StrategyCAD Guide - Strategy formulation

Strategy is more effective when initiated as a set of specific choices that you and your leadership team make to position your business to succeed or win in an environment of your configuration. Some of those choices will be challenging, but they either get made and managed by explicit design or haphazardly. Here you will find information about the choices and how the strategy tools in StrategyCAD enable you to make and communicate those choices to create the clarity and focus needed to maximize probability and level of success.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to give you a roadmap / overview of how different strategy tools and practices apply to facilitate effective strategy formulation and implementation. Other resources in this series will provide more detailed information on the specific tools and frameworks introduced here. However, given this provides an overview, it can be worth coming back to review this methodology.

The purpose of these tools and their usage in StrategyCAD is to:

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Provide insights that enable you to position your business on a playing field of your choice, where your business can succeed or win by serving the needs of customers in that playing field better than any other business	More effectively deliver that value through a co-ordinated value delivery system with an engaged and skilled team and preferrably	Create at least some barriers to imitation to sustain your value proposition, so that imitators have some barriers to stealing your customers and value.

Strategic topic	Questions answered or choices made	Strategy tools	Tools location
Aspiration	What does success or winning look like for the business? What impact or difference do we aim to make in the lives of our customers? In return for our customer value what benefit do we provide back to our stakeholders?	Aspiration creator A.I Aspiration generator	From within the Strategic choices canvas
Strategic topic	Questions answered or choices made	Strategy tools	Tools location
Where we play	What industry segments do we compete in? What are the critical success factors in our playing environments?	Arena canvas	An Arena can be created from the left menu (Where we play > Arena) or directly from the Strategic choices canvas.
	What opportunities and threats exist in our playing environments?	External, industry and competitive assessment tools that can be added to the Arena canvas	From within the Arena canvas - choose to add an industry, external or competitor assessment Validated opportunities and threats can be linked into the canvas.
	What customer segments do we focus on serving or winning with?	Market segment canvas A.I Market segment generator	From within the Strategic choices canvas (Where we play > Which customers) or side menu
	What problems or Jobs to be Done including functional, emotional and social needs do we meet for our target market?	Jobs to be done (JTBD) canvas A.I JTBD generator	From within the Strategic choices canvas (Where we play > Problems we solve) or Side menu
	At what relative price do we play?	Strategic choices canvas	From within the Strategic choices canvas > Relative price
Strategic topic	Questions answered or choices made	Strategy tools	Tools location
How to succeed / win	What unique value / blend do we provide to delight our target segment(s)?	Unique value blend builder	Directly from the Strategic choices canvas
	What types of products and services do we offer to provide that unique delight?	Offerings canvas	Directly from the Strategic choices canvas > Offerings. You can link to existing offerings or create a new one from the Strategic choices canvas or from the side menu.
	What channels are used to promote awareness of, sell and support our solutions?	Channel canvas Value chain canvas	Directly from the Strategic choices canvas > Channels. You can link to existing offerings or create a new one from the Strategic choices canvas or from the side menu.
	What relationships do our customers require in order to become aware of, buy and get the most value from our solutions?	Relationship canvas Value chain canvas	Directly from the Strategic choices canvas > Offerings. You can link to existing offerings or create a new one from the Strategic choices canvas or from the side menu.
	How do we deliver or optimise the delivery of the value proposition across multiple functional areas? What resources and capabilities will be required to deliver our unique value?	Value chain canvas Capabilities Resources	Directly from the Strategic choices canvas > Integrated value chain. You can link to existing value chains or create a new one from the Strategic choices canvas or from the side menu. Capabilities Directly from the Strategic choices canvas > Capabilities. You can link to existing Capabilities or create a new one from the Strategic choices canvas or from the side menu. Resources Directly from the Strategic choices canvas > Resources. You can link to existing Resources or create a new one from the Strategic choices canvas or from the side menu.
Strategic topic	Questions answered or choices made	Strategy tools	Tools location
Manage strategy and sustain value	What policies, systems / processes, style, shared values and roles / responsibilities will be necessary to implement / manage the strategy	Strategy management section of Strategic choices canvas Guiding policy section of the Strategy implementation (See Implementation section for details)	Directly from the Strategic choices canvas
	What are the important Value chain costs and how are they optimised / managed	Costs canvas	Create or link to directly from the Strategic choices canvas Create a Costs canvas from the side menu and then link to the Strategic choices canvas
	How do we sustain our value by minimizing imitation potential	Strategic choices canvas	Record tactics directly into the Strategic choices canvas > Sustaining advantage
How do we generate revenue?	Revenue canvas	Create or link to directly from the Strategic choices canvas Create a Revenue canvas from the side menu and then link to the Strategic choices canvas

Strategy formulation roadmap

Purpose

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