards giving the best customer experience. Bezos believes in giving each and every customer a unique experience every time he or she visits the online store. For instance, the online giant is known for regularly tracking its performance with reference to more than 500 measurable goals (Anders, 2012). Bezos’ strategic thinking motivates him to think out of the box to fulfill the needs of his customers. For instance, towards giving customers better reading experience of digital contents, Bezos designed and promoted his own e-book reader, the famous Kindle e-book readers. No wonder, he is reaping the benefit of his new strategic initiative by selling more e-books than hard covers and paperbacks combined.
References
Anders, G. (2012). Inside Amazon's Idea Machine: How Bezos Decodes Customers. Forbes.Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/ 2012/ 04/04/inside-amazon/
Collins J. (2011). Good to great. New York: Harper Business.
Porter M. E. (1996) “What is Strategy?” Harvard Business Review, November-December: 61-78
