Discussion: View Thread

Hi all,

As I think forward at this end of semester, I was wondering whether anyone
had any useful articles and/or exercises for helping mid-level (MBA)
managers develop their strategic thinking? I know it's a broad question but
I just wanted to throw it out there and see what people thought. I'm
defining strategic as being the ability to think outside the box, big
picture, and longer term. This is a just a starting point for this group; I
want to introduce the concepts but not overwhelm.

Thank you!

Best,
Jodi Detjen
Suffolk University
jdetjen@suffolk.edu

There is a very good article in the May Harvard Business Review about "Wicked
Problems" that is used recently to generate very good dialogue.

-----Original Message-----
From: Management Education and Development Discussion
[mailto:MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Jodi Detjen
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 8:25 AM
To: MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Subject: strategic thinking

Hi all,

As I think forward at this end of semester, I was wondering whether anyone
had any useful articles and/or exercises for helping mid-level (MBA)
managers develop their strategic thinking? I know it's a broad question but
I just wanted to throw it out there and see what people thought. I'm
defining strategic as being the ability to think outside the box, big
picture, and longer term. This is a just a starting point for this group; I
want to introduce the concepts but not overwhelm.

Thank you!

Best,
Jodi Detjen
Suffolk University
jdetjen@suffolk.edu

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I have been using the following articles to get the MBAs going on strategic thinking. They help my working graduate students to focus on their industries and help develop a company's dynamic capabilities in the face of changing industry key success factors:

Petr Cornelius and others (2005) "Three decades of scenario planning at Shell," California Management Review, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 92-109.

George Burt and others (2006) " The role of scenario planning in exploring the environment in view of the limitations of PEST and its derivatives, Int. Studies of Mgt. and Org., Vol. 36, No. 3 ( fall), pp. 50-76. [
This article has good advice on how to create scenarios, see p. 60 and beyond!]

Hope this helps.

Harsha Desai
Loyola College in Maryland
hdesai@loyola.edu


>>> Jodi Detjen <jdetjen@ALUMNI.DUKE.EDU> 05/02/08 8:24 AM >>>
Hi all,

As I think forward at this end of semester, I was wondering whether anyone
had any useful articles and/or exercises for helping mid-level (MBA)
managers develop their strategic thinking? I know it's a broad question but
I just wanted to throw it out there and see what people thought. I'm
defining strategic as being the ability to think outside the box, big
picture, and longer term. This is a just a starting point for this group; I
want to introduce the concepts but not overwhelm.

Thank you!

Best,
Jodi Detjen
Suffolk University
jdetjen@suffolk.edu

Hi Jodi,

Here is a list of articles I used in my MBA Business leadership class
this past term on strategic leadership. I am looking forward to hearing
from others. I already seen some articles that I am going to examine
for next spring.

Nutt, P.C. 2004. Expanding the search for alternatives during strategic
decision-making. /Academy// of Management// Executive, 18/(4): 13-28.



Epstein, E. M. 2003. How to learn from the environment about the
environment - A prerequisite for organizational well-being. /Journal of
General Management, 29/(1): 68-80



Shimizu, K. and HItt, M. A. 2004. Strategic flexibility: Organizational
preparedness to reverse ineffective strategic decisions. /Academy// of
Management// Executive, 18(/4): 44-59.



Morris, P. W. G. and Jamieson, A. 2005, December. Moving from corporate
strategy to project strategy. /Project Management Journal/: 5-18.



Gavetti, G. and Rivkin, J. W. 2005, April. How Strategists Really Think:
Tapping the Power of Analogy. /Harvard Business Review/, 54-63.



O'Regan, N. and Ghobadian, A. 2004. Leadership and Strategy: Making it
Happen. /Journal of General Management, 29/(3): 76-92.



Ireland, R. D. and Hitt, M. A. 1999. Achieving and maintaining strategic
competitiveness in the 21st Century: The role of strategic leadership.
/Academy of Management Executive 13/(1): 43-57.




Joann

Joann Williams, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Management
Jacksonville State University


Jodi Detjen wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>As I think forward at this end of semester, I was wondering whether anyone
>had any useful articles and/or exercises for helping mid-level (MBA)
>managers develop their strategic thinking? I know it's a broad question but
>I just wanted to throw it out there and see what people thought. I'm
>defining strategic as being the ability to think outside the box, big
>picture, and longer term. This is a just a starting point for this group; I
>want to introduce the concepts but not overwhelm.
>
>Thank you!
>
>Best,
>Jodi Detjen
>Suffolk University
>jdetjen@suffolk.edu
>
>

My biggest issue with my MBA students has been to persuade them that
there is a difference between "important" and "strategic". As I tell
them, oxygen is very important, but since everyone else has it, it is
not usually strategic. The article that I used to get the debate really
happening relates to my own field of Information Systems.

Carr, N.G. "IT doesn't matter," Harvard Business Review (81:5), May
2003, pp 41 - 50.

In this article Carr suggests that because information technology is
ubiquitous, it is hard to use it to competitive advantage. The article
title was obviously deliberately provocative, but it still provokes
howls of outrage to this day from IS/IT practitioners who in my opinion,
miss the point of what it is to be strategic.

