Introduction

Definition of Strategy:
 It involves a series of decisions and goal setting, to materialize an organization's vision,
while allocating the necessary resources and means of action to achieve them.

Paradigms of Strategy: A framework of unwritten rules and that directs actions.

 Experience (1930s): No competition, limited product range, and geographic regions.
 Planning (1940s): Long-term planning for coordination of activities and better
performance.
 Strategic Vision (1960s): Creation of a mental image of a possible and desirable future
state.
 Positioning (1980s): Differentiation with a good position for sustainable competitive
advantage.
 Imposed or Chosen Strategy (1990s): Adaptation to changes and crises with an open
and flexible vision.
 Resources and Competencies (2000s): Rare and inimitable resources and competencies
for competitive advantage.
 DELTA Model (2003): Coordination of alternative processes to execute customer-
oriented strategies with strategic planning as a priority for strategy development.

Strategic Planning :
 Strategic planning is a continuous process of making entrepreneurial decisions (involving
risk-taking) based on a better understanding of future developments.

 The organization systematically makes efforts to implement its decisions and measure
results against forecasts through organized and systematic feedback.

 Planning is considered a key success factor that allows organizations to maximize

human, financial, informational, and material resources, establish a solid foundation for
the project, and respond to changes more flexibly.

 The process results in a document called an action plan, which clarifies the
organization's cultural values, sets its vision, determines the appropriate process to
achieve that vision, and focuses on learning and reflection.

Strategic Plan:
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  A written document that defines the main objectives to be achieved for a specific period
and the main types of actions and means used to achieve them.

 It helps organizations to be prepared to face external developments by seizing

opportunities and eliminating threats, involving employees in common goals, ensuring
continuity during periods of change, and ensuring coherence between different
departments for better performance.

 The process of developing a strategic plan involves conducting a situation analysis,

defining the organization's mission, setting objectives, defining the problem, formulating
alternative strategies, and developing activities for each strategy.

Strategic Planning Strategic Plan

Defines overall long-term goals
Prepares possible strategic options for implementing the
set strategy
Chooses between various options proposed by the
decision-maker and the chosen option
Facilitates operational planning
Achieves set medium and long-term
objectives
Enables the strategy to realize its
mission and vision
Improves the organization's future
potential
Evaluates the organization, its
activities, and its objectives

Definition of strategic management

Strategic management can be defined as the set of long-term strategic decisions and directions
taken by management to ensure the sustainability of the organization.

Types of strategies:
 Deliberate strategy: A strategy that is intentionally planned and decided upon by the
organization beforehand.
 Emergent strategy: A strategy that evolves through the organization's responses to
changing external factors and unexpected developments.

The combination of these two gives rise to an intuitive strategy.

The process of strategic management

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 General perspectives of a strategy

Maximising profits

Classical strategy: Evolutionary strategy:

It is a strategy that emphasizes rational and It is an approach that focuses on the
Planned strategy

thoughtful planning with the ultimate goal of evolution of the external environment
maximizing profit. However, the failure to take which is based on "the cost-benefit

Gradual strategy
into account the external environment renders
analysis conducted by nature".
this approach obsolete.

Stratégie systémique :
Processual strategy:
This approach is a combination of two
strategies: This is a strategy that aims to maximize
profit while also incorporating individuals
deductive: which is based on exploiting its
into the organization by combining their
strengths and weaknesses in order to seize
opportunities and avoid threats. personal interests with organizational
interests.
deliberate: is the one that results from
intentionally designed strategic plans by the
management.
Organisational objectives

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 Strategic thinking
Strategic vision
It is a general representation of an organization's future through well-defined planning. It
serves as a tool for motivation as it represents the long-term goal that the organization aspires
to achieve.

Strategic mission
A mission is a concise and enduring statement of an organization's objectives. It should be
short, memorable, inspiring, market-focused, and clear to facilitate its assimilation and
appropriation.

