I have been a student of business strategy for most of my 40 year career and have seen fads come and go. But even with this background I was surprised to read in recent Harvard Business Review articles that:

• Corporations spend on average 7 months of the year in strategic planning, and
• There are now over 80 recognised strategy options that have been introduced since the ‘grand-daddy’ of strategy, the Ansoff Matrix was introduced in 1958.

Today, those responsible for guiding the future of businesses face a constant barrage of advice on what is the ‘next big thing’ with respect to strategic options. Be it PEST, Red Queen, 6 Sigma, Diamond Model, Blue Ocean strategy or any of the 80+ options listed by HBR, these are simply tools to help us better achieve the objective of strategy – to create, capture and retain long term value (equity). Read more →