A
Action Plan: A detailed outline that specifies the steps, resources, and timeline required to achieve specific goals within a strategy.
Adaptive Strategy: A business strategy that involves continually adjusting and refining strategies based on ongoing feedback and the evolving competitive landscape.
Agile Strategy: A flexible approach to strategy development and execution that emphasizes adaptability and responsiveness to rapidly changing conditions.
Asset Liquidation: The process of selling off assets to generate cash, often used to streamline operations or pay down debt in a turnaround scenario.
B
Balanced Scorecard: A strategic planning and management tool that uses a balanced set of financial and non-financial measures to provide a comprehensive view of an organization’s performance.
Blue Ocean Strategy: A market strategy that seeks to create and tap into new demand markets, rendering the competition irrelevant by offering something unique.
Business Model Reengineering: Revamping the underlying mechanisms of value creation and delivery in a business to achieve drastic improvements in performance and efficiency.
C
Capability Analysis: The process of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of a company’s existing capabilities against its strategic goals.
Competitive Advantage: The unique attributes or circumstances that allow an organization to outperform its competitors.
Core Competencies: Fundamental knowledge, abilities, or expertise in a specific area that provides a business with a competitive advantage.
Corporate Strategy: The overall scope and direction of a corporation and the way in which its various business operations work together to achieve particular goals.
Cost Restructuring: Reducing operating costs through methods such as layoffs, renegotiating contracts, or streamlining operations to improve financial health.
D
Debt Refinancing: Replacing existing debt with new debt, often with better terms, to reduce pressure from creditors and improve cash flow.
Differentiation Strategy: A business strategy where a company establishes strong brand loyalty and product uniqueness to stand out from competitors.
Diversification Strategy: A strategy that involves entering into new markets or industries with new products or services to spread and reduce risks.
E
E-commerce Integration: Implementing or enhancing online sales channels to access broader markets and improve sales in a turnaround strategy.
Environmental Scanning: The continuous process of gathering information about events and trends in the external environment that could impact the future of an organization.
Execution: The phase of strategy where plans are carried out or executed to achieve the strategic objectives.
Exit Strategy: A planned approach to liquidating a position in a financial asset or disposing of a business operation as a part of strategic planning.
F
Financial Reengineering: The complete overhaul of a company’s financial strategies, including cost management, capital structure, and revenue enhancement.
Five Forces Analysis: A framework for analyzing the level of competition within an industry and business strategy development, developed by Michael E. Porter.
Functional Strategy: A strategy developed and implemented by an organization’s various departments to support the business unit strategy.
G
Gap Analysis: A method of assessing the differences in performance between a business’ information systems or software applications to determine whether business requirements are being met and, if not, what steps should be taken to ensure they are met.
Geographic Consolidation: Reducing the number of locations or exiting markets to concentrate resources on more profitable areas.
Growth Strategy: Techniques used by businesses to achieve substantial growth, whether through boosting the current product lineup, entering new markets, or acquiring competitors.
H
Horizontal Integration: A strategy used by a corporation that seeks to sell a type of product in numerous markets, or to increase its market share in its current industry.
Horizontal Integration: Acquiring or merging with competitors to increase market share and reduce competition as a part of a turnaround strategy.
Hybrid Strategy: A competitive strategy that involves simultaneously pursuing both cost leadership and differentiation to provide value to customers.
I
Innovation Strategy: A plan made by an organization to encourage advancements in technology or services, usually by investing in research and development activities.
Innovation Strategy: Implementing new and creative ideas in product development, marketing, and business processes to differentiate from competitors and attract new customers.
Integration Strategy: A strategy that combines activities associated with both forward integration (towards the customer) and backward integration (towards raw materials).
J
Joint Venture: A strategic alliance where two or more parties, usually businesses, agree to contribute resources to accomplish a specific task or to pursue set objectives.
Joint Ventures: Partnering with other firms to share resources, access new markets, or share the burden of heavy investments during a turnaround.
Just-in-Time Strategy: An inventory strategy companies employ to increase efficiency and decrease waste by receiving goods only as they are needed in the production process, thereby reducing inventory costs.
K
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Realignment: Redefining the metrics used to measure success to focus on those that directly support the most critical aspects of the turnaround effort.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Measurable values that demonstrate how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives.
Knowledge Management Strategy: The methods an organization uses to manage and promote its intellectual resources and knowledge effectively.
L
Leadership Change: Bringing in new management to inject fresh ideas, perspectives, and strategies into a struggling business.
Leadership Strategy: Strategic decisions made about the leadership styles and management practices that will best foster a productive organizational culture.
Leverage Strategy: The use of various financial instruments or borrowed capital—such as margin—to increase the potential return of an investment.
M
Market Penetration: A growth strategy where a business focuses on selling existing products within existing markets to gain a higher market share.
Market Repositioning: Changing the target audience or the perceived value of the product or service to meet different customer needs and open up new revenue streams.
