Introduction:

Thursday, 4 April 2024 7:27 pm

What are the eight challenges a business faces? What is strategic management? Strategy - strategia - generalship

1. Increasing competition 1. Understanding where the business is at the moment. A plan of action designed to achieved a long-term or overall gain.
2. Changing demographics and psychographics 2. Having a clear view about where the business is going to be in
3. New technology the future Strategem - Plan or scheme - outwit an opponent
4. New global economy 3. Conducting a debate on getting the business from where is it at Strategic - Gaining advantage - identifying aims and interest and
Increase in competition the moment to where you want it to be in the future. achieving them
Can have a ripple effect on the supply chain Strategise - Action to devise a strategy
Dealing with different currencies, tax systems and law Strategist - Skilled in planning action
Intellectual property theft
Cyber threats What is the major perspectives on management?
• Strategy is made of a series of competitive actions
Competition for talents increases • Attract or satisfy customers
Exposures become bigger 1. Formal process - structured
2. Conception - designing the future • Compete to succeed
Reputation becomes bigger • Grow
Sustainability becomes more pressure. 3. Visionary - clarifies the ideal future
4. Analytical - considerers realities • Long-term business operations
5. Shift from manufacturing to services • Achieve goals and targets
Manufacturing usually holds higher profit margin 5. Collective - Various stakeholders
6. Reactive - Internal and external environments • Used to overpower rivals
compared to services • Plan of action
Investing in new capabilities which takes a longer 7. Transformation - requires change.
time to be yield returns
Loss in competitive advantage
Management: Terminology:
Disrupt supply chain and relationships
Workforce transitions
• Leading, overseeing, mentoring Term: Description:
Brand perceptions
• Assuming responsibility
6. Proliferation of corporate stakeholders Strategic Formulating, implementing and evaluating actions to
• Ensuring resources are allocated correctly
People who have an interest in the company beyond Management achieve goals
• Ensuring business runs profitably
just the stakeholders and employees
• Plan - maximum results Vision Desired future state
7. Managing new workforce
8. Rapid raise of the green movement Mission Overring purpose
Strategic management - Identify purpose and plans to achieve it
Goal Specific aim
Objective Quantifiable goal achieved in a certain time
Key aspects of planning:
Unique resources Competitive advantage
 Plan - How to attain outcomes Strategies Planned actions
 Pattern - Consist over time
Strategic control Monitoring of strategies
 Position - Seeks position in market place
 Perspective - Unique way of doing things
 Ploy - Outwit competitors

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Strategy
Monday, 15 April 2024 1:32 pm

The importance of strategy:

Factors to differentiate:
1.Where did it come from? • What has changed from then and now?
Time: Swift with cautious action. Evaluation. • What factors pushed us to a direction in the past?
• Why did we take that direction?
Execution: Efficiency of business • What would have been done the same?
Maneuverability: How quickly and effectively you react to circumstances • What worked?
• What did not work?
Knowledge: • Knowledge everyone in company has regarding offer
• Are the actions still relevant?
• Right answers @ right time
• Solutions + resources
Organization can consider possible mistakes that
• Handle situations
was made.
• Implications of changes
• Identifying strengths and weaknesses
• Exploiting competitor weakness 2.Where are we now? • Recognize why things are done in a certain way.
• Responding to competitor strengths • What factors brought the results
• What factors should be avoided
Value: Customer perception of goods. Remains loyal if value perception is high.
• What factors should be repeated
• Making access easier
• Plans that have not been implemented
• Diversity of products
• Reasons why plans have not been implemented
• More options / flexibility
• Service / product justifies the price
3.Where do we want to go? • Why do we want to pursue this direction?
Process: Adapting to new situations, useable in crises, cannot be immune to scrutiny, consistent and reliable.
• What resources do we need?
Cost: • Does not put profit margins under pressure • What skills do we need to harness?
• Ensure cost price is lower than selling • When do we achieve our goals?
• Sustainable • What are we willing to sacrifice.
Differentiation: • Hard to copy
• Improving quality without improving cost 4.How do we get our desired • What actions are needed?
• Adding functions and features without increasing cost future? • What constraints do we have?
• Useful without increasing cost • What possible risk and rewards are there?
• Superior delivery • What are the phases?
• What is the timelines?
• How will we measure the actions?
• What signals should we look at?
• What are the corrective actions?
People involved in management:

Chief executive officer: • Identify future directions

• Specify basic vision
• Define mission 5 steps of strategic management:
• Communicate goals
• Inspire to adopt strategy 1. Developing a strategic vision and mission
• Share strategy 2. Setting long-term objectives
3. Crafting strategy to achieve objectives
Chief financial officer: • Assist CEO with vision 4. Implementing strategy
• Assist CEO with mission 5. Monitoring and evaluation strategy
• Ensure significant funding
• Master financial plans
• Adjust budget
• Create access to funding channels
Chief operations officer: • Assist CEO with vision
• Assist CEO with mission Advantages of strategic management:
• Review processes and procedures to streamline the strategy
• Redesign and implement revised processes and procedures → Guides entire organization
Chief HR officer: • Assist CEO with vision → More alert of potential opportunities
• Assist CEO with mission → Unifies to a common goal
• Identify new roles, capabilities and skills → Creative stance on a large scale
• Retrain staff with new strategies → Facilitates the evolution of the business
• Find the right people for the roles → Framework for resources

