"Optimization has a place in business, but it isn’t strategy"

Recentemente, escrevi que os bancos se estavam a tornar vending machines e, sobretudo escrevi "Sem mudar de modelo de negócio, qual o destino?" de onde sublinho o último parágrafo:

"BTW, fazer isto "BCP obrigado a reduzir mais mil pessoas até 2015" sem mudar de modelo de negócio... dá muito que pensar."

Lembrei-me logo deste exemplo, ao iniciar a leitura de "Playing to win" de Lafley e Roger Martin, ao ler:

"What Is Strategy?
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Really, strategy is about making specific choices to win in the marketplace.
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More specifically, strategy is an integrated set of choices that uniquely positions the firm in its industry so as to create sustainable advantage and superior value relative to the competition. Making choices is hard work, and it doesn’t always fit with all the other work to be done. In our view, far too few companies have a clear, choiceful, and compelling winning strategy in place. Too often, CEOs in particular will allow what is urgent to crowd out what is really important. When an organizational bias for action drives doing, often thinking falls by the wayside. Instead of working to develop a winning strategy, many leaders tend to approach strategy in one of the following ineffective ways:
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4.They define strategy as the optimization of the status quo. (Moi ici: Claro que isto não se aplica só aos bancos... os elementos da tríade também ficam com as orelhas a arder) Many leaders try to optimize what they are already doing in their current business. This can create efficiency and drive some value. But it isn’t strategy. The optimization of current practices does not address the very real possibility that the firm could be exhausting its assets and resources by optimizing the wrong activities, while more-strategic competitors pass it by. Think of legacy airlines optimizing their spoke-and-hub models while Southwest Airlines created a transformative new point-to-point business model. Optimization has a place in business, but it isn’t strategy."

 Impressionante como esta é a receita mais preconizada nos media... e isso é terrível, pois uma mentira repetida muitas vezes torna-se verdade.
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Se uns senhores convidados pelos jornais e têvês dizem que é por ali...