Agile Business Ownership and the premise of strategy at the heart of organizational evolution

Strategy is the compass that guides a business. It establishes what is value not only for shareholders (from a financial perspective) and customers, but also for all stakeholders in the organizational ecosystem. This can include a number of factors, such as the business model, market positioning, the quality of products and services, pricing policy, operational efficiency, compliance and return on investment, among others. Depending on the complexity of the organization, the strategy may also require the analysis of certain economic, technological, political, legal, environmental and social aspects that impact the business.

In essence, the formulation of a business strategy aims to position the business in a unique way in the market, creating differentiators and competitive advantage that allow the business to prosper in the short term and guarantee its longevity in the long term. To do this, strategy analysis must go beyond the conception of the desired future state, which considers the business's opportunities and threats, and an in-depth study of the present state, which identifies the strengths that have brought the business to where it is and the weaknesses that have prevented it from surpassing current results. But an effective strategy must also indicate the possible paths that lead from the present state to the desired future state, stimulating the evolution of the business through the development of new organizational capabilities.

In the corporate world, governance agents - which include the board, committees, executive directors and other managers - are responsible for directing the organization's strategy, monitoring its execution and assessing the value generated for stakeholders. This involves defining the institutional statements, which cover the purpose, mission, identity, values, among other aspects, and the strategic drivers, which cover the desired results from the financial, customer, market, society and environment perspectives (positive impact for stakeholders) and the necessary capabilities from the sustainability, growth, innovation and transformation perspectives (enabling results).

The second premise of Agile Business Ownership's evolutionary practices places business strategy at the heart of organizational evolution (Business Agility):

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This thought corroborates the idea that Business Agility is about agile at the strategic level of organizations and should be dealt with from the top management, especially by corporate governance agents. Therefore, when we say that the organizational strategy must establish what is value for the business, we need corporate governance directing it and evaluating its execution. Likewise, when we say that we must evolve to positively impact all stakeholders, we need to think about business results (real value) and the organizational capabilities that will enable the change (potential value).

Once again, we would like to reiterate the definition of Business Agility adopted by Agile Business Ownership practitioners, which reinforces the concepts of organizational capability, competitiveness and prosperity in the minds of business leaders and managers:

"Business Agility is a set of organizational capabilities that enable a business to compete and thrive in the new digital economy, positively impacting all stakeholders and enabling growth in a sustainable way."

Now comes the question: How are your organization's leaders and managers handling the business growth strategy? Are you able to identify these elements in your structure? Business agility requires new strategic thinking to make it a reality in organizations. Think about it!

In the previous article, I presented the first premise of the evolutionary practices of the Framework for Agile Business Ownership, which focuses on generating value for all stakeholders in the organizational ecosystem. In the next article, I'll cover the third premise of the evolutionary practices, which focuses on strategy execution. Stay tuned!

The Framework for Agile Business Ownership is a powerful approach to Business Agility designed and maintained by the ABO Academy on the basis of the best Business Agility practices recommended by major market players. Its aim is to make Business Agility a reality in organizations from a business perspective, developing leaders and managers to become catalysts for organizational evolution, Agile Business Owners.