Risks

If strategy is off target, then a company’s risks include:

• Sub-optimized resource allocation: The wrong people at the wrong place in the wrong market; wasted time, wasted management attention, and wasted capital.
  
• Undermining the company’s strengths: Poor strategy means that the company is unlikely to know why it is succeeding (or not succeeding) in the market.
  
• Lack of focus: Too many people doing everything except the critical task that is required to be successful.
  
• Priorities that are out-of-synch: Difficulty identifying the tasks, resources or capabilities in which to invest.
  
• Inability to leverage early market success: New entrants may do well but as markets mature, an off-target strategy leads to diminishing share, cost overruns, and a failure to meet revenue projections. 
  

Opportunities

If strategy is well formed and executed, a company’s opportunities include:

• A focused organization:The right people, focused on the right resources, the right skills, and the right capabilities, the right customers in the right markets.
  
• Clear differentiation from competitors: The company knows the source of its competitive advantage.
  
• Clear priorities: The company knows how to focus and prioritize its resources and people are empowered to act consistent with the company strategy.
  
• Better market results with less effort and waste.
  
• A clearer line-of-sight to new opportunities.