The Conclusion

THE STARTING POSITION: Here I’m going to sum up the most important ideas in a concise but compressed manner. I start with the idea that a firm without a strategy is like a ship without a rudder. And since globalization unleashed the power of free market economy, SSU’s have to deal with strategic terms right from the beginning. But they can learn from history to change their behavior to the better. Market consolidation, product standardization and a vantage in production are some of the threats SSU’s have to deal with. Hence globalization leaves hardly any place for SSU’s to hide in today’s market economy. Rather they have to meet the market challenge in order to stay competitive against their enemies. And It’s more a fight than just a challenge. I am of the opinion that this wartime calls for a proper business strategy which should be embedded into a firm’s organization and being conducted with a large portion of resoluteness. So a firm most urgent requires a so called CORE STRATEGY to define its position in the market rivalry:

A core strategy is the one that describes all the believes, objectives, and core competencies that keep a firm alive. Besides that a firm has to launch a business strategy to more effectively and efficiently manage the own market offering. I put here a firm’s business strategy on a par with a firm’s corporate strategy. Because of the limited size of Small-Start-Units it often represents the same. Since business entities – and SSU’s as well - are bound into a network, they have to satisfy associated stakeholders. This is most likely attainable with the right core business strategy. A firm is most likely able to satisfy stakeholders by scoring above average and with that, uncoupling its competitors. Clearly a lucky shot in business is always possible. But I’m not talking about short-term success but about long-term market participation.

A firm that wants to SATISFY STAKEHOLDERS has to concentrate on the long-run. And for that, it has to capture a superior market position. This in turn calls for a work process to find out a firm’s sustainable and competitive advantage proposition, suitable to its eventualities.

If a firm has mastered that, it is able to wage wars from a stronger rivalry position in order to obtain higher market shares.

A finding process for the own long-term focus is associated with strong strategic work. In exchange it is likely to result not only in a successful business participation but also in a long-lasting one. Entrepreneurial behavior is likely to be a success factor for SSU’s. All that can further strengthen an entity’s core business strategy – a firm’s common cause (beliefs and objectives) - through higher work ethics. The long-term focus refers to the process of finding the own sustainable competitive advantage:

A promising strategy relies on sustainable competitive advantages and it has to be executed by a firm’s executives. I believe that the first thing that executives have to have, is a clear perception of what a business strategy is about.

Basically, there are three levels where STRATEGIC WORK becomes obvious in a business entity. First, on the corporate level, second on the business level (perhaps congruent with the corporate strategy), and third on the functional level (refers to all operations and tactics).



Perhaps it’s needless to say that one should start from the top and then work through till the bottom. Often an obstacle is, that entities do not have a precise notion about what they are and what they want to become. In particular SSU’s rather face the case that there is a driver of opportunity-exploration which brings them into business, but often lack of business planning.

Therefore I strongly defend the seeking for a wanted market position through a clear strategic procedure!

THE PROBLEM SOLUTION: I developed some basic techniques that have accompanied the reader through whole strategic procedure here in this thesis. I developed several techniques to illustrate the way we go here. Above all stands the “Get the Big Picture” part, the “Strategical Action” part, as well as the “Operational Action” part. These represent the main ideology of my conclusion.

This main ideology is illustrated in the TREE-STEP-PLOY which is subsequently illustrated. It represents the main ideas of this thesis: to find the appropriate strategic approach. On the one hand to develop a core business strategy, and on the other hand to expand the resulting business strategy on a global scale. The ideology of the Three-Step-Ploy represents firstly to Get the Big Picture, secondly to plan Strategical Action; and thirdly to take Operational Action.

I’m going now to explain the three steps displayed above. For that, I will make use of other techniques at the same time. So don’t be confused when I interlace the Three-Step-Ploy with the STP-PROCESS. Here the S stands for situation, the T for targets, and the P for the path. Both the Three-Step-Ploy as well as the STP-Process express the main ideology of my conclusion.

So let’s dismantle the main ideology and start with the GET THE BIG PICTURE process: It is equated with the S-Step as you will see in a moment. “Get the Big Picture” expresses the importance of conceiving the reality of the own situation an entity is actually in. It includes not only the analysis of the current situation (landscape and own organization), but also relates to a firm’s beliefs, objectives and vision:

Describe Your Situation (S)

What do you know? What data you have to collect about what happens? What is the current situation?Where do you want to go?

Define your strategic intention.Think about the landscape you are in.Formulate your vision.

That gives a broad perspective about what’s going on and what’s possible for an entity in the nearer future. I want to encourage executives to take a look at what influences them most on top of their business, on the strategic domain. The above mentioned gives an answer to this question. You will find more helpful information on how to tackle this step, further in the thesis. The information helps executives to solve related questions on the sublevel of the S-Step. With that I cease this process now.

