The document discusses the importance of developing a strategic plan that considers key stakeholders, resources, products, markets, and the external environment. It defines strategy as establishing the direction and scope of an organization to achieve a competitive advantage through effective resource utilization and meeting market demands. Developing a strategic plan involves analyzing political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors (PESTEL analysis) that influence business trends and potential scenarios. It is critical for organizations, especially global ones, to strategically plan before expanding by considering how these macroeconomic factors interconnect and may impact their operations in different countries.

1. 7/2/2012
iPOTT
Getting you there…
Positioning Strategy in your New Venture
Stakeholders, investors, product portfolio, customers,
CEO Speak resources, processes and employees are fundamental
elements of any organization. The ‘mission’ of an organization
is helpful in deciding how these elements are used to reach its
‘objective’. Strategy is an integral part of any organization that
To visit this blog Click here. decides the best means to utilize them to reach a common
objective which is otherwise known as the ‘strategic goal’.
iPOTT being an end to end
provider of innovative and cost In order to understand the significance of formulating strategy
effective services in the areas of the influence of following factors on an organization must be
knowledge management, sales realized.
enablement and consulting offers
a unique and unbiased platform • Range of businesses or product portfolio, their future
for software product companies growth
worldwide to reach their target • Target markets and competitors operating in same
markets segments
• Organization's response to competition
• Identification of resources required in response to
www.ipott.om competition
info@ipott.com • External environment
• Stakeholders' expectations and value
Strategy operates at various levels of organization where
planning is required.
Based on this criterion, many leading researchers have
defined Strategy as ‘direction and scope’ of an organization
that aims at achieving a competitive advantage for
organization through resource utilization to meet market
demands and stakeholder expectations.
Strategy is important in deciding and evaluating stakeholder
expectations to arrive at Strategic options. In addition to

2. identifying internal and microeconomic factors, formulating
strategy involves identification of various macroeconomic
factors such as political, economic, socio-cultural,
technological, environmental and legal factors influencing
business trends. This technique is referred to as PESTEL
analysis. It is helpful in Scenario planning and Market
segmentations.
Any transactional environment is strongly influenced by
“Driving forces”. To arrive at these driving forces, key drivers
operating in indirect or contextual environment such as
technological, economic, commercial, organizational and
political factors have to be considered. Once key drivers are
identified Iceberg Analysis is used to identify new events
which can be traced to arrive at a pattern of system behavior
which can guide us to system structures which are otherwise
termed as driving forces.
Studies have proved interdependence between PESTEL factors
and the influence that it has on state of affairs in countries.
Strategy involves study of these factors to understand and
synthesize alternative views to the future of organization in
the country of interest.
It is therefore critical for any global organization to plan
strategically before arriving at an expansion action plan.