Business strategy by Ad Valoris

Don't
get
lost
with
a
vague
and
rigid
strategy
that
will
miss
its
target

Nearly 70% of developed strategies are never implemented! Consequences? Team disengagement, unclear decisions, siloed work, and missed opportunities.

Avoid common strategic pitfalls

However, in a constantly evolving strategic landscape,acting without foresight is not a viable solution either.

MAKE YOUR STRATEGY STRONG & FLEXIBLE!

  • Establish a clear and inspiring vision
  • Focus your efforts and choose your battles wisely
  • Learn how to continuously refine your trajectory

Set
the
course
and
prepare
for
the
unexpected

01

Clarity of objectives

02

Effectiveness of the roadmap

03

Agility of management

01

Clarity of objectives

We help you clearly define your goal and the objectives that stem from it.
You position your company with an inspiring vision and clear strategic choices.

Aim

We help you develop a shared vision for the future, rather than specific responses to current challenges.

Formulate

We define precise and essential objectives to turn your vision into reality.

Adhere

We ensure your teams alignment and commitment by actively involving them in setting objectives.
Clarify your strategy
02

Effectiveness of the roadmap

We design the optimal trajectory that will lead you to your objectives.
You gain impact and engage your resources where they will truly have an impact.

Evaluate

We assess your current situation to define the most effective steps towards your objectives.

Identify

We identify the most efficient strategic levers to maximise the impact of the resources you use.

Implement

We implement key performance indicators (KPIs) to track and measure your progress.
Build an effective strategy
03

Agility of management

We give you the flexibility needed to adapt your plan to the field reality.
You are more resilient to the unexpected, take advantage of opportunities, and achieve your objectives.

Implement

We implement a culture of agility enabling you to respond to changes and unexpected events.

Adjust

We regularly adjust your roadmap based on your progress and the reality on the ground.

Deploy

We deploy monitoring mechanisms to ensure continuous alignment with your objectives.
Succeed in implementation

Our added
value

Your vision is clear

01.

You position your company with an engaging vision and clear strategic choices.

Your roadmap is effective

02.

You stay on course and engage your resources where they will truly make a difference.

Your strategy is successful

03.

You better resist the unexpected, take advantage of opportunities, and achieve your objectives
Let's meet

Strategic planning
By Ad Valoris

Business strategy guide: definition, types, and challenges

IF YOU HAVEN’T DONE IT ALREADY, DEVELOP YOUR STRATEGY

A clear strategy gives you a competitive advantage, aligns your teams,
and allows you to pivot with agility in the face of the unexpected.

NOT HAVING ONE IS LIKE NAVIGATING BLIND!

Set the course
and prepare for the unexpected
to make your success story possible

Let's talk clearly!

5 reasons to choose Strategy by Ad Valoris

You benefit from a clearly defined strategy aligned with a shared vision. 

Your teams are united and engaged in achieving your objectives. Your strategy is flexible enough to adapt to circumstances.

You constantly evaluate your progress, which allows you to anticipate risks and take advantage of opportunities.

You maximise the impact of the resources involved.

You transform the vision you pursue into results.

Contact us to learn more about our unique approach.
They trusted our expertise

Our solutions for this service

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Define your strategic objectives

Build an effective strategic roadmap

Succeed in implementing your strategy

To learn more

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Business strategy guide: definition, types, and challenges

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All articles on this topic
01 02 03 04 05

Avoid common strategic pitfalls

Business strategy is about deciding where to go, why to go there, and how to get there. Much like a car’s GPS. 

  • Where to go: this is about your vision and long-term objectives. What market position do you want to occupy? What goals do you wish to achieve? 

  • Why go there: this relates to the benefits and expected results to be generated by your strategy. What competitive advantages do you seek? What tangible results (such as increased revenue, greater market share, brand value, etc.) are you aiming for? What added value do you want to bring to your clients, employees, board or stakeholders?

  • How to get there: this is the action plan, outlining the pragmatic steps and resources required to achieve your objectives. It encompasses the tactics, initiatives, and assets needed to bring your vision to life. 

