Strategy. The essence of a business strategy is to determine exactly what measures need to be taken in order to fully satisfy all the needs of customers, and to do it better than direct competitors. The basis of the strategy is specific methods, principles, approaches to a particular situation.

The very word "strategy" of Greek origin, translated means "the science of the distribution of troops in battle."

In the modern world, this term is used by management specialists.

In today's challenging market conditions, business strategy is the most important factor.

There is no strategy without a strategist

A strategist is a manager who has all the necessary powers and resources to implement his strategy.

The choice of a strategy, as well as its implementation, is the main part of the activity in strategic management. A business strategy is a long-term, well-defined direction in the development of an entire organization. Strategy answers the question: how to act in order to achieve the desired results when the environment of competitors is rapidly changing.

When defining a business strategy, enterprise managers are faced with three important questions that are closely related to the market position of a given organization:

• Which of the directions in the business needs to be closed.
• What business is worth continuing.
• What kind of business you need to move into.

At the same time, the attention of strategists is focused on the following questions:

• What does and does not do in this situation.
• What is the main thing, and what aspects can fade into the background in the activities that the company carries out.

The most important areas in strategy development are:

• Leadership area in minimizing production costs. This is a type of strategy in which the company will be able to achieve minimum costs in the production and during the sale of its products. This means that as a result, the following option is being considered: the company can win a larger market share due to lower prices for similar products. Enterprises or firms that organize this type of strategy must have a strong organization of production and supply and well-established technologies, in other words, in order to achieve the lowest costs, everything that is directly related to the cost of production must be carried out. with this strategy it should not be strongly developed.

• Strategy development area. It is about specialization in production. In this case, the enterprise must maintain high production and marketing efficiency in order to become the undisputed leader in the production of such products. This will certainly lead to the fact that the consumer will choose this brand even if it is expensive enough. Businesses or firms that pursue this type of strategy are required to potentially meet high R&D standards, have qualified designers, a well-established set of tools to ensure good quality products, and an extensive marketing system.

• The third area of ​​strategy definition relates to the fixation of a specific market segment and a clear concentration of all the firm's forces on a specific pre-approved market segment. With such a strategy, the company focuses its attention on a specific sector, while carefully ascertaining the needs of the market in question for the relevant products. In this case, the company will seek to reduce its own. It is allowed to combine these approaches. When carrying out a strategy of the third type, it is mandatory for an enterprise to build its activities primarily on the analysis of the needs of consumers of a certain market segment. This means that in its intentions the company should not proceed from the needs of the market as a whole, but from the needs of specific customers.

Benchmark Business Development Strategies

The reference or basic strategies are those that are most common., tested in practice and massively developed in the literary description.

They represent four very different options for considering the growth of a firm. They are directly related to a change in the state of some elements: the position of the firm within a particular industry, product and technology. These elements can be in the following states: existing or new.

The first group of reference strategies includes a concentrated growth strategy. This refers to those strategies that are directly related to changing the product or even the market itself. If a company decides to follow these strategies, it tries to improve its own products or start producing a new one without changing the industry. Regarding the market, the company is looking for opportunities to improve its position on the market, or in extreme cases, radically changes the market.

Specific types of strategy of the first group:

• Business strategy by strengthening the market position. The goal is to do everything in order to occupy the best position with your product in this market. Implementing such a strategy requires an enormous marketing effort. Also, the implementation of this business strategy allows for the implementation of the so-called Horizontal Integration, in which the company tries to establish absolute control over all competitors.

• Market development business strategy... It's about finding new markets for an old product.

• Product business strategy... It involves solving the problem of growth through the production of a completely new product, and also involves selling it on an already previously mastered market.

An illustrative example from business practice:

The internationally renowned soft drink manufacturer Coca-cola continues to grow rapidly, investing large financial flows in the constant expansion of its capacity. In 1996, the company invested $ 1.5 billion. Most of these investments were made on the territory of Russia, in the market of which Coca-cola is waging a tough fight with the Pepsi company, which began its work on the Russian market in the early 70s. Having entered the Russian market much later than Pepsi, Coca-Cola, clearly realizing its worst position when compared with its competitors, began to intensively develop its activities to create a production base. In April 1994, this manufacturer put into operation a bottling plant in Moscow, spending $ 65 million on its construction. After that, an enterprise was launched in Pulkovo near St. Petersburg; $ 40 million was spent on the construction of this plant. After Coca-cola secured a production base in the region of the largest Russian cities, the company began to strive to enter other regions of the Russian Federation, and by 1998 Coca-cola plans to increase the total investment in this market to $ 500 million.

Second group of reference business-strategies draws up certain business strategies, providing for the expansion of the enterprise by adding new organizational structures. These layouts are called integrated growth strategies. An enterprise can use these strategies if it is in business itself, but for some reason is unable to implement concentrated growth strategies, and in the meantime, integrated growth does not contradict its development either by acquiring property or expanding from within. It is worth noting that the position of the firm is changing within the industry.

There are these types of integrated growth strategies:

• Reverse Vertical Integration Business Strategy... The growth of the company is possible with this strategy through acquisitions, and, of course, strengthening its control over the supplier through the creation of a subsidiary to carry out the supply. The implementation of the indicated strategy contributes to obtaining favorable results, which are associated with a decrease in dependence on price fluctuations for certain components and supplier requests. In the case of vertical integration of the reverse nature, supplies can turn into a profit center.

• The business strategy of the so-called forward-going vertical integration, is expressed in the development of the organization by acquiring or strengthening its control over the structures that are between the enterprise and the end user, that is, over the distribution and sales systems.

A good example from business practice

Various dimensions of strategy concept. The business unit as the central object of analysis. The branch structure that determines the main trends in the development of the organization. Internal competence that determines competitiveness.

THE CONCEPT OF THE STRATEGY AND ITS ROLE IN PROVIDING THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIRM

What is strategy? It seems right to start working on a strategy by defining it. The task, however, is not an easy one, because some elements of the strategy are universal and can be applied to any institutional formation, regardless of its essence. Others are highly dependent not only on the nature of the firm, but also on its clientele, the structure of the firm, and its culture. To get out of this situation, we find it useful to distinguish between two concepts: the concept of strategy and the process of forming a strategy.

By the concept of strategy, we mean its content and materiality. This issue has attracted the attention of various authors in recent decades. Most of them, however, offer a criterion of viability when considering the content of the strategy, thus offering a single dimension to this truly complex category. We will try to get an integrated view of the strategy. This approach can be useful for strategy formulation by various institutions.

The process of forming a strategy is more elusive and difficult to understand. A first step in this direction may be to identify the key actors responsible for formulating and implementing the strategy; are they supposed to work as a team, or should they be divided into independent groups, and if so, how should information be exchanged between them? Will the mode of operation be calendar or will they work in a more flexible mode? To what extent can the strategy formulation process be accurate, and to what extent should information regarding strategy formulation be known within the organization and external clientele? Will this process strongly depend on formal analytical tools, or will it be more determined by the behavioral-force approach? All of these questions are part of the strategy formation process.

Different dimensions of strategy concept

Strategy can be viewed as a multidimensional concept that encompasses all the activities of the firm, providing a mode of unity, manageability and purposefulness. In revising some of the more important work in the field of strategy, we have seen the following necessary dimensions to provide a unified definition of the concept of strategy.

1. Strategy as a consistent, unified in an integrated decision model

It is generally accepted to view strategy as the main force that provides a comprehensive and integrative plan of action for the organization as a whole. According to this point of view, strategy sets in motion plans to ensure that the main objectives of the enterprise are met.