Now we can switch over to the T-Step which matches to STRATEGICAL ACTION. Here executives can bring in all their strategic intensions to the fullest. Because it’s the continuation of homework on the pure strategic level. And it includes not only the vision and mission work, but also relates to the goal-setting process of all subordinated functional areas.

Describe The Targets (T)

What forms your vision? (beliefes, objectives)What are your indicators of success?What are your objectives?

Write out your strategic intension in full (vision- and mission-statement).Search for sustainable competitive advantage.Formulate subordinated goals and strategies.

Again, you will also find a lot of helpful data in this thesis to solve related question on the sublevel of the T-Step. Now we are ready to pass onto the next step.

Here the P-Step is comparable with OPERATIONAL ACTION. This area gives practical advice to seize the opportunity of competing on the functional- and operational-level. Operational Action calls for strong leadership. Why? Because executives generally delegate these tasks to their subordinates. But it’s important because it brings strategic work into being. So the STP-raster works also here as a back up for the Three-Step-Ploy:

Look at the Path to Go (P)

Are you using the right forms of techniques? Are you working within the range of your resources? Is your plan integrate-able?Are you getting the results?

Formulate programs (strategy and action) for the functional areas.Implement the programs.Gather feedback from your network.Exercise control.

The Three-Step-Ploy together with the STP-raster refers to a process that basically aims to find out the right CORE BUSINESS STRATEGY. Let’s assume that upon finishing the above mentioned proceeding, a firm has found its core strategy.

But we didn’t really touch the issue of globalization so far. So I have to mention that finding the core business strategy does not mean at the same time to have an exercisable GLOBAL BUSINESS STRATEGY. The way to find it, I call the globalization process we will get into now.

So after executives have put down their core business strategy on paper, they have to test it first and foremost in the homeland, and related areas such as similar cultural fields. When this has proven successful, they can start to expand the strategy on foreign soil. But this will again demand some analysis work afore. So to compare the gained managing experience on foreign soil in the context of the global landscape that now lies within the scope.

The subject matter here, let’s call it a disruption, is not to run ashore because of underestimated risks of business on foreign ground. But rather to start right from the beginning with a clear mission on how to skim the cream in foreign markets. As the following graph illustrates, there are many stages in the business process where failures occur. But not all have the same impact on a firm’s ongoing success:

So what we do first here at the globalization process, is to internationalize the own business model. Internationalization means to gain experience in managing foreign contacts, in similar cultural areas as mentioned before. But we will not dwell around here, but rather go for the top: Thus we try to expand our business model on a global scale. That brings advantages like increased market influence, a control-ability of the business, and lower costs for goods and services.

But that’s not for free: executives have to sail close the wind. I strongly argue that they aim to gain a TWO-DIGIT PROGRESS in each business period (1 year). And I advise them to pursue such a growth idea for at least 6 consecutive periods:

Clearly, there will follow some changes or a phases of stagnancy somewhere around then. But then firms can grab the chance and start the whole strategic process over again.
Let me sum up that when executives want to satisfy their stakeholders, they have to score above average and to uncouple competitors in the market place. For that they have to spend much of strategic work first, before turning to the more tangible area of operational work in the daily business:

The quality of strategic work will certainly influence what becomes noticeable for stakeholders.
This is important since SSU’s highly rely on an effective and efficient network. So what’s noticeable for stakeholders determines the quality of collaboration, within what I call the network organization.

THE FINISH: The following graph combines all what was mentioned so far. To understand the graph, keep in mind that the farther from the yellow core a firm performs, the more likely it masters the challenge of a demanding global business landscape. This ploy is appropriate to help executives of Small Start-Units to catch up with strategic knowledge as well as to apply it later. All the above mentioned ideas aim to support executives, when they have to withstand a harsh rivalry in their business landscape. All techniques mentioned are supposed to show executives an easy but diligent way to find a promising position in their business landscape, characterized by sustainability and competitiveness. I urge executives, to use all the techniques and methodologies mentioned here, as a pattern for their own strategic work.

They are free to pick out the ideas they like most, which is well. But let me mention that it is most meaningful to start with strategic work first, then care about all the functional areas and operational tasks.

I claim that strategic work counts and that it supports the finding of a better market position. If a firm’s executives don’t do that, their competitors most likely will. Clearly the impacts that you encounter can turn out to be harmful to the prosperity of a business and with that, possibly to the future of the executives that are acting in these processes.

Referring to the following graph, it’s time to SET THE CORNERSTONE and GLOBALIZE THE BUSINESS right now!

Therefore, my opinion is that SSU’s have the chance to survive in a global market rivalry, when they are able firstly to develop a core business strategy and secondly to expand it on a global scale. To go without saying, and related with the core strategy, are high-efficient business processes in and for all functional areas.

Herewith I close the Conclusion Part and refer to the Appendix Section for further study work.