An alternative to traditional approaches to strategic thinking
Traditional strategy development approaches tend to leverage an inside-out approach where a firm’s existing perspectives and biases color their strategic direction. Depending on the culture, structure, and internal power dynamics of your firm, you might recognize particular “voices” as being stronger. Does sales have particular sway or emphasis in your strategic planning? Perhaps it’s engineering or operations? Instead of following the “Voice of the Customer,” sometimes strategic planning efforts can be overly influenced by the “Voice of Sales” or the “Voice of Engineering.”
BroadBranch has a different approach to strategy development that is outside-in
While it is important to understand your own limitations, we believe that the market is the boss and that your strategy should start with an understanding of your external environment. With current and objective insights about the needs of customers and the activities of other market participants, strategies can be developed more thoughtfully and with less risk of bias.
Ultimately, we believe that creating true differentiation and competitive advantage begins first by gaining a deeper understanding of your external environment and then mixing those insights with your skills and capabilities to find your path.