In organizational context I frequently view “strategy” as having a broad set of meanings. And so unfortunately it is misused and often just a “flavor of the month” provided organizational lip service.

I believe developing and implementing business strategy is a continuous cycle and the strategy itself is really nothing more then directional and if done right it can be a very powerful and effective tool.

Implementing a strategy

Implementation of a strategy is through a defined set of measurable activities that each have a start and end point and an associated clear, measurable outcome.  (although a single activity my be repeated, making it part of an ongoing operation.)

Enough bureaucratic double-speak – Example please?

This post was triggered by a newspaper article about a recently adopted business strategy developed by a Canadian legal medical marijuana producer.  Apparently a number of the larger companies in the business are also adopting this strategy.  That of course does not make it a good strategy but it is indicative others think it has value.

Most interesting to me was how this was a simple example of what a business strategy is.

The strategy is ” To prepare the business now for the potential legalization of marijuana use in this country so the revenue and profit opportunity can be fully leveraged out of the gate”.

For me this has all the attributes of a well thought out strategy:

• simple  (it’s one sentence not 180 pages of hard to understand gobble gook.
• it is clearly actionable (implementing it is totally feasible for a company already in the business)
• It has a number of readily and easily measured components (e.g., market position six months post legalization – should be #1)

Implementation

The actual plans and activities to implement a strategy are often mixed up with the strategy itself (hence 180 page analysis documents).

In this case the tactical plans in support of the strategy are  numerous and cover a longer duration (probably 18 to 36 months) but the simplicity of it is the clear framework for what the work is are defined by the straightforward and easy to understand objective underlying the stated business strategy.

The strategic implementation work includes thing like the companies lobbying government for early postioning, storing product, planning wholesale and retail pipelines, etc.  By defining a visionary but realistic strategy these fledgling businesses are getting themselves ready to move to the next level.

Now, please excuse me, I am off to find a marijuana farm to invest in.