Page 70 - MS Year in Review 2020
P. 70
are all built upon and extensions of the business concept/business foundation,
as explained below.
The Strategic Mission. While the business concept defines what an
organization is, the “strategic mission” identifies what the enterprise wants to
achieve or become. It is a statement of the strategic intent of the enterprise.
It is the answer to the question “What do we want to achieve or become over
a defined time period.” For example, in its early days (1994) Starbucks Coffee
Company (now “Starbucks”) established the strategic mission of becoming
“the leading brand of specialty coffee in North America by the year 2000. It
was an aspirational statement. Similarly, in 2014, Techcombank (then the 8th
largest bank in Vietnam) established the strategic mission of becoming “the
leading bank in Vietnam.”
The “Core Strategy.” While a “strategic mission” identifies what the
enterprise wants to achieve or become, a “core strategy” is a statement of
how the organizational will complete and achieve its strategic mission. Most
organizations have several strategies, but only a relatively few have core
strategies. Core strategies depend upon the type of business. For example,
the core strategy for a commodity type of business (such as a retailer like
Walmart or a mining company such as B.H.P. Billiton) is to be the low-cost
provider. The core strategy is the central theme around which all other
strategies are created. However, it must be noted here that many companies
do not have core strategies. They can have lots of strategies without a true
core strategy that ties all strategies together.
Importance of a Business Foundation. Just as the foundation of a building is
critical to its structural integrity, the foundation of a business is equally important.
Just like a building, if you want to build a large business must have a strong
foundation. The business foundation will provide the conceptual framework for the
development of the business.
69
© Management Systems Consulting Corporation, 2020. All rights reserved