Vision Mission
Desirable future position Reason for existence, activities or action plan
Describes desired future Defines organization's activity, objectives and approach to achieving
state its goals

Difference between slogan and mission

Slogan Mission
Definition A short, memorable phrase that A statement of the organization's purpose,
captures the organization's message intended for employees and other
stakeholders
Length Typically short and easy to Can be longer and more detailed
remember
Audience Mainly targeted at customers and Primarily directed towards employees and
the public other stakeholders
Purpose Helps promote the organization's Provides a clear understanding of the
brand and message organization's purpose and activities
Usage Used in marketing and advertising Used to guide the organization's decision-
campaigns making and strategic planning

Difference between Mantra and mission

Mantra Mission

Definition A unique phrase that defines The reason for an organization's existence, providing information

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 an organization. about its business and intended for employees and other
stakeholders.

Purpose To inspire and guide To inform and guide internal and external stakeholders about an
decision-making at all levels. organization's business and purpose.

Audience Internal Internal and external stakeholders

What is a goal?
A goal describes the major guiding directions of the strategy. It therefore helps to make it much
clearer and more effective.

What is an objective?
An objective is an action that will concretely allow the organization to move closer to the goal.
Generally, several objectives are needed to achieve a goal.

The process of formulating objectives includes:

 Specific action verbs: determine, name, describe, define, classify, etc.
 Content: determine the need or necessity of the objective in terms of observable
behaviors.
 Observable content: improve sales, determine steps to construct a building, etc.
 Context: specify the conditions for implementing a project.
 Precise words indicating the context: implement means to, start from, with the help of
a certain person, etc.

Levels of Objectives:
Strategic Objectives: Major objectives that:
 are measurable quantitatively or qualitatively
 are associated with a time horizon
 are challenging but achievable
Tactical Objectives:
 More specific objectives than those at the higher level.
Operational Objectives:
 Developed, within the framework of operational strategy by managers and workgroups.

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 Top
ma
nag
eme
nt
Middle
management

Management de premier niveau

What is CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)? “RSE”

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an organization's responsibility towards the impact of its
decisions and activities on society and the environment.

It involves transparent and ethical behavior that contributes to sustainable development,

considers stakeholders' expectations, and complies with laws and international norms.

What are ethics?

Ethics is a practical and normative philosophical discipline that aims to show how human beings
should behave, act and be towards each other and their environment. It can be divided into :

 Individual ethics (based on personal values)

 Organizational ethics (based on norms that guide human behavior within an
organization)
 Societal ethics (based on collective experience of people and cultures)
 Islamic ethics (determining moral principles in an Islamic context)

What is Governance?
It refers to a participatory approach to government and management of public affairs that
involves mobilizing political, economic, and social actors from both the public and private
sectors, as well as civil society, to ensure the sustainable well-being of all citizens.

There are four pillars:

 Integrity
 Transparency
 Accountability
 Integrability

Strategic levels

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1/ Corporate Strategy
The Corporate strategy, also known as general, enterprise, or global strategy, concerns the
entire organization in all its areas of activity. It is the responsibility of the top management of
the organization.

1.1/ Growth Strategy

1.1.1/ Concentration growth strategy

 Market development: introducing current products into a new market to increase sales
 Product development: improving or introducing new products to increase sales
 Consolidation strategy: focusing on existing products and customers to increase
revenue through promotions or repositioning of brands

1.1.2/ Growth through integration

 Vertical integration: This is a strategic choice made by a company to control all the
necessary stages, both upstream and downstream of the value creation process.
 Horizontal integration: This concept describes a strategy for developing activities or
acquiring companies in the same industry in order to create economies of scale and
synergy.

1.1.3/ Growth through Diversification

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  Horizontal diversification: introducing new products to an existing market with the
same production methods and technology, and targeting the same customer base.
 Concentric diversification (related diversification): transferring existing skills and
technology to develop new products or services within a related market. This strategy
involves a gradual diversification approach.
 Conglomerate diversification (unrelated diversification): investing in one or more new
business areas that are less related and operate in separate markets. This strategy can
help balance out any difficulties in one area with profits from another.

