Breakthrough Strategy Stimulating Questions

Dr Stephen Sweid Breakthrough Strategy Questions 2014 1

• This document contains a few hundreds of very stimulating and diverse
questions geared towards strategic thinking and breakthrough.
• Questions were carefully chosen for maximum strategic coverage and
creative impact, and for comprehensive coverage of relevant key business
issues. Only the crème of the crème has been included.
• Multiple perspectives , i.e. looking at things from different angles, are
used for each business domain and element to broaden coverage and
maximize strategic and creative thinking. Same applies to use of different
approaches in integrated sets of strategic question s, e.g. . SWOT, BSC,
Blue Ocean, business plan, and many other.
• Practicality: Besides its inspiring role, material is also very practical,
including logical sequences and tabulations, but indeed including space for
direct writing of keyword answers, in electronic form (on the laptop) or on
the paper printed material. Hence you can keep a record of your answers
for extra stimulation and benefit. All questions are numbered.
6Dr Stephen Sweid Breakthrough Strategy Questions 2014
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Strategy Planning And Management
Approaches And Systems
Traditional strategic planning
Feasibility study
Balanced Scorecard
Business Plan
Blue Ocean
Business Model
MBO
TQM
ISO 2000
Other

Integrated Set Of Strategy Questions
QUESTIONS Write Below Keyword Answers
1 - What is the External
environment (Plus and minus)?
2 - What is the Internal situation
(Plus and minus)?
3 - How might things evolve in
the future?
4 - When you tie external &
internal together, with the future
changes, how do you secure
competitive advantage?
5 - What are the key issues
involved?
6 - What are the options?
7 - Which option is best suited?

What do Want Integrated Questions
1.What do you want?
2.What are your choices? What are
the options?
3.What assumptions are you
making?
4.What can you learn from
mistakes, failures or success?
5.What can you learn from research
and facts on the ground?
6.What action steps make the most
sense? What is possible? What is
WOW? What is innovative?

BSC: Strategy Map set of QUESTIONS:
Examples
• What is a Strategy Map? It is a drawing that enables you to link actions or
objectives into a coherent, logical structure that shows the cause and effect link
between your objectives or actions.
• >>> How to Proceed - Use the 'What-How?' Approach
• Start with the question What?
• For example,
• 'What' do you want to achieve?
• Reply: Increased profits
• 'How' are we going to do that?
• Reply: More added value products and services
• So now repeat the process,
• What do we want to achieve
• More added value products and services
• How are we going to do that?
• Reply: Innovation and added proximity to customers

Strategic Planning Framework
Vision
Mission - Values
Objectives
Strategies
Division Objectives
Div. Strategies & Operational
Individual performance
31Dr. Stephen Sweid Breakthrough Strategy

Enhancing Your Effect On the Business Scene -
Questions
1. If you have a very strong impact
on the business environment, i.e.
you are a major player in your
market, how is it manifested?
2. On what level are you changing
the business scene?
3. Can you produce the same effect
with other means?
4. Can you produce the same effect
in other markets?

Other Success Perspectives - Questions
1.Do you know that success is a combination of factors and
not a one or two things?
2.Do you have the right combination of factors to succeed in
your new strategy? What is your success combination?
3.What are the things that were missing in your success
combination?
4.In your past failures what were the missing components of
success?
5.What were the success factors when you were at the peak
of success?
6.How can you turn this strategy into a win-win?
7.Do you believe you can execute this strategy?
8.Do you have the track record and experience to execute
this? Where?
9.Would you put in your own money in this strategy and
plan? 41Dr Stephen Sweid Breakthrough Strategy Questions 2014

Core values - Questions
1. What are the core values that act
as your constants and reference
points and compass, when you are
lost at sea and you need to know
what is crucial?
2. What are your core values that
will help realize your mission and
vision with all parties concerned?

Innovation Questions (1)
1.Do you know that breakthrough strategy and
innovation are the same?
2.Are you spending sufficient time and effort to develop
in an innovative way the new concepts suggested during
the strategy formulation process?
3.Are you innovative enough? How do you develop new
ideas? What are your sources of new ideas?
4.Is everyone in your firm innovative?
5.Are you innovative in everything including business
model and marketing?
6.Do you see innovation on a weekly basis in every
activity in your firm?
7.Do you have a clear innovation strategy?
8.Is a major share of your income generated through
new products (Less than two years old)?
9.Do your have a management structure and process
supporting innovation?
10.Are you exploring enough? What can you explore
more?
11.Are you learning enough? Are you researching
enough? Are you experimenting enough?
12.How can you improve your innovation capability?
13.How can you unlock the innovation capacity in our
organization further? 56Dr Stephen Sweid Breakthrough Strategy Questions 2014

