Running head: LEADERSHIP STRATEGY 1

Strategic Thinking and SWOT

Angelina Pechota

Siena Heights University

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Strategic Leadership is a leader that has short-term as well as a long-term strategic goals,

challenging the norm, maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage who empowers everyone,

starting at the bottom, with the ability to connect with people, gaining an all-in culture through

their words and actions. A strategic leader has to lead by example so that they gain the trust of

all those around them and enable them to work toward the vision of that leader. Having an off-

day is not an option for a successful leader as they need to be proficient at each and every part

of the strategic process. No part of the process occurs in a vacuum, and each relies on the

others (Beatty and Quinn, 2010, p.7). The three tenets of thinking, acting, and influencing are

interdependent, not independent upon one another (Beatty and Quinn, 2010). In preparation for

strategic leadership, our readings thus far have given us a conglomerate of information into the

understanding of such. Hughes, Beatty, and Dinwoodie (2014), talks about three elements that

comprises the mind-set of strategic thinking: Strategic thinking is a collective process, strategic

thinking is about the present, and not just the future and strategic thinking has an artful side as

well as a rigorous and analytical side. Helping us realize for one to understand strategic

thinking, you must be able to understand the difference between it and strategic planning. Both

of these concepts focus on dealings in the future but strategic thinking deals with the future as

well as the present. Strategic planning deals with the present in that it is a contributing factor in

investments a company makes today as well as the a companys highest priorities that they must

focus on today to ensure a sustainable competitive advantage. Good strategic thinkers scan

their environments for data, trends, or ideas that could potentially have significance for their

organizations future competitiveness (Hughes et al., 2014).

SWOT Analysis I Looking Outside for Threats and Opportunities

External Analysis
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For a company to remain competitive they must do an external analysis identifying

changes that impact on all areas of their business. The ability to re-evaluate, re-invent your

company to adjust to the ever-changing clientele, demand, world developments as well as your

competition can mean success or closure in the long run. As strategically mindful business will

want to explore its customer base as the customers has an impact on all areas of an organization.

Without them, you have no business to run. Market segmentation is crucial to finding out who

your customer is, what are their wants and needs and so forth. Another external factor is price

sensitivity and elasticity of demand of its customers. Generally, the customer will buy more

goods when a price goes down, but less as the price rises given all other factors stay the same.

Price elasticity of demand is calculated as follows:

Percentage change in quantity/Percentage change in price =

Price Elasticity of demand

Questionnaires, focus groups and direct experiments are often the methods used to understand

how the customer will respond but to understand the anticipated impact the strategist should

calculate its impact on total revenue (SWOT analysis I, 2006).

Analyzing the competitive arena as well as the emerging technology will give a strategic

thinker a better understanding in their future strategic choices. There are a few questions you

must ask when analyzing competitors. Here are a few:

Where are you competing?

Who are your competitors?
How attractive is the competitive arena?
How much do you know about your competitorstheir strengths and
weaknesses?
Are you aware of emerging arenas of competition?
What about the competitors that will appear in the months and years ahead
(SWOT analysis I, 2006)?
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Emerging technology can make or break a business and in terms of SWOT analysis, it can be a

threat as well as an opportunity. As a threat, technology can mean your business is now out-of-

date and behind the times but we also know it can provide powerful opportunities by means of

marketing and reaching customers whom were once out of reach (SWOT analysis I, 2006).

SWOT Analysis II Looking Inside for Strengths and Weaknesses

Areas of Internal Analyzation

Core competencies and processes, financial condition, as well as management and culture

are three important areas in which to look at when analyzing strengths and weaknesses within an

organization. Ways to look into these can include hiring outside sources to evaluate from an

outsiders view, data analysis as well as inside organization committees to take on multiple

evaluations from within. Knowing what you are exceptionally well at is key to being successful

and can make or break your organization. Although this may sound simple, executives tend to

look over this simple logic. The second area strategists must evaluate when looking into their

companys strengths and weaknesses is your organizations financial condition. Strategically

thinking you must know that your organization will be able to take on the added expenses

involved with all of the new potential changes. Changes, which can mean acquiring new assets

or other operating costs associated with a new business strategy. To assess your financial

condition be sure to ask that a report including the following be provided; Cash flows, access to

outside capital, others scheduled capital spending plans, and hurdle rate of new projects. The

final area to evaluate is your organizations management and culture. The organizational leaders

should be open and ready for change, removing what is not working demonstrating to the entire

organization a collaboration of efforts to be successful. Characteristics of an organization who is

ready for change have the following; managers are respected and effective, people feel
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personally motivated to change, the organization is nonhierarchical, people are accustomed to

collaboration work, there is a culture of accountability for results, and performance is rewarded

accordingly. To facilitate efforts of evaluating internal strengths and weaknesses the article

references the following method to do so:

Select an individual to facilitate the analysis

Create a SWOT team of knowledge individuals from different functional areas of

the company

Brainstorm the company or units strengths

Record all suggestions on a flip chart

Consolidate ideas, post all flip chart pages on a wall

Clarify ideas

Identify the top three strengths

Summarize company strengths

Repeating steps two through six for company or unit weaknesses.

Following these nine practical steps for not only internal strengths and weaknesses but also the

external threats and opportunity, will be beneficial to the organizations strategic business plan

(SWOT analysis II, 2006).

Conclusion

Strategic thinking engages the heart as well as the head, which is where I feel focusing

largely on the need for trust within an organization and the importance of a strong productive

culture, which logistically play a large element of strategic influence. Organizations with high

levels of cultural trust tend to produce high quality products and services at less cost because

they can recruit and retain highly motivated employees (Starnes, Truhon and McCarthy, 2010,
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p. 7). Creating a culture has its struggles, as it is not easy, especially if it is non-existent already.

Having the right people in the right place is crucial. Talent management is oriented to ensuring

that the organization has, retains, and develops the right people to fulfill its mission and pursue

the organizations vision (Hughes, Beatty, and Dinwoodie, 2014, p. 243). Building a culture

takes time and it starts from the top, earning the trust of all involved from top to bottom.

OToole & Bennis (2009), references key points that organizations must promote routinely,

telling the truth; encouraging people to speak truth to power; rewarding contrarians; the practice

of having unpleasant conversations; having diversity sources of information; admitting mistakes;

building organizational support; and setting information free. The ability for formal and

informal leaders to all pull together will show their support of the organizations goals thus

making strategic plans to operate smoother (Pasmore, 2014).

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References

Beatty, K., & Quinn, L. (2010). Strategic command taking the long view for

organizational success. Leadership in Action, 30(1), 3-7. doi:10.1002/lia.1318

Hughes, R. L., Colarelli-Beatty, K., & Dinwoodie, D. L. (2014). Becoming a

strategic leader: Your role in your organization's enduring success (Second ed.). San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

O'Toole, J., & Bennis, W. (2009). What's needed next: A culture of candor. Harvard Business

Review, 87(6), 54-61.

Pasmore, W. (2014). Developing a leadership strategy: A critical ingredient for organizational

success. Center for Creative Leadership, 1-25. Retrieved from http://sienaonline.org

Starnes, B. J., Truhon, S. A., & McCarthy, V. (2010). Organizational trust: Employee-employer

relationships. ASQ, 1-15. Retrieved from http://sienaonline.org

SWOT analysis I: looking outside for threats and opportunities. (2006). Harvard

Business Review. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Retrieved from

http://sienaonline.org

SWOT analysis II: Looking inside for strengths and weaknesses. (2006). Harvard Business

Review. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Retrieved from

http://sienaonline.org
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