This section deals with strategy development as a process and includes fundamentals and practical applications.
Learning objective strategy development: understand and be able to apply the organization and execution of strategy development.
Reading time of this learning unit approx. 20 minutes.
Exercises: The exercises are in the PDF of all exercises. Download it from here.
Learning Goal:
Reading time: approx. 16 minutes
Exercises: Exercises are in the PDF of all exercises of this course.
Fundamentals
Strategy development consists of,
- Organize the strategy process,
- to create an information base
- to define possible strategy versions from options for action, priorities and strategic orientations,
- to identify the contents and effects of the strategy versions,
- select the best possible strategy.
Let’s take a look at the last point – choosing the best possible strategy. The decision about a social media strategy is made by the management. Our task is to enable the management to make as well-founded a decision as possible. However, a real decision requires alternatives, i.e. strategy versions.
Our tasks in the strategy process are
- organize the strategy process
- to create a stable information base with all relevant information. To this end, we integrate the company’s know how as far as possible.
- to make clear the consequences of possible priorities and orientations.
- to develop alternatives that are in line with the company’s objectives.
Contents of strategy processes
Strategy processes can be developed both top down and bottum up.
Top down: the social media strategy is derived for a defined corporate objective or several corporate objectives. This does not take into account other meaningful goals that can be realized for the company with social media.
Bottom up: the full performance potential of social media and all relevant and possible goals for the company are considered during social media strategy development.
Differentiation and risks: Top down strategy is easier and quicker to develop, but takes only limited account of the potential benefits of social media for the company. The company’s social media use – and the benefits from it – are reduced or remain reduced. Since various social media positions are not available indefinitely due to the digital nature of social media and network effects, this can result in permanent competitive advantages for the company that extend beyond social media.