Considering strategy as a model of firm decisions, we recognize that strategy is an inevitable construct in the firm's activities. We can come into the organization and study the nature of decision making and measure the effectiveness. Strategic models may differ when inconsistency in the course of the firm's development is discovered, caused in turn by either a reshuffle in the higher echelons of intrafirm power, or externalities. In any case, the construction of strategic models is the responsibility of the senior management of the firm, the final version of which may be the result of either clearly defined views or improvisation. In any case, strategies are born, whether we like it or not, reflecting the traces of the actions that the firm has taken in the past and which in turn could determine its future destiny.

2. Strategy as a means of setting an organizational goal within the framework of its long-term objectives, action programs and priorities in the allocation of resources

This is one of the oldest and most classic views on the concept of strategy. In this case, we are talking about the fact that the strategy is a way to clearly define the long-term goals and objectives of the organization, as well as the necessary action programs to fulfill these tasks and find the necessary resources.

We now look at a pragmatic and useful definition of the nature of strategic Actions. To do this, it is necessary to define the concept of "long-term objectives of the company." These include those that meet the criterion of constancy (stability). They are not modified, unless external circumstances or internal changes require their adjustment. Nothing is more destructive or distracting than a messy reorientation of a firm's tasks. The firm's constant strategic reorientation creates confusion among all shareholders and, more importantly, its customers and employees.

The desired stability of long-term objectives, however, does not obviate the need for constant leadership and adaptation of the firm's programs. This is achieved by revising strategic programs, focused more on the short term, while at the same time striving for alignment with long-term objectives.

Finally, measuring the strategy against the available resources. Consistency between strategic objectives and programs, on the one hand, and the allocation of human, financial, technological resources, on the other hand, is essential to maintain strategic coherence.

3. Strategy as a definition of the firm's competitive holdings. It is recognized that one of the central objectives of the strategy is to define the business activities that the firm is engaged in or intends to do. This defines the place of strategy as the main force that directs and controls the processes of growth, diversification, absorption.

A key step in defining a formal strategic planning process is effective business segmentation. The greatest strategic attention, both in the formulation and in the implementation of the strategy, is given to the commercial activities of the firm. In this regard, two questions should be posed: what kind of business are we doing? what kind of business should we do?

There are differences in the criteria for defining business activities, in the desired degree of aggregation of business units, and even in the definition of their job responsibilities. The controversy further increases because business segmentation ultimately strongly affects the organizational structure of the firm. Whether consciously or not, these disagreements are a major contributor to the questions being asked.

Segmentation is the key for business analysis, strategic positioning, resource allocation and portfolio management. Segmentation clearly defines the boundaries of the firm's ownership, making it clear where we are getting into the competition and how we are going to do it.

4. Strategy is a reaction to external opportunities and threats, as well as knowledge of internal strengths and weaknesses, which is necessary to achieve a competitive advantage

In accordance with this approach, the central issue of strategy is to achieve long-term competitive advantage over the main competitors of the firm in various lines of business. This definition means that competitive advantage stems from a thorough understanding of the external and internal factors that affect the organization. Outside the organization, we are forced to determine industry attractiveness and trends, as well as characteristics of major competitors. This creates opportunities and threats to be reckoned with.

Within the organization, we must assess the competitive capabilities of the firm, allowing us to get an idea of ​​the strengths and weaknesses of the firm, which should be further developed and adjusted.

Organizations need a strategy to achieve viable parity between the external environment and their internal capabilities. The role of strategy should not be seen as a passive response to opportunities and threats from the outside, but as a continuous and active adaptation of the organization to the needs of a changing environment.

Within this approach, the basis for a business strategy emerges with three areas of consideration:

business unit as the central object of analysis;

sectoral structure, which determines the main trends in the development of the organization;

internal competence that determines competitiveness.

Long-term goals, strategic action programs and resource allocation priorities therefore become conditioned by the role of the business unit, its position in the firm's “business portfolio”, favorable and unfavorable trends in the industry structure, and the internal opportunities that must be unlocked to achieve the desired competitive position.

5. Strategy as a channel for defining management tasks at the level of the corporation, business unit and functional divisions

Different hierarchical levels in an organization have vastly different managerial responsibilities in terms of their contribution to defining the firm's strategy.

At the corporate level, issues of a general company scale are resolved. First of all, these are issues related to defining the mission of the company, considering proposals coming from business units and functional divisions, defining and using links between separate but related business units, allocating resources based on strategic priorities. At the business level, all activities are aimed at strengthening the competitive position of each business unit within the industry.

At the functional level, developing the necessary functional skills in finance, administrative infrastructure, staffing, technology, supply, logistics, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, sales and services necessary to maintain competitiveness is key.

Recognizing the difference in these management roles and integrating results harmoniously is another key dimension of strategy.

Regardless of the structure adopted by the firm, there continue to be three very different strategic objectives. The first is addressed to the organization as a whole: we mean questions related to corporate strategy. The second challenge relates to the business unit, regardless of its position - these are business strategy issues. And the third task involves the development of functional skills and corresponds with questions related to functional strategy. In this matter, it might once again be useful to separate the content of the strategy from the process. Content tends to be structure independent. Looking at the organization as a whole, we mean three conceptual levels: corporate, business, functional. The process of forming a strategy will be highly structured.

6. Strategy as a definition of the economic and non-economic benefits that the firm intends to provide to the owners

The owner category has gained importance as an element of strategic interest in the past few years. Owner is a term for anyone who directly or indirectly makes a profit or confirms the costs arising from the need to maintain the life of the firm. These are shareholders, employees, managers, suppliers, creditors, customers, society, government. Within this dimension of strategy, the firm's obligation to shareholders is viewed as a more complex category than the need to maximize their returns.

It views strategy as a means of creating social contacts. The end result will be the creation of an economic and human organization with a distinct corporate philosophy and organizational structure.

Taking care of the owners could be a very useful approach. There is no doubt that making a profit is an important component in the company's activities. However, it is possible to fall into the trap if management views short-term profitability as the primary driver, overshadowing issues such as conscientious, rewarding work, which stems from both responsibility and the desire to remain the owner of the firm.

The firm has to reckon with the fact that if customers are not properly served, then over time another firm will take over the market, which threatens a gradual loss of competitiveness. Similar conclusions can be drawn for firm employees and suppliers. If honest and mutually beneficial relationships are established, constructive associations emerge, which will logically lead to increased profits. Finally, dignified behavior enhances the corporate image. Abusive and unfair alliances can lead to short-term financial gains, but may not be sustainable over the long term.

Towards a unified strategy concept. The strategy concept contains the overall purpose of the organization. It is not surprising, therefore, that many measurements are required for an accurate determination. We have presented them to highlight the different components of the strategy concept -

All of them are ambiguous, relevant and contribute to a better understanding of strategic objectives. By combining them, we could offer a more comprehensive definition of strategy.

Strategy

1. It is a consistent, unified and integrated solution model

2. Determines and indicates the organizational goal within the framework of long-term objectives, action programs and priorities in the allocation of resources

3. Selects the business that the organization does and should do

4. Seeks to achieve long-term sustainable advantage in every type of business by addressing the opportunities and threats of the firm's external environment, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the organization

5. Covers all hierarchical levels of the firm (corporate, business, functional ~

6. Determines the nature of the economic and non-economic benefits that the firm intends to provide to the owners.

Based on a unified perspective, strategy becomes the fundamental foundation by which an organization can defend its viability. At the same time, the strategy greatly facilitates its adaptation to the changing external environment. The essence of the strategy, thus, boils down to purposeful management, which allows you to achieve a competitive advantage in each type of business in which the firm is involved. Finally, the recognition that the recipients of the firm are its owners. Consequently, the strategy is aimed at obtaining benefits for them, thereby creating the basis for the multitude of transactions and social contracts that link the firm with its owners.

