Corporate Strategy (Remastered) I: High Performance Strategy and Leadership in a Volatile, Disrupted World

145 Pages·2020·1.893 MB·English

by  Paul Hunter

Corporate Strategy
(Remastered) I
Since 2000, more than half of the Fortune 500 companies have either gone
bankrupt, been acquired, or are experiencing stagnation or decline as a result of
extreme digital and social disruption. In recognition of this dilemma, Corporate
Strategy (Remastered) was developed and designed to assist even the most
experienced strategy practitioner tackle disruption and all aspects of change
head on. This is the first book in the series; it provides a prescriptive solution
to the way all approaches to strategy should be practiced. It embodies a context
we refer to as Third Wave Strategy and its construct, a fully integrated Strategic
Management Framework. The second volume is a fieldbook; it describes the
methods and means to ensure successful implementation.
An illustration of Third Wave Strategy in practice is reflected in a description
of strategy deployed by the highly successful Amazon corporation. Many of the
components of strategy that are included in the framework will already be familiar
to the reader, while others are very new. Each of the individual components
discussed are supported by examples drawn from real-life case studies. The overall
value of the book is its representation of a fresh, holistic, dynamic and systemic
approach to strategy in a format that, frankly, hasn’t existed before.
In this book, readers are also introduced to many of the soft/human elements
of strategy – the primary components that make it work. Examples of topics
addressed include open strategy; communities of strategy practice; reframing;
sponsive strategic thinking; systemic, cognitive strategy practice; organisational
learning; and strategic business intelligence.
Paul Hunter (DBA) is Founder and CEO of the Strategic Management
Institute (www.smiknowledge.com) and past partner at PwC. He works on
a global stage consulting and teaching. He is also the author of The Seven
Inconvenient Truths of Business Strategy (2014) and a chapter contributor in
Corporate Universities: Drivers of the Learning Organization (Rademakers, 2014).

