From theory to action: the story of one strategy 273 subscribe to the key consulting industry journals and book lists (including Kennedy Information). I also periodically review the websites of the other top 20 business schools to see what they are up to in terms of programs and activities. Finally, I engaged in a dialogue (via email and in person/phone) with many of the over 900 UNC KFBS alumni who are currently working in consulting. I found the consulting alumni to be very informative and candid in their responses! After completing the internal and external analy- sis, it is time to move to the final step – creating the strategy.
STRATEGY FORMULATION Theory
So what is necessary for me to conclude that I have a good strategy? From an analysis perspective, it is important to conduct a thorough internal and external review as described above. I know that I will be filling in the 4 Ps of Strategy as shown in the first section of this chapter (Position, Priorities, Payments and Performance), and I know that my ultimate goal for this program is competitive advantage. From an organizational perspective, strategies of corporate, busi- ness units and functions must be aligned and consistent. They obviously increase in level of specificity as they go downward and the sets of ques- tions and activities will naturally vary. I will keep this in mind as I move toward application in the strategy formulation stage as described below. So my first task was to secure an understanding of the corporate and business unit strategies. In my case, the corporate level strategy was the university as a whole and the business unit was the UNC Kenan-Flagler School of Business. In terms of the University of North Carolina’s strat- egy statements (Figure 12.4), I thought through how my strategy would need to align with the priorities of attracting/inspiring, recruiting/sup- porting and serving/elevating. In my case, ‘attracting and inspiring’ ties to my objectives to raise money for the program related to attracting and inspiring both students and faculty. The ‘recruiting and supporting’ priority directly ties to my intentions to use funds for innovative program- ming and active involvement of graduate students in the planning and execution of consulting strategies. Finally, the ‘serve and elevate’ priority corresponds to my plans to use experiential learning as a key part of the curriculum, and I decided to add a component that includes service to the Application
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