Strategy (according to McKensey) is a strong business concept + a set of real actions that can lead this concept to achieve real competitive advantage that can last for a long time.

Key elements in defining a business strategy.

The mission of the company (the main goal of the company) is a business philosophy, the purpose of which is to finally determine the position of the company.

Analysis of the external business environment

Analysis of the internal business environment

Identifying opportunities and threats.

Identifying strengths and weaknesses.

Business strategy formulation (3-5 years)

Bibliography

For the preparation of this work were used materials from the site sergeev-sergey.narod.ru/start/glava.htm

A key component of any management process is strategy. Within its framework, it is considered as a long-term elaborated direction regarding the development of the company (in particular, the strategy concerns the sphere, forms, means of its activity; the system of internal relationships between all participants; the position of the company with respect to the environment).

For greater clarity, it is worth distinguishing between such concepts as goals and the former reflect the end point of aspiration, while the latter reflects the methods and its achievement in a dynamic competitive atmosphere.

In a broad sense, a strategy is the intended general course of action of the company, the adherence to which should lead in the long term to the desired goals.

What does management face in the process of defining an effective company strategy?

The first step is to find answers to three main questions about the organization's position in the market, namely:

1. What kind of business should you stop?
2. Which one should you pay more attention to?
3. Which business is worth looking at.

Variety of company strategies according to M. Porter

The professor identifies three main areas of developing a company's behavioral strategy in the market:

1. Leadership in minimizing production costs. This type is characterized by the fact that the company reduces the level of production costs, sales of products to a minimum, as a result of which it wins a large market share relative to its competitors.

Typical features of companies using this type of strategy:

• a high level of organization of production, supply;
• advanced technologies and engineering and design base;
• branched product distribution system;
• low-grade marketing.

2. Production specialization. The uniformity of the technological process and products, the use of special equipment and specialized personnel are characteristic. The effect is that consumers buy the products of this company even at an inflated price.

Typical features of firms with this strategy option are as follows:

• extensive R&D potential;
• highly qualified designers;
• quality control of manufactured products;
• effective marketing system.

3. Fixation in a separate market segment. The company does not focus on the entire market, but only on a specific group of consumers. In this situation, it can pursue either the aforementioned policy of specialization, or minimization, or both at the same time. The peculiarity of this type of strategy is the focus on the needs of not the entire market, but the target group of consumers.

The considered types allow solving the main problem for most firms: achieving an advantage over direct competitors. They also help in determining how exactly this can be done.

Types of business development strategies

Those that have taken hold in practice are called basic. They distinguish four different approaches regarding the growth of a company associated with a change in the baseline state of one (or several) elements, such as the market, the position of the company within the industry, product, industry, technology. Each of the above components can be in one of two states: current or fundamentally new.

The types of strategies in the first group are concentrated growth strategies (associated with changes in the market or product, or both at the same time). Following this course, companies strive to improve the released product or try to produce a new one, while remaining in the old industry.

On the market side, organizations are looking for opportunities to improve their current market position.

First group strategies

It is customary to distinguish three types here:

1. Strategy for strengthening market positions (the company focuses on marketing, carries out horizontal integration - control over competitors).
2. Market development strategy (search for new sales markets for the manufactured product).
3. Development strategy of a previously released product (transition to the production of a fundamentally new product within the framework of the old sales channel).

Second group of strategies

Landmark - expansion of the company through the addition of new structures. The types of business strategies in this group are called integrated growth strategies. Companies use them in a situation where the business is stable enough that the first group described above cannot be followed. In this case, integrated growth does not interfere with the long-term goals of the firm. It can be achieved through the acquisition of property as well as expansion from within.

Integrated growth strategies

They include the following types of strategies:

1. Reverse vertical integration (growth of the company through the introduction or strengthening of existing control over all suppliers, the creation of a number of subsidiaries to carry out procurement).
2. Forward going vertical integration (the growth of an organization through the introduction or strengthening of existing monitoring over its structures located above distribution systems, sales). This type is effective in the case of a significant expansion of intermediary services or the absence of first-class intermediaries.

Third group

These are diversified growth strategies. They are resorted to if companies can no longer develop further in their market, with their product and within their industry.

The types of strategies in this group are as follows:

1. Centralized diversification (search and use of additional opportunities in the field of production of fundamentally new products along with the existence in the central positions of the old business).
2. Horizontal diversification (search for opportunities for significant growth of the company in an already mastered market by means of a new product, for the manufacture of which a different technology is required). Here, the organization should focus primarily on the production of technologically independent products that could use the existing capabilities of the company, for example, in the supply sector. In view of the fact that the new product is focused on the target segment of the old (main) one, in terms of quality characteristics, it should act as a concomitant to the already released product. An important condition is a preliminary assessment by the organization of its own competence regarding the production of a new product.
3. Conglomerative diversification (expansion of the company through the production of fundamentally new products within the untapped distribution system). It is generally accepted that this is one of the most difficult development strategies in terms of implementing development strategies due to the fact that its successful implementation directly depends on numerous factors: personnel competence, market seasonality, managers' qualifications, availability of the required capital, etc.

enterprises by management level

A large-scale organization with a divisional type of structure most often has three levels of basic strategic decisions:

• business;
• corporate;
• functional.

In other words, strategies, a productive result in the implementation of which can be obtained only under the condition of their close interaction. Each individual level forms a certain strategic environment for the next lower level is in direct proportion to the constraints of the higher-level strategies).

Three levels of key strategic decisions

The first strategy (corporate, portfolio) describes the general direction of the company's growth, the development of its activities in the production and sales sphere. It shows the ways to achieve a balance of goods and services through the competent management of different. Strategic decisions of this level are recognized as quite difficult in view of the fact that they relate to the organization as a whole.

The corporate strategy includes the following areas:

• allocation of resources based on portfolio analysis between the relevant business units;
• diversification of production as a way to reduce possible economic risks and achieve synergy effect;
• changes in the corporate structure;
• merger, acquisition and entry into such an integration structure as FIG;
• universalization of the strategic focus of subdivisions.

An important decision taken at this level is the implementation of financing of products or business units exclusively on a budgetary basis.

The types of enterprise strategies by management level are also represented by the business strategy (business), which provides long-term business units. It is embodied, as a rule, in business plans and reflects facts about the competition of a given enterprise within a specific product market (target segment, pricing and marketing policy, competitive advantages, etc.). In this regard, it is also mentioned, listing the types of competitive strategies. For organizations engaged in one type of activity, the corporate strategy is identical to the business one.

Functional strategies are developed by functional services and departments of the company on the basis of the above (financial, production, grocery, etc.). Their goal is the allocation of resources of the service (department), the search for an effective behavioral course of the functional unit in the overall strategy. An example within the marketing department is focusing on finding ways to increase product sales relative to the previous period.

