Features of the development of functional strategies: R&D strategy. Development of an organization strategy

Features of developing strategies for small businesses

Klapkov A.S. student of the branch of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "MGIU" in. Vyazma

annotation

The article discusses the features of developing a strategy for a small-scale business. The purpose of writing this article is to consider the specifics of developing a strategy for a small enterprise.

FEATURES STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

The article describes the features of the development strategy for small-scale businesses. The purpose of writing: to consider the specifics of the development strategy of a small business.

Key words: strategy development, mission, competition, SWOT analysis.

Keywords: development strategy, mission, competition, SWOT-analysis.

Small business is one of the leading areas that determines the rate of economic growth, employment, structure and quality of GDP. Small business is a flexible system in the modern economy. Big business is the basis modern economy, small business is the fabric of big business.
The adaptability of small businesses to changing factors in the market environment is one of the important conditions for successful operation. A set of actions that make it possible to adapt to changes in market conditions ensures the competitiveness of enterprises.
Small businesses are experiencing significant difficulties, which subsequently lead to their weak viability. One of the main reasons, in my opinion, for the weak viability of small businesses is the lack of justification for their development strategies. This, in turn, is due, on the one hand, to the lack of due attention to the problems of small business from the theory, and on the other, to the impossibility of using models in small businesses that are used to justify strategy in large enterprises. Most approaches to developing and justifying strategy are applicable only to large companies and do not take into account the specifics of small businesses, considering them as a scaled-down model of a large one. Large enterprises have entire departments, numbering up to several dozen people, that are engaged in strategic planning. Small firms are not able to maintain such divisions, as this is associated with significant financial costs, increased administrative area company and an increase in the number of employees, which is not advisable for a small enterprise.
Considering strategy as the most fundamental factor in the functioning of small businesses in modern economic conditions, it is necessary to reveal the very concept of strategy in order to understand the significance of this factor for small businesses.
The strategy defines goals and ways to achieve them. Tactics are short-term plans necessary to achieve a goal. The strategy is defined for targeted actions in the future.
A small business strategy is a generalized model of actions aimed at achieving set goals through the coordination and distribution of available resources.
In order to maintain competitiveness, small businesses must use strategies that provide competitive advantages.
Competitive advantages of a small business are advantages manifested in the company's position in the market, which is more advantageous in relation to competitors, achieved through the use of strategic planning methods and tools that take into account its characteristics.
There are five characteristic features inherent in the strategic aspect of small businesses:
- small amount of product production;
- limitations in resources and power;
- minimal development of control systems;
- management is minimally systematic.
Features of a small business: not bound by an extensive production program, small staff, operational management, instant response to changes in demand, ability to take risks.
Strategy development is often strategic planning in which the mission, goal and strategy itself are developed. Strategy formation process: developing a strategic vision, mission, strategic goals and developing business strategies.
The problem of small business is related to lack of finance. The starting capital is absorbed into circulation, and the production cycle in rare cases coincides with the circulation of capital. Therefore, small businesses in many cases receive loans with higher interest rates than other larger enterprises. As a result, many small businesses go under. To do this, it is necessary to consider the vision of the problem. A vision is an imaginary representation of meaning for prospects and activities. The vision explains:
- what the organization represents;
- what it will be like in the future;
- what is the desire for?
Mission is the reasons for the existence of an organization. Mission statements are long-term goals. The mission shows a focus on the future, showing where efforts are being directed.
Small business goals in the initial stage: what? Who? When? how much exactly? A goal statement is similar to a slogan. For example: we are ready to equip every home in this city with our products!
The mission must meet the following requirements:
- inspiration;
- be simple;
- gain confidence;
- show guidelines that serve as the basis for developing a strategy.
Before you start your small business, you need to firmly decide in what form to conduct your business as an entrepreneur. There are main options for running a small business: PBOYUL, LLC and JSC. Mostly they open individual businesses, because do not have their own property.
After developing the strategy comes the planning stage. As a rule, in a small business, planning occurs in the head of the manager. Planning identifies strengths and weaknesses, and analyzes the external and internal environment of the company. Next, a SWOT analysis is carried out. It helps to determine the role of a small company in the market, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of its competitors, and conducts consumer analysis. The company must develop a marketing strategy and draw up a set of activities.
It becomes obvious that when choosing or developing a strategy for a small business, it is necessary to consider its features comprehensively, namely, taking into account both the advantages and disadvantages. When implementing this approach, you can take the matrix “SWOT - analysis of small business” as a basis.

SWOT analysis of small business

Distinguishing the strengths and weaknesses of a small business, and accordingly grouping its features into advantages and disadvantages allows them to be more accurately taken into account when choosing a strategy that ensures competitive advantages.
When choosing a strategy, a small business must consider a number of factors. Let's look at the most important among them. First, it is necessary to determine how it can achieve competitive advantages in the market. In this case, the strategies presented in the works of M. Porter, who offers three standard strategies, seem relevant
1. Minimizing costs. Combine costs and favorable prices compared to competitors in analog products.
2. Differentiation. Give the product distinctive features from competitors' products.
3. Concentrations. Providing consumers with goods and services that meet their needs. Strategies focus on how a small business will achieve certain advantages over competitors.
Small businesses that require little capital to get started rarely have a business plan. This is because the owners of such businesses see no need to worry when they do not need to borrow capital. There are useful professional tips that can help you start writing a business plan. The most common type of business plan for a small business is the introductory plan, but there are other types such as: preliminary plan or investment plan.
The main feature of small business development is its flexibility, i.e. ability to quickly restructure production activities depending on the situation.
Main types of small firm strategy

Field 1. A small company, using products developed by a large company, produces copies.
Field 2. A small company carries out its activities without going beyond its niche.
Field 3. A separate small element of a larger company's product is the final product for that company.
Field 4. An agreement is concluded between a small and a large company, according to which the large company undertakes to supply the small company with its own goods and advertising services.

