Strategic intent

Strategic intent is an obsession with

an organisation: an obsession by
having ambitions that may even be
out of proportion to their resources
and capabilities. This obsession is to
win at all levels of the organisation
while sustaining that obsession in the
quest for global leadership.

1
Concept of stretch, leverage and fit
Stretch is "a misfit between resources and
aspirations"
Leverage refers to concentrating, accumulating,
complementing, conserving, and recovering resources
in such a manner that meagre resource base is
stretched to meet the aspirations that an organisation
dares to have.
Fit means positioning the firm by matching its
organisational resources to its environment.
G. Hamel and C. K. Prahalad: "Strategy as Stretch and Leverage" Harvard Business Review, Mar -
April 1993, pp. 75 - 84.

2
Vision
Kotter (1990) defines it as a "description of something
(an organization, a corporate culture, a business, a
technology, an activity) in the future".
El-Namaki (1992) considers it as a "mental perception
of the kind of environment an individual, or an
organization, aspires to create within a broad time
horizon and the underlying conditions for the
actualization of this perception".
Miller and Dess (1996) view it simply as the "category
of intentions that are broad, all-inclusive, and forward
thinking".
J. Kotter, A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management
(London: Free Press, 1990); M. S. S. El-Namaki, "Creating a corporate vision"
Long Range Planning, Vol. 25, No. 6, (1992), pp. 25 29; A. Miller and G. G.
Dess, Strategic Management (2nd. ed.) (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), p. 6.

3
Core ideology and envisioned
future
The core ideology defines the enduring
character of an organisation that remains
unchangeable as it passes through the
vicissitudes of vectors such as technology,
competition or management fads.
The envisioned future too consists of two
components: a 10 - to - 30 years audacious
goal and vivid description of what it will be
like to achieve that goal.

4
Mission
Thompson (1997) defines mission as the
"essential purpose of the organization,
concerning particularly why it is in
existence, the nature of the business(es) it
is in, and the customers it seeks to serve
and satisfy".
Hunger and Wheelen (1999) say that
mission is the "purpose or reason for the
organization's existence".
J. L. Thompson: Strategic Management: Awareness and Change, (3rd ed.) (London:
International Thomson Business Press) 1997, p.6; J. D. Hunger & T. L. Wheelen:
Strategic Management, (Reading, Mass.: Addison Wesley Longman), 1999, p. 10.

5
Characteristics of mission
statements
It should be feasible
It should be precise
It should be clear
It should be motivating
It should be distinctive
It should include major components of
strategy
It should indicate how objectives are to be
accomplished
6
Abells three dimensions for defining a
business of a watch company

Customer functions:
Utility / ornamental

Alternative technologies:
Mechanical / quartz
technology

Customer groups:
children, men or
women

Based on: D.F. Abell: Defining the Business: The Starting Point of Strategic Planning Englewood Cliffs,
N.J. Prentice-Hall, 1980

7
Business model
Business model could be defined as
a representation of a firm's
underlying core logic and strategic
choices for creating and capturing
value within a value network.

Shafer, Scott M. & Smith, H. Jeff & Linder, Jane C., 2005. "The power of business models," Business Horizons,
Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 199-207

8
Goals and objectives
Goals denote what an organisation hopes to
accomplish in a future period of time. They
represent the future state or outcome of
effort put in now.
Objectives are the ends that state
specifically how the goals shall be achieved.
They are concrete and specific in contrast
to goals that are generalised.

9
Role of objectives
Objectives define the organisation's
relationship with its environment
Objectives help an organisation
pursue its vision and mission
Objectives provide the basis for
strategic decision-making
Objectives provide the standards for
performance appraisal

10
Characteristics of objectives
Objectives should be understandable
Objectives should be concrete and specific
Objectives should be related to a time
frame
Objectives should be measurable and
controllable
Objectives should be challenging
Different objectives should correlate with
each other
Objectives should be set within constraints
11
Issues in objective setting
Specificity
Multiplicity
Periodicity
Verifiability
Reality
Quality

12
Factors for objective setting
The forces in the environment
Realities of enterprise' resources and
internal power relationships
The value system of the top executive
Awareness by the management

13
The balanced scorecard model
How do we look to shareholders?

Financial Perspective
Objectives Targets

Customer Perspective Internal Process Perspective

Vision & Strategy
Objectives Targets Objectives Targets

Learning / Innovation
Perspective
Objectives Targets

Based on R.S. Kaplan & D.P. Norton: The Strategy-focused orientation: How Balanced Scorecard
Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000
and R.S. Kaplan & D. P. Norton: The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategies into Action Boston:
Harvard Business School Press, 1996.

14
Critical success factors and key
performance indicators
Critical success factors are crucial for
organisational success. When strategists
consciously look for such factors and take
them into consideration for strategic
management, they are likely to be more
successful, putting in relatively less efforts.
Key performance indicators are the metrics
or measures in terms of which the critical
success factors are evaluated.

15