Agility Questions (2)
7.What are the ingredients of agility in your
business? What are your flexibility factors?
8.Do you have clear core values that act as gyro
when everything else is changing direction?
9.Do you have contingency plans?
10.Are you constantly adapting your structures
to become faster and more flexible
11.Are you innovative enough to address a
broad range of varying consumer needs.
12.Do you have a management team that
reflects the diversity of markets you are in
13.Are you pushing for faster decision making
14.Are you pushing for faster information
transfer.
15.Do you have adequate resources for
different scenarios?
16.Do you have a well developed outsourcing
network for all contingencies
17.Do you have decentralized decision making?
18.Do you have good market intelligence and
forecasting capability?
19.Can you form effective change teams
20.How do you pursue ongoing learning and
acquiring new know-how

Customer Interaction Questions
1.What do your customers value/need?
2. Are you certain this is correct? Have
you met with many?
3.Do you provide that value or meet
that need?
4. Are you certain this is correct? Is this
confirmed directly by your customers’
feedback, or is it just repeat business?
5.Do you meet your customer’s buying
criteria?
6. Again, are you certain this is the
case? Have you clarified that with a
few?
7. Are you clear about who is NOT your
target customer so that you avoid
wasting efforts to satisfy all?
8. How can your organization increase
the efficiency of customer interactions?
How do you boost customer intimacy? 66Dr Stephen Sweid Breakthrough Strategy Questions 2014

Future Changes in Business Environment - Questions
(1)
1.How do you picture the market in 3 – 5
years time? What does the landscape look
like?
2.What major changes and scenarios can
take place in your markets and industry in
the next 3 to 5 years?
3.What are the new key developments in
the industry and market?
4.What major developments do you have
to watch out for, positively and
negatively?
5.What are the main changes taking place
in society? How is society changing?
6.Which are the three most important
challenges that you will face in the next
three years?
7.Which are the three most important
emerging opportunities that you will
encounter in the next three years?

Differentiation Questions
1.Are you as manager able to detach
yourself enough to look at the reasons
why you do things the way you do them
and consider doing them in different
ways?
2.As manager, do you manage business
processes or you let the processes
manage you?
3.How are you, i.e. your business, very
different from the rest, how do you
stand out? How do you differentiate
much more from the rest in the market?
4.How can you differentiate more with
each major customer segment?
5.How can you be more special? Blue
ocean?

Product Related Questions
1.Are your products useful? Do they add real value?
How?
2.Product features that can be improved
dramatically?
3.What are the most attractive features of your
products?
4.How do you differentiate in a tangible way in
products? Blue Ocean?
5.What features of your products exceed customer
expectations?
6.Do you have the right balance of diversification in
products?
7.Are you constantly developing a bouquet of new
products?
8.Do you have an effective prototyping and
experimenting facility?
9.Do you have product design capability?
10.How do you link your product development to
customer needs and wants?
11. Do you have a high degree of customization for
your different segments? How?

Competition Questions
1.What is the competitive scene like?
2.Is it concentrated or fragmented?
3.Who are your main competitors?
4.Who are the main competitors and what are they
doing ?
5.Do you know them well? Do you know what each
competitors has for breakfast? What they are doing
at this moment? What they are offering?
6.What are their distinctive advantages (competitive
edge) compared to you?
7.What are your competitor’s economic models as
compared to yours?
8.What are the weak points of your competition
9.If you put yourself in the shoes of your competition
what would you deduce?
10.How do your competitors see you?
11.What’s your winning move? How do you make
customers stick to you more?
12.Is your drive to contribute to society and
customers much greater than your attitude to
competition and competing? Or are you driven
mainly by competing and winning? 86Dr Stephen Sweid Breakthrough Strategy Questions 2014

Business Model Canvas Typical Questions (1)
KEY PARTNERS
1.Who are your key partners/suppliers?
2.What are the motivations for the partnerships?
KEY ACTIVITIES
3.What key activities does your value proposition
require?
4.What activities are important the most in distribution
channels, customer relationships, revenue stream…?
VALUE PROPOSITION
5.What core value do you deliver to the customer?
6.Which customer needs are you satisfying?
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
7.What relationship that the target customer expects you
to establish?
8.How can you integrate that into your business in terms
of cost and format?
CUSTOMER SEGMENT
9.Which classes are you creating values for?
10.Who is your most important customer?

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