Literature

1. Small and medium-sized businesses in Russia. [Text]: stat. Sat. - M.: Rosstat, 2010. - 172 p.
2. Pinkovetskaya Yu.S. Small enterprises in Russia: patterns, classification and directions for increasing efficiency [Text] / Yu.S. Pinkovetskaya, 2011. - 204 p.
3. Banzekulivakho Zh. M. Economics of enterprise and organization of production: educational and methodological complex / Zh. M. Banzekulivakho. – Novopolotsk: PSU, 2010. – 351 p.
4. Organization, planning and production management: educational and methodological manual / N. I. Novitsky, V. P. Pashuto. – Moscow: Finance and Statistics, 2008. – 574 p.

1. Small and medium enterprises in Russia. :stat. Sat - Moscow: Rosstat, 2010. - 172 p.
2. Pinkovetskaya, YS Small enterprises in Russia: patterns, classification and ways to increase efficiency / YS Pinkovetskaya. - Saarbrucken (Germany): LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2011. - 204 p.
3. Banzekulivaho, JM Enterprise Economy and Production: a training complex / JM Banzekulivaho. - Novopolotsk: PSU, 2010. - 351 p.
4. Organization, planning and production control: a teaching aid / NI Nowicki, VP plowed. - Moscow: Finance and Statistics, 2008. - 574 p.

One of the most important elements of strategic management is strategies. Essentially, strategy development and implementation is the core product of strategic management.

A company can develop and apply different strategies to solve development problems. The same goal can be achieved in various ways. There are many different strategies for company development, production, and product development of a company.

For correct orientation in a variety of strategies, their ordering, systematization and selection of the most effective in strategic management, classification methods are used. They allow you to create a common platform for understanding the essence of the strategies being developed by different employees. Let's consider the most widely used classifications of company strategies.

Classification of strategies by company level

Management strategies are usually divided by levels of company management. Taking into account the intensive development of decentralization and self-organization processes in modern organizations You should also take into account the development strategies of teams, groups and employees, on which the success of the development and implementation of strategies depends.

According to the levels of the company’s hierarchical structure, all strategies are divided into four groups:

• 1. Main, or corporate-wide, strategy. Development strategy of the company as a whole.
• 2. Business unit strategy, or business level strategy (SBU - strategic business unit)
• 3. Functional strategies, they are also called enabling strategies.
• 4. Strategies of teams, work groups and employees on which the strategic process of the company depends Malenkov Yu.A. Strategic management - M.: TK Velby, Prospekt, 2008. - 63 pp..
• 1. Main strategy, corporate

This strategy describes the development of the organization as a single whole, is formulated at the highest level and is mandatory for all divisions of the organization, regardless of the degree of their autonomy and decentralization. An organization can maintain its integrity and develop successfully only if its main strategy is effective. It describes the general data of the company's development, for example, total profit summed up across all divisions, total sales volume. Only the most important, key types of businesses and strategic business units can be given the main characteristics of their performance, for example, sales volumes, profitability, and the contribution of the business unit to the overall results of the company.

The main strategy should provide a synergy effect. Synergy is the most important characteristic of complex systems, meaning that when various departments and business units of a company interact, the overall result exceeds the sum of the simple effects of their activities.

The main strategy is not the sum of the strategies of its divisions, but a synthesis of the development strategies of the divisions, on the basis of which a new level of development is achieved. As a result of the interaction and interrelation between different strategies, a synergy effect often appears, as a result of which the overall effect of the company's strategy is significantly higher than the sum of the effects of the division strategies.

Developing a major, corporate-wide strategy is the most difficult task of strategic management. It is necessary to determine the combination and scale of activities, draw up a so-called portfolio of businesses, select markets, determine main priorities, formulate a key ideology, select and place managers in key positions.

2. Business line strategies or business unit strategies

These strategies are developed when the company has independent types of businesses and autonomous or semi-autonomous strategic business units. A business unit is a division of a company that carries out full cycle- marketing, production, sales, and in some cases research and development. Business units have great independence; their managers independently determine production, pricing and sales strategies, incentives and personnel selection, and production development. Various companies may impose restrictions on certain decisions made by SBU managers. In general, an SBU is a company within a company, but still, even in conditions of its maximum autonomy, restrictions on its independent decisions must be observed. At the same time, SBUs should not independently:

• - change the type of activity, production profile,
• - sell equipment and technologies,
• - take loans exceeding the limits established by the company (for example, more than 10% of the total value of SBU assets)
• - dismiss the head of the SBU and key managers.

The development strategy of each SBU should be developed taking into account the main strategy of the company.

2. Functional strategies

The purpose of these strategies is to ensure the implementation of the strategies of business units and the company as a whole. When developing them, general corporate objectives and, at the same time, development objectives of departments as a whole are taken into account. Many companies mistakenly believe that it is possible to do without developing these strategies and limit themselves to the main strategy and business unit strategies. But in this case, the goals and objectives set in them “hang in the air”, since there is uncertainty about who is responsible for what, what tasks need to be solved first, and how to coordinate the implementation of tasks. Functional strategies must be extremely specific.

These strategies are most often classified by functional divisions of the company. Another approach is to classify them according to general types of activities. For example, in this form: marketing strategy, financial strategy, innovation strategy, production strategy, social strategy, organizational change strategy, environmental strategy. (41,252-253).

It should be noted that the approach based on developing strategies for functional units is more specific, since it is clear who is responsible for development and implementation. In addition, each functional department develops an innovation strategy, an organizational change strategy, a social strategy, etc. The marketing strategy should be developed by the marketing division, but it is unclear who should develop the social, innovation and a number of other strategies and be responsible for their implementation. It should also be kept in mind that every strategy must be innovative.

3. Strategies for teams, work groups and workers

The experience of strategic management has shown that the company's strategy will be effectively implemented only when the general strategic goals of the upper level are transformed into the strategic goals of lower-level employees, on whom the implementation of the strategy depends.

In the bureaucratic approach, strategy is controlled by the upper level of management and mechanically transferred to the lower levels of management. At the same time, the problems of connecting the corporate development strategy of the company as a whole with the strategies of its divisions, groups, teams and employees directly are not resolved. This approach to the strategic gap is when strategic goals are set by management, but the strategies are ineffective due to the lack of connection between the strategic goals of the higher and lower levels of the company and the interest of lower level employees in achieving them. Strategic management involves ensuring relationships between the strategic goals of all levels of company management.