Corporate Strategy
(Remastered) I
High Performance Strategy and Leadership
in a Volatile, Disrupted World
Paul Hunter
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Paul Hunter
The right of Paul Hunter to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hunter, Paul Wilson, 1954– author.
Title: Corporate strategy (remastered). I, High performance strategy and
leadership in a volatile, disrupted world / Paul Hunter.
Other titles: High performance strategy and leadership in a volatile,
disrupted world
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020005814 (print) | LCCN 2020005815 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367253585 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429287350 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Strategic planning. | Leadership.
Classification: LCC HD30.28 .H86822 2020 (print) | LCC HD30.28
(ebook) | DDC 658.4/012—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020005814
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020005815
ISBN: 978-0-367-25358-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-28735-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of figures viii
List of tables x
About the author xi
Introduction 1
Corporate Strategy (Remastered) 1
Concept of Corporate Strategy (Remastered) 2
How to use this book 2
Ansoff’s Corporate Planning legacy 3
1 Concept of Corporate Strategy (Remastered) 6
Introduction: evolution of Third Wave Strategy 6
Where to strategy and strategy practice? 7
Corporate Strategy (Remastered) in practice: the emergence of
Third Wave Strategy 8
Dimensions of Third Wave Strategy: bringing strategy back from the
brink 13
Third Wave Strategy as practice: things that Third Wave Strategy
practitioners do 14
Third Wave Strategy in a nutshell 24
Summing up 24
2 Articulating Long Term Strategy 26
Introduction: contextualising the evolution of Long Term Strategy
practice 26
Corporate Strategy (Remastered) in practice: Long Term,
Third Wave Strategy and the Strategic Architecture 28
Organisational Purpose, Mission, Vision: the foundation of Long
Term Strategy 31
vi Contents
Strategic environment for Long Term, Third Wave Strategy: influence
of external and internal forces 33
Outside In, external influences 34
Inside Out, internal influences 37
Operation and management of a Strategic Architecture 39
The Strategic Architecture as a tool of Deliberate Disruption 41
3 Reinventing Strategic Planning 47
Introduction: the notion of Strategy Evaluation 47
Corporate Strategy (Remastered) in practice: Strategy Evaluation
within the context of Third Wave Strategy 52
Program of Strategy Evaluation: Strategy Evaluation, Shaping and
Reviewing 53
Preparing a Strategy Narrative 56
Establishing a Strategy Blueprint 57
Assessing the human element of Strategy Evaluation 59
Organisational learning and Third Wave Strategy 62
4 Implementing Third Wave Strategy 66
Introduction: the challenge of implementing Short Term Strategy 66
Corporate Strategy (Remastered) in practice: content and context of
Strategy Implementation activities 69
A Program of Continual Strategy Renewal: the enabler of long term
transformational change in the short term 70
Adaptive and inventive strategic change: a Cycle of Organisational
Transformation and Renewal 72
SMI’s Cycle of Organisational Transformation and Renewal 79
Developing a definitive Pathway to Regeneration 81
5 Strategic Alignment 84
Introduction: the mystique of Strategic Alignment 84
Corporate Strategy (Remastered) in practice: identifying the touch
points of Strategic Alignment 86
Strategic Alignment touch points in the context of Third
Wave Strategy 89
Resolving conflict of Alignment with the external environment 99
6 Future strategy practice 104
Introduction: building momentum 104
Sprouting a clean, fresh, new opportunity: Green Shoot
Strategy and accelerated Deliberate Disruption 105
Contents vii
What might be: a Green Shoot Disruption and the corporation of
the future 110
Governance reform and the corporation of the future 115
Open strategy revisited: how to be what you can’t see 117
Corporate governance of the future: managing strategic risk 119
Will there be a fourth wave of strategy? 121
Final word: what are you waiting for? 123
Bibliography 124
Index 128
Figures
0.1 An overview of chapter structure that follows the flow of the
fully integrated Strategic Management Framework used in
this book 4
1.1 A brief history of Amazon 13
1.2 Matrix of sponsive strategic change 19
1.3 High-level strategy system and foundation of a Third Wave
Strategy framework 22
1.4 Generic version of the eight essential elements of Third
Wave Strategy 24
1.5 Expanded depiction of the Third Wave Strategy framework 25
2.1 An example of a Strategic Architecture of relevance to the
restaurant industry 40
2.2 An Integrated Value System of relevance to McDonald’s fast-
food restaurants 42
2.3 An example of the SMI Model of Dynamic Strategic
Equilibrium of relevance to the restaurant industry 45
2.4 SMI Model of Dynamic Strategic Equilibrium and Integrated
Value System applied to Toyota 46
3.1 Strategy Evaluation micro-system as a representation of a
reinvention of Strategic Planning 52
3.2 Illustration of a Strategy Blueprint 58
3.3 Categories of Corporate University types and impact on
capacity to act as drivers of strategic change 65
4.1 A process of Strategy Evaluation, Shaping and implementation:
construct of a Program of Continual Strategy Renewal 68
4.2 Detailed depiction of the construct of the Program of
Continual Strategy Renewal 70
4.3 Four dimensions of strategic change driven by a firm’s
inherent disposition towards sponsive change 74
4.4 Consequences of Inertia, firms captured in a strategic drift 75
4.5 Stages and consequences of change in accordance with the
SMI’s Cycle of Organisational Transformation and Renewal 80
Figures ix
4.6 Combined dimensions of strategic change driven by a firm’s
inherent disposition towards sponse and elements of the SMI
Cycle of Organisational Transformation and Renewal 82
4.7 From static to dynamic: SMI Cycle of Organisational
Transformation and Renewal as launchpad for Pathway to
Regeneration 83
5.1 Alignment between purpose, strategy, structure and operations
in the context of the Third Wave Strategy framework 87
5.2 A depiction of external, indirect areas where possible
alignment touch points may be found of relevance to all
strategy timelines (short, medium and long) 94
5.3 A depiction of external, direct areas where possible alignment
touch points may be found 94
5.4 A monitoring and reporting mechanism enabling the
management of strategic risk 100
5.5 A depiction of internal areas where possible alignment touch
points may be found of relevance mostly to Short Term
Strategy timelines 101
6.1 A perspective of the dynamic Strategic Architecture at Amazon 105
6.2 Life cycles of businesses engaging in the four perspective of
sponsive strategic change 106
6.3 Sponse matrix adjusted to the rate and extent of change 109
6.4 Integrated Value System within the SMI Model of Strategic
Equilibrium: Apple 110
6.5 Matrix of risk assessments from sponsive strategic change 119
6.6 Strategic risk alerting mechanism 122