A User’s Guide to Open Strategy

Open innovation methods can also be applied at a more general and strategic level — and this article presents a framework for doing just that. A simple insight sits at its heart: strategy is developed in three distinct phases, each of them requiring a different solution to get the balance between openness and secrecy right. Depending on whether a company wants to open up in order to determine the direction it wants to take (idea generation phase), work out the exact details of their strategy (formulation phase), or mobilize staff around its strategy (execution phase) strategy making will involve different numbers and types of people, and requires different amounts and type of data. By using the framework, strategy-makers can benefit from outside perspectives while maintaining appropriate levels of secrecy.