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Of course, we are going to talk about chess here (but with a twist)!
The game starts off with this simple leveled-playing field with just 64 squares of endless possibilities. The goal — making moves with each piece you’ve got to get yourself the coveted prize. You have just the right pieces to do that. There’s this brainy energy at play that only gets heightened with each subsequent move. A few foreseen slashes and click-clacks later, you have got the crowd cheering and your opponent at their wits’ end.
You see, if you extend this mind frame to a business, you can win the ultimate game of strategic management in 2021.
For those in need of a primer on things, strategic management is a key process and practice of business management wherein managers devise and achieve objectives and goals through carefully accounted parameters and resources at an organization’s disposal. These objectives and goals are the ‘what’ of a business and the company’s mission is the ‘why’. Strategic management is the ‘how’ of achieving all that with careful planning.
Speaking from a corporate perspective, strategic management entails all action plans and frameworks needed to make a company thrive in a competitive environment. Additionally, it deals with setting the purpose of a business and its roadmap to outdoing the competitors with the help of actionable models in line with the company’s vision and mission. These models are further supplemented with feedback mechanisms which then assist in improving the strategy.
Related read: Top 20 Business Portfolio Management Templates To Chart Out An Effective Corporate Strategy
Cut to the chase, it’s 2021. There has been a sea change in how corporate masterminds approach strategic management. The ever-mounting competition and the drive to be the best needs seasoned managers to stay on top of things. They also need to develop plans that stand the test of time besides keeping the company on an infallible track of growth. There are analyses, budgeting, and research involved that throw many a corporate strategist into a tizzy. Not only that, the question of “How can I pull this strategy off?” also keeps haunting the said strategists.
Until now!
This blog brings you handy pointers that will make any level of strategic management a breeze. The spotlight, though, is on the secret PowerPoint template toolkit that can make the formulation of business strategies a fairly smooth sail. Read on to uncover this secret and win at every square of life (not just the 64 on the board). Your move!
And now, time for the twist: The toolkit for razor-sharp strategic management
Strategy goes a long way in defining how a company fares in the agile corporate ecosystem. The way to craft a business strategy is through a bumpy road of mistakes and missed shots. Startups and budding companies spend thousands of dollars making the most of strategic management. This investment is a farsighted approach to make what matters and why it sustains the business. In other words, it spells out three basic components for those considering this investment:
- Assessment and identification of the problem
- Formulation of guiding principles to solving this problem
- Definitive plan of action to address the problem
An interesting thing about strategic management is that it is not just a static one-dimensional practice. It actually finds application in almost every corporate system. This can include human resources, marketing, sales, branding, procurement, logistics, and so on and so forth.
But the more we stretch out the fabric of strategic management; the challenges become more specific and (inevitably) bigger. And it is not that strategy managers are diving into the deep end without preparation. It’s just that churning out good visual models that communicate the roadmap to success clearly can take up a lot of hard work and the financial corpus of the company.
The solution? Pulling your hair off researching and postulating.
The better solution? Our hand-picked PowerPoint template toolkit that will make strategic management a cakewalk.
And no, we are not going to give you some fancy Google talk that you add two and two to make five. Instead, the components of this PowerPoint template toolkit help you target the five basic P’s of strategy — Plan, Pattern, Position, Perspective, and Ploy. Feel free to use this toolkit as per the ‘P’ you are targeting, or mix it up for best results. Here’s the toolkit.
Tools for Plan
Planning in strategic management deals with setting up key objectives and deliverables to put the organization in a better situation. Think of it from a salesperson's point of view. The objective can be to increase the close rate from 80% to 90% by the end of the year 2021. The planning component clearly defines what needs to be done to achieve the favorable target. In fact, it nudges the growth prospects of the salesperson as well.
Related read: Top 25 Business Action Plan Templates to Map Out Winning Company Strategies
But the real struggle begins in outlining the roadmap to making that a reality. This plan can involve each tactic to hold more meetings, making cold calls, reaching out to prospective clients via emails, and following up on the leads until the deal is closed. Additionally, if we factor in the turbulent market condition, one has to chart out several strategies and analyze them one by one to arrive at the perfect fit.
