Dr. Ir.

Mombang Sihite

Dynamic Environment in
Strategic Management
Book References

1. Agile Strategy Management : Techniques for Continuous Alignment and

Improvement, Soren Lyngso
2. Agile Strategy Management in the Digital Age,
How Dynamic Balanced Scorecards Transform Decision Making, Speed and
Effectiveness, David Wiraeus • James Creelman
3. Building the Agile Business through Digital Transformation
Neil Perkin & Peter Abraham
4. Managing Uncertainty, Strategies for surviving and thriving in turbulent times,
Michel syrett and Marion Devine
Contents

1. Introduction: Managing in an Uncertain World

2. Understanding VUCA
3. Strategic Anticipation
4. Navigational leadership
5. Agility
6. Fundamental Trends Shaping Marketing
7. New Frameworks for Marketing in the Digital Economy
8. Tactical Marketing Applications in the Digital Economy
9. Mid Test
Cont..

10. Strategy Quality and Strategy Success

11. Team Building for a Strategic Initiative
12. Agile Strategy Management
13. Decision Making Under Uncertainty
14. Model Uncertainty
15. Uncertainty in Technological and Economic Factors in EPA’s
Decision Making
16. Final Test
Dynamic Environment in Strategic
Management

Navigational leadership
 What does it mean to navigate uncertainty? That
was a question we sought to answer many years
ago when we first started working with
Intrapreneurs. We defined Navigating Uncertainty
as the ability to deal proactively with ambiguity,
uncertainty and the unknown. It is the ability to
navigate steer a course forward during a period or state of
being uncertain.
uncertainty
In the article Leadership in Midst of Crisis, “73%
of executives said that their ability to deal with
ambiguity and uncertainty was the most
important attribute of dealing with the current
economic climate.”
Navigating Uncertainty is the one of the top six competencies
exhibited by Intrapreneurs. They deal effectively with
uncertainty. It is part of what drives them, excites them and
challenges them. It is what makes them Intrapreneurs.
Intrapreneurs are pioneers, builders and change agents. They
blaze new trails, turn ideas into businesses, and seek out
opportunities to stretch and grow.
Intrapreneurs embrace the unknown, they see it as a field of
possibilities. They deal with uncertainty by acting not sitting
back and waiting for things to become clearer. They don’t try to
predict the future they shape the future. They don’t wait until
they have all the resources they need to proceed; they leverage
what they’ve got. They don’t let structures get in their way. They
make decisions without having all the information. They have a
high tolerance for risk. These are attributes that distinguish
Intrapreneurs from others.
Navigating uncertainty is difficult enough without the fact that the
speed of change makes it more uncertain and complex. Intrapreneurs
must deal with uncertainty and the rapid pace of change at the same
time. These are two things that they do very well. Driving change is
another top competency of Intrapreneurs.

Intrapreneurs are willing to take on the toughest challenges. They look

at every situation as an opportunity to grow. They are flexible,
adaptable and open to change. They see the world as it could be not as
it is. Intrapreneurs create the change the hope to see, not just adapting
to change but driving change through the decisions they make and the
actions they take.

It is the combination of these two competences, navigating uncertainty

and driving change that enable Intrapreneurs to be effective in
navigating uncertainty. Together these two competencies ensure that
Intrapreneurs proactively deal with uncertainty by leaning into it not
bending under its weight. They do this by exploring the unknown and
seeing new opportunities and then responding quickly to take
advantage of those opportunities.
The key to  Creative – Generates new and creative ideas that defy convention.
navigating  Competitive – Exhibits courage and confidence when competing.
uncertainty is  Decisive – Quick to make decisions based on available information.
understanding the  Healthy Ego – Copes well with adversity and puts things in
perspective.
underlying  Goal Oriented – Sets realistic goals that are aggressive but
behaviors that achievable.
enable you to  Initiative – Anticipates the need for action and responds quickly.

effectively deal Instructive – Effective at instructing and engaging others to take
action.
with uncertainty.  Learning – Seeks opportunities to learn and grow from experience.
Here are a few of  Planning – Balances short-term demands and longer-term needs.
the behaviors you  Response to Change – Takes on new challenges with energy and
drive.
will need:
 Uncertainty is ever-present in the modern
global economy. Even the most stable
economic environments are characterized by
dips and unknowns that could derail a
Navigating business.
Market
Uncertainty Because market challenges are unavoidable,
business owners must be prepared to handle
With them. To do so, they should develop a deep
Certainty understanding of market risks, put their
business goals first and make decisions based
on factors within their control.
To successfully navigate changing economic
conditions, a few key priorities can help businesses
stay on track to meet their goals:

• Focus on existing customers

• Manage revenue mix
• Balance operating costs
• Evaluate your value and equip your sales team
• Maintain/elevate the customer experience
 Companies report that it costs five times as much to acquire a
new customer than it does to retain one. Yet, market uncertainty
often leads businesses to pursue new customers instead of
cultivating existing relationships. The urge to do so is
understandable, but this is usually the wrong move.

