How do I know if my company has a good strategy?

I am often asked how a company knows if it has a good strategy. My thoughts:

• The strategy helps you make decisions about what you are going to do and what you aren’t going to do
• The strategy helps you allocate budget to the most important areas (analog to the first item)
• Most people who make decisions know what the strategy is and they use it to inform those decisions
• The competition isn’t confused about the position you INTEND to take in the market (please note INTEND. A strategy is a statement of directional intent, not a fulfillment of vision).
• People don’t wander around trying to figure out what to do, or how to find money to keep projects going (note here, this is not about execution of strategy, which may be wanting even where a good strategy exists)
• Projects get killed because they don’t make sense against the strategy – and sometimes for that reason alone. Nothing to do with capability, competency or desire. The project would be a distraction to strategic intent, and therefore isn’t a good investment – and it goes away.