For the last twenty years, I have closely observed various organizations. In my early professional life, I, too, believed that an organization should prioritize action over contemplation. Thinking seemed unproductive when clients were awaiting revisions to my drawings. However, as my career progressed, the critical importance of strategic concepts became undeniable. My professional experience consistently shows a clear difference in outcomes between those who operate with a defined sense of purpose and those who lack direction. In my view, establishing a robust internal strategy formulation process is, one way or another, absolutely mission-critical. Unfortunately though organizations still miss this critical step in their corporate management.
Perception of High Cost and Time Commitment: Organizations often view formal strategy formulation as a long, expensive, and tedious process, believing it to be a massive "exercise" that drains resources without immediate return.
Lack of Knowledge/Understanding: Many companies avoid talking about strategy and its concepts simply because they do not know what it is or how it practically applies to their business.
Focus on Urgent Day-to-Day Operations: Decision-makers are constantly consumed by urgent, immediate operational issues, causing them to lose sight of, and neglect, long-term strategic outcomes.
Belief in "Business as Usual": The majority of companies operate with the mindset that their current trajectory is sufficient and that strategic planning is an unnecessary buzzword, believing that it is simply "business as usual."
Fear of Making Difficult, Consequential Decisions: Formal strategy necessitates making tough trade-offs and decisions now to have an easier future, which many leaders prefer to postpone.
Uncertainty and Ambiguity Aversion: Strategy is fundamentally about dealing with the future and uncertainty. Humans, including business leaders, inherently hate uncertainty, making them reluctant to formally address future ambiguity.
Inability to Evaluate and Choose Projects: Organizations get bombarded with countless consultants and solution providers, making the process of evaluating and choosing the next strategic project overwhelming and difficult to navigate.
Risk of Criticism for Proactive Steps: Taking proactive strategic action, especially concerning future, intangible threats (like cybersecurity in the 70s/80s example), carries the risk of criticism for being overly cautious or for producing unjustifiable results.
Mistakenly Equating Strategy with Tactical Functions: Companies often confuse strategy with tactical, execution-focused activities like marketing, branding, or simply having a vision/mission statement, believing they are "doing strategy" when they are not.
Organizational Disconnect and Internal Dysfunction: In organizations like ETO/MTO companies, chronic misalignment between Sales, Engineering, and Operations often creates systemic vulnerabilities that consume all focus, making a formal, unifying strategy feel impractical or impossible until the internal fires are extinguished.
I could list many more similar observations, all pointing to the same outcome: the avoidance of a formal strategy formulation process. This resistance is the very reason I developed the "Fast And Affordable Strategies" concept. Consider this analogy: Which task is simpler? Writing an essay from scratch, or simply editing an existing one and stating your reasons for agreement or disagreement? This straightforward approach is what enables operating companies that typically avoid strategic planning to finally initiate the activity.
In my professional experience, organizations that commit to a formal strategy formulation process benefit significantly in three core areas. First, it provides a crucial mechanism for prioritizing resources and activities. By forcing leaders to define long-term goals and map the 'how,' strategy formulation moves the organization beyond the trap of urgent, day-to-day firefighting, ensuring that limited time and capital are consistently invested in projects that directly contribute to future success and value creation. Second, a formal strategy is the essential tool for organizational alignment and reducing internal entropy. In complex environments like Engineer-to-Order (ETO) or Make-to-Order (MTO), a clear strategy acts as the unifying blueprint, ensuring that Sales, Engineering, and Operations are working toward shared, coherent objectives, thereby minimizing systemic vulnerabilities and the costly waste associated with departmental disconnects. Finally, it serves as the ultimate proactive defense against market uncertainty. Strategy is fundamentally about foresight; by systematically analyzing the external environment (macro trends, competitive landscape) and linking those dynamics to internal capabilities, a company is equipped to make "tough decisions now for an easier life later," making it adaptable and resilient rather than purely reactive to market disruptions.