An official approach to the future
The value of a company is made up not just of its current financial performance, but also its plausible projected future state.
This projected future state - if it is going to be more than simply an inflated extrapolation of the present (also known as 'a thumb suck') - is dependent on the quality of its current sales momentum, brand strength and the organisation's official strategic approach to the future.
Developing a sound strategic approach to the future is an ongoing, iterative process that involves: (1) asking the right questions as to what barriers may be preventing the emergence of the desired future state, (2) co-ordinating a dedicated practice of gathering knowledge about the future, (3) making sense of what the gathered knowledge may mean for the organisation, as well as the industry, marketplace and economy, in which the organisation operates, and then (4) compiling and structuring a rational strategic argument, and a coherent set of actions, that are aimed at creating the ideal future state of that organisation.
A company's most valuable asset
This official approach to the future - if carefully and explicitly outlined and executed on - can be considered to be a company's most valuable asset.
Valuable - because investors don't buy past performance, they buy a company's plausible argument as to how they are going about unlocking their presumed future performance.
If that projection isn't critically and logically structured, then a business is purposely not aligning itself to take advantage of its potential. And unless the future is exactly the same as the past (which it seldom ever is), its performance becomes a lottery, rather than a series of informed strides into the unknown.
Write it down...test it...challenge it.
In reality, most companies don't take the time, or make the effort, to officially record what their position on 'the future' is.
This doesn't mean that there aren't subjective, individual views about the future, that lurk below the surface, and end up disorientating the organisation's forward progress thanks to confusing, incoherent and inconsistent decision-making.
But without an official, written-down approach, there is no way to measure the quality of the choices that end up being made in response to whoever is primarily holding the image of the future of the organisation in their mind.
It's very difficult to determine what future prospects are in store for an organisation without an explicit declaration of its approach to the future.
It doesn't need to be perfect, but it is recommended that it does indeed exist. Tinkering with it from there on is then an ongoing practice of action, reflection and adjustment.