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The Mind Of The Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business ReviewKenichi Ohmae was Chairman of the Japan office of McKinsey & Company, the world-famous strategy consulting firm. He has been described as "Mr. Strategy" and has written several books and articles on strategy-related topics.
Kenichi Ohmae believes that successful business strategies do not result from rigorous analysis but from a particular state of mind. "In what I call the mind of the strategist, insight and consequent drive for achievement, often amounting to a sense of mission, fuel a thought process which is basically creative and intuitive rather than rational." He uses theoretical knowledge from the various academic scholars and puts them in its place - "a place distinctly secondary to creative intuition in the tool kit of the successful strategist." The book split up in three parts, each consisting of 5 to 7 chapters.
In Part I - The Art of Strategic Thinking, the author concentrates on the basics of the mental process. In Chapter 1 - Analysis: The Starting Point, Ohmae introduces the strategic thinking process. He introduces various useful diagrams and flow processes for a more reliable recipe for success: "the combination of analytical method and mental elasticity that I call strategic thinking." In the chapters 2 to 6, the author explores the different directions the strategic thinker can pursue in quest of innovative strategies. In the final chapter of Part I, Ohmae explains how the right mindset for strategic thinking and how to develop the required strategy.
In Part II - Building Successful Strategies, Ohmae shifts his focus from process to content. "In the construction of any business strategy, three main players must be taken into account: the corporation itself, the customer, and the competition." He refers to them as the three C's or the strategic triangle. Within the next three chapters, Ohmae discusses the strategies based on those three C's: (1) "Customer-based strategies are the basis of all strategy. ... There is no doubt that a corporation's foremost concern ought to be the interest of its customers rather than that of its stockholders and other parties. In the long run, the corporation that is genuinely interested in its customers is the one that will be interesting to investors." (2) "Corporate-based strategies are functional. Their aim to maximize the corporation's strenghts relative to the competition in the functional areas that are critical to success in the industry." (3) "Competitor-based strategies can be constructed by looking at possible sources of differentiation in functions ranging from purchasing, design, and engineering to sales and servicing. The main point to remember is that any difference between you and your competitors must be related to one or more of the three elements that jointly determine profit: price, volume, and cost." In the final chapter of Part II, Ohmae discusses corporate strategy. He claims that corporate strategy needs to address two issues: First, the integration between the individual business and the total corporation. And second, should there be a corporate strategy that is different from the individual business.
Part III - Modern Strategic Realities discusses the environmental factors influencing strategy thinking and strategy formulation. The chapters in this part are not as much related to each other as the previous parts. Ohmae identifies and discusses five economic trends that have an impact on long-term business strategies, whereby he notes that the strategic thinker needs to take those trends into consideration when shaping strategies. Due to those economic trends, seven major changes are ongoing in a global perspective. Ohmae discusses those seven changes in a very interesting chapter 14. In the next chapter, the author discusses the various myths and realities about Japan products and Japanese companies, and discusses the four main differences between Japanese and Western companies. This chapter provides some great insights into Japanese strategic and business thinking. In Chapter 16, Ohmae tackles strategic decision making. Ohmae believes that founders of successful businesses do not simply gamble. In his opinion entrepreneurs follow a five-step process for successful, foresighted management decision making: (1) Clear definition of the business domain. (2) Logical hypothesis based on an extrapolation of forces at work in the business environment. (3) Focus on a few strategic options, instead of many, open to the business. (4) The company must pace its strategy and not overreach itself. (5) Management must be prepared to change the basic direction of the business, if conditions demand it. Each of these five steps are discussed in detail. In the final chapter of the book, the author discusses strategy formulation: "... to bring insight to fruition as a successful strategy takes method, mental discipline, and plain hard work." He also discusses the creativity required for the development of business strategy.
Yes, I do like this book. And yes, I do find it difficult to write a review about it. This book is not a guide or framework into Japanese strategic thinking. In fact, Ohmae only really spends one chapter on the difference between Japanese and Western business systems. It is more about the right mind-set for strategy formulation and strategy development. There are some great lines in this book, and the various figures, diagrams and sketches are extremely useful. I wish that I had read this book several years ago as it gives great insights into the strategy process and development. But again, this book is not a guide or framework. It is an excellent complement to books such Porter's 'Competitive Strategy' (1980) and 'Competitive Advantage' (1985). Highly recommended to anybody interested in strategic management and strategy development/process. The authors uses a very simple US-English writing style.
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