Mid-term strategy consists of 3 pillars: business strategy which defines what to sell and whom to sell, functional strategy, which describes all the major functions within the company, and financial plan, which accommodates all the above-mentioned actions. In order to envisage such strategy, one has to define issues and determine the roadmap for the logical resolution. When one defines an issue, one has to firstly analyse a) macro environment including political, economic, socio-cultural and technological environment, b) micro environment including market, channels, competitors and venders, and c) internal environment including strengths and weaknesses. Secondly one has to develop long-term objectives and thirdly identify gaps between the long-term objectives and the current status. Then you formulate strategy. Throughout all the processes above, you have to involve your team members. Usually it takes 6 to 12 months to proceed the activities as a team. The role of consultants, we believe, is not to develop a thorough mid-term strategy by ourselves but to provide tools, work together and accompany the client teams so that they can proactively complete all these activities.
We have noticed that, until recently, analyses of micro environment, e.g., market, channel, competitor and vender, were more emphasised than macro environment, e.g., political, economic, socio-cultural and technological environment.
However in recent years, macro environment is becoming imperative as the boundaries between industries are lowered or even disappeared, and the definitions of industry has changed drastically as is called "VUCA* world." Many companies have confronted with a situation where the customers from yesterday could become the competitors for tomorrow, likewise, competitors from yesterday could become venders or customers for tomorrow. Hence, we believe one should endeavour to analyse macro environment analyses more than before.
*: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity
Project case
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1. Mid-term strategy development (energy, Japan, language: Japanese)
The client was willing to develop mid-term strategy and renew the processes, involving all the group companies. Throughout the 9-month project, the scope of analyses was extended to macro environment which they previously had not managed to do, prior to the project. Designing and implementing the project management framework such as BSC to report the progress and follow up on action items was critical in the success of the project. Language: Japanese -
2. Process change of mid-term strategy development (trading house or Sogo Shosha, UK, language: Japanese)
The client acquired hundreds of businesses / companies in recent years. European senior management of the acquired companies were gathered in London and walked-through all the development processes of mid-term strategy development on a workshop basis -
3. Management training on strategy development and execution (automotive components, multiple countries, language: English)
Management training programmes have been delivered in Germany to European senior management from 7-11 countries of a Japanese automotive components manufacturer every year since 2012. The same programmes have been delivered in Asia and North America as well since 2016