--
Brian M Harmer, MBA, PhD
School of Information Management
Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
ph +64-4-463 5887



-----Original Message-----
From: Management Education and Development Discussion
[mailto:MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Jodi Detjen
Sent: Saturday, 3 May 2008 12:25 a.m.
To: MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Subject: strategic thinking

Hi all,

As I think forward at this end of semester, I was wondering whether
anyone had any useful articles and/or exercises for helping mid-level
(MBA) managers develop their strategic thinking? I know it's a broad
question but I just wanted to throw it out there and see what people
thought. I'm defining strategic as being the ability to think outside
the box, big picture, and longer term. This is a just a starting point
for this group; I want to introduce the concepts but not overwhelm.

Thank you!

Best,
Jodi Detjen
Suffolk University
jdetjen@suffolk.edu

Jodi,

I've developed a tool that implements GOSPA (goals, objectives, strategies,
plans, actions). It's been tested on companies from startup to elements of
Fortune 50 companies and in a range of branches of federal government.

The larger toolkit is Strategic Pre-Planning[tm]. I refer to this specific
tool as Operations Pre-Planning[tm]. The tool has two files: PowerPoint
file with detailed leader notes for facilitating decisions. Word file for
synthesis of results.

I will send you the tool at your direct request to
GaryL@Market-Engineering.com. (You can see stories about tool use on that
website.) Or, if you wish an intermediate step, I'll send formal tool
descriptions. You may wish to review Business Pre-Planning[tm] as well.
NOTE: To distribute the tools to students would require a license
agreement.

A concern in any strategic exercise is scope. Almost never do I see brand
included in strategic planning. After all, brand is just a name... right?
Not today. Brand drives entire businesses, including product/service
development and delivery. A company's brand is its single most valuable
asset.

Best,

Gary

...........................................
Gary Lundquist

Director -*InnoSearch* Colorado
*** Resource Locator for Innovation
Director@InnoSearchColorado.com*
...........................................
303-840-9929
President - Market EngineeringR, Inc.
Innovation of Business and
the Business of InnovationT
GaryL@Market-Engineering.com



>>> Jodi Detjen <jdetjen@ALUMNI.DUKE.EDU> 05/02/08 8:24 AM >>>
Hi all,

As I think forward at this end of semester, I was wondering whether anyone
had any useful articles and/or exercises for helping mid-level (MBA)
managers develop their strategic thinking? I know it's a broad question but
I just wanted to throw it out there and see what people thought. I'm
defining strategic as being the ability to think outside the box, big
picture, and longer term. This is a just a starting point for this group; I
want to introduce the concepts but not overwhelm.

Thank you!

Best,
Jodi Detjen
Suffolk University
jdetjen@suffolk.edu

Jodi,

I find that one of the most important aspects is to understand the environment (what it is, th segments, how they interact, how to detect emerging trends using early signal detection). I spend time making sure they understand what's going on in the business environment. This is also important for innovating "faster" then your competitors.

A nice exercise is to split into 4 groups of "specialists" ( you can use the participant backgrounds to do this). Each group looks at specific developements in the politica, economic, social and technological segments. (NB : you can add more groups here if you want .. Include Demographics, Legal, Regulation, Lifestyles, etc.) As a group, they try to unearth emerging trends in a particular sector/industry (I have them work on something they all have a relatively good understanding of (ex. airline industry, mp3s, video game market, travel industry, automobiles, television, cinema) - you can make a book of readings. I sometimes give them a collection of images "postcards from the edge" that present numerous issues - this usually triggers the thinking). The complete their analysis and each participant goes away from the first meeting with a pile of post-it notes (each member will have an identical copy of the notes).

Then, you mix the teams to form multiple teams with participants each having come from the "specialists" meetings. The new teams are asked to uncover "patterns" of trends using the post-its that each member brought with them from their meeting. Here you can use an affinity diagraming process or a morphological process, etc. -- Goal here is thinking out of the box so you can add in some random factors as well (ex. you can go around and throw in additional post-its that they have to contend with - use the SCAMPER system to push them far out).

In the end, they have either identified "patterns" or have gone even further and started defining scenarios.

This is a nice exercise as they also learn how to use several "tools".

THE BOOK to get for all of this is the "classic" Macro Environmental Analysis for Strategic Management by Liam Narayanan & V.K. Fahey. Unfortunately, this book is OUT OF PRINT !!!

Dan Evans

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Management Education and Development Discussion [mailto:MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] De la part de Jodi Detjen
Envoyé : vendredi 2 mai 2008 14:25
À : MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Objet : strategic thinking

Hi all,

As I think forward at this end of semester, I was wondering whether anyone had any useful articles and/or exercises for helping mid-level (MBA) managers develop their strategic thinking? I know it's a broad question but I just wanted to throw it out there and see what people thought. I'm defining strategic as being the ability to think outside the box, big picture, and longer term. This is a just a starting point for this group; I want to introduce the concepts but not overwhelm.

Thank you!

Best,
Jodi Detjen
Suffolk University
jdetjen@suffolk.edu

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