Enterprise strategic management is an art and science about how to formulate, implement and evaluate enterprise strategy to ensure that enterprise orga
Enterprise strategic management is an art and science about how to formulate, implement and evaluate enterprise strategy to ensure that enterprise organizations can effectively achieve their own goals. This paper mainly studies the functions and responsibilities of the whole enterprise, the opportunities and risks it faces, and focuses on the comprehensive decision-making problems involving marketing, technology, organization, finance and other functional fields in enterprise management. Let me introduce you.
The meaning of the word "strategy" is controversial in the eyes of theorists, but clear in the minds of practitioners. It involves at least three levels: what to do, how to do it and who will do it, thus forming a complete "strategic management" system that complements and strengthens each other. Ignoring any one or several aspects will eventually make the strategy become a flower shelf written on paper, posted on the wall and hung on the mouth, which is difficult to produce practical results. Many realistic strategic plans are expressed as "giants in theory and dwarfs in action". Strategic "planning" is as incomprehensible as "nonsense", and no one can do it, mainly because it only discusses the "what to do" of strategy in an abstract way, but ignores the "how to do it and who will do it" of strategy.
In this sense, the strategy that cannot be implemented is not a good strategy, or even a strategy at all, but a trap that enterprises dig for themselves to waste time, energy and financial resources. If "what to do, how to do it and by whom" is the central proposition of strategic conception and operation, it is obvious that "what to do" involves the choice of business direction, "how to do it" involves the choice of operation mode and "who to do it" involves the determination of actors. The proposition of strategic center solves the most fundamental problem of the organic combination of correct direction, efficient operation and main input in enterprise management as a whole. This is not only the starting point of strategic enterprise management, but also its ultimate destination.
In this way, if the strategy is regarded as the guiding ideology of the overall implementation of the enterprise and as a general expression of how the enterprise will act at present and in the future in a dynamic internal and external environment, as shown in figure 1, then the strategic management will revolve around the central proposition of the strategy, which can be decomposed into three logically closely related parts-"query", "exploration" and "solution" * * in short, "doubt". It is the interaction and interdependence of "doubt, thinking and solution" that promotes the solution of the strategic central proposition.
Doubt: Learn to Ask Questions-Three Questions
"What is the business" involves the description of the present situation, "What should it be" involves the target positioning, and "Why" leads to the selection basis. Strategic questions are raised by asking questions, and the key to asking questions is to learn how to ask questions correctly, so as to grasp the essence of people, things and things and reveal their connotations. Many times, Socrates' rhetorical question can be used to solve problems, and by asking fundamental questions such as "what", "what should it be" and "why", it can help people to clarify their understanding of the status quo, goals and basis.
As far as strategic management is concerned, if the word "business" is generally used to refer to the implementation activities carried out by enterprises and even various organizations, we can take "three questions"-what is business, what should it be and why-as the starting point of strategic questioning. In fact, "three questions" is also the most commonly used way to ask questions in interpersonal communication. People often ask each other, "What have you been doing recently?" "What do you think is better?" "Why do you want to do this?"
By analyzing the three problems of strategy, we can find that "what is management" involves the description of the present situation, "what should be" involves the target positioning, and "why" leads to the basis of choice. Obviously, a clear understanding of the status quo is the starting point for enterprises to formulate strategies, and a clear goal is the compass for enterprises to formulate strategies. If the understanding of the status quo and objectives is vague, it is difficult to give suggestions on what the enterprise intends to do, let alone determine the route and specific agenda for the future development of the enterprise.
The core of the three questions is the question of "why". Ingeniously asking multiple "why" can lead to real thinking about the status quo and the reasons for the existence of the goal. For example, in reality, many people run enterprises to "make money", but the result is that some people make money and some people lose money. In this regard, if you can learn to ask questions correctly and think about the question "Why can you make money" when running a business, instead of just asking questions such as "Why do you want to run a business"-"Make money", it may be easier to draw a correct conclusion.
