This document provides an overview of creative strategic thinking for management. It explains that strategic thinking focuses on achieving critical organizational outcomes in unpredictable ways to mislead competitors, rather than steadily pursuing predefined goals. This allows organizations to adapt quickly to changing environments and avoid becoming easy targets. The document emphasizes that strategic thinking is needed to determine an organization's unique, effective approach before specific goals and plans are made through strategic planning.

1. MANAGEMENT GUIDE
Acknowledgement
This document is sourced from Chifley Business School’s
Master of Business Administration program.
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CREATIVE
STRATEGIC THINKING

2. CREATIVE STRATEGIC THINKING
One of the most important concepts a manager need to understand is the
difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning. The strategy
management process is much more similar to a game of chess or a competition than
other management activities, which are generally focused on a specific goal. In
strategic management, we attempt to achieve the outcomes critical to the
organisation's defined purpose. This might also include approaches designed to
mislead the competition, such as 'losing the battle to win the war'—IKEA decided to
establish one of their large warehouse style stores in Moscow to capture a segment
of the emerging Russian furniture market. Even though it would not be profitable
for many years, IKEA balanced negative immediate returns with future sales
opportunities.
Strategic thinking can lead to other unusual goals as well. For example, the Cancer
Council of Australia (previously known as the Anti-Cancer Council) is ultimately
concerned with putting itself out of business. This is an unusual goal, but the
organisation's purpose is to eradicate the impact of cancer, rather than securing its
own long-term survival—as would be the case for many commercial enterprises.
To achieve these critical outcomes, the organisation needs to be creative and
difficult to predict, rather than steadfastly marching towards a long-term specified
goal. The reasons for this are twofold:
1. Organisational goals shift as the environment changes. At present, most
organisations' environments are changing rapidly and so their goals must also
change rapidly. If an organisation has invested considerable resources over an
extended period of time to travel towards a single goal that ceases to be
appropriate, this then becomes a waste of organisational resources, which is usually
unacceptable to stakeholders.
Source: Unit 306 Strategic Management, Chifley Business
School MBA
© Chifley Business School

3. 2. Steadfastly moving in a predictable manner makes the organisation an easy
target for competitors. New competitors, with greater resources, will take
advantage of this behaviour to enter the market, knowing that they can take
market share from this predictable organisation using superior resources.
Alternatively, creative and flexible organisations will find contemporary and more
effective means of achieving superior performance, while whittling away the
predictable organisation's market share.
In both cases, accepting increasing market share as representative of an
organisational goal, the predictable approach is unlikely to result in success.
This is why it strategic thinking is so important.
Based on information about its external environment and internal environment
and the opportunities that exist, the organisation must develop a unique, effective
and responsible approach to achieving its purpose. Then it can develop specific
goals, resource allocations and plans to be implemented. By thinking strategically,
an organisation can determine its ethical position, its environmental (and
sustainability) goals and shape its culture. All of these are long-term and should
reflect the organisation's values. Without creative strategic thinking, strategic
planning will provide little net benefit to the organisation beyond the coordination
of resources.
Source: Unit 306 Strategic Management, Chifley Business
School MBA
© Chifley Business School