1.1.4/ Growth through internationalization

 International Strategy: An expansionary offensive strategy, which may also involve

finding growth opportunities in a historically low-earning market.
 Multi-Country Strategy: Offering a relatively standardized product and/or service on a
new market, which can be exported, manufactured and distributed locally without
incurring significant cost constraints.
 Global Strategy: Based on a low-cost approach leveraging experience and localization
economies, while offering standardized activities across different countries.
 Transnational Strategy: Characterized by low-cost reactivity and high local
responsiveness.

1.1.5/ Growth through cooperation

 Strategic Alliance: Is a form of strategic cooperation between companies with

competing activities that have chosen to partner in order to carry out an activity or
project, pooling their intangible, material and financial resources.

 Merger by Acquisition: Pooling the assets of two or more organizations to create a new
entity. This operation involves the dissolution without liquidation of the absorbed
organization and the universal transfer of its assets to the absorbing organization.

 Acquisition: The purchase of an asset of an organization or institution. It is a method of

external growth that allows a company to:
 Improve its financial situation
 Avoid bankruptcy
 Reorient its activities.

1.2/ Stability Strategies

 Strategy of non-change: making no decisions in a relatively stable organizational
environment.

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  Yield strategy: focusing on existing lines of business and attempting to maintain them
through either maintaining the status quo or strengthening the organization with
additional skills to perform in an innovative way.
 Prudent pause strategy: used to test the waters before moving forward with a full-
fledged strategy. The objective is to allow the system to adapt to new strategies.

1.3/ Downsizing strategies

 Liquidation: involves selling off all assets of an organization at least for its tangible
value.
 Divestment: ceasing investment in an unprofitable part of the organization by selling it,
and concentrating on investing in other profitable activities of the organization.
 Turnaround (redressement): used when the organization experiences a decrease in
sales and profits, seeking to reduce its costs and assets by downsizing its workforce. This
strategy can be met with pressure from employees, shareholders, and media.

1.4/ Combinaison Strategies

 Sequential combination: Combines both cost reduction and differentiation strategies,
implemented separately to gain competitive advantages.
 Simultaneous combination: Develops and implements a strategy that considers both
cost reduction and differentiation dimensions simultaneously, allowing the organization
to accumulate competitive advantages.

2/ Business-Level Strategies
The Business Strategy is a combination of decisions and actions made by managers to
implement the Corporate Strategy in the main business units (DAS) of the organization.

2.1/ Generic strategies of Porter

 Cost leadership (domination par les coûts): This is a strategy where an organization
focuses primarily on minimizing costs (direct costs of manufacturing a unit of product or
service, marketing costs, administrative and financial costs).

 Différenciation: This involves developing an offer that is unique and valued by the
customer. There are two types of differentiation:
 Differentiation by high-end (Sophistication)
 Differentiation by low-end (Purification)

 Concentration/Focus: This strategy involves offering a unique product that can only
attract a small segment of the market. An organization adopts this strategy when it has
expertise in marketing or technology, does not want to exceed a certain size, or does
not have sufficient resources to cover the entire market.

2.1/ Miles and Snow strategies

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3/ Functional strategy
It’s aimed at achieving the objectives of the unitary and business strategies by maximizing
resource productivity.
It involves ensuring the implementation of global and domain-specific strategies, specifically for
each function of the organization.

Evaluating the external environment

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Macro-environment
Macro-environment analysis can help organizations understand the larger trends and issues
that are affecting their industry or market.
1/ PESTEL analysis:
 Political : Government stability, fiscal policy, social protection.
 Economic : GDP rate, purchasing power, unemployment rate.
 Social : Demography, mortality, age pyramid, trends.
 Technological : Research and development, patents, technological obsolescence rate.
 Environmental : Environmental protection, recycling measures, consumption of natural
resources
 Legal : Labor law, customs law, control mechanisms
2/ Scenario method:
hypothetical sequences of events constructed to focus on causal processes and decision points.

