Strategic analysis and planning is a high level skill that requires extensive education, experience and business knowledge.

Relatively speaking, there simply aren’t that many qualified people available.

This means that senior strategic managers are expensive to employ.

What’s worse, the best strategic work is accomplished by teams willing to challenge established behaviours, ideas and most importantly, each other. So it’s not just a matter of hiring one person, but probably 3 or 4.

Then there’s the actual requirement for any given company. How often do you need to conduct comprehensive strategic planning exercises? And how long do they take?

Let’s say your industry is highly dynamic and needs to complete a full strategic process every year. That might take 6 months, but more likely 3-4. That means that companies that employ strategy teams are wasting 66-75% of their money every year! And that’s the dynamic end of the spectrum. Companies operating in less dynamic industries waste even more money by employing dedicated strategy teams.

Then there’s the issue of environmental change. As a rule, consultants become aware of change more quickly than staff. That’s just because they are exposed to a higher number of clients across a wider range of industries than employees of a single company. This means that consultants see the impact of change and are more likely to appreciate the implications of change than employees.

Perhaps a better question is “why would companies ever hire strategic staff?”

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For more information call us on 1300 884 675 .

Visit our Hobart office at Level 2, 11 Morrison Street, Hobart (on the waterfront).

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