Other members of the C-suite: • Assist CEO with vision

• Assist CEO with mission
• Develop goals and budgets Disadvantages of strategic management:
• Create channels
• Provide instructions  Not precise
• Work with middle management  Removed from reality
• Allocate resources  Takes a time
Generic roles in the C-suite: • Analysis of the organizations strategic positions  Mistakes that are not corrected immediately cause damage
• Analysis gap between current and future capabilities  Overemphasized
• Identify generic and future capabilities  Executives do not always get involved
• Evaluate and select strategies  Promises are not achieved
• Review structures  No compromise on plans
• Formulate policies  Can be confusing
• Design controls  Drawn up hastily

Middle management: • Develop mission

• SWOT analysis
• Gap between current and future capabilities
• Tactical strategies
• Review structure
• Formulate policies
• Design tactical controls
• Allocate resource
First level: • Formulate operational objectives
• Formulate operational strategies
• Lead the team

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 • Lead the team
• Implement operational control
• Schedule tasks
• Organize workers
• Organize resources
Subject matter experts: • Assist at all levels to gain insight

Four-level model of strategic management:

Levels of strategic management:
Level: Key-focus: Crafted by:
1. The strategic level: Corporate Company-wide game for managing a set of C-suite
strategy: business
Defines the organization's vision and mission. Evaluates impact on:
Business strategy: Single Business: C-Suite
→ The target market
→ Main producers • Strengthen the market
→ Geographical area • Competitive capabilities
→ Key technologies Multi-business: General managers / division
→ Overall survival growth heads
→ Philosophy • Strategy for each business
→ Self-image • Strengthen the market for each business
→ Public's image • Competitive capabilities for each business
→ Existing customers

2. The tactical level:

Functional • Relevant detail on how business strategy be Heads of major functional
strategy: implemented units
Guidelines, plans and budgets are applied to situations and divisions.
• Set of plans for managing activities
3. The operational level:
Operational • Specific day to day Operational / first line
Day to day operations that contribute to goals. strategy: • Specific details on how each individual managers
contributes

Aspects impacting strategy formulation:

Competitive capability Strong - set aside time for strategy

Weak - survival not enough time
Size of organization Size is irrelevant - strategy is essential for
sustainability
Age of organization Regardless of age, strategy is needed in
more hostile environments
Levels of motivation Crisis - not able to make good strategies
Prosperity - Incapable of considering risks
Levels of self-image The better the self-image the better the
chances strategy will succeed
Doubt in capabilities will make hesitant to
take action
Levels of operational and Level of experience
organizational maturity
Technicality Tell a good story about what the
organization wants to achieve

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Formulating a strategic direction
Thursday, 2 May 2024 1:38 pm

What does planning force an organization to do?

• Find better ways to work

• Find better ways to attract and retain customers
• Understand how to compete in changing environments
• Ensuring sustainable funding
• Ensuring sufficient employees
• Understanding implications
• Prepare for crisis What is the mission?
Classic view:
Elements of a vision • Overall philosophy
Vision: Mission: • Products and service
What is the vision?
A vision at all costs Take time to make a vision Future Reason for • Customer needs
 Focus on the future statement that makes sense and has meaning. orientated existence • Main technologies
 Idealistic Future Purpose • Core values
 No detail on achievement The vision and nothing but the vision The vision is intentions
 Philosophical not the whole strategy What are the important outcomes for a mission statement?
A picture of the Philosophy
Shortcomings: future  Unanimity of purpose - work towards common goal
Questions that formulate vision:
Tool providing Planned  Stimulation - Use all resources wisely
1. What do customers expect? 1. Incomplete - Not enough specifics sense of products and  Basis for application - right resources - right place
2. What do shareholder expect? 2. Vague - Not enough information direction service  Organizational climate - Knows what the organization stands for
3. What do employees expect? 3. Bland - no motivation  Direction of people - Type of person we want to attract
Values and
4. Where do we want to go? 4. Not distinctive - can apply to any industry  Concretizing of goal - Broken down in workable targets
priorities
5. Reliant on superlatives - can diminish credit  Performance derived - specific performance goals
over time Tool providing
How to ensure the vision contribute to a successful future?
6. Too generic sense of Specific products / services
7. Broad purpose Specific market:
• Clearly formulated
• Focused
• Challenging and idealistic Good vision:  Niche market for specialized products. Standard for bigger market.
Modern view:
• Exciting  Locality of market
• Apply to all divisions 1. Graphic  Demographics of market
- Strategy must be written
• Motivating 2. Directional  Geographical domain
- Combine mission and vision
3. Focused  Technology
- Expressed as future goals
What aspects should be considered in a vision? 4. Flexible  Organizational will - how will survive
- Vision is as important as the
5. Feasible  Management philosophy - ethics, beliefs, aspirations and principles
actions
◊ Continuous process of scanning and analyzing 6. Desirable  Values
◊ 7. Easy to communicate  Self-concepts - known strengths and weakness
All functions must be taken into consideration
 Public image
◊ Don't get caught up in the current
 Quality
◊ Must be communicated

Core values: Shortcomings

• Which values are important? 1. Vague and full of empty words

• Which are not important? 2. Nobody takes notice of it
• What is negotiable? 3. Fail to implement actions
• What are not negotiable? 4. Lack of skills
• What can be traded off?
• Compatible with clients
• Gain or lose market share
• Willing to sacrifice for market share

Individual autonomy: Degree of responsibility when a situation demands

Sensitivity: Care for employees and customers
Support: Degree of assistance and warmth
Risk behavior: Level of risk company is willing to take

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Risk behavior: Level of risk company is willing to take
Assertive: Way company stands up for itself
Openness: Companies willingness to listen

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