Article Details

Article Title: The Power of Strategic Fit

Source: Harvard Business Review March-April 2025

Link: https://hbr.org/2025/03/the-power-of-strategic-fit

Summary

For many companies it is a real challenge to align all the essential elements of a  strategy to give the best possible returns for the business.

The article suggests that creating a cohesive strategy will unleash the power of strategic fit. You do this by building multiplier effects among seven factors which are:

1. The mental model. Effective leaders develop mental models that approximate complex realities yet are simple enough to guide daily decisions.
2. Purpose and ambitions. A company’s purpose and ambitions are inter-twined. Purpose is the reason the company exists and what it aims to achieve for others whereas ambitions are what the company hopes to accomplish for itself including financial and operational goals.
3. Stakeholder value creation. Continually creating values for all stakeholders. Customers, employees, suppliers, communities and investors.
4. Macro forces. Forces and trends outside a company that can influence it’s performance.
5. Markets and products. Continually being very aware of the products and markets they offer and operate in.
6. Competitive advantages. Unique attributes that enable a company to outperform it’s competitors.
7. The operating model. How the organisation is organised and structured, including leadership, culture, processes and technology.

Insights for leading your dental practice

Whilst the article is clearly focused on larger companies and corporations there are some learnings we can take from it for leading a dental practice:

1. Get your ducks in a row as one of my previous bosses said to me.What he meant by this is that everything needs to be aligned and consistent with the strategy. It is this alignment that really creates impact as much as the strategy itself. Make sure everything is aligned in your dental practice behind your strategy. Does everybody have clarity on what the strategy is? Do you? Is everybody clear on how their role impacts that strategy?
2. Understand your purpose as a dental practice and ensure that this is inter-twined with your objectives and goals. What is your why as a practice? How does your practice contribute and what is the impact of that contribution?
3. Continually look to create value for your patients, your people, your local community, your suppliers and any investors you may or may not have.
4. Consider the dynamics going on that are outside of your control and ensure the strategy works with those rather than against them. What are the dynamics going on in the dental market around you and how do you surf those waves effectively?
5. Think very carefully about what services you are offering in your practice to align with your purpose and ambitions.
6. Pay attention and continually develop your unique competitive advantage, making sure it is relevant to your purpose and ambitions. Don’t just offer everything because other people are. Choose the offerings that you think fit with your capabilities as a practice and the environment around you.
7. Develop your systems and culture to fit.

Critique

There are some useful lessons in this article that can be applied to leading your dental practice. That said, I think some of the concepts are quite broad and don’t really give specific actions.

There is not much reference to any specific research they did, except on how creating stakeholder value aligns with creating financial investors for it’s shareholders. This includes employees and communities. Always trying to add value for all your stakeholders will lead to greater returns.