Answering "why can an enterprise make money" or "why can it survive" is to clarify the fundamental reason for the existence of an enterprise. In reality, not only customers, but also shareholders, employees, suppliers and social groups can have an impact on the existence of enterprises, which can be described by the word "requester" with a wider meaning. Therefore, it is very important for the long-term survival and development of enterprises to pay attention to the current and future needs of "takers" and realize benign interaction with various subjects.
Thinking: Clear Premise-Three Assumptions
Strategic analysis begins with exploration, and the core of exploration lies in clarifying the premise. Considering that people understand and judge reality through perception, in essence, perception is only a reflection of various subjective and objective factors in people's minds, and its composition is based on various explicit and implicit assumptions. Obviously, the answer to the third question of the strategy represents this assumption based on limited information and subjective judgment. Therefore, the key to understanding the premise lies in all kinds of information on which the hypothesis is based.
Take the enterprise management of pencil production as an example. What is the business? What should it be? The possible direct answer is "producing pencils". Ask again, "What is a pencil?" Perhaps the answer is "writing tools"; Then continue to ask, "What is writing for?" The answer is "recording information" ... Obviously, different enterprises will have different choices on how to define their "business". But if you ask, "Why?" What is required to be answered at this time will become the basis for making judgments and choices.
As for "why do you think this industry is, or should be, producing pencils", the possible answer is "making money". But if you ask, "Why?" Maybe answer the "pencil has a market" * * * environmental hypothesis * *. Then he asked, "There is also a market for chips. Why don't you make pencils and chips? " May answer "we can't make a chip" * * * strength hypothesis * * *. Then continue to ask, "there may be a lot to do in the market. Why choose a pencil? " Maybe we can get the answer that "making pencils has become a part of our life" * * * Mission hypothesis * * *.
The above analysis shows that answering three strategic questions involves three assumptions: external environment, mission objectives and internal strength. Considering that people's understanding of reality is composed of various assumptions, assumptions determine cognition, and cognition affects decision-making and action. In strategic analysis, we need to pay special attention to what is the ultimate basis for putting forward the three assumptions of strategy, which is the real prerequisite for strategic decision-making, and the wrong judgment of these preconditions is the most fundamental reason for many enterprises' strategic decision-making mistakes.
First of all, as far as environmental hypothesis is concerned, it can generally refer to the enterprise's understanding and grasp of external factors such as society, market, customers and technology. For example, in 1985, Bell Laboratories of AT&T Company invented the cellular phone technology, and specially invited external consulting companies to conduct customer surveys, but it was considered that there was no market. Therefore, the company decided to postpone the consideration of this project. But eight years later, in order to catch up with the development trend of mobile phones, AT&T had to enter the field of mobile telephone service through mergers and acquisitions.
Second, as far as the mission hypothesis is concerned, it involves the consideration of the long-term and short-term development prospects and target positioning of the enterprise. The key here is not whether the mission goal can be achieved, but to make the enterprise claimants aware of this and willing to actively participate. For example, an entrepreneur of a domestic company suggested that the company should enter the top 500 in the world within 30 years, but his employees thought it was bragging when they talked privately; This kind of mission and goal expression, which lacks upper and lower knowledge, obviously does not help to promote enterprise strategy.
Third, as far as the strength hypothesis is concerned, it is related to the correct understanding of the internal strength of enterprises. For example, domestic enterprises have increased from 3,000 yuan to 30 million yuan in just five years, so it is proposed to increase from 30 million yuan to 300 billion yuan in the next five years. This formulation, in addition to considering the support of market capacity, actually involves the judgment of whether the enterprise's own strength can grow simply and infinitely.
