What do you do if your strategic decision making isn't driving financial success in corporate finance? (2024)

Last updated on Mar 12, 2024

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Assess your decision process

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Review your decision criteria

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Monitor your decision outcomes

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Learn from your decision experience

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Seek professional guidance

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Experiment with your decision making

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Here’s what else to consider

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Strategic decision making is a crucial skill in corporate finance, as it involves choosing the best course of action to achieve the financial goals of the organization. However, sometimes your strategic decisions may not lead to the desired outcomes, or may even have negative consequences for the financial performance. What do you do if your strategic decision making isn't driving financial success in corporate finance? In this article, we will explore some possible reasons for this situation, and some steps you can take to improve your strategic thinking and decision making in corporate finance.

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What do you do if your strategic decision making isn't driving financial success in corporate finance? (2) What do you do if your strategic decision making isn't driving financial success in corporate finance? (3) What do you do if your strategic decision making isn't driving financial success in corporate finance? (4)

1 Assess your decision process

The first thing you need to do is to evaluate how you made your strategic decisions. Did you follow a clear and consistent framework, such as the SWOT analysis, the balanced scorecard, or the decision tree? Did you gather enough relevant and reliable data, and analyze it objectively and critically? Did you consider different scenarios, risks, and alternatives? Did you involve the right stakeholders, and communicate your decisions effectively? If you find any gaps or flaws in your decision process, you need to address them and improve your decision quality.

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2 Review your decision criteria

The next thing you need to do is to review the criteria you used to make your strategic decisions. Did you align your decisions with the vision, mission, and values of the organization? Did you balance the short-term and long-term goals, and the financial and non-financial objectives? Did you measure the expected return on investment, the net present value, the internal rate of return, or the payback period of your decisions? Did you account for the opportunity cost, the cost of capital, the risk premium, or the weighted average cost of capital of your decisions? If you find any inconsistencies or errors in your decision criteria, you need to revise them and align them with the financial strategy.

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3 Monitor your decision outcomes

The third thing you need to do is to monitor the outcomes of your strategic decisions. Did you set clear and realistic targets, indicators, and milestones for your decisions? Did you track and evaluate the actual results, and compare them with the expected results? Did you identify and quantify the deviations, variances, and gaps between the actual and expected results? Did you report and explain the causes and effects of the deviations, variances, and gaps? Did you adjust and update your decisions based on the feedback and learning? If you find any discrepancies or surprises in your decision outcomes, you need to investigate them and take corrective actions.

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4 Learn from your decision experience

The fourth thing you need to do is to learn from your decision experience. Did you document and reflect on your decision process, criteria, and outcomes? Did you solicit and incorporate feedback from others, such as your peers, managers, clients, or experts? Did you identify and acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, and best practices and lessons learned in your decision making? Did you share and disseminate your knowledge and insights with others, and create a culture of learning and improvement in your organization? If you find any opportunities or challenges in your decision experience, you need to leverage them and enhance your decision skills.

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5 Seek professional guidance

The fifth thing you need to do is to seek professional guidance. Sometimes, you may need external help to improve your strategic decision making in corporate finance, especially if you face complex, uncertain, or unfamiliar situations. You may consult with mentors, coaches, consultants, or trainers who have expertise and experience in corporate finance and strategic decision making. They can provide you with advice, feedback, tools, techniques, or training to help you make better strategic decisions that drive financial success in corporate finance.

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6 Experiment with your decision making

The sixth thing you need to do is to experiment with your decision making. You may try different approaches, methods, or tools to make your strategic decisions, and see how they affect your financial outcomes. You may also test your decisions with small-scale pilots, prototypes, or simulations, and measure their impact and feasibility. You may also seek diverse perspectives, opinions, or ideas from others, and challenge your own assumptions and biases. By experimenting with your decision making, you can discover new ways to solve problems, create value, and achieve financial goals in corporate finance.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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What do you do if your strategic decision making isn't driving financial success in corporate finance? (2024)

FAQs

What will happen if there is no strategy in business? ›

One of the biggest challenges of operating without a plan is a lack of clear direction. Without strategic goals and objectives, employees may not know what to prioritize, resulting in confusion, inconsistent performance, and poor use of resources and time management.

