STRATEGIC DEFICIT
ARTICLE
A strategy is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty (selected from Wikipedia on strategy).
Our thesis on strategic deficit
At AUGMNT, we have this thesis to the effect that the strategic deficit represents the state of insufficiency or inadequacy of a strategy when it is fueled by information that does not take into account the entirety of its environment as it exists under the 3 horizons. Rightly or wrongly, many strategies are articulated without taking into account the risks and opportunities of the long term and their possible perverse effects on the current situation of the organization.
We have this position that when a strategy is articulated without the wisdom of a flow of information covering the 3 horizons, it can then encourage decisions and actions creating economic harm such as for example going ahead with an investment amortized in the long term but the benefits of which will have a shorter scope. It may also cover getting engaged in a business activity with no sustainable future or not engaging in an activity with a sustainable future.
At AUGMNT, we perceive the 3 horizons as areas of strategic information to be fully exploited in order to ensure an organization (or a territory) the necessary competitiveness, continuity and sustainability. Consequently, not considering the information of an horizon or doing so only partially creates what we call a strategic (information) deficit.
A notion borrowed from the concept of technological deficit (or debt)
This notion of strategic deficit is borrowed from the notion of technological debt. a bit like comparative law when we compare a notion of law in one system with the same notion in another system such as for example. property law in French civil law and that of English law.
The technological deficit describes a situation in which a technology does not do what it is supposed to do because it is obsolete and is no longer capable of operating current systems or is not profitable and therefore creates a deficit investment.
One factor contributing to the technology gap is the lack of knowledge among senior management and board members to ask informed questions and align technology with strategy.
Similarly, a strategy may not do what it is expected to do or has warranted a long-term investment that will quickly become obsolete or will not operate effectively or profitably under current or emerging conditions.
It is up to senior management and, when applicable, the board of directors or the sole or majority owner for smaller organisations, to fill this knowledge gap and it is through the practice of foresight and the use of the 3 horizons model that this gap can be corrected so that “full-horizons” information is accessible and analysed.
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Through a structured approach, we help organizations and individuals learn about how the origins of what they imagine and can empower them to diversify their actions..
Introduction to foresight
An introduction into what is foresight/prospective and its main methods, the inner game of foresight and how it helps examine an issue in the context of the larger system that shapes it.
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