Without a strategy, your business risks losing direction, leading to wasted time and money. A well-defined strategy is essential as it provides clarity on direction, enables informed decision-making, and anticipates challenges proactively.

However, common pitfalls to avoid include excessive rigidity and sticking to a plan that isn’t delivering results, disregarding valuable feedback from your teams, or failing to adapt to evolving market dynamics.

For your strategy to be truly effective, it must embody the following essential characteristics:

Clarity: your strategy must be precisely and pragmatically defined.

A clear strategy is formulated to ensure that every member of the organisation can understand, adopt, and implement it. It avoids ambiguities and provides a precise direction for the future.

Tip: to enhance clarity, avoid jargon and overly technical terms. Use simple and direct language. Organise clarification sessions where team members can ask questions and gain deeper insights.
Selective: your strategy should be built on deliberate choices and trade-offs.

A selective strategy acknowledges that not everything can be pursued. It requires making intentional decisions about what to pursue and what to set aside. 

Tip: to maintain selectivity, regularly assess opportunities and challenges. Prioritise initiatives that offer the greatest return on investment and align with the company's vision.
Aligned: your strategy must be fully integrated with yourr company's mission, vision, and values.

An aligned strategy ensures harmony with the company’s fundamental identity and guiding principles, ensuring consistency in all actions. 

Tip: regularly review your mission, vision, and values to ensure their continued relevance. Validate that each strategic initiative strengthens them.
Adapted: your strategy must integrate for your company’s internal and external challenges.

A well-adapted strategy considers the environment in which the company operates. It is responsive to internal dynamics and external forces that can impact success. 

Tip: regularly conduct analyses (such as SWOT, PESTEL, 5S) to understand your company's environment. Adapt your strategy accordingly.
Efficient: your strategy should optimise the use of your company's capabilities and talents.

An efficient strategy maximises available resources. It ensures that the company’s talents and capabilities are leveraged optimally to achieve objectives. 

Tip: ensure you have the necessary resources to achieve your goals. Identify and capitalise on your organisation's strengths. Invest in training to bridge skill gaps and encourage cross-functional collaboration.
Differentiating: your strategy should create greater value than competition.

A differentiating strategy enables your company to stand out from  competitors by offering something unique and highly valued by customers.

Tip: identify what matters most to your customers and how you can meet these needs in a way competitors cannot. Continuously innovate to maintain
Flexible: your strategy should enable you to meet success along the way.

A flexible strategy acknowledges that change is inevitable. It enables a company to adapt and evolve according to shifting circumstances. 

Tip: adopt a mindset of continuous learning. Encourage feedback and be ready to refine your strategy based on experience and market shifts.

Running a business without a solid strategy is like navigating a dense forest without a compass. Business strategy is that compass, guiding every decision and action, to ensure each step moves you towards the desired success. But, like any compass, it must be properly calibrated. The characteristics described above are critical components of this calibration. If you want your business not only to survive but to thrive in its competitive environment, it is crucial to adopt a strategy that encompasses these elements. At Ad Valoris, we are experts in designing and implementing winning strategies.

Contact us to discover how we can help you map out the path to success for your business.

Clarify your strategy

Defining a clear vision and precise objectives acts as a compass for your company. It provides direction and engages your teams. Without vision or objectives, you risk losing your way and missing critical opportunities.

We help you shape a shared vision for the future, rather than specific responses to current challenges.

  • Our process begins with strategic brainstorming sessions involving leaders and key stakeholders to craft a shared vision of the future transcends short-term challenges. The goal is to develop a vision that is both inspiring and aligned with your company’s core values. 

  • Once the vision is defined, we test it against market realities and emerging opportunities to ensure it is both ambitious and achievable.

  • We work with you to communicate this vision clearly and effectively across the organisation, ensuring it becomes the guiding thread for all future decisions and actions.

We set precise and critical objectives to turn your vision into reality.

  • We organise workshops with the key stakeholders in your company to understand and define your strategic intent. These workshops ensure that all voices are heard, and that the chosen direction aligns with the aspirations of the entire organisation.

