The old customary procedure of strategy development has a pure and sound logic. It has been designed in order to answer the question: What is it that we should do in order to achieve our goals?

The process essentially involves three stages:

• Where are we now?
• Where do we want to be?
• How do we to get there?

This process is based on Gap Analysis. Supposedly, the competitor who manages to execute it better will also carry out the strategy with consistence and persistence will be the one who achieves the competitive advantage over the rest of it's competitors.  It is my belief that this process is no longer adequate. It is not sufficient for the competitive environment of this day and age.  It does not help managers steer their organizations in the direction of success and profitability. 

What is wrong with the classic process? Before anything else - its basic assumptions are incorrect:

Assumption # 1: We know our goals.
How do we set our goals according to the old process? In the worst but not infrequent case – goals are based on a degree of ambition or aggression – with no true reference to reality. In the best case this becomes an evaluation of potential.  Evaluation of potential is based upon your company's current situation, and on consumers’ needs based on analysis and trending. Real potential, that cannot be assessed while following this approach, is based on “what could be”.

Assumption # 2: The world is stable.
We assume that if we just define where we want to get to, we would surely be able to find or make a way to get there. The initial thought, in the spotlight of the big picture, is is to move through uncharted territory that  remains unaltered. The initial thought could not be more misleading. In the past, companies succeeded by discovering or unveiling unsatisfied customer needs.  Today, generally speaking – there is no such thing as satisfied needs. Moreover, customers have become barraged with options. Their expectations are constantly rising.  If in the past – ‘market share’ was a stable benchmark of achievements,  today "market share" data changes by the month, by the week, and even by the day. We can speak only of our average market share. Most who deal with this data will admit that there are no more sustainable, competitive advantages, and that the mission has become the achievement of a repeating competitive advantage. The old approach is a control oriented approach, the new orientation of marketing behavior is a reactive and reciprocal approach to trending and customer feedback analysis.

Assumption # 3: Only we are doing this (or: we do it better).
The illusion that we are capable of defining specific goals and of moving towards them virtually unimpeded - assumes that our competitors are going to continue doing exactly what they have been doing so far. Competitors of today may not be the competitors of tomorrow. The face and interior of competitors is constantly changing.  When the game consisted of a rat-race toward unfulfilled customer needs one could know exactly what one’s competition was attempting to achieve. Since then, more and more companies have realized the need for inventiveness and innovation, in order to do something that could succeed, and that their competitors have not yet tried.

The New
There is an alternative approach to the old way of thinking.

• What’s now?
• What’s possible?
• What’s feasible?
• What’s next?

The new heart of the process is the question “what is possible?”.   Admittedly, the old process does encompass a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threats) Analysis, in which there is an Opportunity component. It is however a minor – and usually pretty much neglected – step in the strategy development process.  It has no method; it has no tools. You just list whatever opportunities come to mind.
The process offered here is based totally on analysis and thorough scanning of available opportunities.  A comprehensive methodology for 'The Opportunity Scan ' or in short 'The O-Scan’ is set of procedures and tools is designed to map the scale of opportunities that are available to a company at any given point of time.  
The O Scan is designed to yield:

• A new winning business concept
• A new winning competitive strategy
• A new segment that offers growth potential
• An innovative 'Hit' product (or service)
• An irresistible brand strategy.

Upon completion of The O Scan it is important to ask:  "where and how was the new opportunity found and identified?".  A systematic opportunity search should encompass six modules for designing the most appropriate instruments for further discovery:

·      Competition analysis using a methodology designed to uncover the underlying rules-of-the-game in the market, and to explore systematically the possibilities to alter them – in order to achieve competitive advantages.

·      Internal Audit: a methodical ‘treasure-hunt’ within the company, for identifying competencies, infrastructures, technologies, connections, etc’, which could exploited in new ways to serve as bases for future opportunities.

·      Brand Audit: A thorough examination of the brand architecture as well as of each an every brand in it. More often than not, the potential of the brand system is not realized in full and there are opportunities to reshape the architecture, to focus / abstract / extend the brand or to re-brand, to develop the brand drama or to enrich brand realization in more dimensions such as: brand culture, brand community, brand experience, innovations the fulfill and reaffirm the brand's promise and many other options.

·      Worldwide Lookup: Spotting of new ideas and models that have succeeded elsewhere, either in the same industry or in other categories, which could be adapted and implemented to create new opportunities.

·      Inventive Thinking: Exploring in a creative yet systematic manner, potential alterations and advancements of current technologies, products, and practices so as to create new opportunities.

The What's Next? Process for strategy development, could be summed by the three “Open Your ‘I’s” commandments: Identify, Invent, Implement.

All of this is to help identify where you have become static, where you can improve and refresh you approach in a broad or narrow approach.  You can apply these to a particular aspect of you company or you can apply this to your entire company.  By employing the SWOT method to your business you can identify what to apply The O Scan.  Sometimes it takes a company or expert looking at your company from the outside to identify these things, ultimately you know your company better than most.  It is a process that takes time and constant tweeking, which in turn keeps your company constantly changing and shifting approach while maintaining your brand and messaging.