Welcome to the November edition of This Month in Strategy.
This month the industries covered in the selected articles range from the health care industry, to fast paced technology industries, to online retail, to the small family business. In short: strategy is important, regardless of your organization's size or industry.
Although I don’t necessarily agree with the title of this article, the content is compelling. The author’s view is that with how fast technology and the marketplace are moving, the long term (say, five year) strategic plan is often not the best option for a lot of organizations. Instead, focusing on the company’s vision, mission, and goals with a dedicated team on a quarterly basis, for example, may be a better option - especially for technology based companies. These strategy and team building meetings can be done internally, or with the help of an external facilitator.
This article dives into the marketing strategy for businesses who conduct online sales. This in depth article covers key areas such as: shopping cart abandonment, merchandise returns, customer satisfaction, social media returns, mobile payments, and more. If you are running an online sales based company, it’s important to have a good strategic plan that addresses these issues so you can have your market share.
The health care industry is evolving and changing rapidly, however, it can be hard to foster a more agile environment for those who have been in the industry for a long time and are used to a certain system within the organization. Though the individual workers may all be fantastic at their jobs, some of these organizations lack a clear team focus. This article discusses some of the ways to combat common obstacles that may hold back progression within health care organizations.
This article speaks to how many family businesses in Asia lack a strategic plan. While this may be the case internationally, I’ve noticed this also within BC, and it probably extends throughout North America:
“The biennial global survey of family businesses also found that only 15 per cent of 60 respondents here expected quick and aggressive growth over the next five years, compared with 19 per cent in 2014.”
It’s just as important for small family run companies as it is for larger organizations, government sectors, and non profits to have a clear vision and mission, and a strategy to align their team with their goals.
