The problem with the category management process
One of the most significant problems of the category management process is the lack of adaptivity.
Once issued and approved, a category strategy hardens over time and transforms from a managerial instrument into a constraint. It neither implies the immediate state nor responds to challenges and opportunities created in the business environment.
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This post will explain the adaptive category strategy's ability to change to suit changing conditions.
The taxonomy of management strategies
As for any other important activity, there's no single strategic management approach.
On the one hand, it relies on robust centralized management systems, where the rational analysis intends to respond to environmental and competitive conditions changes.
Therefore, the intended strategy emerges, which enables economic and process efficiencies based on the existing capabilities of a firm.
It will evolve and let go of some false assumptions and failed endeavors. Hence, the unrealized strategy will spin off the abandoned parts of the intended strategy.
Then the refined deliberate strategy will remain - the one that arises from conscious, thoughtful, and organized action on the part of a business and its leadership.
On the other hand, lower-level management can indicate alternative business opportunities and engage in unplanned actions, which require adjustments to the legacy plans and practices.
Their new strategic inputs will form the emergent strategy. It's typically viewed as the product of spontaneous innovation and often a direct result of individual contributors' daily prioritization and investment decisions.
While deliberate strategy is the virtue of corporations, the emergent one injects the startup mentality full of gambling and innovation.
Adaptive category strategyAll that mix of strategies makes the adaptive one. Adaptive capabilities involve quickly noticing changes in the external environment, understanding stakeholders' perspectives, and developing successful responses to demands before creating survival risks. |
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