First guided tour
"
Give me six hours to chop down a tree
I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
"
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
There is an endless list of techniques, frameworks and tricks that have their use in strategy elaboration. Almost each and every new book or article on strategy, put forward a new set of analytical tools, diagnosis canvas or action frameworks.
The objective of this part is to see a glimpse of some of the most common or most used tools. The aim is not to comprehensively review themselves tools, but to get a feeling about i) how they can be used in practice, ii) where to start and not to start, iii) what are their benefits and also iv) what are their most common pitfalls.
The SWOT analysis and the PESTEL grid are among the best-known tools, supposedly easy to use, and it are therefore very popular. People will often expect to see a SWOT and it is advisable to be ready to prepare and deliver one. This famous analysis (derived from the LCAG model) aims at assessing both internal & external factors and identifying the actions needed if the organization is either to capitalize upon opportunities or minimize the impact of the threats.