The importance of fourth-level strategies is currently increasing due to the development of self-government and self-organization in companies, when the center of gravity of management actions and decisions is transferred to team network structures, work groups and directly to employees implementing strategies.

Classification of strategies by type of company development

The classification of strategies was developed in the 70s of the last century and included the definition and grouping of reference or basic strategies, depending on their impact on the company’s growth and its behavior in the market. Groups of strategies include: a) growth strategies, these include strategies of concentration, vertical integration, diversification; b) stabilization strategies; c) defense strategies include harvesting, turning around, divestment, bankruptcy, and liquidation strategies (42)(29)

Modern conditions require changes and expansion of this classification. This is due to the following:

• - it is advisable to expand the composition of basic strategies taking into account a number of strategies intensively used by many companies in recent years. These include, in particular, strategies for restructuring, business reengineering, TQM, etc.;
• - it is necessary to take into account that it is impossible to unambiguously assign a number of basic strategies to only one group (growth, stabilization or protection). A number of basic strategies can implement not one, but several different types of company development. For example, diversification, TQM, restructuring, reengineering and a number of others can be used both as growth strategies and in distressed companies for defensive purposes. The diversification strategy can also be applied both for the purposes of company growth, for stabilization purposes, or for protection purposes;
• - it is advisable to combine the type of stabilization strategy with protection and survival, since they are very closely related. In this case, the company strives to protect its market share rather than lose it. The business liquidation strategy is part of the group of business reduction strategies.

Taking into account various types development basic strategies Firms are divided into the following types:

• 1. Growth strategies:
  • - concentration;
  • - TQM;
  • - repositioning of products
  • - customization;
  • - reengineering.
• 2. Stabilization, protection, survival strategies:
  • - integration (direct, reverse);
  • - diversification (connected, not connected), concentrated, horizontal, conglomerate);
  • - customization;
  • - reengineering;
  • - restructuring;
  • - mergers.
• 3. Reduction Strategies:
  • - diversification (connected, not connected), concentrated, horizontal, conglomerate);
  • - repositioning of products;
  • - customization;
  • - reengineering;
  • - restructuring;
  • - termination of investments (profit making);
  • - mergers;
  • - bankruptcy;
  • - liquidation.

Features of basic strategies:

1. Growth strategies are aimed at expanding market activities, increasing company assets, and increasing investment volumes. In many cases, company management deliberately chooses growth strategies that involve a high level of risk, since no one can guarantee that a rapid increase in goods and services will bring the expected profits in an environment of intense competition.

Depending on the pace of development of the company (profit growth, sales, assets) there are:

• - super-growth or hyper-growth strategy, these include companies that, within 10 years, have been gaining high rates of development and achieving total sales of more than $1 billion. or have a dominant position in the market (49);
• - a dynamic growth strategy, when the company is part of the group of leading companies in terms of development rates, but does not occupy a dominant position. A prerequisite is exceeding the average market growth rate and accelerating the pace of development;
• - a strategy of spasmodic growth (leap), when a company suddenly increases its pace of development within a short period of time;
• - a moderate growth strategy means the company’s adaptation to average market growth rates;
• - a slow growth strategy means an increase in the economic potential of the company, the rate of its development is lower than the market opportunities of the average rate of market growth;
• - a strategy of moderate growth, when there is an increase in economic indicators of profit, sales, assets in absolute terms, but at the same time the rate of increase in these indicators compared to the previous period is reduced. Such a strategy may be associated with the exhaustion of the capabilities of both the company itself and with a decrease in the potential for market development, its achievement of maturity and saturation.
• 2. Stabilization, protection and survival strategies are aimed at maintaining a market niche and market share. In these conditions, the main task is to search for internal reserves and profitable market opportunities with minimal levels of risk.
• 3. Downsizing strategies have the main goal of minimizing a company's costs of businesses that cause it losses. Under these conditions, the company's profits are minimal, profitability is low, and most often it incurs losses. The task of managers is to radically change the company, its complete reorganization, changes in activities, transition to growth or stabilization strategies, protection and survival. If this fails, then the task is to exit the market with minimal losses when closing the business.

Growth, stabilization and contraction of a company can be implemented in various ways through strategies at the following level:

Concentrations are an increase in output volumes of the main products or services. Variants of this strategy are possible: horizontal concentration based on the acquisition or opening of companies producing the same products; concentration based on market development - increasing market share, increasing the company's market rating; concentration based on product development - improving its quality, increasing the family of products.

Integration (forward and backward), sometimes called vertical integration, means increasing the company's control over consumers and suppliers through the acquisition or creation of companies located at the top and bottom of the technological chain of production and sales. If upstream companies are acquired or created, for example, consuming its products or services, this is called forward integration, or, for example, a steel plant acquires an automobile plant. If downstream companies are acquired or created, this is a backward integration strategy. For example, a company acquires a company that supplies semi-finished products.

Diversification involves the production of goods and services that differ from the basic ones. There are connected and incoherent diversification. The strategy of coherent diversification means the production of new goods and services similar to the basic ones. Disjunctive diversification refers to the production of goods and services that are completely unrelated to the company's core business. An example of unrelated diversification: a machinery manufacturing company opens a food products business. Disjunctive diversification is also called conglomerate diversification. If a company expands its production into new areas, but its products and services remain close to the core, it is said to be concentrated diversification.

TQM (Total Quality Management) is a company development strategy based on promoting the quality of products and services as the main goal and priority criterion for assessing the effectiveness of development. The quality improvement strategy permeates the entire company from management to ordinary employees. Each innovation is assessed, first of all, from the point of view of its impact on increasing the quality of products and services. The quality level is monitored daily. The main task of the company's personnel in TQM conditions is the transition to a zero level of defects. The company is developing a complex system of internal planning, control and regulation of product quality at all stages of its creation, from the selection of suppliers to delivery to customers. Continuous training of personnel is carried out and periodic quality audits of the entire company and its divisions are carried out.

