My book ‘Uncomplex Strategy: Making Business Strategy Accessible to Managers, Entrepreneurs and Students’ seeks to make strategy “uncomplex” and “accessible to managers, entrepreneurs and students” as its title proclaims. I have a passion for strategy and particularly for simplifying its frameworks and conceptual underpinnings and communicating otherwise complicated ideas in a manner that enables the average person to understand and practice strategy.
Many ideas encapsulated in the book were developed between 2004 and 2008 when I taught business strategy to executives and MBA students at the Lagos Business School. The material in the book is indeed substantially similar to various “Technical Notes” which I later developed as teaching aids for strategy and which were previously published as articles on the pages of BusinessDay newspaper mostly between 2006 and 2008. The title ‘Uncomplex Strategy’ evolved as I refined and sharpened my focus on conveying the concepts of strategy in an “uncomplex” manner.
The book is laid out in seven parts – Strategy and Purpose; Strategy and the Business Environment; Industry Analysis; Competitive Strategy; Strategy Execution; Putting it Together; and The End Game.
Strategy and Purpose contains two chapters dealing with Strategy and Corporate Purpose and Strategic Intent, in essence exploring the purpose/intent questions in strategy – Why are we in business? What do we seek to achieve? What is our essence? What future do we envisage for our business? Which business? What are our vision, mission, values, culture, etc? The chapter on strategic intent examines the shorter-term dimension to corporate vision and strategy and discusses both conceptual issues and Nigerian illustrations of the concept. Indeed, the big advantage of ‘Uncomplex Strategy’ to the Nigerian reader is the numerous local illustrations it adopts which aid understanding and relevance in the local business environment.
Part 2 on Business Environment is where I explain my firm, RTC Advisory Services’ proprietary “SPELT-G” model for business environment analysis – a six-level analysis covering SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, LEGAL/REGULATORY, TECHNOLOGY and GLOBAL sub-environments, a framework for analysis which is arguably more robust than its global equivalents – PEST, SPEED, etc. Part 2 also includes another key element of the book – “context readings” which help to illuminate the concept being discussed. All the context readings included in the book were written by me and have also been published either as technical notes or academic articles or in newspaper columns or both. Part 2 additionally includes an examination of the business environmental tool of scenario planning.
Part 3 on Industry Analysis explains contemporary strategy analytical tools (Porter’s 5 Forces, Bradenburger and Nalebuff’s ValueNet) using domestic industry examples and also discusses industry evolution and transformation. Many illustrations are taken from the financial services sector, quick service restaurants, transportation, telecommunications and other local industries and sectors. This part includes very insightful context readings on financial services industry consolidation, regulation and evolution and appears to have anticipated several contemporary developments in the industry.
Part 4 on Competitive Strategy presents conceptual frameworks such as Porter’s Generic Strategies (Cost, Differentiation and Focus) with both global and Nigerian illustrations and discusses the difference between strategy and tactics. It also includes a discussion on competitive advantage and the different routes to securing it. There are also very enlightening insights on the differences between “concentrate producers” and “bottlers” that every manager or entrepreneur can learn from as well as an examination of the concepts of “blue ocean strategy” and “core competences”.
This part, as well as others, leverages some approaches that improve reader interest and understanding – taking lessons from sports, especially football; taking insights from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign; and taking learnings from globalisation.
Part 5 discusses strategy execution based on concepts, experience, literature and global and domestic illustrations as well as the “Balanced Scorecard” methodology.
In Part 6, which “puts everything together”, the author presents a wholesome view of ‘Uncomplex Strategy’ – What is Strategy? Its contexts, applications and elements, and an elucidation of the process of strategy. This part also includes a “case study” on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) using the experience of UACN Plc through an article titled ‘Can Companies Do Good?’
Part 7, The End Game, is somewhat unconventional. It is a treatment of strategy in a theological context titled ‘The Ultimate Strategist’. I appear to be suggesting that there is a role for the divine hand in the affairs of men (and businesses!) and present God as “the ultimate strategist” based on an examination of scripture. The article argues that “the only thing they don’t teach you in business schools is the place of the Almighty God, by whose Grace man stands” and draws the roots and foundations of many strategy concepts from the Bible.
‘Uncomplex Strategy’ is easy to read, reasonably short (180 pages) and very relevant to the Nigerian reader. What may be considered its only significant weakness is the fact that it is situated mostly in 2006 to 2010, but I deliberately retain these ideas in their original contextual timing so that readers can draw additional strategic insights from the changes that have since occurred. ‘Uncomplex Strategy: Making Business Strategy Accessible to Managers, Entrepreneurs and Students’ is published by Goriite Publishing Limited, a new publishing imprint associated with RTC, and can be ordered online through Konga.com or Kaymu.com.ng or in some leading bookshops in the Lagos area.
Opeyemi Agbaje
