Strategy in Practice: A Practitioner's Guide to Strategic Thinking, 2nd Edition

Appendix B

Strategy Mapping and Narrative (based on Analysis of the Relevant Strategy Building Blocks)

In Appendix ‘B’ we:

• derive a practical approach for mapping the firm's strategy on the basis of an analysis of its relevant strategy building blocks
• extend the strategy mapping outcome to include an accompanying narrative that seeks to articulate the firm's strategy
• provide guidance on deriving an appropriate “three-minute elevator pitch” that captures and expresses the essence of the firm's strategy “in a nutshell”.

Strategy Mapping

A number of approaches exist for mapping the firm's strategy.¹ Typically these are used in conjunction with strategic performance measurement and monitoring. In this section we present an approach that focuses not so much on providing a means of assessing strategic performance; rather the strategy mapping approach described in the following sections serves primarily to distill and consolidate the essence of the firm's strategy into a form that can be easily understood and communicated. It builds on the outcomes of the preceding analysis (Appendix A) in that it elaborates on the outcomes of the analysis of the firm's unique competing space; enhances this with an appropriate “reason to believe”; and derives an accompanying narrative that articulates the firm's strategy. The approach derived in this section draws on the strategy building blocks relevant to the firm's unique competing space.

Strategy mapping and the accompanying narrative are critically ...