It’s the end of the semester, so I will be grading 50+ final strategy papers. Unlike previous write-ups, the students have the freedom to choose their company and use any resources they want. This sounds deceptively simple: choose a company, do the research, and make smart recommendations. Here is a sample of the companies that I’ll be reviewing over the next two weeks. Look forward to seeing strategy applied to these companies. . .
Yes, get smart on the company and industry.
- What is the company’s core competency? What do they do better than anyone else?
- What are the industry dynamics, economic levers, and the ways to drive value?
- Where do they sit in the value chain? What vertical vs. horizontal integration have they done? Successful?
- What is their corporate strategy vs. business-unit level strategies?
- Who are their mainline vs. niche competitors? What’s their strategic position in the market?
- How are they positioned in the minds of their customers?
Yes, identify the key complications and challenges.
- How’s business? Growth, profitability, cash flow, leverage?
- What’s their economic moat? Robust as ever, or weakening?
- How is the industry changing because of technology, new entrants, government regulation?
- What’s the story with the company? What are “they” saying? What are “analysts” saying?
- We’ve been in a low/no interest rate environment, what happens to the company when that changes?
- Is there new entrants, technology, or disruptive innovation nipping at their heels?
- What is the problem that you (as a consultant) might be solving for?
Yes, ask good questions.
- As a business executive, what questions do you have? Follow your curiosity.
- What sources of research, industry analysis, primary research, and lateral thinking is needed?
- If I were their competitor, what is their weak point I would attack?
Yes, put things into buckets. Analyze. Prioritize.
- What are smart ways to think about this business? What are the buckets?
- What’s the company’s weight class? Big incumbent or a smaller start-up?
- What’s the income statement tell you? Revenue issues? Growth or pricing or mix?
- Where are the fault lines in the strategy? Product, customer segments, channels, positioning?
- Are we optimizing for a 1 year (need to survive), or 5 year+ (strategy design and implementation)?
- What is the data telling us? Was our original hypothesis right or wrong?
- What does their innovation strategy look like? continuous vs. disruptive ? technology vs. business model?
- Do they need to get “back to the core” business or time for a “strategic inflection point” in their business?
Yes, persuade with logic and data
- What’s the storyboard, and did you start with an executive summary?
- Can you explain it to your 10 yr old cousin?
- Are your arguments clear, defensible, (almost) obvious?
- Do the appendix and graphs support the story?
Yes, answer the “so what” question
- Are the recommendations specific to this company (good) or generic for all competitors (bad)?
- If the company was paying you a $1M consulting fee, would your recommendation be worth it?
- If your first recommendation were taken, then what?
- How do the recommendations work together? How realistic is the implementation?
- What’s the potential financial impact $$ of the recommendations is things go well?
- How does this position the company for success going forward?
Yes, make it easy to say “yes”
- What makes good and persuasive writing? Use numbers.
- Does your paper make the reader say “oh, that makes sense, let’s do it.”
- Convince the reader that you are the mini-expert and you’ve thought everything through.
No, strategy is not formulaic.
- The goal of a presentation, paper, or discussion is not to “check all the boxes.” There are 45+ questions listed above, and it is literally impossible to answer all these in a 6 page, double-spaced, 12 font paper. Don’t try.
- From the strategic frameworks (yes, they are many): what are the patterns, business judgment, research, analysis, ideas, creativity, and arguments that are most relevant?
- Is there 1 silver bullet answer? No.
No, it should not be boring.
- On some level this is storytelling. What story needs to be told? Tell it well.
- Think + Write + Communicate + Revise
- Ideally, the authors show a point of view, and takes the reader on persuasive journey.
- It should feed the curiosity of the authors and the readers.
No, don’t take my advice, take your own.
- Work as a team to put the best ideas forward. Test your own ideas.
- Writing is school is practice. Think about your thinking. Develop your voice.
- Wisdom is taking your own advice. What advice are you giving yourself?