1. Bringing a strategic perspective to communication
LECTURE 1
Bringing a strategic perspective to communication
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

2. … beginning with an example of communication strategy
Objectives
Begin exploring the implications of strategy in communication
Trace the origins of strategy
Introduce some basic ideas from business strategy and the need for communication strategy
… beginning with an example of communication strategy
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

3. Apple’s success Achievements have included:
Transformed personal access to computing power for millions of people
First company worth more than $700bn 2015
“World’s best performing CEO” achieved total shareholder return of 3,188% over 12 years
Succeeded through innovation… and communication strategy!
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

4. A surprise from Apple
2002: Apple began work on creating a tablet computer (Project Purple) in secrecy
“We have no plans to make a tablet” – Steve Jobs, 2003
After a few years, there was speculation about an Apple tablet
But David Pogue (New York Times) wrote: “The only thing we know for sure about the Apple tablet is we don’t know for sure” – January 23, 2010
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

5. People expected an Apple tablet… But expectations were low
Computer manufacturers could not find a mass market for tablet computers
Small-scale sales
Microsoft, established player, was selling 1m tablets a year
High price… $
That would be undercut by competitors
Unknown capabilities
And expectations were not stoked by Apple
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

6. “Big Bang” launch, 2010
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

7. iPad caused immediate disruption
Price $499
300,000 sold on first day, more than original iPhone
14.8m sold in nine months
Surprised competitors took months to build a serious alternative to iPad
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

8. Apple’s strategy Apple created the first mass market tablet
Result of a strategy for technological development
…But also of a communication strategy of innovating in secret and controlling communications
Story of the iPad shows the impact strategic approach to communication can make
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

9. But is Apple one of a kind?
By what standards should Apple’s strategy be evaluated?
Consensus favors openness and transparency – Apple challenged this
Was Apple’s strategy legitimate?
How should the relative effectiveness of Apple’s strategy be evaluated?
Is Apple such an extreme case that the rules it broke stand unaffected?
Or can lessons be learned from Apple and applied by others?
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

10. But what is strategy anyway? Where did the idea of strategy come from?
So far we have looked at Apple’s strategy, focusing on its strategy for a tablet computer
But what is strategy anyway?
Where did the idea of strategy come from?
And why is it so important?
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

11. Key concept – strategy What is strategy?
There is now a strategic paradigm
Paradigm: a key term in science and social sciences which means a pattern or set of ideas that is widely recognized and shapes a view of the world
“To have a strategy… is to choose one path and eschew others” – Richard Rumelt(1)
The concept had military roots, then spread into business and other fields
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

12. The Trojan Horse
The legendary stratagem of Odysseus (Lecture 3 looks at the strategy of surprise)
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

13. On the battlefield
Hannibal invents the battlefield stratagem of encirclement (Lecture 3 looks at the distinction between strategy and tactics)
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

14. Fabius’ strategic response
A novel strategy:
Avoid battle
Harass the enemy from a safe distance
Eliminate the enemy’s access to supplies
Gradually wear the enemy down
“Cunctator” – the delayer
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

15. Business: We need a plan
Strategy entered business in the form of planning
… at a time of relative stability
Political stability – cold war, post-war reconstruction
Economic stability – Bretton Woods, energy, steady growth
From the late 1960s, the business environment saw faster change and disruption
Businesses needed flexible strategy, not rigid planning
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

16. Business poses questions
What is the state of our organization?
What opportunities and threats does the competitive environment present?
What options do we have?
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

17. The answer is strategy Present situation Desired future situation
Flexible plans for going from A to B…
...which make up the strategy
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

18. Options Michael Porter’s insight into competitive strategy(2)
Options fundamentally limited to:
Leadership by having lowest costs
Making the product (or service) different – “differentiation”
Identifying a niche where there are few challengers – “specialization” or “focus”
… generic strategies
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

19. Generic strategies
Which of these generic strategies (models) applies to businesses you know?
What could happen to businesses that do not follow one of these generic strategies and get “stuck in the middle”?
Why might some strategy experts (e.g. John Kay – see suggested reading) question the value of generic strategies?
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

20. An attempt to break the mold
Blue ocean strategy(3)
An attempt to break the mold
Red ocean is the existing market
Defined battlefield
Known customer base
Constraints including Porter’s strategic choices
Competitive exhaustion
Blue ocean is the new market
Market space without existing competitors
No boundaries or constraints
Stimulate new demand
Innovation, exhilaration!
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

21. The necessity of strategy
“Everyone needs a strategy” – Lawrence Freedman(4)… in order to decide what to do
What could happen to organizations (and people) without a strategy?
And, specifically, without a communication strategy…
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

22. Communication can play an important part in strategy
For example:
The Trojan Horse was a communication
Hannibal surprised the Romans at Cannae – surprise is a communication strategy – discussed in lecture 3
Later lectures discuss other communication strategies
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

23. The necessity of communication strategy
In the absence of communication strategy:
Parts of an organization “do their own thing” – say what they like
Resources can’t be allocated rationally
Pressure to communicate leads to leaks and gaffes
Communications don’t advance the overall strategy of the organization
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)

24. Suggested reading Keeping Shtum, introduction
Lawrence Freedman, Strategy: A History (Oxford University Press, 2013), chapters 6 and 29
John Kay, Foundations of Corporate Success: How Business Strategies Add Value, (Oxford University Press, 1993), chapters 21 and 22
NOTES
Richard P. Rumelt, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters, (London: Profile Books, 2011), 62
Michael E. Porter, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, (New York: The Free Press, 1998), chapter 2
W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant, (Harvard Business School Press, 2005)
Freedman, Strategy, ix
A course of lectures based on Steven Olivant, Keeping Shtum and Other Communication Strategies, (CreateSpace, 2016)