From theory to action: the story of one strategy 269 by ensuring that certain competencies are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable. Another relevant strategy theory comes from the infamous SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (Andrews, 1971). The strengths and weaknesses components are intended to be a careful and candid review of the current state of affairs within the organi- zation vis-à-vis the best in the industry (and sometimes beyond). What are the elements of the company’s value chain that are performed to a world class level and ultimately translate to competitive advantage? In the event that there are internal deficiencies that would impede the progress toward the stated vision, what corrective steps could be taken to improve the internal capabilities or should we consider outsourcing the function? Finally, from a theoretical perspective, strategy occurs at multiple levels in an organization. Generally, this is viewed at three levels – corporate, business unit and function. One of the areas of the strategy literature currently under investigation in the strategy process literature pertains to how these different levels of strategy interrelate. It is logical that they should adhere to a common corporate mission and vision, as well as a set of values that guides behaviors. Each business unit and function will also have its own mission, vision and priorities, but these statements should reconcile very cleanly with the higher level corporate strategy statements. In essence, they articulate the particular role of the unit or function in accomplishing the higher level objectives and should not be in conflict in any way. Next, I will move to how these ideas informed me as I began to design related strategy actions. I sensed that the starting point was to spend some time understanding the current and historical situation. I certainly had a few hypotheses as to what types of activities may help but I still needed some more basic information to solidify the ideas. My intuition as to the strategic actions was based upon my experience leading the consulting program at Indiana University, where I found that bringing more consulting alumni on campus and insti- tutionalizing more formal case interview preparation programs were very productive actions. The challenge was to understand the informal and formal context in the new environment, in order to determine the strategic priorities and the strategic communication mechanisms at UNC. This is the basis for my internal analysis. In retrospect, the strategy formulation process actually began before I had the new leadership position. During my interview process, I asked many questions about the current state of affairs. I knew that I would be Application
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