There are many ways to build scenarios, but the process generally follows these five steps:
1- Define the scope of the analysis
2- Identify the pivotal variables using the PESTEL analysis
3- Construct "scenario" scenarios
4- Identify the impact of the scenarios on the organizations
5- Set up early warning systems.

Micro-environment
The micro-environment is composed of the sector/industry and market, where organizations
operate and compete with each other. The market is where supply meets demand and prices
are set, and there may be different strategic groups of organizations offering similar products or
services.

This can help organizations understand their competitive position and develop strategies to
address the specific challenges and opportunities that they face.

1/ Strategic segmentation
This is the division of the organization's activities into autonomous units. Each of these units is
named "Strategic Business Unit (SBU)" and known as DAS or "Homogeneous Strategic Unit
(HSU)".

Strategic segmentation (founded by D. F. Abell), divides activities according to three criteria:

 Function groups: what is it for? What are the functions of use or consumption
fulfilled by the product?
 Groups of Buyers: who are the customers interested in the product?

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  Groups of Technologies: with which technologies, techniques can we master the
production?
2/ Strategic client
The strategic client is the most important target of the strategy, as it has the strongest influence
on the way the offer is purchased.

3/ Competitor analysis

4/ The competitive profile matrix “CPM”

A strategic analysis tool used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a company relative
to its competitors, based on KSFs (facteurs clés de succès).

KSFs are classified into four categories:

 Industry KSFs: elements that all organizations in a specific sector must achieve if they
are to remain competitive;
 Environmental KSFs: the result of the influence of environmental changes;
 Strategic KSFs: depend on the strategic directions chosen by an organization to position
itself in a specific market segment of a sector;
 Temporal KSFs: usually have a very short lifespan, as they are often associated with
internal crisis situations that must be resolved quickly.

5/ PORTER’s forces ( 5+1 )

Analysis of:
 Threat of potential new entrants
 Threat of Substitutes
 Power of suppliers
 Power of buyers
 Rivalry among competitors
 +1 Regulatory constraints of government

6/ Opportunities and threat analysis

 Opportunities analysis: having specific skills can give an organization a competitive
advantage, making it easier for them to exploit opportunities compared to their
competitors.

 Threat analysis: A threat is a potential problem that could arise from the environment
and negatively impact an organization or project. It could stem from various sources
such as a trend, a situation, or a disruption in the environment.

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 Managing Firm Resources
Resource Based View (RBV) : Modèle VRIO / KBV (Knowledge Based
View)
 RBV: Emphasizes the importance of a firm’s unique resources and capabilities in
creating sustainable competitive advantage.
 KBV: Emphasizes the rôle of knowledge and learning in creating competitive advantage

 VRIO MODEL: Valuable – Rare – Inimitable – Organized

Knowledge management:

Knowledge Management refers to the processes and practices that bring together all the
initiatives, methods and techniques that enable the perception, identification, analysis,
organization, memorization and sharing of the knowledge of an organization's members.

The objective is to manage all the flows of tacit or explicit knowledge, to combine them in
professional activities and processes to create value.

Evaluating the internal environment

 BM: Genereal description of the firm’s activity
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BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS ( BMC )
A conceptual tool that contains a set of components and their relationship that allows to express
the business logic of a strategic company. It provides information on :
- The company’s financement
- Value proposition
- Targeted customer segment
- Cost structure
- Key partners
- Key activities
- Channels
- Revenue streams
- Key resources

Business model analysis :

Evaluating a business’s model and identifying areas of strength and weakness.
Using a scale from 1 to 5, the scale can identify blocks that contibute less to value creaction and
need to be evaluated by the organization

THE VALUE CHAIN:

Consists in schematizing as a sequence of interconnected activities that each develop values that
are more or less strategic and important for the organization

- By analyzing the value chain, a company can identify the specific activities in which it has a
competitive advantage and focus on enhancing those areas. It can also help identify
opportunities for cost reduction, process improvements, and differentiation.

DELTA MODEL ( modèle DELTA )

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The Delta Model is a strategy framework that was developed by Dean Wilde. It is intended to assist
leaders in the articulation and implementation of effective organizational and business strategies.

