Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Your first step is to determine the current position and equity in your premiere brand, which I will assume already exists in the market and is sold in a number of countries. There are simple and complex methods to determine why people are using your brand, what they think of it, how they associate it with other things that are important to them. As to equity, again, there are a lot of methods, but you can analyze levels of awareness, usage, preference, willingness to reuse/recommend and index these factors with respect to other brands in your market. Out of this analysis, you can look at where you are strong, where you are weak, prioritize your opportunities and assess threats to your position. As to process, the best appoach is to create a cross-funtional team, select a planning methodology or marketing plan outline that is suited to your organization, and move through the various sections of positioning, segmentation, value proposition, distribution, target markets, and resource use (marketing, sales support, CE, samples, Phase 4 trials, etc....) Often times, the most important decisions you make will be in the use of and creation of intangible assets. If your organization uses a balanced scorecard method, a very useful reference is Strategy Maps, Kaplan and Norton, 2004, Harvard Business School Press. Jim Collin's book Good to Great has some interesting case studies, some of which may be applicable to the big picture. Yours sincerely, Jamie Bishop, Bishop Marketing Group.

A strategic plan is a part of a strategic process. As Jamie stated, the strategic process is a cross-functional process. If you double click on my name, you can find a link to my website. There, you will find a link to a strategic process description.

As far as a strategic plan outline, here is one I have used:

Strategic Plan Outline

Market Data

• Environment
  
  • What are the market conditions for the customers in the segments under consideration?
  • Covers such areas as customer consolidation/M&A activities, pricing and cost for customer products, and relevant governmental impact.


• Trends
  
  • What are the prevailing patterns of change occurring in the market for consumers and/or suppliers?
  
  
• Market drivers
  
  • What are the major influencers in the market causing the trends or promising (threatening) new ones for consumers and/or suppliers?


• Needs
  
  • For the major need areas of interest, what are the factors influencing these needs and choices for consumers and/or suppliers?
  • The needs should be tied to the market drivers.


• TAM/SAM
  
  • What is the size of the Total Available Market (TAM) and the Served Available Market (SAM)?
  • SAM incorporates the capabilities of the company to manufacture products and reach customers.


• Growth
  
  • What is the growth rate of the various segments under consideration?


• Segmentation
  
  • What are the classes for customers and the differentiation of their needs?


• Competitors
  
  • Who are the competitors and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
  • What are the likely actions for the company to take to maintain a long lasting competitive edge?


• Share
  
  • What is the market share for the customers, and for the competition at each of the customers?


• Barriers to entry
  
  • What are the factors preventing a new supplier from entering the market?

Company Strategy

• Vision/strategic summary
  
  • In simple terms, what is the purpose and direction of the company?


• SWOT
  
  • What are the company Strengths? How does the company exploit these versus the competition?
  • What are the company weaknesses? How can the company turn these into strengths versus the competition?
  • What are the opportunities available to the company? How does the company take advantage of these?
  • What are the threats to the company? How can the company avoid these?
  • How can the company take advantage of the competitors’ weaknesses?


• Company portfolio play
  
  • How can all the products and services the company supplies and/or has capability to supply be used to forge a competitive advantage in the market?


• Market adoption
  
  • Where are the major customers on the technology adoption cycle?
  • Given this, which customers should be initially targeted for the product or service?
  • In terms of a “Whole Product Model,” how can the company package the product with additional service and product features to move from a generic product with little added value to a potential product which differentiates the product and the company?


• Make/Buy
  
  • What aspects of the product should the company manufactured and which should be purchased outside?


• A&M
  
  • What opportunities are there to acquire or to merge with other companies to gain a better strategic position in the market?


• Cost
  
  • Compared to the competition, where is the company positioned with respect to cost of product, overhead, and investment?


• Resource model
  
  • What is the make-up of the team required to define, develop, and launch a product?
  • What is the output capability (# products per year) for this team?
  • What is the cost of the team?


• Products
  
  • What are the key product families and products for the company?
  • How do they compare to the competition?
  • What are the gaps in the offering?


• Channels
  
  • What is the selling process?
  • Who sells to whom?
  • What steps are there in the supply chain?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?


• Marcom
  
  • What are the necessary elements in the Marketing communications plan?
  • These include press releases, magazine articles, applications notes, marketing literature and selling tools, and advertisements


• Customers
  
  • Who are the major customers for the company today?
  • What is the TAM/SAM for each?
  • What is the company share position?
  • How do they factor into the strategy?

Technical Strategy/requirements

• Roadmaps
  
  • What products over time are necessary to meet the strategic objectives? The products should be tied to customer needs.
  • What manufacturing processes and technologies are needed over time to make the products?


• Qualification levels
  
  • Given the reliability requirements of the market, what are the necessary product tests and steps to assure the product meets the regulatory and/or quality/reliability requirements?


• Development Cycle Time
  
  • How does the development process vary given product families?
  • What is the cycle time for each?


• Risk Analysis
  
  • What are the threats to success?
  • What are the weighted priorities of each?
  • What actions must be taken to mitigate the major risks (who, what, when)?

Manufacturing

• Today’s Capabilities
  
  • Describe manufacturing capability today in terms of:
    • processes
    • capacity by location
    • certifications and qualifications
    • expansion capability

• Tomorrow’s needs
  
  • Given the customer needs and technical needs described above, what changes need to occur in manufacturing to support the plan

Financial

• Revenue model and assumptions
  
  • What is the revenue over time, by major customer and total company?
  • What are the assumptions made to achieve this revenue?


• Stretch revenue model and assumptions
  
  • What maximum revenue can be realized and what has to occur to meet these maximum numbers?


• Customer penetration/share over time
  
  • By customer, what is the share over time and what has to occur to meet these share goals?


• Market Share
  
  • What is the aggregate market share for the company over time?


• ASP model
  
  • How does the price change over time?


• P&L Statement
  
  • What is the complete profit and loss for the business segment under consideration? ?


• Capital Needs
  
  • What capital expenditures are needed to support the plan?


• Personnel Needs
  
  • What additional personnel will be needed to support the plan (by function?

Keep in mind that this is a three to five year horizon plan for the entire company. Below this is a business plan, which details the current year situation and actions needed to stay on the strategic plan. And then, there’s a marketing plan, which covers market, customers, needs, segments, competitors, etc, in much more detail. The marketing plan also covers the detailed actions to communicate the message and how to customers. Branding is covered in the marketing plan. Since you asked about a strategic plan, this is what I detailed. A marketing plan is another topic.

I hope this helps.

Wayde