Repositioning strategy is based on changing the position of the product in the minds of consumers through advertising, changing some of its properties, and price. As a result, the product moves from one segment to another. This strategy reflects the principle of moving to higher positions in a new segment. If a product fails to achieve leadership in its segment, it can become one of the leaders in new segments.

Customization - involves increasing the value of a product by linking it to the individual needs and characteristics of consumers. Thus, it can be carried out in the form of attracting consumers to participate in the production of a product or service, through individual selection of components of a product or service, and involvement in the design of the final product.

Reengineering involves a complete redesign of an existing business. All products and services, business processes, and management functions are audited and questioned. The main goal is to create new, more efficient production, sales and management systems. Unlike modernization or innovation that affects individual systems of a company, reengineering radically changes its appearance. It should be noted that many companies cannot benefit from its use, since they do not risk making radical changes, and partial reengineering is not effective enough. But even individual results are impressive. For example, instead of 10-15 days for product delivery from the moment an order is received, many companies, after reengineering, reduced this time to 1-3 days and sharply reduced costs. After successful reengineering, companies can become market leaders.

Restructuring is a change in the internal structure of the company, primarily due to the release of low-profit and non-core industries, the elimination of redundant links in management. As a result of restructuring, as a rule, the number of employees is reduced by 20-40%, new owners and managers often come in, and a new company structure is created, which is simpler, more economical and productive.

Termination of investment (extraction of residual profits) - this strategy is based on the cessation of investments in the development of the company and its divisions, profits are extracted from the company and it is prepared for sale, reorganization or liquidation. This strategy is used in conditions where it is difficult to compete and the company is losing its market position, and there is no opportunity to attract investment.

Mergers are a strategy based on the combination of companies. Often strategy is the only way for an ineffective company to avoid bankruptcy. But often this strategy takes the form of a takeover or takeover, when one company, in order to eliminate a competitor, acquires its controlling stake and deprives it of independence. The problem of hostile takeovers is acute in the global economy, when deals and financial transactions are concluded at sharply increased speeds in the context of electronic communications. What distinguishes a merger from an acquisition is the voluntary nature of the decision of both parties. Acquisition on the other hand is considered an unethical means of competition.

Bankruptcy - this strategy is used by companies in difficult financial situations, when the company cannot pay off its debts in full and is besieged by creditors. In world practice, bankruptcy recognition is often used to protect a company from creditors for a certain period and does not always result in its liquidation. A company has the opportunity through the court to obtain a deferment in the payment of debts and a freeze of creditors’ claims for a certain period, sometimes up to 3 years, which allows the company to get a break and increase its efficiency.

Liquidation is the last stage in the life cycle of an organization. During liquidation, the company is completely deprived of its assets, ceases operations, and the debt of creditors is paid. The liquidation strategy makes sense for companies in conditions where it is more profitable to create a new production facility than to invest in the reorganization of an unprofitable one.

Classification by functional activities of the company

Product strategy (product-market, production) determines what products will be produced, in what volumes and for what markets.

The strategy for the selection and development of technologies determines the choice of types of technologies, the calculation of capacity needs, the level of their competitiveness, and the ways of their development and improvement.

The resource strategy determines what types of resources will be used, the need for volumes of resources, alternative possibilities for their use, the composition of suppliers and quality control of supplied materials and raw materials, ways to save resources and other technical and economic characteristics.

Innovation strategy - determines the innovation policy of the organization, what innovations and in which divisions of the company will be developed and implemented, the timing and costs of their development and implementation.

Logistics strategy - determines the overall logistics model of the company, optimal routes for the supply of its resources and delivery of goods to customers, the most effective options for storing inventories and goods, and intra-factory transportation.

Marketing strategy - determines the principles of development and sales of goods and services, pricing policy, customer relations, behavior in relation to competitors, advertising and promotion of goods and other characteristics that provide the company with the most successful sales and growth.

Sales strategy - closely related to the marketing strategy, is developed for the company's sales divisions, determining for them sales volumes and schedules, prices, discounts, after-sales service and other factors affecting sales.

Research and development strategy - determines the selection of key directions for the development of new products and services, strategic alliances for joint development, targets for new products and their life cycles.

Financial strategy - determines the methods of attracting and the volumes of attracted financial resources, the ratio between equity and borrowed capital, the main indicators of the effectiveness of financial and economic activities, principles of cash flow management, settlements with creditors and other financial characteristics.

Investment strategy - determines the sources of investment resources, the nature of financing investment projects, the direction of investment, the distribution of investment resources between the company's divisions, indicators of return on investment, the economic results of investment processes.

Social morality strategy - determines the principles of the company’s behavior and its obligations to the state and society, customers, company personnel, competitors, and suppliers.

The strategy of forming and maintaining an image (PR strategy - Public Relations) is a strategy aimed at creating a positive image of the company in the public consciousness through the company’s participation in activities aimed at social progress, supporting low-income segments of the population, producing goods and services that meet the characteristics stated in advertising .

These strategies are aimed at developing the company’s internal potential and strengthening its factors that ensure market success.

A number of these strategies can be detailed. For example, sales strategy and marketing strategy determine the nature of the company’s behavior in relation to leading competitors:

• - the strategy to become a leading leader means the company’s desire to take first place among its competitors;
• - strategy for joining the group of leaders - the company strives to enter the group of the first 10 or more companies, but does not strive to dominate the rest of the leaders;
• - the strategy of following leaders or leaders means that the company copies the actions of the leaders and maintains relatively small sales volumes compared to the leaders;
• - maneuver strategy - a company, while maintaining a trade secret, is preparing a sudden release of a new product or service, which should make it a market leader;
• - a strategy of a stable market position or market equilibrium, the company strives to maintain the existing position and market equilibrium. The meaning of this strategy is that the desire for leadership can cause sharp responses from competitors (changes in pricing policy, advertising and other actions) and disrupt the stability of the market.

