Depending on the Generic Strategy a firm wants to adopt, based on what it can do best, we first conduct a purely qualitative Strategic Review, where we ask 16 simple questions, as we've developed in our case study on Apple on the next page. We then follow through with the more standard quantitative and financial reviews.
We then drill down on the firm's capabilities, with an assessment of its Key Resources, mainly its people and talent pool
1 The Strategies
To quote Porter, "firms pursuing the same strategy directed to the same target market constitute a strategic group". Once the firm has decided on its strategic positioning within its strategic groups relative to its competitors' in the industry, as either a cost leader, quality leader, or niche leader, it must develop its own unique marketing, technology, and sourcing strategies and be able to execute them profitably (generating both high market share and high percentage margin)
2 The Reviews
To set a target firm's objectives and develop the action plan, we generally carry out the following 6 reviews:
A Qualitative Review which looks at both product development
and omnichannel development. This is where today's Web
analytics tools can provide real-time insights on a customer's buying behavior along his journey across the omnichannel's network of connected physical and online stores
A Quantitative Review to determine market demand and the
targeted firm's competitive market share
A Financial Review to ensure that the strategy will turn a profit for the targeted firm, maximizing its revenue (marketing), minimizing both its costs (operations) and its financing needs (finance) in its business (production)
A Business Model Review We look for business models able to achieve both high market share and high profit margin very early on for the targeted firm
A Risk Model Review We ensure that all 5 sources of risk, namely firm, competitive, industry, macroeconomic, and cybersecurity risks, have been integrated into the target firm's investment strategy (return on capital) and financing strategy (cost of capital). We look at
Analysis the handful of marketing, operating and financial
assumptions underlying the risk-return analysis
Decision-making the firm's (re)organizational agility, which
enables it to tactically and strategically change course when
the assumptions are no longer valid, as so often happens
Execution the way the firm actually uses both natural and
financial hedges to take long or short positions to offset its long
or short risk exposures (the net position should ideally be nil)
A Business Function Review is finally conducted around the 9 generic business functions: Marketing, Sales/Production/Distribution/Payment/
Service (forming the service cycle), Operations, Finance, and Control:
Finance
Investor
Return
Finance
Investor Financing
Competitive Strategy (5 Forces)
Marketing Strategy (4 Ps)
THE 9 BUSINESS FUNCTIONS WE REVIEW
Customer
Analytics
Customer Profitabilty
Service Cycle
Sales
Production
Distribution
Payment
Service
Customer Acquisition
Customer Service
Marketing
Brand and Innovation Management
Risk
Operations
Financial, Business, HR, IT, R&D
Control
Customer Satisfaction, Performance & Financial Metrics
Customer-Facing (4 Ps)
Competitive Advantage (5 Forces)
Market
(Segment
positioning)
MARKET LEADERSHIP
Customer
(Size, number, demographics)
Product
Devpt
Innovation
Strategy
PRODUCT LEADERSHIP
Profitable Growth
Pricing & Branding
Core Excellence
Differentiation Strategies
Performance
Customer Value
Quality, Cost or
Niche Differentiation
Customer Adoption &
Market Penetration
Decisions
Cloud Platforms
People & Values
Organizational Alignment & ESG
Personnel Management
Customer Profitability
Industry
(Value chain
positioning)
Technology
(Leader or follower)
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP
Distribution
(Value chain partnerships, Omnichannel)
Communications& Sales
(On/Offline,
Direct/Indirect Sales)
CHANNEL LEADERSHIP
3 Decision Map
Customer-facing (4 Ps)
Competitive Advantage (5 Forces)
The Brand
The Team
Metaverse Platforms
Functional Strategies
Marketing Strategy
The Customer
Distribution Partner
Business Cycle
External Forces:
Product Life Cycle
End Customers
Channel Customer
Investment Strategy
Financing Strategy
The Investors
Customer Retention
The Market
$
The Industry
$$
Execution
The Fundamentals
Or Man Partners