Barrister Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, CFR |
It is not
sufficient to find strategy. It is important to look for a good strategy to
navigate very difficult situations or to get a pleasant life. What is Strategy?
This is a question everyone thinks he has an answer to. But when you ask them
to speak, they will tell you things like ‘Strategy is what I am doing,’ or
‘Strategy is to be clever,’ or vaguer still, ‘Strategy is strategy’! In one of
my meetings with top management staff of one of our companies, I asked a senior
manager to define ‘Strategy.’ He said ‘Strategy is something strategic’!
Everybody was laughing. I asked him what his position was in the company. He
told me he was the Head of Strategy Development. I asked the CEO to sack him.
The CEO redeployed him as Deputy Regional Director! It sounds like promotion.
What do we
do? Lord, help us! When the Head of Department of Strategy in a company cannot
define Strategy and he is promoted to the position of Regional Director,
despite the fact that the CEO is aware of his shortcoming, as well as the
administration department that did the redeployment, how do you expect that
company to move forward? This is another example of the challenge of inadequate
knowledge of the subject known as Strategy. There is no way a company can move
forward if it does not understand or have a strategy. The CEO of that company
told me that the supposed Head of Department of Strategy Development has over
20 years of industry experience. To me, it is 20 years of spreading Ebola Management Virus (EMV) across
different corporations.
I am doing a
diagnostic review of the previous institutions where the officer worked before
he joined our organisation. Preliminary report is regrettable. For example, one
of the companies where he previously worked hardly breaks even, despite having
been in existence for 60 years!
Strategy can
be defined as: “The act of effective allocation of
resources to achieve specific goals.” No one appears to have defined
Strategy better than Professor Alfred
Chandler, who defined Strategy as: “The
determination of the long-term goals of an enterprise, the adoption of courses
of action, and the allocation of resources for achieving these goals.” The
key issues in the definition are ‘determination,’ ‘long
term goals,’ ‘course of action,’ ‘allocation of resources,’ and ‘achieving
these goals.’
Reflecting
on those definition keys shows that if everything is available without
determination, there is no need to get started, as we may not be able to
achieve these goals. Little or some kind of determination will not lead anyone
to achieving those goals. God the creator appears to have revealed to us
through the Bible how much of such determination we need to achieve a goal. In Corinthians 9: 24-27, the Bible says: “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one
receiveth the price? So run, that ye may obtain.”
The
questions to ask are: Are we running in a form that the run can achieve the
goal? Will this determination currently in place ever lead us to our
destination? We must not lose sight of the fact that we are not the only ones
who want to achieve the goal, so our run or determination must be strong and
resolute.
There is joy
in the spirit of never giving up. The price is golden. Even the Creator attests
to this in Galatians 6: 9. “….And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due
season, we will reap if we do not give up.” What management needs is
continuous determination that is resolute to succeed. It is, however, important
to note that determination may not produce immediate result. Determination must
mature before it can produce the desired result. In strategic studies, we have
located at least six key factors that can assist in sustaining the
determination that is much needed to succeed in achieving these goals. We usually
call them the ‘Six Ps of strategy.’ They are Plan, Position, Ploy, Pattern,
Philosophy and Process. We do hear CEOs saying correspondingly: “We Plan to expand our business this year; our strategy is to
Position ourselves for new acquisitions; we also Ploy to deter entry by
aggressive take over; we Pattern our growth on the emerging markets; we shall
pursue our Philosophy of customer first; and in the Process, we will do
everything our stakeholders want us to do, for we count on their loyalty.” (National
Mirror)
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