  • Once the intent is clarified, we help you break it down into concrete and measurable objectives. Our focus is on proposing only the most essential objectives needed to achieve your vision.

  • We work closely together to ensure these objectives are both ambitious and achievable, while aligning with your company’s values and culture.

We secure your teams' buy-in by involving them in objectives-setting process.

  • We establish open communication channels to inform and engage your teams at every step of the process. This ensures everyone is on the same page and understands the direction being taken. 

  • We implement regular feedback and exchange sessions with your teams to gather their opinions and concerns regarding the strategy. Not only does this helps identify and address potential resistance but it also recognises the expertise and experience of each team member, further strengthening their commitment to the shared vision.

  • We develop recognition and reward programmes to celebrate individual and collective successes in implementing the strategy. This creates a positive environment where efforts and contributions are recognised, fostering continued commitment and increased motivation towards strategic goals. 

Contact us to discover how we can help you define and map the path to success for your business.

Build an effective strategy

Designing the optimal trajectory towards your objectives enables you to create a clear action plan. This helps allocate resources efficiently and avoid costly pitfalls. With a well-defined path, you can measure progress, adjust course if necessary, and maintain team engagement.

We assess your current situation to better outline the steps towards your objectives.

  • We conduct an analysis of your current situation using strategic tools such as SWOT or PESTEL. This helps us understand where you stand in relation to your vision and identify the challenges and opportunities you are facing. 

  • Next, we use this information to develop a step-by-step roadmap that will guide you towards achieving your objectives. 

  • We collaborate together to ensure this plan is realistic, aligned with available resources, and adaptable to potential changes in your business environment.

We identify the most effective strategic levers to maximise the impact of resources involved.

  • We analyse the areas where your company can have the greatest impact, considering your unique competencies and resources. 

  • Following this analysis, we help you choose the strategic levers that will maximise the return on investment of your resources. 

  • Finally, we work together to deploy these levers effectively through strong integration with your overall strategy and objectives. 

We implement key performance indicators (KPIs) to track and measure your progress.

  • We define together the KPIs that are most relevant for measuring your strategy’s success and the achievement of your objectives. 

  • We implement tracking and reporting tools to enable you to monitor these KPIs in real time. 

  • We organise regular reviews to assess progress, adjust the plan if necessary, and make informed decisions based on reliable data. 

Contact us to discover how we can help you define and map the path to success for your business.

Succeed in implementation

It is crucial to have flexibility in your strategic plan because market conditions and external factors often change. This adaptability enables you to respond quickly to unexpected events, seize new opportunities, and avoid unnecessary risks. Being flexible helps you to remain competitive and achieve your objectives more effectively.

We will instil a culture of agility enabling you respond to changes and unforeseen events.

  • We introduce agile methodologies into your strategic implementation framework to foster rapid responsiveness to market changes or unexpected challenges. 

  • We train the involved teams in agile principles and tools so they can adapt and innovate in real time.

  • We collaborate together to integrate this culture of agility into your corporate strategy, ensuring maximum consistency and efficiency.

We regularly adjust your roadmap based on your progress and real-world conditions.

  • We conduct periodic reviews of your strategic plan’s implementation to assess its effectiveness and alignment with your objectives. 

  • We identify emerging opportunities and risks to adjust your strategy accordingly.

  • We work closely with your teams to implement these adjustments, ensuring your plan remains dynamic and relevant. 

We implement tracking mechanisms to ensure continuous alignment with your objectives.

  • We establish specific key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of your strategy. 

  • We use these KPIs to track progress and adjust plans as needed, ensuring you stay on the path to success.

  • We establish regular communication channels to share these measures and associated analyses with your teams, reinforcing their engagement and understanding of the overall strategy.

Contact us to discover how we can help you map out the path to success for your business.

Guide to business strategy: definition, types, and challenges

Business strategy has become an essential element for ensuring growth and sustainability of any organisation. Prepare to dive into the fascinating world of business strategy. 

What is business strategy?

Business strategy is a long-term plan that a company implements to achieve its objectives within the context of its resources and environment. It is the result of a series of decisions made by the company’s leaders, determining the direction to follow and the means to achieve it.

