Regenerating a business's strategy: a method to release profits and build strength

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.556
• Date: 01 December 2001
• Author: R. Jeffery Ellis
• Published date: 01 December 2001

Strat. Change 10: 427– 438 (2001)

DOI: 10.1002/jsc.556

Regenerating a business’s strategy: a

method to release profits and build

strength

R. Jeffery Ellis∗

Babson College, Olin Graduate School, Babson Park, MA, USA

•Regenerating a business’s strategy by conceiving strategic change helps leaders achieve

higher and more sustainable financial performance.

•Recent shifts in the world economy and new technology have put pressure on many

businesses. Cost cutting and clever pricing cannot solve these problems alone because

they require systemic attention and qualitative change.

•Enterprise architectures seldom deliver expected profits. Standard solutions often

reduce the competitive distinctions that sustain prices long run. By addressing the

business holistically in full context, this method builds a strategic solution that

increases profitability.

•This article shows managers how to examine the intrinsic value of their business

strategy and then build a more valuable strategy that can be sustained into the future.

Conventional and contemporary thinking are combined into a method that managers

can use to improve or regenerate a strategy for their organization.

•Several checklists and frameworks are provided together with competitive insights

on defining, evaluating and conceiving strategic change. These guidelines enable all

members of a management team to contribute significantly to strengthening their

business.

Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Introduction

Regenerating strategy builds the long-run

strength of a business. The activity embraces,

therefore, issues of direction, competitive-

ness and organizational vitality. Primarily,

strategic change shapes the structure, work-

ings and linkages of an organization into

the most effective future relationship with its

*Correspondence to: Prof. Jeffery Ellis, Babson Col-

lege, Olin Graduate School, Babson Park, MA 02457,

USA. Tel: +1(781)239 4539 or +1(508)785 1058;

e-mail: Ellisj@Babson.edu or

Ellisj@Strategylearning.com

Strategic change

embraces direction,

competitiveness and

organizational vitality

environment. The definition of an existing

strategy and its evaluation against an antic-

ipated future precedes developing insights

to strengthen an existing strategy or build

a new one. Strategic change is then man-

aged as a set of associated initiatives. This

article provides an effective framework that

Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Strategic Change, December 2001