Your tools: The most important part of strategic planning is to assess the internal and external factors that affect your organization. So the neat trick here is to jot down the information you have into visual elements. That is exactly the reason why our PowerPoint templates are the perfect solution to keep you organized.
There is a little bit of science at play too. Since visuals tend to be processed faster than words, arranging and presenting strategic planning with a PowerPoint template checks all the right boxes. You can experiment with frameworks and use cases to plan an unbeatable strategy for yourself. Here are the tools you need to get you started.
↓For developing tactical frameworks
↓To make error-free models with high value
↓For presenting analytical data methodically
Tools for Pattern
Patterns emerge when strategy gets into application and patience mode. In strategic management, pattern identification involves observation of past behaviors and charting out a trend. Thereafter, this trend becomes the guiding light for a new and improved strategy rather than a prescribed one. Another huge advantage is that a pattern-based strategy allows a lot of time and scope to address potential risks. The corrective actions thus minimize errors and lead to a smooth workflow.
The significance of patterns is evident in the business strategy of Tesla. You see, the initial setup of a company going into the sports car manufacturing business might seem inconspicuous at first. It’s just a company aiming to make a sports car. What does it shake up? Not much, right?
Wrong!
If you take a finer lens to the way Tesla observed consumer demand and addressed it accordingly, you are bound to find something interesting — patterns. The Roadster is not just a flashy car. It nudges a generation of lucrative and robust ecosystems of zero-emission vehicles that revolutionized the way cars are supposed to serve us. The pattern for the demand for cheaper and faster vehicles led to Model X and Model Y, and the company sure benefited from it.
Related read: Top 20 Strategic Roadmap Templates to Help Your Company Hit the Bullseye Every Time
Your tools: Not that there weren’t any flaws in the Tesla territory. But weighing the patterns was an intuitive move that minimized these flaws. Therefore, those handling strategic management in the 21st century need appropriate tools that boost this corporate sentiment. A key feature of these tools is their ability to accommodate data regarding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of the project. Not only that, but these tools also have to use appropriate data models to capture patterns of consumer and company behavior.
Another key highlight of these tools is that they make it easier to churn out predictive models. Modifiable and analytical models from these tools can help shape the future of your business without a fuss. In line with that school of thought, our PowerPoint template toolkit offers visual tools to tackle gap analysis, pattern assessment, and pattern recognition features. Replete with flexible and fully-editable content, these tools will help you leverage predictive models and draw out strategies spontaneously. Download them below.
↓For plugging all loopholes in your current strategy
↓To apply learning and experience to minimize errors
↓For gaining insights into consumer behavior
Tools for Position
Honestly, how many of us are pushing the “pay now” button when a YouTube Premium advertisement pops up in the middle of us streaming a trending Oprah interview?
*deafening silence*
Thought so!
The point is that these advertisements aim to challenge a basic tenet of strategic management — understanding positioning. The market dominated (and almost saturated) by online streaming platforms is not bound to attract those wanting to cut on their subscription list. In fact, the appeal of paid content pales in front of what YouTube is basically known for — free online videos.
Drawing parallels here, we can see that strategic management is a game of your position among the competition. Have you counted in the geography, the demographics, and the exact competitor analysis? Did you factor in what makes you better than your competitors? Have you also devised a plan to explore avenues where your peers have zero presence but you have endless opportunities? Making these decisions necessitates copious research as well as information mining with the help of hi-tech tools and models. So how do you start addressing the strategy of position?
Here’s the answer: There is no time for blind shots for sure. Long-term profits are not a guessing game. They need a lot of thorough planning and positioning the brand into the market strategically. Market trends and external factors may also contribute to the difficulty of the decision-making process. Failing at any front of customer satisfaction can evaporate all strategies and lead to depletion of resources.