Innovative strategies: interpretation, types

This is a model of a firm's behavior in certain market conditions. This strategy is one of the tools for managing an organization. Based on the behavioral aspect and content, the following types of innovative strategies are distinguished:

Active:

a) technological leadership (development of a new type of product and technology, investment in R&D, the latest management models, even in a high-risk situation);

b) following the leader (using technologies developed by other companies);

c) copying (organization of production on the basis of a license purchased from the leader or developer);

d) dependence (imitation of a new product).

Passive.

Innovation strategies can also be classified by scale:

• targeting a specific niche;
• targeting a specific market;
• targeting multiple markets;

• technologies;
• information processes;
• management models;
• social change.

The starting point is the mission (the formulation of the idea from which the company was created). On its basis, a general development strategy for the company is developed.

All of the above types of innovative strategies have the following initial stage:

A variety of marketing strategies

They can be classified according to the following landmarks:

1. In relation to the scale of the market:

• conquest strategy (development of a new product, consumer motivation, development of new areas of consumption of old products);
• expansion strategy (increase in production volume, conquest of new market segments);
• monopolization of the segment (search for a target group of consumers in which there are no competitors, creation of a new product for them, consumer motivation in this segment);
• maintaining its market share in all target segments (mastering the full range of products of the corresponding type).

2. According to the fundamental factor that provides demand, the following types of marketing strategies are distinguished:

• a high-demand product (emphasis on the manufacture of a product necessary for most consumers without reference to a group affiliation);
• high quality of products (emphasis on the highest possible quality of products offered on the market for this product);
• price level (pricing policy for manufactured products, which is available to the majority);
• innovation (creation of a product that has no analogues);
• customer commitment (benchmark - full satisfaction of existing customer needs);
• after-sales service (focus on the after-sales range of services);
• additional monetary advantage (system of loans, discounts, bonuses, installments).

3. According to the degree of development of marketing policy, the following strategies are distinguished:

• adaptation to demand (marketing research, determining consumer demand, creating a product that meets needs);
• creation of demand (formation of the idea of ​​a product, its development, stimulating the needs of buyers in the created product).

4. According to the reaction to the existing market processes, the following types of enterprise strategies (marketing) are distinguished:

• adaptation to ongoing changes (monitoring the current state of the market and prompt response to its change);
• forecast (advance transformation based on the forecast).

5. According to the reaction to the dynamics of the market situation, marketing strategies are subdivided as follows:

• adjustment of production volumes (reduction or increase in production volumes based on changes in consumer demand);
• change in the assortment (improvement of the product and its varieties, modification, creation of substitutes);
• price changes (price policy adjustments);
• change of sales channels (use of different kinds of sales).

6. In relation to the product, it is customary to distinguish the following types of organizational strategies (marketing):

• innovation (creation of a new product, the company's striving for leadership in the relevant market);
• "Second place" (following the leader);
• improvement of competitive products (change or refinement of competitive products by adding their own advantages).

HR strategies: definition, types

This is the development by the management of the priority and most effective direction of action, contributing to the achievement of such long-term goals as the creation of a highly qualified, cohesive, responsible team, subject to the existing strategic objectives of the company and its capabilities.

It is customary to distinguish the following types of personnel strategies:

• entrepreneurial;
• dynamic growth;
• profitability;
• liquidation;
• circulation.

According to the majority of leading firms, personnel strategy is an integral part of the overall economic, as well as a consequence of the long-term planning of the economic activities of companies.

In summary, it is worth recalling once again that the main types of competitive strategies are cost leadership, focus and differentiation.

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATED SOCIO-ECONOMIC STRATEGY OF THE ENTERPRISE

This chapter is, in a sense, central to the Handbook. It contains practically all the methodological information necessary for the formation of an integrated enterprise strategy. The content of this chapter allows the reader to form a detailed and detailed understanding of the structure of the strategy and its elements. If an enterprise is an integral organism, then its strategy should be comprehensive, take into account the relationship between individual subsystems of the enterprise and the impact of the external environment on them. It is shown what role the potential of the enterprise and business as a whole plays in the formation of the strategy. Eight independent directions are identified that correspond to various relatively independent and interconnected aspects of the enterprise's activities and make up the complex strategy of the enterprise in aggregate, and for each direction the main options for strategic choice are shown. A separate paragraph is devoted to each such direction of strategy, in which the elements of the strategy are defined, examples and recommendations are given (or presented with links to other chapters of the book), which are necessary for the independent formation of a strategy in the enterprise. A branched "strategic tree" is proposed, which represents the main options for the strategic choice of an enterprise.

4.1. The essence and structure of the enterprise strategy

The terms “strategy”, “strategic decisions” have been repeatedly used in the previous chapters of this handbook. However, instead of a precise definition, the calculation was on the intuitive understanding of these words. This clause provides a clarification of these concepts in relation to the strategy and strategic decisions for enterprise management. It should be noted that the interpretations of the concept “strategy” offered here are not the only ones; in educational and scientific literature on strategic management and planning in enterprises (Ackoff, 1972; Ansoff, 1989; Karlof, 1991; Economic strategy of the firm, 1995; Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship, 1996; Glynn, Markova, Perkins, 1994; King, Cleland, 1982 and others) other options are also given. So, in the work (Ansoff, 1989), the strategy is defined as “a set of rules for making decisions by which the organization is guided in its activities”, and in the work (Evenko, 1996), the strategy is understood as “concretization of the way of enterprise development based on the dynamics of the external environment by formulating long-term goals, searching for resources to achieve them and planning specific actions for the future. " Despite the fact that the general content of the strategy is understood in a more or less similar way, it is necessary to give a definition of the strategy as unambiguous and instrumental in this context as possible.

The term "strategy" (from the Greek stratos - army, ago - lead) has a military origin. Initially, strategy was understood as the art of waging war. Since wars were (and, unfortunately, are to this day) the most important events in the life of people, peoples, countries, the concept of "strategic" in the meaning of "most important", "defining" has become part of the management terminology as a whole.

Accordingly, the term "strategic decisions" denotes decisions that are of fundamental importance for the functioning of a business and entail (if implemented) long-term and inevitable consequences. Thus, two characteristics are used as a distinguishing feature of the strategic decisions - irreversibility and long-term consequences. This means that the implementation of strategic decisions changes the potential of the enterprise, and returning to the previous state of the control object, if possible, requires a large investment of time, resources or effort. Obviously, decisions of this kind are made sooner or later in any enterprise, even where the very concept of strategy is not used. The leaders of such an enterprise, like Moliere's hero, without knowing it, speak the language of "strategic prose." The disadvantage of this situation is that, while not distinguishing strategic decisions from tactical and operational ones, enterprise managers do not pay the attention that they deserve to the preparation and analysis of strategic decisions.

For strategic decisions, it is characteristic that their adoption is carried out by choosing from a discrete set of options known in advance. In the practice of enterprises, such decisions have traditionally included plans for major reconstruction, expansion or liquidation of production, a radical change in the profile or specialization of the enterprise. In recent years, in connection with the privatization processes, decisions on the type and ownership of property rights to the property and products of the enterprise itself have been added to the strategic ones. Thus, strategic decisions have always existed, although the need for their preparation and adoption at the enterprise level in a centralized management environment was limited.

What decisions are strategic? To answer this question, you can classify the processes that make up the activities of the enterprise in the following way. Various technical and economic, financial, social and other processes occurring at the enterprise can be divided into three groups:

· The processes of using the existing potential for the production of products, the performance of work and the provision of services (" production»);

· The processes of creating, building and modernizing the potential of the enterprise (" reproduction»);

· Processes ensuring the creation and development of the very reproductive base of the enterprise (" reproduction reproduction»).