Merger and Acquisition Strategy: Strategic plans involved in buying, selling, dividing, and combining different companies that can help an enterprise grow rapidly.
Mission Statement: A brief description of a company’s fundamental purpose. A mission statement answers the question, “Why do we exist?”
N
Network Strategy: A plan that involves creating a network of relationships with other organizations to share resources or enhance capabilities through collaboration.
Niche Focus: Concentrating efforts and resources on a more narrowly defined market segment that offers growth opportunities and less competition.
Niche Strategy: A marketing approach concentrating on a specific market segment and tailoring offerings to that particular market.
O
Operational Efficiency Improvement: Enhancing processes to reduce waste, improve speed, and lower costs, thereby increasing profitability.
Organic Growth Strategy: Growth strategy where a company uses internal resources to increase its business by enhancing output and sales, as opposed to mergers and acquisitions.
Organizational Structure: How tasks and responsibilities are distributed within an organization, influencing the company’s management and strategy execution.
P
Portfolio Analysis: A method used by managers to make decisions about investment mix and policy, matching investments to objectives and balancing risk against performance.
Product Development Strategy: A strategy that involves creating new products or improving existing products to meet customer needs better.
Product Line Rationalization: Streamlining the range of products or services offered to eliminate unprofitable items and focus on core competencies.
Q
Quality Assurance: The strategic management process of maintaining a desired level of quality in a service or product by paying attention to every stage of the process of delivery.
Quality Enhancement Strategy: Strategic actions taken to improve the quality of a product or service in order to meet or exceed customer expectations.
Quality Improvement Programs: Initiating efforts to enhance product quality and service delivery to regain customer trust and satisfaction.
R
Resource Allocation: The distribution of resources among various projects, departments, or segments of a business to increase efficiency and maximize returns.
Retrenchment Strategy: A strategy used by corporations to reduce the diversity or the overall scale of operations in response to financial pressures or strategic reevaluation.
Revenue Stream Diversification: Identifying and developing new sources of revenue to reduce dependence on traditional streams that may be underperforming.
S
Scenario Planning: A strategic planning method used to make flexible long-term plans based on the assessment of future scenarios.
Strategic Alliances: Forming partnerships with other businesses to leverage their strengths in a way that supports a turnaround.
SWOT Analysis: A strategic planning tool used to identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to business competition or project planning.
T
Tactical Planning: Short-term, actionable steps derived from a company’s strategic plan that guide day-to-day operations to achieve medium-term goals.
Technology Strategy: A detailed plan that outlines how technology should be utilized to meet IT and business goals.
Turnaround Team Establishment: Assembling a group of experts dedicated to executing and monitoring the turnaround strategy.
U
Unique Selling Proposition (USP): A factor that differentiates a product from its competitors, such as the lowest cost, the highest quality, or the first-ever product of its kind.
Upselling Strategy: A sales technique where a seller induces the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale.
Utilization of Technology: Leveraging modern technology to improve business processes, customer experience, and operational efficiency.
V
Value Chain Analysis: A process where a firm identifies its primary and support activities that add value to its final product and then analyzes these activities to reduce costs or increase differentiation.
Value Chain Reassessment: Evaluating each step of the production and distribution process to identify and eliminate inefficiencies or bottlenecks.
Value Proposition: A statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service, clearly stating the value the product or service provides.
W
War Gaming: A strategy simulation technique used to make strategic planning more robust. It involves thinking through possible scenarios and developing plans to address those scenarios.
Whistleblowing Policy: A strategic framework within an organization that provides guidelines for dealing with reports of misconduct, ensuring that they are handled appropriately and confidentially.
Workforce Optimization: Adjusting the workforce to align with current business needs, which may involve layoffs, rehires, or retraining programs.
X
X-Efficiency Achieving: Striving to reach the highest level of efficiency in all operations to minimize costs and waste during a turnaround.
X-Efficiency: The degree of efficiency maintained by firms under conditions of imperfect competition such as monopolistic competition.
X-Inefficiency: The difference between efficient behavior of businesses assumed or implied by economic theory and their observed behavior in practice, often caused by lack of competitive pressure.
Y
Yield Management: A variable pricing strategy based on understanding, anticipating, and influencing consumer behavior in order to maximize revenue from a fixed, perishable resource.
Yield Management: Using pricing strategies that anticipate and respond to consumer behavior to maximize revenue from available inventory.
Yield Strategy: A strategy focused on obtaining the maximum yield or return on investments or projects.
Z
Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB): A budgeting method where every expense must be justified for each new period, as opposed to only explaining the amounts requested in excess of the previous period.
Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB): Approaching budgeting with no assumptions, starting from zero and justifying every expense to ensure optimal allocation of resources.
Zero-Based Strategy: A method of strategy formulation that starts from a “zero base” and reevaluates every fact of a project or business to optimize performance and cut costs.