L. Fahey and R. Randell MBA course in strategic management. Ed. L. Fahey. R.Rendell. - M.: Alpina Business Books, 2005. - 48-56 p. suggested types of strategies:

• - an innovation strategy that is built around new “breakthrough” products, technologies or solutions;
• - a renewal strategy that contains new business opportunities related to products, consumers, technologies or competencies that are familiar to the company and relate to the same business area;
• - Incremental improvement strategies involve gradual, small changes in the size, appearance and purpose of the company. Small changes are added to the basic solutions.

This classification reflects the general nature of changes in companies. It is advisable to use it in combination with other classifications.

M. Porter developed a classification of strategies into generic types.

All strategies, according to his concept, can be divided into three generic types, depending on whether they cover the market or a separate narrow segment.

As a result of the classification, four types of strategies are formed, belonging to three generic types.

The first generic type - the cost leadership strategy - means that all the company's efforts are focused on the production and sale of cheaper products compared to competitors.

In order to achieve competitive advantages, companies use the principle of economies of scale or experience curve models. The essence of this model is that a statistical connection has been established between a decrease in the unit cost of producing a unit of goods or services and an increase in production volumes. When product output doubles, the cost of producing a unit of goods or services decreases by 15-30% compared to the previous level.

The use of this strategy is based on covering as large a share of the market as possible; the focus is on population groups with highly elastic demand, which respond strongly to price reductions. Price reductions compared to well-known brands can reach 3-5 and even 10 times. However, quality, reliability and service with this strategy fade into the background, often being sacrificed in the name of cost.

The second generic type - differentiation strategy - can be used both in a wide market, many segments, and in a separate narrow market segment. If a new quality or property is created for a standard product, then we're talking about about the strategy of broad differentiation, if on a narrow one, a third type of generic strategy arises.

The third type of generic strategy - the focusing strategy - means concentrating the company's efforts on a narrow segment. If a company in this segment tries to achieve a competitive advantage through lower costs compared to competitors, this strategy is called cost focusing. If, in a particular segment, a company focuses (concentrates) its efforts on differentiation, increasing quality and the emergence of new features in the products and services it offers, this strategy is called a differentiation focus strategy.

Developing and choosing a strategy is a complex, creative process for which it is impossible to offer ready-made templates and sets of recommendations. Only a non-standard, creative strategy allows you to achieve market leadership.

Various combinations of market environmental factors and company organizational factors create large quantities possible development options. The task of the company's management is to develop a product development strategy based on innovation, to create and maintain sustainable competitive advantages that ensure the company's success.

The essence of the organization's strategy

The term “strategy” has long been firmly established in the everyday life of managers, executives and others. In the field of entrepreneurship, strategy means planning the very methods and rules that the enterprise as a whole follows in order to obtain a predetermined result. Meanwhile, Dictionary Ozhegova in this direction interprets strategy as: “The art of management planning based on correct and far-reaching forecasts.”

General concept the word “strategy” is defined by all people in a similar way; accordingly, intuitively, every entrepreneur, regardless of the type of activity, knows that business strategy represents some decisions that, depending on their complexity, have one or another meaning for the enterprise and will entail different kind of consequences. Depending on the purposes for which the chosen strategy is applied, strategic planning can have different types, methods and give different results.

I. Ansoff says that “strategy is a set of rules for making decisions that guide an organization in its activities.”

According to M. Porter, “Strategy is the creation - through a variety of actions - of a unique and valuable position.”

According to M.G. Melnik “Enterprise strategy – long-term, most fundamental, important guidelines, plans, intentions of enterprise management regarding production, income and expenses, capital investments, prices, social protection.”

Next to strategy, there is another, also well-known term - “enterprise policy”, which is sometimes confused with strategy, but they are not identical. The purpose of the policy is to declare the intentions of the enterprise, which are determined on the basis decisions made, necessary to follow the main strategy - that is, strategy is a broader and more complex concept than policy. And in business there are many types of it, depending on the decisions that are implemented:

Financial strategy is those decisions that determine the methods of raising funds, accumulating them and spending them;

Technological strategy – that is, decisions that influence the way resources are produced;

Product-market strategy - decisions regarding the behavior of the enterprise in the sales market, volumes and methods of selling commercial products, their quality, and so on;

Social strategy – decisions regarding the organization’s staff, its structure and the nature of employee interaction;

Management strategy – decisions on methods and means of enterprise management;

Merger and acquisition strategy - decisions that determine readiness to eliminate part of the ineffective functional elements of the enterprise (branches, divisions, etc.), or, conversely, to acquire new elements that are necessary for the development of the enterprise;

Corporate strategy – decisions that influence the definition and development of the value system of the enterprise’s personnel, compliance with which is necessary to achieve the global goal;

Restructuring strategy - decisions to bring the organizational, production and resource base in line with the changed strategy, in connection with changed conditions

Economic theory highlights key points business strategies by identifying basic approaches leading to the growth of the organization in one way or another. Today, these basic approaches are the standard, since they use the four most important elements that vary in these basic approaches, which is necessary to determine the strategy of the enterprise both in its current state and in the future:

The industry and the place of the enterprise within it;

The product that is being produced;

The technology that is used in this case

The main four types include strategies:

Concentrated growth;

Integrated growth;

Diversified growth;

Abbreviations

1. Concentrated growth strategy

This group is responsible for adapting the product or service to market needs. Analysis is carried out and actions are taken to improve quality or create a new product. The market is scanned for the possibility of strengthening the position of the company or entrepreneur, and options for changing the market - moving to another one - are also being considered. This type includes strategies:

Strengthening market positions – all possible actions are taken to strengthen market positions; Great marketing efforts are made to promote and strengthen the positions gained; actions are taken to ensure control over competitors and maximum dominance in the segment;

Market development – ​​an in-depth analysis of existing markets is carried out for the sale of the company’s product (or service offered);

Product development – ​​development of a product “from scratch” with subsequent implementation in the market in which the company has its weight; these actions are also aimed at achieving maximum growth of the company

2. Integrated growth strategy

Typically, companies with “strong” positions in the market resort to this type. Those for which the application of concentrated growth is not possible and the implementation of integrated growth strategies does not interfere with long-term goals. The expansion of the company is carried out through the acquisition of new structures. This type is represented by two types of strategies:

Reverse vertical integration - creation of subsidiaries involved in supply; strengthening control over suppliers; when implementing this strategy, it is possible to reduce dependence on fluctuations in prices for raw materials or components, as well as on suppliers;

Direct vertical integration - carried out through the growth of the company by increasing control over intermediaries between it and the buyer, over sales and distribution systems

3. Diversified growth strategy

It must be used in cases where the enterprise is not able to continue development in the selected market with a certain product and within a given industry. It consists of strategies:

Centered diversification – monitoring and searching for business opportunities to launch the production of new products; the important point is to maintain existing production; the new is built on the basis of the needs of the developed market using proven technologies and the company’s strengths;

Horizontal diversification – development of new technologies for the release of a new product; the emphasis is on the production of products that are technologically independent from each other (old and new); competence in the manufacture of a new product is an important factor in this case;

Conglomerate diversification, which involves the production of new technologically unrelated products; sales are carried out in new markets; the most complex strategy among those presented, since for successful application it is necessary to calculate many factors.

4. Reduction strategy

These types of strategies are started when a company needs to regroup its forces. The main reasons may be the need to improve efficiency or change direction after a long period of growth. These types cannot be called painless. In the process of their use, not only production capacity is cut, but also employees are cut. They imply a complete restructuring of the business, its renewal. The main types of this type are strategies:

Liquidation is a last resort; applied when it is impossible to carry on the business further;

- “harvest” - the prevalence of short-term goals over long-term ones; applies to companies that cannot be profitably sold or modernized; it is assumed that by gradually reducing activities to zero, maximum profit can be achieved;

Abbreviations – sale of one or more divisions; is implemented when there is an unfavorable combination of two industries or when more promising production is developed (the ineffective one is sold, and cash go to current projects);

Cost reduction, which involves eliminating possible sources of costs; these may include both costs of production and employees; The main methods of this strategy are reducing production capacity and laying off workers.

Such reference development strategies commercial organization more typical for large organizations who most often combine them in their practice. The more activities an enterprise implements, the more of the above strategies can be applied.

When forming a strategy, the need for strategic planning arises.

To develop a comprehensive enterprise strategy, which is formed according to the main goal of the activity, the following steps are usually performed:

1. Determining the place of the enterprise in the current market system in the region, conducting market analysis. At this stage, a simple identification of the enterprise and its activities in a specific business and economic market takes place.

2. Conducting an analysis of the enterprise’s potential, the effectiveness of this work based on an assessment of available resources and a financial analysis of performance indicators.

3. Determination of the technological strategy and formation of the production, commodity, and resource bases of the enterprise.

4. Development of a financial strategy.

5. Development of social and management strategies.

6. Implementation of strategies.

7. Monitoring compliance with selected strategies by controlling and timely launching mechanisms of motivation, sanctions and other reactions to negative changes both within the enterprise and outside.

Thus, at this point there was the essence of the development strategy of a commercial organization. Strategy should be considered as a strategy of a business entity, the essence of which is to describe its behavior at the level dynamic process changes in strategies and which allows you to ensure the efficiency of the enterprise, in conditions of limited resources and rapidly changing conditions external environment. The main strategy of the enterprise is designed to: determine the organization’s capabilities in the sales market, which was studied at the first stage; allocate resources; improve management; achieve the main strategic goal by implementing additional goals in the process.

Features of developing a draft organization strategy

In a highly competitive environment, one of the primary skills is the correct allocation of the company's limited resources. Developing a marketing strategy helps to evaluate and wisely plan the use of the enterprise’s potential. Achieving set goals and obtaining maximum income over a long period of time are important points in the functioning of every company. The strategy allows you to clearly formulate a path and carry out structuring of the enterprise at all levels to obtain the desired result.

Many factors are taken into account when developing a project strategy. Internal analysis of a company allows one to judge its potential. External market research determines the possible areas of activity of the enterprise. Strategy development is a complex, multi-level approach to doing business. The leader sets the goal not only to reach a certain point, but also to gain a foothold in the position. Continued development and consolidation of the company's achievements are a priority in long-term business planning

The process of forming a marketing strategy takes a long time. It is required to conduct an in-depth analysis and systematize the information received. As a rule, to draw up a high-quality strategic plan, they use the services of consulting companies. They prepare detailed reports on the activities and situation on the market, and make proposals to solve existing problems. Every business uses its own unique marketing strategy. It is created taking into account the specifics of the company’s activities and market volatility.

Applying the right marketing strategy to a business plan will allow you to accurately calculate the course of the enterprise. Identifying and correcting weaknesses in initial stage will reduce possible risks during project implementation. Developing methods that will be activated at certain stages will help achieve income over an extended period. When creating a strategy, flexibility, the ability to understand the market and adapt to its conditions are important

The process of creating a strategy can be divided into five stages. Each of them has its own function and helps to achieve a holistic picture of actions. The stages of developing a marketing strategy allow you to conduct a comprehensive study of activities and identify further development paths.

1. Enterprise analysis

Conducting a marketing audit and determining the goals that the company sets for itself. At this stage it is necessary to draw up a development plan. When forming goals, it is important to consider the basic principles that they must comply with. These include:

Specificity – precise formulation of real goals;

Achievability – an adequate assessment of the company’s capabilities and strengths;

Consistency with each other – eliminating inconsistency of goals;

Measurability – setting an exact period for implementation; the ability to control and evaluate the result;

Comparability with the period allotted for their implementation.

When setting goals, the overall direction of the company and the qualifications of the employees are taken into account. You can set not only material goals, but also intangible ones. So, for example, the formation of a certain image of the company in the consumer market, after a certain period, is a very realistic goal

2. Market analysis

Conducting a comprehensive study of the market segment in which the products are expected to be sold. Assessing the potential of the proposed product. In-depth analysis of sales indicators: monthly and quarterly. Identification of the relationship between supply and demand. At the second stage, you need to find the main support for the formation of consumer interest. Analyze and understand what affects trade turnover. Seasonal demand, supplies of raw materials, sales techniques - all this significantly affects the company's profit.