Using this classification, it is possible to appropriately structure the decisions made at the level of the enterprise's management. Decisions regarding the use of the existing potential of the production base, it is advisable to refer to tactical(fig. 4.1.1). The most important decisions regarding the processes of formation (creation, replenishment, change) of potential can be attributed to strategic... Finally, the decisions that determine the potential for the development of the reproductive base could be called superstrategic.

Rice. 4.1.1. The main processes of production and reproduction and the classification of enterprise management solutions

Decisions of the second and third types (strategic and superstrategic) will be united under the general term “strategic decisions”.

I would like to emphasize the importance of decisions of the third type. It is often believed that the most important thing for an enterprise is to properly dispose of the available resources for the production of goods in demand. However, even more important for the life of the enterprise as a whole is the system and mechanism of decision-making. It is these components of the enterprise that determine what funds will be allocated for development, whether dividends will be paid (which significantly affects the position of the enterprise in the stock market), etc.

Strategic decisions (in the broadest sense of the word) are at the heart of an enterprise's strategy. The very same strategy of the enterprise, thus, should be a kind of framework on which specific tasks, decisions on certain issues of the functioning of the enterprise are based.

Now let's define more precisely the concept of enterprise strategy. There are three approaches to its definition. The first is based on structuring target space (sphere) of the enterprise- representations of certain persons interested in the activities of the enterprise, about desirable condition, results and evolution of the enterprise. These persons may include management representatives, employees, shareholders, investors, product buyers, suppliers, etc. (see clause 1.1.). Depending on the degree of detail or, conversely, the generalization of these ideas in the target space, five levels of description are distinguished: mission, strategy, goals, objectives and actions (the last element is, as it were, borderline between the target and behavioral spheres).

Mission (business credo, "philosophy") enterprises - a set of general attitudes and principles that determine the purpose and role of an enterprise in society, relationships with other socio-economic actors.

Strategy- a set of interrelated decisions that determine the priority areas of resources and efforts of the enterprise to implement its mission.

Goals- a description of the final and intermediate states of the enterprise during the implementation of the strategy.

Tasks- specification of the goals of the enterprise in relation to various areas of its activities.

Actions- activities with the help of which the assigned tasks are realized.

The mission of an enterprise (business) is usually a rather laconic and at the same time very capacious formulation, as if absorbing the enterprise's (businessman's) ideas about the environment (see Chapter 1), its own capabilities and claims and the purpose of the enterprise (business). Example of Matsushita Electric Products Company mission: “To be a good member of the industrial community; improve the social life of people; produce an abundance of cheap, “like water” electrical appliances ”(Kono, 1987). It is clear that in order to formulate the company's mission, it is necessary to take into account and process a significant amount of information about both the external and internal environment of the company, including the degree of stability of the political environment, the orientation of the state to support the development of industry; about tax regimes; about the dynamics of the level of transaction costs in the industry, etc. (see section 1.2).

Despite the generality of the mission statement, it is not an invariant and can change with the evolution of the firm itself or the conditions of its functioning (including macroeconomic and social conditions). However, the process of developing a new mission should take place under the patronage and control of both the top management of the company and representatives of all persons interested in the activities of the enterprise, since this also entails a change in all other elements of the target space.

Thus, the structuring of the target area here is performed in the form of a hierarchical system, in which each subsequent level should be considered as a certain refinement of the previous one. In turn, the higher level appears as a synthesis of one or several lower ones.

It is essential that with this approach strategy is viewed as an organic unity of goals and means of their implementation.

Note that the goals are placed at a lower level of generalization, since the formulation of the goal must have a sufficient degree of concreteness in order to be able to talk about the degree of implementation of a particular goal. In particular, for this it is desirable that the description of the goal should include some values ​​of indicators measured in more or less meaningful scales - quantitative, difference or scale of relations.

Based on these premises, the chain of typical elements of the target sphere looks like this: "mission - strategy - goals - objectives".

At the same time, a slightly different representation of the structure of the target space is known, in which the strategy and goals are interchanged: "mission - goals - strategy - objectives". Here, the strategy is viewed primarily as way of implementation goals. With this approach, however, the goals lose their certainty, and their connection with the mission is largely lost or is the result of arbitrary choices. For strategy as a complex description of an enterprise, in turn, the place between “goals” and “tasks” seems narrow. Therefore, the first hierarchy seems more logical.

The second approach to defining the concept of strategy is based on the synthesis of a strategy based on individual strategic decisions. It is the strategy that is defined as an integral set of interrelated strategic decisions, sufficient to describe the key areas of the enterprise. The relationship between strategy and mission is not emphasized here, but the main attention is paid to the completeness and consistency of the system of strategic decisions.

Finally, the third approach is represented by various combined options.

Ultimately, whatever approach is implemented with sufficient consistency, the content of the strategy should be the same. The advantages of the first approach are associated with the a priori "embeddedness" of the strategy in the target space system, the advantages of the second - in a closer connection between the strategy and the solutions that implement it.

It should be noted that "strategic" consequences can have very different decisions regarding the range and volume of production, relations with suppliers and consumers, social development, wages and other areas of the enterprise. Making non-strategic, operational decisions without reliance on strategic attitudes deprives operational decisions of validity and consistency. This led many business leaders (primarily in the United States in the early 70s) to the need to isolate strategic planning as a separate area of ​​management (Ansoff, 1989). The goal and result of strategic planning is the formation of an enterprise strategy - a system of mutually agreed strategic decisions in the main areas of activity and development of an enterprise that determine its internal and external behavior.

The concept of “potential” of an enterprise is closely related to the concepts of “strategy” and “strategic decisions”. At any given moment, the enterprise has a very definite socio-economic potential. In the most general sense, it can be characterized as a set of "strategic" resources at the disposal of the enterprise, which are of decisive importance for the capabilities and boundaries of the operation of the enterprise in certain conditions. Two clarifications are needed here.

First, those types of resources should be classified as strategic, the volumes and structure of which can be significantly changed only through the adoption and implementation of appropriate strategic decisions. Secondly, for a more detailed formulation of the definition of potential, it is necessary to specify the conditions in which the enterprise will operate. If we are talking, say, about working in a crisis of payments, then such resources as financial or other liquid assets, established reliable credit lines, etc. act as strategic ones. If the activity of an enterprise is considered in conditions of an energy crisis, other types of values ​​appear as strategic resources. Under normal conditions, resources that ensure the achievement of competitive advantages by an enterprise: proven technology, advanced equipment, intellectual resources, patents, etc. should be considered as components of potential. In fact, this is exactly the situation described in the theory of "five forces of competition" by M. Porter (Porter, 1985).

The potential of an enterprise is not constant. Just like other elements of production, it is subject to change. However, in comparison with other characteristics of the enterprise under normal conditions, it exhibits a higher degree of stability, demonstrates a delayed and weakened response to positive influences. At the same time, destructive effects can nevertheless have a fairly quick effect. For example, as soon as a blast furnace is stopped at a metallurgical enterprise, its potential can sharply drop almost to zero. Capacity building also slows down on the current results of the enterprise; the influence of the potential is, as it were, distributed over a long time period.

Of course, the potential of an enterprise (as, indeed, of any other complex system, for example, a real person) seems to be a somewhat abstract category. Its boundaries are vague, the factors are not fully defined, the impact on the current processes is indirect. But at the same time, this category is very specific, since almost every decision can have on him (and through it on the entire subsequent history of the enterprise) either some positive or serious negative influence.

