My experience in consulting has taught me that companies in Ghana can be categorized into three groups. In the first group, there are companies that have coherent and documented strategies. Often, these are companies with proper governance structures and therefore have to present their strategies and budgets annually to the Board for approval. These companies are in the minority. They often have methods, processes and templates for doing so.

In the second group there are companies who have some form of strategy that they can explain but have not documented it and do not have any standardized methods for devising a strategy. Many of the companies in this group are medium-sized, do not have sound governance structures and are managed by their owners. 

In the last group there are companies that simply have no strategy at all. They are open for business every day and they hope to make headway someway somehow. They do not appreciate the need to find ways to out-perform their competitors. These are the here-today, gone-tomorrow type of company. They do not know the value of devising a strategy. These are typically smaller owner-managed companies.

Whatever the size of company, devising a Corporate Strategy is critical to business success. Those who do not strategize most often do not have methods, processes and templates for doing so.

Formulating a Strategy is not rocket science. In my 15 years of business leadership, I have been privileged to engage in strategic planning more than 50 (fifty) times. Irrespective the type of business, all it takes to strategize is to answer some critical questions like;

  1. What kind of business am I in?
  2. What is the current state of my business?
  3. What does my ideal future look like?
  4. What are my competitors doing?
  5. What are the trends in my industry and in the economy generally?
  6. What is my unique offering?
  7. How can I capture my offering in a compelling manner?
  8. How will I communicate the strategy to all employees?
  9. How can I align all employees to the Strategy and motivate them to achieve it?
  10. 10. How can I revise my strategy?

In my consulting practice, I have developed a unique, easy-to-use template for formulating a business strategy no matter the industry in which the business operates. I am willing to portions of this in my blog. Over the next few weeks, I will write on each of the 10 (ten) critical strategy questions. Every year, in November, I organize a workshop on How to Formulate Business Strategy. Register Now!!