But the ultimate cure is synergy coupled with good visualization and analysis techniques. Collaboration along with evaluation and projection can uplift your market presence while keeping risks and pitfalls at bay. Therefore, to realize these qualities, you can use the following tools of our PowerPoint template toolkit.
↓For exploiting the weaknesses of your competitor
↓To let data be your best weapon
↓For staying on top of emerging market trends
Tools for Perspective
Over time, as your company grows, you establish values that are in line with your mission. These values enhance your brand identity and, thus, your authority in the market niche. Considering how the past year has gone by with nothing but despair, it has become even more significant to have a perspective on trends. If there is communication, what are you planning to strike a good conversation? Moreover, if you are doing something, what does it say about your company values and authenticity?
Even cultivating this authenticity is a long-term endeavor. The bottom line is that you need to have the drive to solidify your strategies as a well-knit structure rather than isolated chunks. Strategic management for perspective requires growing the information capital with close review and feedback mechanisms. These mechanisms, however, will need appropriate assessment and groundwork before execution. Visual tools, thus, are your best bet to keep track of the groundwork.
Your tools: To gain a sound perspective of company values, it is important to channelize your gains into procedures and guidelines rather than one-hit wonders. Therefore, you need tools that can adapt to the changing environments while feeding your business intelligence with relevant data over a specified time. This not only applies to sales or marketing, but also to recruitment, customer relationships, and corporate investments.
So on these lines, our PowerPoint template toolkit offers you data sets and flexible models of analysis and assessment. You can also find the use of Excel-linked infographics in these template resources to chart out a flawless perspective strategy. Once you have arrived at a favorable outcome, you can brainstorm more avenues of improving the strategy as per your brand requirements. You can also club the results and data from these tools into an umbrella strategy for training and operations.
↓For paving the way to niche authority
↓To make feedback the fuel for business growth
↓For iterating and adapting to perfection
Tools for Ploy
Ploy is when you need to catch your competitor off-guard with a well-informed tactic. In strategic management, ploy is your secret weapon to show the power of wit. Taking the chess analogy, this is when you appear to be sacrificing your queen but instead, you are laying a trap for the opponent king with a move that they do not see coming. A real-world example would be an online retailer setting discount and pricing strategies in the form of a well-advertised sale to attract more customers.
Related read: 6 Pricing Model Strategies To Rake In Better Profits [Best Templates Included]
On the other hand, ploy can also be instantaneous response via various communication channels as well. This banter of sorts helps a brand gain more media traction as well as better market positioning. This facet of strategic management is beneficial for agile businesses looking to stand out with their values and company messages. The end goal is, thus, not some retweets or impressions, but nurturing of company authority in the long term. A better take is provided by this witty Twitter exchange between popular auto brands.
We know we have a 'nice S', thanks for showing us yours. ?
— Mercedes-Benz (@MercedesBenz) September 2, 2020
Your tools: What’s there to manage in ploy, you may ask? It’s just witty comebacks; anyone can do that on the random, you might think. The allure of having it easy can lead your business to a narcissistic outlook that implores you to “just do your own thing”. But the rest will not follow unless you have a carefully laid-out strategy. The power of foreseeing and quick wit will need you to have all team members on board about your communication strategies.
Our toolkit can help.
The following template resources are your best bet to ensure that your competition never outwits or outperforms you. The strategy for ploy has a simple mantra — the clearer the information relay, the better the application and execution. These templates will help you overcome any lapses in your strategy and get you up to speed with data-driven dashboards. Download them below.
↓For planning the strategy for social communication channels
↓To impart more strength to your communication stakeholders
↓For making the smartest moves that shift revenue streams
To sum up
Strategic management is much like your brain. You can train the strategic components of your business to become smarter and well-informed. The constant learning and experiences will help your company’s vitals running. Be mindful of the fact that change can always manifest itself in terms of risks and missed opportunities. But it is nothing that proactive analyses and our PowerPoint template toolkit will not help you tackle. The key is to stay adaptive and let entrepreneurial instincts be your guide as you plan your next move. So be it the chequered board or the great corporate game, victory will always be yours. Checkmate!
