strategic planning is a question worth discussing. Let’s first look at what the BLM model is about.
In half of the textbooks of the BLM model, it is usually believed that "strategy is inspired by dissatisfaction, and dissatisfaction is a perception of the gap between the current situation and expected performance." Therefore, gap analysis will be regarded as the first step in strategic planning. Is this cognition correct in
? Or is it the only correct answer? Probably not exactly.
Let’s take a look at what other strategic planning models are talking about. The following figure is the McKinsey strategic planning process. Unlike the BLM model, the McKinsey planning method puts clarification of purpose, responsibilities and goals in the first step.
Let’s take a look at Roland Berger : Why does
have such a difference, and how should we do it in practice? Let's try to do some simple analysis.
1. Is it OK from the gap analysis
At first glance, it seems reasonable to start with the gap analysis to make strategic planning.
The so-called gap analysis is nothing more than two types. One is the performance gap, that is, the gap between existing business results and expectations, including the pain points in business management, or the gap with competitors and best practices. This type of gap usually does not require strategic changes, but is usually done by continuously improving efficiency and capabilities.
The second category is the opportunity gap, that is, for possible growth opportunities, we can seize such opportunities through strategic changes. For example, Xiaomi saw the market opportunities of new energy vehicles . This opportunity gap is not enough to be "faster, higher, and stronger" in the field of business management, and usually requires changes at the strategic level.
But in practice, it is problematic to start directly from the gap analysis. Let’s talk about the first gap first. There is actually an implicit assumption, that is, we hope to do better in the established business field, which is the so-called development strategy, rather than the maintenance or exit strategy. If the implicit assumption does not exist, then all gap analysis will lose its meaning.
The second type of gap problem will be even bigger. The more successful the company is, the more temptations it faces. Today, the huge profits of real estate are tempting, and tomorrow new energy will become the hottest again. If you just keep rushing to the hot spot, it is easy to fail in everything, and even drag the original business to death. At the same time, facing so many possible opportunities, if we sprinkle pepper analysis and research, on the one hand, we will consume a lot of resources, and on the other hand, we will be able to understand everything and be unprecise in everything, making it difficult to provide quality input for subsequent planning. In McKinsey's words, don't try to boil the sea water.
Therefore, before doing gap analysis, enterprises must first establish a preliminary strategic intention and use strategic intention as anchors to conduct effective gap analysis within a limited range.
If there is no strategic intention as a guide, it is easy to make a mistake in actual operations, that is, to conduct differences analysis based on the existing model of existing business, and not paying too much attention to changes in the external environment and market opportunities. Once the vision is limited, it is easy to turn the strategic planning into a business-level business plan. Over time, you will be ignorant of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and will be closed to the country and slowly be eliminated by the market.
This is just like what I discussed with my friend. If you do a gap analysis directly, then should you analyze the gap between our company and Huawei , the gap with , Microsoft , or the gap with , Tesla ? Most of the time is not necessary because we are unlikely to do business with Huawei, Microsoft or Tesla, and we don’t even think about it. This is the value of strategic intentions.
What the strategic planning discusses is actually to make intersections as strategic choices in things that you want to do, can do, and can do, and then plan the implementation path to achieve strategic decisions.
2. Why is it used to talking about the BLM model? Starting from gap analysis
Personally speculations, there may be two reasons:
One of the reasons: When Huawei uses the BLM model, although its strategic intention is not placed in the model, and it does not even need to discuss decision-making, it is clear and clear in the heart of Huawei's decision-making level, that is, to become bigger and stronger in the field of communication device . Including , Ren Zhengfei, , has also said many times that Huawei will never build cars, Huawei will not engage in real estate and other industries that make money, etc. Although it is not said directly, the strategic intention is clearly visible, so the benchmark for gap analysis is clear and clear.
When Huawei wanted to make a mobile phone, its intentions were clear and clear, so there was no need to repetitive work that clarified its strategic intentions. But this does not mean that all companies can directly conduct gap analysis, because different companies face different environments.
Reason 2: Some of the lecturers from Huawei are too lazy and read the wrong scriptures according to their scripts. If you are interested, you will find that the contents of the consultation lecturers who are also from Huawei are very different, which is a very common phenomenon. One situation is that the lecturer is very humble and makes money from the Huawei brand; the other situation is that Huawei is too big and cannot use the same management method to understand it. Therefore, it emphasizes that the direction is roughly correct, and each of them shows its magical powers at the execution level. Therefore, different lecturers, like blind people touching an elephant, treat their experience in their small environment as Huawei's general correctness.
If the company's market choice, strategic positioning, and strategic intentions may need to change, or the decision makers have already had new ideas, then they need to think about what the company's strategic intentions are, and then do further gap analysis.
Make a conclusion: The first step in strategic planning should start with strategic intentions and make gap analysis based on strategic intentions and current experience. On the one hand, doing gap analysis may be limited to the business level and lose the possibility of strategic changes; on the other hand, the scope of gap analysis may be vague and useless work will be done in a mess.
