Making Strategy

i think i strike gold. after years of studying, getting my MBA, reading tons on mgmt, i finally completed my understanding on making strategy.. of course, practice makes perfect.

in a nutshell, there're basically two big steps - strategy formulation and strategy implementation. Strategy implementation usually uses balanced scorecard to assist. Strategy formulation has tons of tools to assist as well.. such as PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, scenarios planning, issue-based to strategy making. But these tools only provide insights to strategy making. 

The ultimate strategy formulation still depends on the leaders and senior mgmt to figure it out. It's here, where i always felt that there is a missing step between formulation & implementation. It's the strategy definition, or the art of articulating that strategy so that it is easily understood by everyone in the organization that matter most.

What's the use of having an excellent strategy where nobody understands, and therefore, no one knows how to implement them!

And i found the answer via Harvard Business Review April 2008 publication on Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?

In the article, in a nutshell:

• MISSION: Why we exist
  
• VALUES: What we believe in and how we will behave
  
• VISION: What we want to be
  
• Strategy: What our competitive game plan will be.
  
• Basic elements of strategy statement are OBJECTIVE=ends, SCOPE=domain, ADVANTAGE=means
  
• BALANCED SCORECARD: How we will monitor and implement that plan