Strategy and Innovation

The SWOT analysis is an extremely useful tool for understanding and decision-making for all sorts of situations in business and organizations.

Michael Porter's famous Five Forces of Competitive Position model provides a simple perspective for assessing and analysing the competitive strength and position of a corporation or business organization.

The PEST analysis is a useful tool for understanding market growth or decline, and as such the position, potential and direction for a business.

Peters and Waterman found eight common themes which they argued were responsible for the success of the chosen corporations, which have become pointers for managers ever since.

Free business planning and marketing tips, samples, examples and tools - how to write a business plan, techniques for writing a marketing strategy, strategic business plans and sales plans.

PR Smith's marketing planning system SOSTAC situation analysis objectives, strategy, tactics, action, control

This is a quick easy template for rapid business planning, especially for new business development, strategic planning, sales plans and market-led business planning.

The Golden Thread is a simple framework for aligning performance metrics with organisational objectives, and therefore individual goals throughout each layer of the business.

Systems and processes for successful implementation of organizational strategy and business development plans.

The five-step Design Thinking model was developed at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford as a human-centred process for creative thinking, problem-solving and innovation. It allows problems which are poorly-defined or unknown to the individual or group to be contextualised and understood in a simple way, and its application can subsequently improve the manner and efficiency of innovation within a group.

Anthony Stafford Beer (1926-2002) was a British leadership theorist, best known for his work into management cybernetics, including his Viable System Model (VSM) of operational interactions.

W. Ross Ashby was a pioneering British cyberneticist and psychiatrist who described a law regarding the levels of variety and responses in a given system, later known as Ashby's Law.

Modern business markets are incredibly competitive. No matter how innovative you think you may be, there are always dozens of other organisations fighting for control of the same audience or consumer base. The key to staying ahead of your competition is to understand them: all their strengths and weaknesses.

Michael Porter's Generic Strategies are a useful framework for organisations to identify a potential niche in which they can gain a competitive advantage in any industry.

The Resource-Based View (RBV) is a theoretical framework and perspective for examining organisational potential for developing a competitive advantage and for sustaining long-term success.

Planning and contingencies for business and organisational continuity in response to serious disruption.

Ask yourself and answer these questions to determine if you are ready to make a change, or ready to become an innovator.

Published by authors and academics in the fields of business, leadership and management, Kevan Scholes and Gerry Johnson in 1992, the Cultural Web is a useful tool for analysing and altering assumptions surrounding the culture of a company. It can be used to highlight specific practices and beliefs, and to subsequently align them with your company’s preferred culture and strategy.