It is important to assess development prospects and possible changes sales market and suppliers. Anticipate likely price fluctuations. Reveal weak spots in the system of production and sales of products. The combination of all these factors will provide an understanding of the market of interest.

3. Analysis of enterprise policy

The first step is to work out the line of interaction with partners and consumers. If there is an established pattern of behavior, conduct detailed analysis effectiveness of the methods used. Change the scheme if it does not meet the new requirements. The main thing is to find the right methods that will ensure maximum profit when communicating with consumers and minimal costs when working with suppliers.

Studying the actions of competitors will allow us to modernize the company's policy taking into account their positive or negative experience. Analyzing the performance of other enterprises will help you shape your own path more effectively. If on this moment There are no competitors, then you should consider possible actions if they appear in the future. All the results of the studies must be summarized. Application of the obtained data will allow you to create a competent company policy.

4. External factor analysis

This includes everything from fashion trends in the business sphere to the global economy. When creating a long-term action plan, it is necessary to take into account all possible influences. The economic situation of the country directly affects business development. And she, in turn, is influenced world economy. Even the smallest company by state standards is in close connection with global changes in the international political and economic arena. It is important not just to “see” your business, but also to associate it with global changes

5. Drawing up a marketing plan

At the fifth stage, the previously obtained data is processed. A combined analysis of factors and indicators allows us to formulate a clear development strategy for the company. Proper distribution of the enterprise's limited resources makes it possible to achieve its goals at the lowest cost. A set of measures is being developed that will be implemented. A plan is created with fixed deadlines and goals. “Hot spots” are provided, which will be used to monitor the implementation of assigned tasks. Based on them, the movement of the company is analyzed. If necessary, make corrections.

When developing a specific strategy, the company's main performance indicators are taken into account. Based on the research carried out, a decision is made on the further development path of the enterprise. There comes a crucial moment for making a choice that can radically change the company’s position in the market. Decisions are made to change the scope of activity, close or open additional production, improve or replace the main product (goods)

Radical measures aimed at achieving set goals are characteristic features strategy development. To choose the right direction of development, certain tools are used. When developing a marketing strategy, two methods are used: formal and informal. In the first case, formulas and tables are used for calculations. The second is characterized by an intuitive approach. The use of the formal method involves the use of marketing matrices. Most often chosen:

M. Porter's model, which establishes a connection between market share and company profitability (much attention is paid to competitors; focused on slow-growing markets);

I. Ansoff’s matrix, which reflects the real and planned level of development of the company (focused on a growing market).

One of the signs of a successfully implemented scheme is the company’s position in the market. If, after starting to implement a marketing strategy, the company has noticeably improved its performance, then it is working. If there are no changes, the strategy used should be reconsidered. A criterion for the effectiveness of a marketing strategy is also the achievement of set goals. If tasks are carried out systematically, then the right strategy has been chosen. In the process of applying a marketing strategy, it is necessary to monitor indicators (income, expenses, sales and demand levels, etc.) for timely correction of work. Constantly changing market economy and consumer demand oblige companies to be sensitive to the slightest fluctuations and take appropriate measures. This helps to maintain the gained position in the market for a long time

To create a strategy, a large-scale study of the company is carried out, which reflects the real level of the enterprise. The influence of external and internal factors is studied. The reasons that have the main effect on the purchasing behavior of target consumers of the product are determined. Using the obtained data to create a marketing strategy allows you to achieve high results in the company's activities.

Sergey Anuriev, Vladimir Smetanin

When starting to develop a strategy, it is necessary to clearly determine at what level the planning will be carried out - the list and sequence of actions for developing the strategy depend on this. In practice, there are four levels of strategy (see the sidebar “Levels of Strategic Management”).

IN Russian practice There are almost no examples of strategies created for groups of independent companies. The presence of functional strategies has also not yet become the norm for most domestic enterprises. It makes sense to develop functional and business unit strategies in detail only for priority business areas. The most important level of strategic planning, in our opinion, is the corporate strategy, with which it is also advisable to begin the planning process. Therefore, in this article we will consider in detail the process of forming a corporate strategy.

In general, corporate strategy answers two key questions for any diversified company:

• what business areas will the company’s portfolio include, that is, where will it direct its resources (investments, time, people);
• What role will the corporate center play in business management and what degree of independence will each of these businesses have separately?

Conventionally, the process of developing a company’s corporate strategy can be divided into six stages:

1. Setting strategic goals.

2. Identification of business areas.

3. Assessing the prospects of business areas.

4. Formation of the company’s business portfolio and development of development alternatives.

5. Determination of the powers of the management company (corporate management center).

6. Formalization of the developed strategy.

Setting strategic goals

At the first stage, the goals of the owners and top management of the company are determined, as well as the boundaries of the markets within which these goals will be achieved.

The company's goals may be to increase sales, assets, market share, etc. However, the company's overall goal is growth of its value (capitalization). Defining a goal largely depends on the ambitions of management and the situation in which the company finds itself. Some companies set themselves the goal of “maintaining market share,” while others, more ambitious ones, set a 10-fold increase in company value in five years.

Another important point of the stage is determining the space to achieve the goal. The boundaries within which the search for potential opportunities for the development of the company will take place are set, that is, in essence, the areas of activity of the company are determined. These boundaries are set based on the shareholders' vision of the future of their business.

The best way to implement the first stage is a brainstorming session, in which the company's owners and top managers jointly participate.

At this stage, third-party consultants can only be involved as coordinators of the work performed.

At this stage, there is no need for an in-depth analysis of industries and existing markets. The main task is to structure the knowledge of the market situation and existing market prospects that the owners and management of the company have, and to develop a unified decision regarding the company’s goals and scope of activity. At the same time, in the course of subsequent steps, preliminary goals based on the results of the marketing and financial analysis can be clarified and adjusted both in terms of timing and meaning.

Personal experience

Alexander Byrikhin,Member of the Board of Directors of CJSC Firma Avgust (Moscow)
In our company, strategy development was carried out through a series of brainstorming sessions in which most of the company's owners and top managers participated.