What are the main drivers affecting strategic decision-making? ›

Key external factors that affect strategic decision-making include new technologies, regulatory changes, market shifts, political-legal forces, economic forces, technological forces, and socio-cultural forces . These factors create uncertainty and increase the complexity of decision-making processes.

Can an organization be successful without a strategic plan Why or why not? ›

Without strategic planning, which is knowing the current state of your business and where you want it to go, most businesses will fail. A strategic plan allows you to see what is important, how to get there, the pitfalls to avoid, and the noise to ignore.

What strategic decisions must be made when selecting corporate strategies? ›

Key corporate strategy decisions may include whether to enter, retain, or exit a given business; whether to pursue growth internally or externally, i.e. through alliances or acquisitions; and how to allocate resources within a portfolio.

Can a company operate without a strategy and still remain successful? ›

A company or product or service can certainly survive without strategy, but it will never thrive.

What happens if we do not have a clear strategy? ›

Having objectives and goals means setting a target and working towards it. Without a strategy that sets this, the whole team won't have anything to specifically work towards. Goals and objectives are important in developing long-term productivity and actions plans to attain business success.

What are the three 3 main characteristics of strategic decisions? ›

The three characteristics of strategic decisions are: Activities match the resource base. Operational decisions are affected. The magnitude of strategies and nature are affected.

What is the most important element of strategic decision-making? ›

Having strong vision and mission statements are essential elements of a successful business, providing direction and focus, while guiding strategic decision making based on long-term goals and objectives and motivating employees to work towards a common goal.

What are the three major factors of strategic decisions What are they? ›

The strategist's challenge is to simultaneously manage three critical factors: values, opportunities and capabilities. In order to devise and execute a successful strategy, you need to analyze each of these factors to understand how your organization can create and sustain value.

What are the 4 P's of strategic planning? ›

A simple model made up of “Four Ps” can help companies create this advantage. These Ps are Perceptions, Performance, Purpose, and Process. There are six different stakeholder groups you should be listening to periodically to determine whether you're moving in the right direction.

What are the 4 reasons for the lack of strategic planning? ›

There are six reasons why most strategic plans fail.
  • Lack of focus. Often, people get lost in the semantics of defining their vision, mission and values. ...
  • Lack of energy/resources. ...
  • Lack of understanding. ...
  • Lack of accountability. ...
  • Lack of follow up. ...
  • Lack of flexibility.

What percentage of strategic plans fail? ›

Companies' strategic plans often fail for the same reason: ineffective strategy execution. According to Harvard Business School Professor Robert Kaplan's book, The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action, 90 percent of organizations fail to execute their strategies successfully.

What is the best strategic decision-making process? ›

Identifying the Need

This is the first way of making an effective strategic decision. This process involves defining the need and understanding if it requires immediate attention. Then, there is the evaluation of the company's objective and the identification of what need will be met by the decision.

What are the five steps in strategic decision-making? ›

The strategic decision-making process requires you to work through five stages:
  • Define the problem. It is crucially important to determine whether this is the real root of the problem, or simply a symptom of another issue. ...
  • Gather information. ...
  • Develop options. ...
  • Evaluate options. ...
  • Choose and take action.
Jun 16, 2021

What are the five key elements of strategic decisions? ›

A strategy consists of an integrated set of choices. These choices relate to five elements managers must consider when making decisions: (1) arenas, (2) differentiators, (3) vehicles, (4) staging and pacing, and (5) economic logic.

Why does a business need a strategy? ›

A business strategy guides leaders, as well as departments, about what should and should not be done, according to the organization's core values. Defining the organizations core values helps to ensure that employees are on same page, and with the same goals.

What are the risks of not having a people strategy? ›

Your people strategy demonstrates your commitment to and investment in your people, which can increase their engagement and encourage them to stay. It can also reduce your organization's exposure to certain risks, such as: Widespread employee dissatisfaction. Sudden increase in turnover.

Why is a strategy necessary? ›

Strategy defines and drives decisions in organizational design. Therefore by proactively pursuing new skills and knowledge, you prepare the organization for the intended future state and your odds of success increase.

Can a plan be successful without a strategy? ›

We've all heard the saying: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” This saying is especially true when it comes to business. A plan is essential for success and without it, you're likely to fail. But having a plan isn't enough – you need a strategy.

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