It includes the following four elements: Strategic Triangle, Alignment, Adaptive Processes and
Measurement Methods.
Strategic triangle :

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BRAND EQUITY ( capital marque )

All the assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name or symbols and which bring something to the
company and its customers because they give added value or loss of value to products or services

It is composed of:
1- Notoriety : Top of mind notoriety, Spontaneous notoriety, Assisted or suggested notoriety.
2- The perceived quality :
3- Brand image
4- Loyalty

The financial ratios

 Profitability Ratios
 Financial ratios relating to the financial structure and balance sheet analysis
 Financial ratios for cash flow analysis
 Financial ratios for activity analysis

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 Elaborating a strategy
The SWOT MATRIX
SWOT MATRIX helps companies identify and analyze their internal and external factors that could
impact their performance and competitiveness.

The BCG MATRIX

The BCG matrix can help a company analyze its product portfolio and determine the best allocation
of resources. It classifies a company's products into four categories: stars, cash cows, dogs, and
question marks.
1. Stars: These are products with a high market share in a high-growth market. They generate
high revenue and require high investment to maintain their position.

2. Cash cows: These are products with a high market share in a low-growth market. They
generate high revenue but require low investment to maintain their position.

3. Dogs: These are products with a low market share in a low-growth market. They generate
low revenue and require low investment.

4. Question marks: These are products with a low market share in a high-growth market. They
have the potential to become stars but require high investment to achieve that position.

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MCKINSEY MATRIX
it evaluates a company's strategic business units (SBU) based on their attractiveness and
competitiveness.

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ADL MATRIX
The ADL Matrix (or Strategic Condition Matrix) allows you to manage your portfolio by making
judgements around the overall market and industry life cycle, along with your own placement
within that market.

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SPACE MATRIX
tool to analyze a company's strategic position by evaluating its internal and external factors. The
tool was developed to provide a clear understanding of a company's strategic position and help
upper management make strategic choices and create a plan.

Choosing a strategy
ANSOFF MATRIX
It classifies and explain the different growth strategies of a company. This matrix is used by
companies for a growth objective. This tool, combining the company's products and markets ,
facilitates decision-making.

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MODEL OF GREINER
Used in corporate crisis management as well as to define strategy and model organizational
evolution.

Depending on the sector of activity and the factors of the environment, it makes it possible to
locate and anticipate the next crisis that the company will have to face and therefore predict
the structural or functional change that she will have to operate.

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THE BOWMAN'S CLOCK MODEL
The Bowman's Clock model consists of eight competitive strategies arranged in a clock-like diagram,
with each strategy representing a different level of competitive advantage.

It positions all competitive strategies according to the value perceived by the customer and the
price in relation to the reference offer, based on the quality-price ratio.

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RED AND BLUE OCEAN

 The Red Ocean Strategy refers to a crowded and highly competitive market, where
businesses are constantly fighting to outperform one another, and gain a bigger share of the
market.
 Companies often rely on cost-cutting, price wars, and aggressive marketing to gain an
advantage over their competitors.

 The Blue Ocean Strategy refers to an untapped market, with little or no competition.
Companies create new demand, rather than competing for existing one.

 This can be achieved by creating a unique value proposition, targeting new customer
segments, or by introducing a disruptive product or service.

The ERAC matrix

 A tool used in strategic management to assess the risks associated with a particular
strategy.

 The four elements of the matrix are "exploit," "reduce," "accept," and "contain," which
represent different approaches to dealing with risk.

 This helps organizations to make informed decisions about which strategies to pursue and
which risks to accept.

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The strategic canvas
 A visual tool used in business to analyze the competitive landscape and identify
opportunities for differentiation.

 It shows a company's offering against those of its competitors on a number of different

factors. This way it can focus on developing a unique value proposition that meets the
needs of its target market.

Strategic control and audit

The process of monitoring and evaluating a company's strategy to ensure that it is on track to
achieve its goals.

It involves setting objectives, developing performance measures, and monitoring progress toward
those objectives.

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