Whats is strategy

Strategy is not well defined , not straightforward, lots of instability political

economic not well defined and that results on bias in decision making.
Volatility : financial markets; complexity
The spread of information, contemplated on decision making complex test
to bring sense to the amount of data you have.
Decision Biases on daily basis : its impossible to mega trends last
decades, lots of things were said that turn out not to be true.
Decision making + allocate capital : is this worth the shot? Decisions along
the way always influence the prior made strategy.
Final strategy is a mix of the intended and deliberated strategy with a set of
the emergency strategies things can change over the lifetime of the
project. Airline industry example , always shifts demand and fuel.
STRATEGY FOR MCKINSEY IS : An integrated set of hard reverse choices,
made ahead of time in the face of uncertainty.
Is not : a vision, a goal or ambition, many choices, reversible choices,
deterministic future, to gain a few points of market share or to beat only
your competitor.
Independent consultancy role during the financial crisis? Regulation
mistakes were made, consultants on the margin of the process. Risk
management products with the banks errors.

and how to approach strategic plans and intents

How to build and recognize a winning strategy is it beating the
market? Or just playing along?
Does your strategy tap the true source of advantage? The clients recognize
that its plan was not challenging enough.
Why does Federer earns so much money? Creates value for brands, right
strategy on the court, is an idol for millions, credible and respective guy.
Associations with Federer are part of strategy of the companies. Sector
where you compete are part of the profits we can expect to win.
Importance of being in the right business, industry size always influence it.
Where to compete rather than how to compete focus
US market : even mature markets show huge differentiation.

How do we manage strategy projects?

Problem solver approach different people coming to solve, with different
insights. Client problem starting point
Defining a problem structure the problem prioritize issues develop
issues analysis and work plan conduct analyses synthesize findings
develop recommendation. Permanent communication
Think speed - Think Efficiency - Think Evidence - So what- Potential solution
Syndication paradigm

Uniqueness of Mckinsey when serving clients : quality of the people brought,

outstanding people, huge network of consultant matters of size , trying to
acess info, data etc ; easy to reach out different people and different info
within Mckinsey all topics covered. All comes down to PEOPLE. Buyig a lot
of companies, with a specific set of capabilities, that they dont hav today
but see as crucial for the future to obtain the knowledge, differentiation
factor,