2. Welcome and check-in

3. Some links to previous sessions
Delivering growth through strategic alliances
Standing out in your market place
Creating your strategic roadmap

4. Some ‘interesting’ stats
66% expect 2016 to be better than 2015
81% looking to expand UK customer base
27% developing new offices or territories
66% launching new products or services
17% considering mergers and acquisitions
Source: Moore Stephens 2016 OMB survey
Only 1/3 of owner-managers have a formalised vision and strategy
Of these, only ½ have it written down
Yet, there is a clear link between growth firms and sound strategy
Source: The Big 10 Report

5. Who has made successful strategic choices for growth?
Evolutionary
Melcrum Publishing
Hotel Chocolat
Shield Medicare
The Phone Co-op
Group SCS
Quintus
Go Ape
Revolutionary
Melcrum Publishing
Hotel Chocolat
Shield Medicare
Markets
Existing
New
Develop niche
Market extension
Existing
Product and services
Product develop
Diversify
New
Cranfield School of Management
88% of businesses grow by sticking to the knitting

6. Why are we doing this?
Accessible and relevant content, based upon real experience, focused on delivering practical benefit.
Source: Participant feedback on Cog:ent sessions

7. Cog:ent ground rules At each meeting: It is a safe space to talk
What is discussed stays within Cog:ent
The more your put in, the more you get back
Talk business … not sales!

8. Why are you here? Pair up with a neighbour and discuss:
Your aspirations for growth
Whether you have a formal strategy and plan
Why you are here today

9. Agenda and outcomes Agenda Desired outcomes 15:00
Arrival and networking
15:30
Welcome and check-in
15.45
An ambitious business owner’s journey
16:30
Coffee
16:45
A successful strategy for growth
18.30
Networking
19:00
Close
Step back from day-to-day running of the business to think longer-term.
Develop a clearer understanding of strategic choices faced and how to maximise future success.
Apply some thinking from other business owners.
Identify some clear and practical actions to move your business.

10. An ambitious business owner’s journey
Richard Gyselynck - Acorne

11. “A light-bulb moment that led to an overnight success that took 25 years”

12. Coffee break

13. A successful strategy for growth

14. What is ‘strategy’?
Strategy is the means by which a business sets out to achieve its objectives

15. What are the elements of strategy?
FORMULATION
IMPLEMENTATION
Guiding Policy
Action Plan
Diagnosis
1. Set goal and assess situation
2. Determine actions
to achieve the goal
3. Mobilise resources to execute the actions

16. Leaders in big companies find it easy, don’t they?
How many business leaders find setting a clear and differentiating strategy ‘a significant challenge’?
50%
What % don’t feel their company’s strategy will lead to success?
54%
What % say their company’s capabilities do not fully support the company’s strategy and the way it creates value in the market?
67%
How many think their company has a “right to win” in all the markets it competes in?
20%
How many say their growth initiatives lead to waste at least some of the time?
82%
Source: Global survey of 2800 business leaders

17. Leaders in big companies find it easy, don’t they?
How many business leaders find setting a clear and differentiating strategy ‘a significant challenge’?
50%
What % don’t feel their company’s strategy will lead to success?
54%
“We are muddling through with little or no overall direction”
What % say their company’s capabilities do not fully support the company’s strategy and the way it creates value in the market?
67%
How many think their company has a “right to win” in all the markets it competes in?
20%
How many say their growth initiatives lead to waste at least some of the time?
82%
Source: Global survey of 2800 business leaders

18. A successful strategy is clear and relevant
CLEAR, RELEVANT STRATEGY
GROWTH
CLUSTER OF SEPARATE INITIATIVES
INCOHERENCE, CONFUSION, WASTE

19. So how do we provide direction for a clear and relevant strategy?
Where we are going
Who we are
What we do
Vision, strategy, business development, renewal and succession
Purpose, values, behaviours, beliefs, policies, standards
Allocation and management of resources, optimising performance, delivering results
nurturing
identity
managing
the present
creating
the future
Identity provides direction for strategy

20. Identity provides direction for strategy
Value Creation
and
Competitive Advantage
Built up over time
What we DO, not just what we SELL
Distinctive business
IDENTITY
True enablers of profitability
Differentiating capabilities
Natural advantage in attracting customers, employees and investors
‘How we play’

21. Activity
In pairs, take 10 minutes (5 minutes each) to share and explore your distinctive business identity:
What you do, not just what you sell
What you do better than anyone else
How you play (provide value for your customers)

22. Individual reflections
Where (with who) do you have the opportunity to create value and differentiate?
To what extent do you have the capabilities to win in this space? 1 2
What do you have to stop doing to remove incoherence and waste to enable a winning strategy?
How will you engage and involve others in exploring and developing a clear and relevant strategy? 3 4

23. Activity
In groups of 3, take 30 minutes to share and discuss your answers

24. Going forward Questions or comments?
What insights have you taken from today?
What actions will you take?

25. Notes

26. Next meeting
Cog:ent July Technology-enhanced business