At the same time, we were faced with the fact that, despite the apparent unity of opinions regarding the need for change, the participants did not have a common understanding of how to solve existing problems. Therefore, during brainstorming sessions, it is recommended to pay special attention to the terms and concepts that the participants use. It should be noted that brainstorming sessions were rather the final stage of developing the company's strategy, since the preliminary work on market analysis and financial modeling had already been generally completed by that time.

Selection of business areas

At this stage, it is necessary to draw up a list of priority types of business that are within the accepted scope of the company. In other words, the scope of activity is decomposed to the level of market segments that may be of interest to the company. For example, if deep timber processing is chosen as the area of ​​activity, then among the market segments (business areas) we can distinguish such as the production of board materials, plywood, etc.

Each of the identified market segments should be characterized in the following information sections:

• factors that determine market behavior and have a significant impact on supply volume. Among them can be both widespread (purchasing power of the population, dollar exchange rate, etc.) and and more specialized (availability of substitute products);
• analysis of the successful experience of competitors and identification of key success factors. For example, the company took a leading position in the market thanks to effective branding and the fact that competitors relied on mass appeal and were forced to give up part of the market. In this case, the key success factor is a well-formed brand. Depending on the market, key success factors may also include production technology, product quality, active advertising campaign and others.

Such an analysis will allow you to narrow the number of market segments under consideration from several hundred to a dozen of the most attractive business areas. The main sources of information necessary to identify business areas and analyze them are company experts, industry specialists, as well as analysis of the experience of international companies and the development of the situation in similar foreign markets.

Assessing the prospects of business areas

During the third stage, for each of the market segments selected at the previous stage, an analysis of the market situation is carried out and development forecasts are made. For each business area, you need to answer the following questions:

• what are the capacity, average growth rate and key drivers of the market;
• what is the concentration of players in this market; what share does the leader and average player occupy in the market;
• what niches exist in the market for the company;
• what is the average return on sales of the main players in this market; which
• investments must be made in order to enter and occupy an average market share;
• how all the above market parameters will change over the course of two to three years.

Most of the issues listed fall within the competence of the company's marketing department. If one does not exist, then the research can be performed by third-party consultants.

Personal experience

Alexander Byrikhin
The capacity of the market in which our company operates was assessed by several firms specializing in marketing research. The results of the assessment had a discrepancy of about $40 million (approximately 15% of the average estimate of market size), due to which a number of key participants in brainstorming sessions formed the opinion that, in the absence of accurate initial data, work on creating a strategy is inappropriate, since it does not allow accurately plan your results. It took a lot of effort to create an understanding that the purpose of the work being carried out was to determine the main direction of the company's development and the main steps that should be taken, and not extremely precise planning of financial results.

As a result, for each market segment the forecast value of the market share (sales volume) and the amount of investment required to achieve it must be determined. Thus, we can talk about the potential for creating value for the company in each of the business areas. It should be noted that such an assessment of probable income and required investments has a significant degree of error. It is important that for all analyzed business areas the degree of reliability of the forecast estimates obtained is comparable. Otherwise, it will be impossible to compare the effectiveness of the analysis results.

Formation of a business portfolio and development of development alternatives

The task of the fourth stage is to form the company’s future business portfolio from a set of potentially interesting areas. To do this, within the framework of a set of business areas, the company determines its development priorities, as a rule, by assessing the attractiveness of each of the areas relative to each other. In practice, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix and similar tools are widely used for this purpose.

Personal experience

Denis Demenko,Head of Marketing Department at Angstrem (Voronezh)
It should be noted that there was no problem of choosing business directions in the company as such. We resolved this issue at the first stage due to the fact that the business owners had an extremely clear understanding of what areas of the business should be developed. The main task was to select and analyze promising markets in which the company will operate. The territory of Russia was considered as the main furniture market (the company’s core activity). It should be noted that Russian market furniture is opaque and it is almost impossible to collect reliable information about its capacity. Therefore, we analyzed trends in foreign markets and used the data obtained when analyzing Russian conditions.

The markets of Europe and the USA were assessed as promising. The main criteria for market analysis were the following characteristics: profitability of sales in the domestic market, stage of market development, level of competition in the market, competitiveness of the company’s products, financial and other restrictions imposed by the logistics of the product. For each market, cash flows were planned in detail, and based on their analysis, a decision was made on the advisability of entering it.

In addition to the priority business area, several other options for areas of activity are also selected that are slightly inferior to it in terms of growth rate and market share. Based on the results of the analysis, several alternatives are formed, which represent different combinations of business areas. Each alternative necessarily includes a priority business area as the basis for further development. The formation of alternatives is a creative process, difficult to formalize and is largely based on the ability of management and owners to choose those business areas that together will ensure the sustainability of the company's development. Quite often, alternatives are given “telling” names, for example, “Last Jerk” or “Knight’s Move”.

Typically, from the entire set of business areas, two or three alternatives to the company’s business portfolio are compiled, for which a detailed financial model is then built, which takes into account seasonality, cost structure, changes in cost and capital structure, and a number of other factors that describe each business area separately. and the business portfolio as a whole.

Based on the results of financial modeling and the strategic development goals of the company, one is selected from two or three previously identified alternatives - the target alternative for forming the company’s business portfolio.

Personal experience

Alexander Byrikhin
During the brainstorming sessions and analysis of possible alternatives, the main direction of the company's development and markets were determined. Here is an excerpt from the company's vision: “We foresee stable growth in the agricultural market. Therefore, we will supply our target consumers with a wide portfolio of services and products, including plant protection products, seeds and mineral fertilizers. To strengthen our position

In the market, we will reform the system of relationships with suppliers of active ingredients. Our main markets over the next five years will be countries former USSR, with the exception of the Baltic states. In this case, priority will be given to the markets of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The target consumers of our products will be agricultural producers and corporate clients.”

During the discussion, other alternatives were also considered, for example, the development of the production of forest protection products. But these options, based on expert opinions, were excluded as unpromising even before financial modeling.

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