Strategy is the map to the destination.
Strategy identifies a company's future, the resources and capabilities required to deliver a product or service to the market successfully, and the steps needed to generate a profit from the strategic activity. The sustainability of any business depends on achieving profitability and the generation of an acceptable return on investment (ROI) for the owner/manager and any non-management equity investors. This is the result of a validated strategy. The following list briefly encapsulates the essential elements of strategy:
· Strategy defines where you are going (vision)
· Strategy describes what you do (mission)
· Strategy establishes how you behave, which forms culture (values)
· Strategy examines how sales activity will be generated (marketing plan)
· Strategy creates the financial forecast based on the marketing plan (business plan)
· Strategy provides the basis for organizational design (organizational design)
· Strategy identifies the best-fit leadership style and structure (leadership design)
· Strategy examines your ability to accomplish the objectives (self-assessment)
· Strategy identifies how you will get there (objectives)
· Strategy implements the objectives to fulfill the mission (execution)
· Strategy creates a mechanism for staff to accept the change (change management)
· Strategy adjusts to feedback to embrace your market dynamics (feedback-loop)
Since the formation of industrial society, business owners have identified a method to deliver a product or service to customers. During the 1980's, a Harvard professor named Dr. Michael Porter, implemented extensive research to understand the components businesses implemented to achieve Strategy.
Dr. Porter defined strategy as the road map a company follows to achieve success and sustainable profitability. A company's strategic plan includes several elements. Each element is carefully created and contains a values statement, a vision and mission statement, a business plan, a list of objectives, a self-assessment document, and a market assessment. Each component of a strategic plan is part of an interrelated continuous feedback loop that results in the constant adjustment of strategic elements. For example, a firm with an efficient production operation and a dynamic marketing plan may fail if the product becomes obsolete. What happened to the buggy whip companies when the automobile replaced the horse-drawn carriage as the primary means of transportation.
A strategy that was successful last year may not be successful in the future. There is no assurance of continuity. There is an assurance of constant change. A successful strategy includes adjusting direction and changing tactics based on updated information about market dynamics. A firm's market assessment process within the strategic plan feedback loop should identify the risk from technological innovation as the car replaced the horse. A responsive buggy whip manufacturer would have adapted to produce automobile seats. A company's continuous feedback loop will adjust to the changing market conditions.
A strategic plan includes a company's overtly planned actions to improve its market share and profitability through a series of tactical responses to changing market forces. It is difficult to anticipate how macro-economic forces will impact a company; therefore, a company’s plan should be sufficiently dynamic to embrace the adjustments identified during the feedback loop process. This is known as an adaptive strategic plan, and it is an essential tool that enables a company to achieve success. Business is never static. The dynamic nature of the U.S. business environment must be considered when preparing the strategic planning elements, without which managers are required to guess how to respond to market dynamics. An adaptive strategic plan will identify the tactical response to most challenges, given the feedback loop's perpetual nature.
Thinking again of a buggy whip maker mentioned above, what if the sales objective is to increase volume by 15%, the operation's objective may be to reduce cost by 10%, and the financial objective to increase profit by 20%. How are these aligned? What happens if the price of leather changes? What happens if the workers go on strike? What happens if a new competitor enters the market selling whips at a lower price? What happens when the carriage is replaced by the car? Each of these risks considers both internal and external forces and impacts the ability to achieve the firm's objective. These and other forces are applicable to any business at any time.
Dr. Schell and the MBS Financial Services team helps firms implement the components of Strategy as part of a comprehensive strategic plan.
MBS Financial Services supports the following areas:
Growth Strategy – We can help you plan and execute a growth strategy.
Hedging & Pipeline Risk Management - Dr. Schell can help explain how hedging functions, the benefits of hedging, and the risks associated with the activity. See blog posts.
Technology must align with a firm's strategic objective. Every mortgage lender's technology infrastructure significantly impacts its customer experience and employee workflow. MBS will help select, configure and deploy the best technology solution.
Executive Development - Leadership is a learned skill. Dr. Schell can teach you to be an amazing leader, an effective manager, and an inspiring coach that can foster a vibrant culture.
Accounting Services – Dr. Schell, CPA, leads the accounting services team to become your outsourced accounting department. This alternative makes more and more sense for companies wishing to focus on their core business and also want trustworthy accounting and financial reporting support.
About Dr. Schell:
Dr. Andy Schell, Ph.D., DBA, MSML, MBA, CPA/CFF, CMB
Dr. Schell is CEO, Managing Partner, and Co-Founder of Mortgage Banking Solutions and the Founder of MBS Financial Services ("MBS"), based in Austin, Texas. Dr. Schell is known for his ability to turn "vision into reality" and "chaos into order" as he finds creative solutions to the challenges his clients face addressing Revenue Stability, Technology Enhancement, Financial Management, and Workflow Efficiency.
He has 4 decades of experience as a strategist directing the activity of both small and large groups of employees including mortgage lending activity at Bank of America. His leadership knowledge extends from his hands-on experience and his academic training in his MBA, his master's degree in leadership, and his doctoral work to examine employee dynamics given leader stimulus.
To find out more information on MBS Services, please click HERE
Find more information at
DoctorSchell@MBS-Team.com ; (512) 501-2812;
Doctor Schell the Profit Doctor