Developing a Specific Roadmap for the Strategic Process

by Christine Davis

Strategic orientation toward customers and innovation needs to be grounded, understood, and directed in response to the business strategic plan. Businesses that develop a comprehensive strategic plan will have the insight to know which strategic-orientation mode will best help them reach their goals. Effective strategic planning involves a disciplined process of analyzing the market, the environment, the product portfolio, the technology, the competition, and the organization's strengths and weaknesses. The market analysis includes an evaluation of the current and potential customer base in terms of sales volume, needs, satisfaction, and its future wants and needs. The result of the strategic planning process is a well-defined set of goals and objectives along with the specific resource allocations to support the decisions made. It is an exhaustive process that requires a critical review of all aspects of the business. If done effectively, a business or organization will have a good understanding of the need to change its strategic orientation or to continue operating in its current mode or mode mix. I was fortunate to be a part of an executive team at Texas Instruments for the systems group that we called the Systems Group Leadership Team. We conducted a very exhaustive and disciplined strategic planning process annually that addressed these items and more.