Thursday 26 September 2013

How Strategic Insight Can Help Organizations Survive

By Paulette Short


Each and every organization needs to make provision for the many changes that affect the way in which they operate. Without provisions for adaptation to change no organization can hope to survive in the long term. New innovations and changes in the environment force businesses to adapt. Strategic insight can only be developed by studying trends and by foreseeing likely changes. In fact, the pace of change is so hectic that change management has become a discipline of great importance in the corporate environment.

Strategies need to be developed to remain relevant, competitive and to thrive in a fast changing world. Such plans are broad in their scope rather than narrow, specific objectives that need to be achieved on a day to day basis. In order to develop long term strategies it is necessary to study the various environments that have an impact upon the operation of the organization.

It is not always possible to foresee changes. Yet it is important to remain focused upon trends and new ideas. Businesses need to have strategies on how exactly they plan to deal with change. It is especially important to evaluate the impact change will have on the products offered, the business model employed and the way in which the business is situated to serve its customer base.

The main aim of a long term strategy is to enable the organization to take advantage of change. This can only be achieved if all the various environments that have an impact on the business is studied, This may include the technological, financial, political and even geographic environments. Not only is it necessary to identify likely changes, but also to specify the impact that those changes will have on the organization.

One of the most difficult aspects of devising a strategy is to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the organization honestly. It is necessary to determine the strengths that can be used to take advantage of environmental changes but it is equally important to identify those factors that can prevent a business to benefit from change. Such an analysis often forms the core of a long term plan.

In order to take full advantage of costly strategic planning processes, businesses need to translate their strategies into plans. It is only natural that such plans will change because of the unpredictable nature of the external environment. However, business units need to translate strategies into action plans and those plans need to be communicated to the lowest level of the organization.

Change demands change and the only way in which any business can hope to thrive is to embrace changes and to use them to the best possible advantage. However, this requires a long term strategy that takes note of trends and tendencies. Without such a strategy it would be virtually impossible to plan for taking advantage of new developments.

Gaining strategic insight is complex and often inaccurate. Yet every organization needs to develop within the environmental flux if they hope to survive. Change is constant and it need not be seen as a threat. Most successful companies have demonstrated the ability to turn change into fortune.




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