1. Understand Industry Transformation

When industries are undergoing transformation, opportunities and the competitive environment also change. To take advantage of the new opportunities, you need to be prepared with new products, new services and new organisational capabilities.. You must understand the nature of change in your industry to identify areas where resources should be committed. Establish in advance the necessary networks and alliances – the competitive infrastructure necessary for success – as it may be too late to do so when the market takes off.

Strategic Creativity  ●  Think Both Inside-Out and Outside-In  ●    Play INNOBALL

If a man takes no thought about what is distant,
he will find sorrow near at hand.  >>>

Confucius

2. Conceptualize the Core Knowledge Asset

As product life-cycles become shorter, focus on development, management and conceptualization of your core asset – the knowledge on which your company is built and your ability to use to create business opportunities.

Key Elements of Strategic Thinking  ●  The Strategist's 15 Rules

3. Understand Customer Benefits

Customers would buy your product or service if they believe that the value of the product to them justifies the price. Understand and assign an accurate value to the benefits that customers derive from your products or services to prioritize your product, service, process and marketing innovation activities.

 Customer Needs  ●  Customers for Innovations  ●  Empathise with Your Customers

4. Change the Existing Logic

Challenge established doctrines and think the unthinkable! Think outside the normal definition of your company's business in order to recognize that other opportunities can be your opportunities.

 Surprise To Win  ●  Proactive Innovation  ●  STAND OUT from your Competition

Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom.  >>>

Sam Walton

Wal-Mart

5. Develop an Overall Direction

You must have a clear idea of what your company wants to achieve, and of the basic competencies upon which it must build. Your vision and mission should be clear about the ends, but flexible in terms of means. A shared understanding of an overall direction is necessary to achieve synergy within your company. Besides, long terms development of your organizational capabilities must be based on a perception of what your company should to in the future.

3 Strategies of Market Leaders  ●  Corporate Vision, Mission and Goals

6. Develop Strategies for Both the Short and Long Term

As competitive conditions change fundamentally and rapidly, strategy becomes important in the short term as well. The goal in the short term is to constantly improve your company's position. In the longer term, your goal may be to change the rules of the game, foresee how these will change and to see completely new games (new products, new markets, new industries).

 Hierarchical Levels of Strategy  ●    Yin-Yang of Strategic Management

I would rather have people think we're confused than let our competitors know what we're going to do.  >>>

Larry Page

→ Google

7. Constantly Adapt Strategies to Opportunities and Learning

Learn by experimenting with new directions, recognize opportunities that suddenly crystallize during that process, and adapt your strategy accordingly.

  Dynamic Strategy  ●  Rapid Experimentation  ●  Learning SWOT Questions

If you strop learning,
you stop creating history and become history.

Vadim Kotelnikov