Strategy by Design: A Process of Strategy Innovation

Organizational strategy is typically conceived and developed as an extension of the past and present. We analyze the market, the competition, the industry, and our internal resources and capabilities. We then reposition ourselves in existing markets or we extend our product/ services into developing or adjacent markets. The future is assumed to be a linear extension of the past and present, and our rational analytical techniques help us to do this well. What happens, however, when the future is not a linear extension of the past and present? What happens when we want to innovate and reinvent our business model, our industry, or our world? How can we radically add value and provide high quality at low cost? How can we reinvent the ailing automobile industry or the air-travel experience? How can we solve the problems of our broken health care system, our dysfunctional economy, or address global warming, hunger, poverty, and terrorism? Rational analyses of our internal and external environments will not help us create a future that is radically different from our past. Reinventing our business model, our industry, or our world requires strategy innovation, not just doing what we did last year plus 10 percent (i.e., 10 percent more, better, or less expensively).