John Chiu
Partner, C C & Associates, Canada.
Robert A. Paton
Professor, University of Glasgow, UK.Facing an Uncertain Future with the
Strato-Operation Management Model
With many economies now showing signs of recovery the
turbulence associated with the financial crisis is subsiding. Worldwide
governmental stimulation packages appear to have averted major
recession. However, supply still exceeds demand and there will still be
closures, redundancies and uncertainty for some time to come.
Businesses will find the new world order even more challenging;
finance will remain hard to come by, as will potential customers. This
will be particularly true for small and medium sized enterprises. In
these uncertain and challenging times, businesses must not only plan
for unsettled trading conditions but also do so in a manner that ensures
sustainable futures. In this respect, if the present business model is no
longer fit for the purpose enterprises must adopt a more holistic
strategic analysis, one capable of delivering creative thinking, flexibility
and innovation to combat market and economic uncertainty.
This paper suggests, particularly for small and medium sized
enterprises, that one potential solution for dealing with complex and
uncertain times is the Strato-Operation Management Model (SOMM).
The model endeavours to integrate, in a holistic and transparent
manner, strategic, tactical and operational decision-making processes.
A systems approach is adopted that nests together the three managerial
decision-making levels. By way of example, the paper also outlines a
practical application of the model within the Everest & Blanc
Corporation, a small property management firm in Toronto, Canada.
The proposed model
SOMM is essentially a holistic decision making and implementation
tool designed to harmonize an organisational response to conflicting
forces, proposed to improve the traditional approach.
As Kaplan and Norton recently suggest, a gap exists between
strategy formulation and execution: fragmentation may lead to
discrete/sequential rather than holistic/integrated decision making.
SOMM has an integrated and nested modular framework, as illustrated
in Figure I. The framework mirrors the Ansoff and Anthony’s
structured/process view, the traditional approach, and the basic
decision-making process (formulation, implementation & evaluation). It
commences by firstly taking the macro view of the environments, both
internally and externally, with the Strategic Management Module (SM).