BUSI 770 - Strategic Thinking for Decision Making Flashcards
Strategic Thinking Questions
Where are we now?
Where are we going?
How do we get there? (strategic objectives, ST goals, action items, scorecard, execution)
Key Points from Rumelt
The core of strategy work is always the same: discovering the critical factors in a situation and designing a way of coordinating and focusing actions to deal with those factors.
A leader’s most important responsibility is identifying the biggest challenges to forward progress and devising a coherent approach to overcoming them.
A good strategy does more than urge us forward toward a goal or vision. A good strategy honestly acknowledges the challenges being faced and provides an approach to overcoming them.
Bad strategy tends to skip over pesky details such as problems. It ignores the power of choice and focus, trying instead to accommodate a multitude of conflicting demands and interests.
Bad strategy covers up its failure to guide by embracing the language of broad goals, ambition, values, and vision.
Strategy is about HOW an organization will move forward.
A good strategy contains a diagnosis, a guiding policy, and coherent action.
A good strategy doesn’t just draw on existing strength; it creates strength through the coherence of its design.
Four major hallmarks of Bad Strategy
- Fluff
- Failure to face the challenges
- Mistaking goals for strategy (statement rather than a plan)
- Bad strategic objectives (impractical or fail to address critical issues)
BCG Matrix
Indicates business strength and industry attractiveness use two metrics: RELATIVE MARKET SHARE and MARKET GROWTH RATE.
Question Marks - High market growth, Low market share
Stars - High market growth, High market share
Dogs - Low market growth, Low market share
Cash Cows - Low market growth, High market share
Project Portfolio Matrix
Helps to narrow projects to those that support the overall vision and provide needed information for future growth and development which will eliminate waste and better utilize resources.
Plot each project based on COST and TIME.
Consequences Model & Eisenhower Matrix
Focuses on the idea that early in a project, less info is available for decision making and later in a project’s life, more info is available. However, decisions need to be made earlier in a project’s life to be effective.
Plot each project based on URGENCY and IMPORTANCE.
Important but not urgent = Decide when you will do it.
Not important and not urgent = Do it later
Urgent but not important = Delegate someone else to do it.
Urgent and Important = Do it immediately
Pareto Principle (similar to whale curve)
States that 80% of the output is attained from 20% of the input. Helpful in organizing or eliminating waste in operations and direct resources to profitable areas of the business.
Certain projects will have greater financial results while using a smaller portion of the company’s resources.
How to Improve Yourself
The Eisenhower Matrix: How to work more efficiently
SWOT Analyis: How to find the right solution
BCG Box: How to evaluate costs and benefits
Project Protfolio Matrix: How to maintain an overview
John Whitmore Model: Am I pursuing the right goal?
Rubber Band Model: How to deal with a dilemma
Feedback Model: Dealing with other people’s compliments and criticisms
Family Tree Model: The contacts you should maintain (brand loyalty)
Morphological Box and SCAMPER: Why you have to be structured to be creative
Esquire Gift Model: How much to spend on gifts
Consequences Model: Why is it important to make decisions promptly
Conflict Resolution Model: How to resolve a conflict elegantly
Crossroads Model: Where did you come from, what’s important, what’s hindering you, what are you afraid of?
How to Understand Yourself
The Flow Model: What makes you happy?
Johari Window: What others know about you
Cognative Dissonance: Why people smoke when they know it’s unhealthy
Music Matrix: What your taste in music says about you
Unimaginable Model: What do you believe in that you cannot prove?
Uffe Elbaek Model: How to get to know yourself
Fashion Model: How we dress
Energy Model: Are you living in the here and now?
SuperMemo Model: How to remember everything you have ever learned
Political Compass: What political parties stand for
Personal Performance Compass: How to recognize whether you should change your job
The Making-of Model: To understand your future, first understand your past
Personal Potential Trap: Why it is better not to expect anything
Hype Cycle: How to identify the next big thing
Subtle Signals Model: Why nuances matter
Network Target Model: What your friends say about you
Superficial Knowledge Model: Everything you don’t need to know
How to Understand Others Better
The Swiss Cheese Model: How mistakes happen
Maslow Pyramid: Things we desire the most are the things we need the least
Thinking outside the box: How to come up with brilliant ideas
Sinus Milieu and Bourdieu Models: Where you belong
The double-loop learning model: How to learn from your mistakes
The Al model: What kind of discussion type are you?
The small-world model: How small the world really is
Pareto Principle: Why 80% of output is achieved with 20% input
Long-tail Model: How the internet is transforming the economy
Monte Carlo Simulation: Why we can only approximate a definitive outcome
Black Swan Model: Why your experiences don’t make you any wiser
The Chasm - the diffusion model: Why everybody has an iPod
Black Box Model: Why faith is replacing knowledge
Status Model: How to recognize a winner
Prisoner’s Dilemma: When is it worth trusting someone?
How to Improve Others
Drexler-Sibbet Team Performance Model: How to turn a group into a team
Team Model: Is your team up to the job?
Gap-In-The-Market Model: How to recognize a bankable idea
Hersey-Blanchard Model: Situational leadership - how to manage your employees
Role-playing Model: How to change your own point of view
Result Optimisation Model: Why the printer breaks down right before a deadline
Biblical Integration
Proverbs 21:5 “The plans of the diligent lead to profit…”
Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