During periods of volatility, it is more important than ever to

Focus on protect and foster loyal clientele. Companies that do this are
better positioned to maintain growth in the face of economic
Existing unsteadiness. In addition, these actions can often be achieved
through simple, low-cost measures, including:
Customers
Improving staff training for those who interact daily with
customers
Being responsive to customer concerns and inquiries
Positioning the firm’s brand as a thought leader and offering
proactive ideas
 When navigating a challenging climate, it is also
important to optimize gross margins. That means
Manage determining the company’s main revenue streams,
revenue contribution and the gross margin of each,

Revenue to help decide how to efficiently save as much

money as possible. Turbulent times require
businesses to focus scarcer resources on high margin
Mix opportunities. Because new revenues are difficult to
secure, focusing on the business’ financial basics is
the best way to maximize profits.
 Identifying and consistently deploying best practices

Balance helps businesses maximize profitability, reduce

operational costs and take advantage of economic
volatility. Specifically, employees need to collaborate
Operating across the business to share innovative solutions to
existing challenges. They should also explore creative

Costs options to shed operational inefficiencies that

detract from profitability and effectiveness, as well
as reexamine, create and implement guiding policies
to improve daily operations. These steps to
standardize project management can help
employees work more efficiently, while increasing
profits across any business
 A struggling economy tends to negatively impact customer spending
and purchasing habits. Yet this also presents an opportunity for
businesses to critically evaluate product value. In doing so, firms
should ask themselves: Do clients view our products and services as

Elevate mission critical to their business?

Value and If yes, they should look for clever ways to promote their value and
ensure they are capitalizing on it. If no, they should explore
possibilities to enhance product management discipline to help

Equip the uncover future opportunities.

Sales Team
To keep up with economic and market developments, businesses
need to equip sales teams to swiftly address and respond to shifting
customer needs.

Sales teams need to be able to clearly articulate the value of their

business’ services and strive to build trust in every customer
conversation
 Companies are often inclined to cut customer service during
difficult economic times. But customer service should be
preserved at all costs. Maintaining strong customer relationships
Maintain and is vital to long-term business success.
Customer service is the “perception” of services delivered, and it
Elevate the is this perception that steers customer decisions. A customer’s
feelings and prior experiences both affect their future purchasing
Customer decisions. It is important to manage customer perceptions
through:

Experience The quality of products or services

Support before, during and after a purchase
Ease of interacting with the brand
The community within and around the brand
Navigational leadership
• Now, we are in an unprecedented time of leadership where
information and knowledge are changing daily, which requires leaders
and society to change dynamically every day.

• some fortunate enough to work with very successful leaders who are
high performers in their given industries and organizations. They all
have a bold vision, define clear strategic imperatives, seek change and
align teams to accomplish the uncommon. They also have been doing
an amazing job of navigating through this dynamic change.
Below are the practices which are creating great
outcomes for their teams and organization:
Robert H. Schuelle

• People Centric–
They are listening closely to the dialogue of their teams, community, customers and
marketplace to understand how the world dynamics are impacting the many. They value
the conversations they participate in over the conversations on the media channels.

• Perspective Openness–
They are maintaining an open mind to all ideas and concepts. They are clear on their own
perspective and they are not limiting the success of their company based on their own
view. They seek out multiple views to gain a clear read on the situation and possibilities.

• Potential Opportunities–
They look for potential opportunities in every situation that arises. They are asking their
teams how to use this time to adapt, be nimbler, and/or provide an even better approach
to how they deliver a product or service
• Place for Reflection–
They are making the space to reflect on the events of the day
and world to define what is working, what they can add or
change and what else is present that they are not seeing or
understanding.

• Poised for Action–

They understand uncertainty can breed fear in others and the
need to fight, flight, or freeze. Given the presence of fear
they have a plan to take daily positive and forward action
which supports the team, the organization and the
marketplace

• Problem Embracer–
They embrace problems and seek to solve them quickly and
effectively by engaging the hearts, minds and ideas of those
around them.
Leadership Transisions
Leadership in Change and Uncertainty
Three traits are needed to succeed in change and uncertainty:

Flexibility - the willingness to change or compromise

Adaptability - the ability to successfully adjust to change
Learnability - the ability to quickly acquire new knowledge and skills

When you combine these characteristics, you become a Flexible, Adaptive,

Learning Organization—a FALO. A FALO is a culture that provides a
competitive edge in our unstable world

The FALO equation is: Flexibility + Learnability = Adaptability. This is like

E=mc² for business.
Focus on culture before strategy
Culture is the habitual manner of behaving that’s considered acceptable in your
organization

Since culture is a habit, it takes time, effort, and continuous reinforcement to make
lasting changes. Many leaders give up too soon. You need to be patient and persistent to
create a new culture.

Changing a strategy is quick and easy in comparison. It allows you to feel like you’ve
taken smart and decisive action to meet your objectives. But strategy needs to be
executed to be effective. This requires a culture that supports the strategy. Have you ever
asked people to do things differently to meet new strategic initiatives? Did you get any
pushback? Did anyone keep doing things the old way due to their habits?

Changing your culture requires the leaders to set the example by moving out of their
comfort zones into new ways of thinking and behaving. It’s imperative to set the example
with your own actions first.
Put Flexibility + learnability =
adaptability into action

To increase flexibility:
Build a culture that conditions everyone to consider multiple
options and challenge beliefs and assumptions when making
decisions.
Build a culture where you look for the opportunities in
undesirable changes rather than getting stuck in resistance and
complaining
Build a culture where you stop insisting you’re right just
because you believe you are
To increase learnability:
Build a culture where people practice openness and authenticity. We
all have weaknesses and don’t have all the answers. You can’t learn
if you already know. Starting with ignorance opens the door to
learning.
Build a culture where everyone participates in training and
development programs. Grow knowledge and skills that are relevant
to the opportunities and challenges facing your organization
Build a culture where leaders and teams openly discuss mistakes as
well as concerns, and complaints raised by clients and employees.
Don’t make excuses to avoid unpleasant realities.
Build a culture of doing. Put what’s been learned in training and
development and experiences into action. Information without
action is just entertainment.