BEE Partner, South Africa Economy Watch

Much strategic thinking in this country is also one-dimensional in nature. Many managers often go ahead and develop what they term a ‘strategy‘ from one perspective only — usually their own, and in terms of what they would like to achieve. The result is often a set of glorified objectives, or a vision established in emotive terms with scant regard for the opposition. Managers may take into accou_ntcertain aspects of the business environment, but few know how togather and utilise the information required to move their organisatio_ninto a position of superiority. The result is strategic myopia.

Another common mistake is to treat the process of developin_gstrategy like a machine, whereby information becomes an input to some stepwise model and its various component parts, with a ‘strategy‘ appearing at the other end. What emerges is an infrastructure that creates objectives and displays market-related information. Seldom does it indicate how to put one’s organisation in a more advantageous position in the marketplace relative to its opposition, and to do so on an ongoing basis. This is unfortunate, because to achieve that is the true essence of strategy.

In this book, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is the preferred guideline for much of the thinking on strategy, whether at government or corporate level. There is no model as such. The reader should have seen by now that Sun Tzu presents a number of guiding principles an individual strategist can employ. The Art of War accommodates the strategist’s creative thinking, and the interpretation and application of its principles are what gives one strategist an advantage over another.

According to Wing, Sun Tzu says that, in organisations that are in conflict with one another, the strategic skill of the leaders will determine the outcome of events and, ultimately, the winner. He believes that only unskilled leaders work out their conflicts in the courtroom or on the battlefield. The brilliant strategist applies the concept of tactical positioning, in advance of any confrontation.’ A wonderful example of this comes from the world of international cricket. John Buchanan, the Australian cricket coach for the 2001 Ashes tour, not only used the principles contained in The Art of War, but interpreted them in the context of a sporting conflict. Many of his tactics focused on ‘off-the-field’ activities, especially dealing with the media. The result? A whitewash over his team’s E_nglish opponents.

For local companies to pursue true global competitiveness, both at home as well as in the international arena, they are going to have to develop a new breed of manager — one who can put his or her company in a more favourable position in the marketplace relative to the competition, and who can think like a true strategist. This could dispel the view of some economists that the developing nations and their companies have to focus on playing catch-up with the more advanced countries.’ Instead, the new breed of manager can help their companies and, therefore, their countries to redefine global competitiveness, but on their own terms. In other words, they must adopt the attitude of ‘actively shaping the game [they] play, not just playing the game [they] find’, as suggested by Brandenburger and Nalebuff. Sun Tzu’s principles are ideal for accomplishing that.

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

The forces of globalisation have made it compulsory for South African companies to become more competitive, both at home and in the international arena. Although its proponents argue that free- flowing capital, population migration, digitalisation and technology transfer constitute the main thrusts of globalisation, more and more of the world’s business organisations are beginning to realise that a strong correlation exists between global competitiveness and the development of human capital. South African companies and their managers are finding that many of the global organisations with which they are now competing in both the local and global arena are strategically mature in their attraction, development and management of human capital. Sadly, the giant strides that have taken place in the democratisation of South Africa, the nation, have not yet filtered down to a sufficient number of South African companies for _acultural shift in corporate thinking to be evident.

Alongside the development of the modern global economy, _ashareholder-driven model of capitalism has emerged, which has replaced the previous social market paradigm. Displaying a greater sense of ruthlessness, this neo-liberal model is one in which the maximisation of shareholder value is paramount. Yet this form of capitalistic thinking can easily accommodate the interests of both a company’s shareholders as well as its human capital. Their respective interests need not be mutually exclusive, but can easily coexist within a win—win framework. In many respects, neo-liberalism has brought terrific pressure to bear on strategists throughout the world. It has forced business organisations to become more efficient and competitive through the necessity of maximising their shareholders’ returns. Yet the really successful ones have not lost sight of the need to make this happen through the careful management of human resources. For developing economies, this becomes even more apparent as they seek to compete for position in the world environment.

Chi Hung Kwan, an economist with the Nomura Research Institute, examined economic and business competitiveness, and counselled that the single most important asset that requires nurturing is, by far, human capital.’ His assertion is vigorously supported by Anthony Giddens, former director of the London School of Economics, who contends that ‘human capital counts for far more than anything else in giving companies a competitive edge’.’ Any business organisation especially one from a developing economy — that wishes to successfully compete in the established global order ignores this fact at its peril.

Contemporary strategic thinking, whether at country or corporate level, is all about people. At its most fundamental, it is about one group of people being matched against another: one country’s citizens try to outmanoeuvre those of another; one company’s workforce does all it can to outmanoeuvre those of a competitor. That is why the protection of human capital is so important. The design and outcome of future strategic success will be determined by the extent to _which the people of a company and/or country are educated, are _motivated and willing to win, can think in an innovative manner and, in today’s world, be technologically competent.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 2

• Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 7
• Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 11
• Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 7
• Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 10
• Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 3
• Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 5
• Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 9
• Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 6
• Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 1
• Shaping a new breed of South African manager for the global challenge part 4