An enterprise management system based on strategic planning, supplemented by a mechanism for coordinating current decisions - tactical and operational - with strategic ones, as well as a mechanism for adjusting and monitoring the implementation of the strategy, is called strategic management system.

Strategic planning differs from long-term planning well-known in the former USSR in two main features (we exclude from consideration the difference in the nature of enterprise functioning in a centralized and market economy) - differences in the "horizon" and the subject of planning. The "horizon" of a long-term plan is unambiguously set before its formation (5, 7, 10, 15, 20 years, etc.), while the company's strategy is formed for an indefinite period. Its duration depends on the development of the external environment of the enterprise or on the onset of some internal events that change the strategic environment of the enterprise. The term for strategic planning can be conditionally defined as “foreseeable”, bearing in mind that the appearance of previously unrecorded changes in the composition of strategic factors may necessitate a revision of the strategy.

Finally, enterprise strategy should be distinguished from politicians enterprises. Enterprise policy defines the stated intentions of the organization. It is designed to orient the decision-making process in the direction necessary for the strategy. Therefore, the concept of "strategy" is broader and more fundamental than the concept of "politics".

1. Commodity market strategy- a set of strategic decisions that determine the range, volume and quality of products and methods of enterprise behavior in the product market.

2. Resource market strategy- a set of strategic decisions that determine the behavior of an enterprise in the market for production, financial and other factors and resources of production.

3. Technological strategy- strategic decisions that determine the dynamics of the enterprise technology and the influence of market factors on it.

4. Integration strategy- a set of solutions that determine the integration of functional and managerial interactions of an enterprise with other enterprises.

5. Financial and investment strategy- a set of decisions that determine the methods of attracting, accumulating and spending financial resources.

6. Social strategy- a set of decisions that determine the type and structure of the collective of employees of the enterprise, as well as the nature of interaction with its shareholders.

7. Management strategy- a set of decisions that determine the nature of enterprise management in the implementation of the chosen strategy.

Recently, many enterprises are restructuring their internal production-technological and organizational-management structure, redistributing the rights and responsibilities of various departments and subsystems. In this regard, it seems appropriate at this stage of economic development to highlight an additional section of the strategy.

8. Restructuring strategy- a set of solutions to bring the production, technological and organizational and management structure in line with the changed conditions and the strategy of the enterprise.

Strategic planning is characterized by the use of standard classification groupings of individual private options for choosing the directions and nature of development. The formation of strategies involves the choice of one of several (usually no more than ten) pre-developed options in a particular area, depending on external strategic factors and the choice made earlier.

In general, the complex of strategic planning includes the following elements:
· Determination of the classification features of strategic options;
· Classification of strategies;
· Formation of elementary (basic) strategic options;
· Determination of the structure of the set of basic options for their combination when creating complex options;
· Formation of complex strategic options;
· Definition of criteria for comparison of options;
· Analysis and comparison of complex options to determine feasibility and effectiveness;
· Choice of a comprehensive strategy;
· Determination of criteria for revising the adopted strategy;
· Creation of simplified versions of the adopted strategy to inform various categories of persons interested in the activities of the enterprise;
· Development of mechanisms for the implementation of the strategy;
· Development of control mechanisms for the compliance of decisions made at the enterprise with the chosen strategy.

In practice, the development of a strategy is the implementation of the following steps:
· Clarification of the boundaries of the enterprise, its identification in the economic, business, administrative and other environments in the system of a market economy;
· Analysis of the strategic potential of the enterprise;
· Determination of possible economic zones in accordance with the potential of the enterprise;
· Analysis of the product market in the area determined by the strategic potential of the enterprise - the economic zone;
· Positioning of the enterprise in the economic zone;
· Definition of technological strategy;
· The formation of options and the choice of the product-market strategy of the enterprise;
· The formation of options and the choice of the resource-market strategy of the enterprise;
· Analysis of the possibilities of creating an integration zone of the enterprise, determination of the integration strategy of the enterprise;
· Development of financial and investment strategy of the enterprise;
· Development of options and selection of the social strategy of the enterprise;
· Determination of the management strategy.

These stages can be repeated and adjusted during the formation of the strategy. However, I would like to emphasize the following fundamental point: in the initial, basic sequence of stages, the analysis of the potential of the enterprise should precede the analysis of the market. This is due to the fact that without knowing the potential, it is impossible to determine which part of the market should be subjected to the most detailed research. It is therefore clear how important the process of analyzing the potential of an enterprise is.

As can be seen from the above list of stages, the creation and implementation of a strategy is a rather laborious procedure. However, the value of this process for the enterprise far exceeds the cost of its implementation. The fact is that the process of comprehending the situation itself, its collective discussion, analysis of various options for action in certain areas of the enterprise's activities bring enormous benefits, increase the degree of consistency and validity of decision-making and management of the enterprise as a whole. It is also important that in the process of discussing the strategy, management improves, the team consolidates, the level of contradictions decreases in the interests of the owners, managers, and employees of the enterprise.

Having thus clarified the concept of a complex enterprise strategy and having described the general picture of strategy formation, one can dwell on the role of strategy in the life of an enterprise. This role, as the study of the work of the most advanced firms in developed foreign countries shows, is ambiguous. The following facets of this role stand out.

1. " Strategy as a model»

This point of view of strategy takes it in retrospect. In a sense, this is the most important view of strategy, because the strategies that are actually implemented combine the results of all plans, decisions and actions carried out by the enterprise.

“Strategy as a model” is an implemented strategy that has been comprehended and formalized in a certain way after some time has passed after its implementation. The result of these actions is a certain pattern of strategy, similar to the samples of the company's products displayed in the showroom. This template is used in the future to form other strategies that take into account the changed conditions. In addition, such a strategy largely determines the reputation and image of the enterprise.

A number of such strategic patterns, as exemplified by product-market strategy, are widely known from the history of the most successful firms, ranging from a pattern reflecting the philosophy of "any color (car) is suitable, as long as it is black" to a pattern reflecting increased attention to market reactions: improved quality , differentiation and price competitiveness; the need for innovation and rapid change. The last sample clearly shows the concept of marketing.

"Strategy as a model" allows a hierarchical representation in the form of a set of more and more detailed developments: from a rough description to detailed regulations. Considering given in Ch. 2 features of business transformation, we can propose the following chain of structural changes, reflecting the trends in the dynamics of shifting the focus of efforts in the "strategic models": "production -> financing -> sales -> marketing -> competition -> people -> innovation -> responsibility to society" ...

A further look at the problems of strategic models is associated with modeling the "skeletons of the enterprise" (enterprise management structures) from simple to functional, to fractional and matrix structures. These structural changes, in the opinion of many foreign economists, should lead to the creation of structures that are more adequate to the multifunctional models of strategy developed at the enterprise as it grows. Despite the general trend towards models of strategies that presuppose as employees people "invested with trust", "bound by belonging to the firm", "taking responsibility in solving all problems", recently in theoretical works in the West and in the practical activities of managers , belonging to the group of “anti-crisis leaders” (paragraph 1.7.), there are tendencies towards a return to more “centripetal” bureaucratic structures, characteristic in many respects of the pre-perestroika era of Russia.