It should be noted that the assumptions of strategy 3 need to be realistic and matched with each other, and they need to be dynamically adjusted and revised in time to form an enterprise ecology that is connected from top to bottom, actively involved and flexible. For example, as far as the goal of domestic enterprises entering the world's top 500 companies is concerned, if they can be knowledgeable within enterprises and stimulate people's active investment, even if they do not enter the world's top 500 companies in the end, they will only enter the domestic 100 companies. But we should also see that if we don't mention this goal, we may not even make it into the top 500 domestic companies.
Solution: finding countermeasures-three ways out
Many seemingly profound things are often old sayings, empty words and nonsense. They sound fresh, look fashionable and interesting. As for the actual implementation effect, no one knows. Strategic operation is a solution process to find countermeasures. The final remittance measures should conform to the assumption of strategy 3, which can provide guidance for enterprises to transition from "status quo" to "goal" Considering the reality, it is impossible for two enterprises to have exactly the same three strategic assumptions. For example, for two enterprises, enterprise A and enterprise B are mutual environments, and their missions and strengths are related to enterprise operators, and they are even less identical. Therefore, finding countermeasures must be tailored to the situation of each enterprise.
Theoretical circles at home and abroad often introduce and popularize some so-called advanced theories or technologies in a gust of wind, so that all enterprises can learn. In fact, according to the assumption of strategy three, many seemingly profound things are often old sayings, empty words and nonsense, which sound fresh, fashionable and lively. As for the actual implementation effect, no one knows! But at least the business community is confused and at a loss.
The key to get out of the above misunderstanding of strategic operation is to export three feasible strategic outlets-characteristics, trade-offs and combinations according to their three strategic assumptions. The characteristics here refer to winning customers with uniqueness, that is, doing activities different from competitors, or completing similar activities in a different way from competitors, and creating unique and valuable positions based on special activity ability. Specifically, creating characteristics can be carried out from three aspects: products or services, customer groups and ways to satisfy customers.
The key to adopting the characteristic method is to do what others don't do, to be innovative and different, so that customers can truly feel the subjective and objective characteristics they need. After China's entry into WTO, many enterprises can only be regarded as small enterprises in the world. For small enterprises, it is impossible to fight hard with large enterprises, but we can only try our best to be different and win by characteristics. Of course, to be different, you need not only courage, but also wisdom to truly grasp the needs of customers.
The second aspect of strategy three is weighing, that is, weighing the pros and cons of the choice. The strategic choice is based on the following three points: first, the resources, abilities and time of decision makers and enterprises are limited, and they can only make choices and make a difference based on the construction of characteristics. Second, only by making trade-offs around their own characteristics can competitors want to learn, and if they want to imitate, they will get what they want and eat what they want. Third, let people live, and they can live. Choosing to leave vitality for others can also lay the foundation for their long-term development.
The trade-off problem will not only be encountered in operating enterprises, but also in everyone's career design and choice. For example, everyone should at least consider the relationship between the present and the future when doing things. In order to make a choice, we must answer: what can we do, what should we do, what can we do, what we want to do, what we dare to do and what we can choose? What can't be done, shouldn't be done, can't be done, don't want to be done, dare not do it, and have no choice? The correct definition of these problems is the key to the success of the trade-off strategy.
The third aspect of strategy 3 is combination, which is to make multiple links cooperate tacitly. In general, the customer service and production tasks of an enterprise are composed of multiple links. By strengthening the organic combination of all links, we can build excellent teams with ordinary employees and create extraordinary achievements with ordinary work, thus bringing overall strategic advantages to enterprises. This combination can start from the internal cooperation of group strength, market network and competitive resources.
In reality, the exertion of comprehensive advantages of enterprises involves strategic combination to a great extent. When talking about enterprise development, we often hear people say, "We lack people and technology, so we lack funds." Or "we don't lack funds and talents, but we lack good projects." In fact, what is lacking here is the ability of strategic combination. At present, the online business that people are talking about, relying on online information, capital trading platform and offline goods, merchants and shopping malls logistics, also needs to be strategically combined to give full play to its role.