Business strategy is essential for several reasons. First, it gives meaning to action by clearly defining what the company aims to accomplish. Secondly, it helps coordinate the efforts of all the organisation members by aligning their actions with the company’s objectives. Finally, it allows the company to focus on opportunities that best match its capabilities and resources.

Different types of business strategies

There are several types of business strategies, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The main ones are: 

  • Growth strategy: this strategy aims at increasing the size of the company, whether in terms of revenue, market share, product range, or geographical presence. It can be achieved through innovation, expansion into new markets, acquisition of other companies, or increasing production capacity.

  • Differentiation strategy: this strategy aims at making the company unique in the eyes of its customers by offering products or services perceived as higher quality, more innovative, or better suited to their needs than those of competitors.

  • Cost strategy: this strategy aims at becoming the lowest-cost provider in the market, either by reducing production costs or increasing operational efficiency.

To discover all strategic orientations, we have created an article that explains them in details. The access link is provided in the previous sentence.

The process of formulating business strategy

Formulating business strategy is a complex process that requires an in-depth analysis of the company’s internal and external environment. This is known as strategic planning or the strategic plan. This process generally includes the following steps:

  • SWOT : this analysis helps identify the company’s strengths and weaknesses (internal) and the opportunities and threats in its environment (external).

  • Defining objectives: based on the SWOT analysis, the company defines its long-term objectives, which should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART goals).

  • Choosing strategies: the company selects the strategies that will enable it to achieve its objectives. These strategies can relate to different levels of the company (corporate, business, functional). 

  • Implementation: The company implements the chosen strategies by allocating the necessary resources and defining action plans. 

  • Evaluation and control: the company regularly evaluates the strategy implementation results and adjusts its plans accordingly. 

For a detailed guide on how to develop your strategic planning or strategic plan, we have written a comprehensive article, which you can find in the provided link.

Tools for business strategy

Several tools can help formulate and implement business strategy. Among the most well-known are: 

  • BCG matrix: this tool helps classify the company’s products or business units based on their market share and the markets growth rate. It helps identify areas on which the company should focus.

  • PESTEL analysis: this tool helps analyse the company’s external environment, considering political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors.

  • Porter’s value chain: this tool helps analyse the company’s activities that create value for the customer and contribute to differentiation and competitive advantage. 

Challenges in implementing business strategy

Implementing business strategy can face several challenges, such as:

  • Resistance to change: employees may resist strategy implementation if it involves significant changes in their work or is perceived as threatening to their interests. 

  • Lack of resources: the company may lack the resources (financial, human, technological) to implement the strategy. 

  • Environmental uncertainties: the business environment is constantly evolving, which can make strategy implementation more difficult.

The impact of corporate culture on business strategy

Corporate culture can significantly impact business strategy. A strong culture aligned with the strategy can facilitate its implementation, while a weak or misaligned culture can make it more difficult. Therefore, it is crucial for leaders to understand their company’s culture and ensure it supports the strategy. 

The importance of aligning business strategy with HR strategy

The HR strategy must align with the business strategy to ensure the company has the necessary skills and talents to achieve its objectives. This may involve actions such as recruitment, training, career development, compensation, and recognition. 

Business strategies in an international context

In an international context, companies must adapt their strategies to the specificities of the different markets in which they operate. This may involve understanding cultural differences, local regulations, consumer preferences, etc.

The importance of agility in business strategy in a constantly evolving business environment

The advantages of agility in business strategy are increasingly important in the business environment. Companies must be able to adapt quickly to changes in their environment, whether in terms of technology, markets, regulations, etc. 

Business strategies in the context of the knowledge economy

In the knowledge economy, companies increasingly base their strategies on creating, acquiring, protecting, and exploiting knowledge. This may involve actions such as innovation, talent management, intellectual property protection, etc.

Business strategy is a key element in the success of any organisation. It provides direction to the company, helps coordinate the efforts of all its members, and allows it to focus on the most promising opportunities. However, its formulation and implementation can be complex and require in-depth analysis, careful planning, and effective management.

Contact us to discover how we can help you map out the path to success for your business.