2. " Strategy as power»

From this point of view, the strategy is seen as the result of a political process of interaction of all persons interested in production, giving extraordinary powers to those who are called upon to implement this strategy. In a general sense, both those who have power and those who would like to have it influence production. In many cases, the actual power in enterprises is inevitably divided, and this separation is made regardless of interests, the principles of enterprise development or the degree of democracy in decision-making. Power is fragmented simply because none of the individuals can control all the desired aspects of the organization. This requires leaders to be in control of the power change structure — a way of replacing, over time, the people who control the core resources of the enterprise.

In the environment of world information networks of the last decade, a situation naturally arises in which power, distributed among a large number of people, events and other phenomena, can appear anywhere in an interconnected networked external environment and affect the internal strategic development of a company. Positions of power allow narrowly defining the tasks of managing administration and production systems. They also facilitate the construction of planning systems through extrapolations and expectations. Situations in which other, no less powerful actors appear on the horizon require an answer in the form of a "political deal". Distributed power requires separate, strictly directed, careful, caring management inherent in managers of the type "discerning reformer" and "anti-crisis leader" (p. 1.7.)

For the majority of domestic enterprises, it makes sense to build a functional and organizational structure and an appropriate strategy, taking into account the emergence of acute administrative-political or criminal situations at any point in the space of interests of the enterprise and the need for an adequate response. An enterprise is expected to have sufficient power over some stakeholder groups and not enough power over others. It should also be expected that the overall position of enterprise power will change over time as the individual power relations between groups of stakeholders in the enterprise's activities change. Every enterprise is also a part of society with its highly distributed power structure reaching into the “individual economy” and therefore requires appropriate leadership style and appropriate feedback.

The movement towards the creation of crisis prevention systems should begin with a more active, systemic interventionism of the enterprise in an external environment filled with scattered elements of market and administrative power.

3. " Strategy as a competitive position of an enterprise»

One of the main goals of the enterprise is to take an attractive and productive position in the immediate environment - a position that provides an inflow of capital, human and other resources and facilitates the "outflow" (sale) of products and services to customers and other customers. At the same time, an acceptable release should be carried out along with ensuring the means and capabilities necessary for the flow of internal processes to maintain external viability. Competitive strategy theorists such as M. Porter see the main tasks of management strategy in choosing and maintaining “winning” positions in the market environment (Porter, 1985). Looking at the pursuit of competitive advantage as the primary goal of enterprise management has gained an increasing influence over the past decade. The key to strategic success from this position is exceeding the average return on investment through the design and implementation of competitive strategies.

Strategy as a competitive position is an especially important topic for leaders of the types “specialist in political risk” and “priest of competitiveness” (clause 1.7), since this concept, on the one hand, is related to the concept of “strategy as power” and, on the other, - is able to provide the manager with recognition of his own qualifications.

To a certain extent, this concept can be found "between the lines" about barriers to entry, the power of suppliers entering into a deal, etc. in the concept of M. Porter (Porter, 1985). In doing so, you may find that the essentially “political” and “competitive” aspects of the enterprise are not as different as they might seem. In a situation where an enterprise has great competitive strength, for example, in a monopolistic situation, one can afford to ignore aspects of the external environment and concentrate on creating effective management, production and planning structures. As competitors grow in strength, management and feedback departments in the enterprise must focus on, for example, meeting the needs of the most important suppliers and customers. In very confusing situations, management must give authority to personnel - it simply cannot manage quickly or efficiently through a centralized personnel management system. In such a macrosystem power-sharing networks and strategic alliances are essential strategies for success on many fronts.

It should be emphasized once again the need of the enterprise for multiple feedbacks.

Competitive advantage (the aforementioned overshoot of the industry average) is achieved by creating a greater difference between cost and selling price than major competitors. This, in turn, in a market environment in which competition is constantly updating processes and products in order to get ahead, requires constant attention to goals such as efficiency, customer satisfaction, product market share growth, and the potential for innovation. These challenges require increasing the complexity of administration ties, strategic development planning, a focused organizational structure, the use of commitment, and the facilitation of networking.

It should be noted that as the external environment becomes more complex, the fundamental and hidden role of competition in society begins to be challenged by those who doubt the adequacy of the competition policy “thriving in chaos” in an already chaotic world with scarce free resources. This issue is emphasized by those who see the main danger in the approach of an enterprise (more precisely, many enterprises at the same time) to a crisis by enhancing competitiveness at any cost.

Although the traditional emphasis in the management literature is on the role of competitive advantage, the market power of the enterprise as a generator of production, the concept of "position" should be expanded to include "social", "natural" and "ethical" positions. Thus, the concept of position could be used to generate useful ideas when solving some of the critical strategic problems of modern society.

5. " Strategy as a system of personnel motivation and control»

Here, the strategy is considered as the quintessence of the features of a promising system of personnel motivation, and the emphasis is on the dynamics of these systems in proportion to the success or failure of the enterprise. Leadership style, structures, systems and management processes must also change to replace the outdated elements of the strategic configuration.

In essence, the picture of changes in the external existence of an enterprise in the context of stakeholder expectations as a series of evolutionary periods that precede and accompany packages of revolutionary changes should have an adequate and mobile projection onto the personnel management system. At the same time, revolutionary crises will reorient the enterprise to a new stage in the development of a motivation system with a new leader at the helm. It can be assumed that further every successful leader at the beginning of the evolutionary period is himself the embryo of the next revolution / crisis. Consequently, a new system of motivation and control of personnel for their decision-making should be prepared accordingly.

6. " Strategy as a response to external challenges»

In the modern period of rapid and frequent unexpected changes, an organizational and functional subsystem in the structure of the enterprise is required, which is engaged in the search, fixation and comprehension of the strategic problems of the enterprise as they arise and develop. From this point of view, strategy appears as one of the in-house mechanisms that continuously provide suitable responses to new strategic problems and "challenges". The emerging problems form the "agenda" of strategic activities in enterprises - each problem or challenge must be studied and countered with sufficient efficiency. Such a system provides a unique approach to improving the "overarching" competence of strategic management and the development of an adequate approach to formulating strategic management development programs.

The development of elements of strategic management of economic objects of various levels and the formation of the so-called strategic management style in our country are directly related to the transition from a centrally controlled economy to a market economy. Almost complete independence in making not only operational (as it was to a certain extent before), but also long-term and expensive decisions still poses difficult problems for businessmen and managers of enterprises. Difficulties in solving these problems, sometimes the unpreparedness of managers of different levels to make informed, balanced and well-considered strategic decisions are one of the important factors of such processes as non-payments, violation of contractual obligations, a decrease in investment activity, a slowdown in scientific and technological progress in the national economy, a general decline in industrial production. ...

It can be argued that the “quality” of strategic decisions at the microeconomic and federal levels is a serious obstacle to the realization of the productive potential of the country's labor and material resources. However, the authors do not know of a single integral system of strategic management at a domestic enterprise, which includes approved technological schemes for the development, implementation and control of strategic plans. At the same time, according to the available data, many plant managers and senior management personnel in factories are aware of the need for such systems.

For a more accurate clarification of the attitude of enterprise managers to the issues of strategic planning, a group of authors of this guide, under the leadership of G.B. Kleiner, conducted a special survey. A questionnaire was developed, including both specialized questions on the goals, conditions of application and forms of implementation of strategic planning, as well as verification and control questions. The questionnaire was sent to 500 industrial enterprises in different regions of Russia according to the sample of the Russian Economic Barometer (headed by S.P. Aukutsionek). A total of 150 responses were received at the initial stage and an additional 57 responses at the final stage of the remote survey.

The survey showed that 45.5% of business leaders had some experience in strategic planning, and 12% of those surveyed develop strategic plans and practically use strategic planning methods.

