All successful businesses in this world are built on great strategies. Strategy and planning are two important steps without which you cannot think of a successful business. Whether you are launching a new business, a new product, a new campaign, or a business division, you must first have a strategy. The best managers know the value of strategy and how important it is to the health of a company. From Steve Jobs to Howard Schultz, Jack Welch and all the great managers and business leaders have spoken and written about strategy and its importance. Behind great products and great marketing campaigns is the power of strategy. Kotler has also highlighted the value of strategy and how a good marketing strategy helps brands succeed in a highly competitive world.

When Jack Welch joined as CEO of GE, he knew that there were huge obstacles in GE’s path and that finding growth would be difficult. So, he decided to give a new direction to his business. The strategy he used was simplification. What often happens is that executives and managers do not have a clear strategy and therefore every time a change occurs or a new force arrives on the market, they feel defeated because they are not ready to change direction. If you want to achieve organization-wide change, you must first have a strategy that can help you go beyond simply achieving goals. From a product launch to marketing and sales, and even finance and human resources, you need a good strategy everywhere to win. Larger tech companies like Google and Facebook are known for their great HR strategies. Apple and Microsoft are well known for their excellent product strategies. If Amazon became the biggest e-commerce giant, the reason was that it had a great strategy. From being just a bookseller to being the largest online retailer, it was all built on the power of the leaders’ strategy. Strategy can be powerful enough to remove all small and large obstacles from your path. Jack Welch brought simplicity to his organization because he knew that without it there would be a clutter that could kill productivity by ending communication. He divided the entire business into several divisions where each had its own leader and each leader owned their business. Eliminated multiple layers of management to create a more agile and productive structure. Communication could move faster and the decision that might otherwise take years could be made faster and in a few days. A strategy can change the direction of a business and everyone knows that GE has continued to expand despite the turbulent market and geopolitical situations.

Other large companies have also focused on the strategy to find faster growth in the international market. Apple, Microsoft, Starbucks, Nike, and all the other big brands have created growth through great business strategies. They all have excellent product and marketing strategies. Apple’s product strategy has made it one of the most important brands in the world. Similarly, Nike’s marketing strategy is appreciated globally for its ability to connect with its fans. An attractive strategy makes a business attractive. It brings synchronization and improves collaboration and communication. Big brands are always prepared for the future and know that companies may have to go through critical economic phases in which only a good business strategy can help. The last decade has seen various phases of economic and geopolitical turmoil. Without an excellent strategy, it becomes difficult to cope with the changing winds. It is a time when all existing ideas are challenged, from innovation to globalization. It’s time for disruptive innovation and brands like Uber and Air BnB have found growth only through great business ideas and strategies. A simple piece of technology cannot help you win. Several brands have failed in this highly competitive world just because they made financial investments, but when it came to strategy, theirs was weaker than their competitors. The number of your most critical competitors is always small and if you want to win you must have a stronger strategy than them. Flexibility, simplicity, and other strengths can be achieved by using a good business management strategy. Organizations that have a complex business strategy and organizational structure find it difficult to change direction when a change occurs. Technological changes can happen overnight and geopolitical and economic changes can challenge your greatest strengths. When new businesses emerge and challenge existing businesses with weaker value propositions, it becomes difficult for existing businesses to shift gears and such businesses collapse.

Competition across the industry has increased in the 21st century and you must have a great strategy to make your presence felt. Having great managers on board would not be enough. You need to sync to make use of the greatest strengths you have. Simplicity is a great strategy and the simpler your brand and product are, the more popular it will become and the faster it will grow.