Answering the question of why strategic plans were not developed, a large share (29%) of those surveyed call the lack of opportunity: “it was necessary to survive, not make plans,” some (18%) refer to the rapid variability of the environment and 10% - to lack of knowledge and specialists in strategic planning. Here, attention is drawn to a rather large proportion of those who believe that the reason for neglecting strategic planning is the rapid variability of the external (and internal) environment, which indicates that they do not quite accurately understand the functions of strategic planning: after all, the latter, from a theoretical point of view, is precisely a means combating the negative consequences of rapid environmental change.

Those managers who have experience in strategic planning refer to the number of related problems as the lack of methodological guidelines and recommendations (25%), and the unpreparedness of the company's employees (23%), and the inability to get rid of the daily routine (20%), and doubts in the feasibility of development (23%).

The main areas of attention in the current strategies are: promotion of goods to the market; reliability of financial support for the operation of the enterprise; updating the range of products; development of production technology, which is quite consistent with the assessments of the significance of the problems that the interviewed managers systematically encounter. This correspondence can be considered a confirmation of the correctness of the answers to the questionnaire.

In understanding role In fact, four main motives are leading in strategic planning:
· The ability to organize their work taking into account the perspective (37%);
· The ability to organize the work of the entire management of the enterprise, taking into account the perspective shared by all (21%);
· Give the whole team a clear vision of the future (35%);
· The ability to make current decisions more reasonably (36%).

The rest of the motives are significantly less significant for those who answered this question.

It is interesting to note that, answering the question about the importance of having a strategy at partner enterprises for enterprise managers, most of the respondents in one way or another confirmed that the partners' overall strategy is important for the heads of the surveyed enterprises.

The most "strategic" for the respondents are technical and economic solutions, with a significant gap from them are followed by long-term "sales" solutions. Only a quarter of the responses reflect a common (functional) understanding of strategic decisions.

What is the effect of strategic planning on enterprises that pay attention to strategy development? The answer to this question is given in table. 4.1.1.

Table 4.1.1. Distribution of answer options to the question of strategic planning attempts across enterprises with different financial conditions (percentage)

Have there been any attempts at strategic planning	Financial position:
	good	normal	bad
Perhaps there will be
Were unsuccessful
Were helpful
Plans used
The plans are very helpful
General distribution of surveyed enterprises by financial position

An analysis of the table clearly shows that the distribution of almost all the answers to the question of strategic planning attempts coincides with the general distribution of enterprises according to their financial position. The only exception is the last answer: there are significantly fewer enterprises that assess their financial condition as poor. In our opinion, this testifies to the quite tangible benefits of strategic planning: almost 60% of those who believe that it would be very difficult without such a plan now assess their financial situation as good or normal, while among those who chose other answer options this the share is, on average, half as much.

Nowadays, the general attention from the business side to the strategy is rapidly increasing. Methods of network strategic planning are developed and implemented, when a strategy is formed simultaneously and consistently at several technologically or functionally related enterprises. Whole "clusters" of geographically close or functionally related enterprises emerge, operating from an agreed strategic perspective (such groups of enterprises are called "business systems"). At the same time, strategies are rarely of a sufficiently complex nature, which significantly reduces their reality, effectiveness and efficiency. In this chapter, we give an idea of ​​a comprehensive strategy that includes strategic decisions for all the main factors of the enterprise.

In this book, we do not describe in detail all the stages of the strategic planning process at enterprises, since in essence it is an independent topic closely related to the study of various options for the internal organizational and functional structure of an enterprise. The main purpose of this chapter is to describe constituent elements each section of the strategy, the possibilities and consequences of choosing one or another option. In describing the strategy, we follow the sequence of its eight directions (sections), in which they were listed above. Let's start with a description of the options for the product-market strategy of the enterprise.

Previous

If the goals of the organization determine what the organization strives for, what it wants to get as a result of its activities, then the strategy provides an answer to the question of how, with the help of what actions, the organization will be able to achieve its goals in a changing and competitive environment.

The definition of a strategy depends on the specific situation in which the firm finds itself. However, there are some general approaches.

When determining the firm's strategy, management is faced with three main questions:

what business to stop

what business to continue

which business to go to

This means that the strategy focuses attention and is related to:

what the organization does and does not do,

what is more important and less important in the activities carried out by the organization

Leading theorist in the field of strategic management M. Porter, there are three main areas of strategy development of the company's behavior in the market.

First area- minimization of production costs. Due to lower prices, the company can achieve success in the market. The organization of production, supply, production technology, and product sales must be well developed. Marketing with this strategy should not be highly developed.

Second area associated with specialization in the production of products. Manufacturing and marketing must be well developed in order to become a manufacturing leader. Firms must have great designers, high procurement and marketing systems.

Third area refers to the fixation of a specific market segment and the concentration of the firm's efforts on the selected market segment. In this case, the company may seek to reduce production costs or pursue a policy of specialization. It is possible to combine these two approaches.

Reference development strategies

The most common business development strategies, verified by practice and widely covered in the literature, are usually called basic or reference strategies. They reflect four different approaches to the growth of firms and are associated with a change in the state of one or more elements: product, market, industry, position of the firm within the industry, technology. Each of these five elements can be in one of two states: an existing state or a new state.

THE FIRST group of reference strategies are strategies concentrated growth... These are strategies that involve changing a product or market and do not affect the other three elements. If these strategies are followed, the firm tries to improve its product or start producing a new one without changing the industry. On the market side, the firm is looking for possible ways to improve its position in the market.

The specific types of strategy in the first group are as follows:

strategy of strengthening the position in the market (marketing efforts and even horizontal "integration" - control over competitors);

market development strategy - search for new markets for the manufactured product;

product development strategy - growth through the production of a new product and its implementation in the market already mastered by the company.

A SECOND group of reference strategies is the expansion of the firm by adding structures. These strategies are called integrated growth strategies. Integrated growth can be driven by property acquisitions and internal expansion.

There are two types of integrated growth strategies:

reverse vertical integration strategy - the growth of the company by strengthening control over suppliers, and by creating subsidiaries;

a strategy of forward-going vertical integration - expressed in the growth of the company through the acquisition or strengthening of control over the distribution and sale system.

The THIRD group of reference business development strategies are strategies diversified growth. These strategies are implemented in the event that firms can no longer develop in a given market with a given product within a given industry.

Strategies of this type are:

the strategy of centralized diversification is the search for additional opportunities for the production of new products. The existing production remains in the center, and the new one arises on the basis of market opportunities, technology, etc .;

horizontal diversification strategy - looking for growth opportunities through new products requiring new technology. The new product should be focused on the mainstream consumer. An important condition - 0 preliminary assessment by the company of its own competence in the production of a new product;

conglomerative diversification strategy - the company expands through the production of technologically unrelated products. This is one of the most difficult strategies to implement.

The FOURTH type of reference business development strategies are strategies reductions... This strategy is needed when regrouping forces after a long period of growth or in connection with the need to improve efficiency. It uses a targeted and planned downsizing strategy.

There are 4 types of targeted reduction strategies:

liquidation strategy if the firm can no longer conduct its business;

“harvesting” strategy - maximizing profit in a short time;

reduction strategy - closing or selling one of the divisions;

cost reduction strategy - finding ways to reduce costs, reduce hiring or staff cuts, reduce production costs.

In practice, a firm can simultaneously implement several strategies. This is especially common with diversified companies. In this case, the firm is said to carry out combined strategy.