What is ‘strategy’, and why is it so challenging for organisations?
Introduction
Strategy is a means of approach to facing one or many situations and having one or more goals of an individual or groups (organisations and businesses) on the path to being achieved whether successful or not (It is hoped that the goals of the business are successful when a strategic plan is implemented though). This is an essay that will discuss what strategy is for businesses or organisation, what can be achieved with strategic planning, some examples of some successful goals when strategies are used and unsuccessful goals. This will lead on to analysing why it is so challenging for organisations to have one or more strategies that lead to success in obtaining
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This website also goes on to say that there are three main types of general or generic strategies. They are long-term plans based around: The first of the three – growth of the company or organisation; Second – world domination through international branches in multiple countries (like Microsoft, Apple, and Cisco, just to name a few); and the third and last type – Retrenchment or sticking to what you are good at. Competitive strategies in a business are important as in they are designed to have better results and achievements than the rivals (Business Case Studies, 2014). Competitive strategies can have the following advantages: Better understanding of the business/ organisation; your action plan is generally stronger than it would be if a general strategy was used; there is a higher percentage rate of having success by using this category of strategy; and it is easier to communicate goals within the team that you are working with. (Schreiner, …show more content…
Well it is about clarifying the overall purpose and desirable outcomes for the organisation and the how those outcomes will be achieved as a result. Strategic planning should be implemented when there is a major change in the organisation for example if the organisation is just starting out or if a new product is being developed, tested and distributed, at the end of the financial year to get ready for the next one, and every year the action plans involving the strategic plan needs to be updated. When the implementation phase of the strategic planning is being implemented, the action plans need to be reviewed and approved by the board in the organisation in
Business strategy is the means by which firm’s plans to achieve its goals and objectives. It can also be termed as organization long-term planning. The strategy covers periods between 3-5 years and sometimes longer. Businesses use two major types of strategy, general or generic and competitive strategies. The overall strategy involves strategies of growth, globalization and retrenchment. The competitive advantage includes low pricing, product and customer differentiation. We will look at the business strategy used by Marks and Spenser (Cole, 1997). The company is a British multinational located at Westminster London and specializes in clothes and luxurious food products.
However, RLK’s competitors are downsizing and outsourcing R&D and exploiting on the cost advantages. If RLK decides to invest more money into R&D and should the new product stall on launch, they face the danger of becoming bankrupt.
Numerous definitions of strategy exist, in most circumstances strategy can loosely be explained as an overall plan of deployment of resources to ascertain a favourable position within a market (Zablah, Bellenger and Johnston 2004; Grant 1994, p 14). Further, imbedded in many successful organisations are strategies, the importance of which is to remain relevant in the market, and successful in the various attributes of business; profiteering, employee motivation, maintaining sustainable core competencies, effectiveness in operation, or efficiency in the conduction of operations. Therefore challenges involved in the formulation and implementation of a strategy can revolve around the overall external market, as well as internal
Good Strategy/ Bad Strategy is not only a published piece meant only to apply to those in the business place. No, it is a public service announcement to society, urging everyone to open our eyes to the lack of strategy around us. Rumelt, through a great deal of case analysis’, shows that even our governing forces are greatly made up of strategy-less individuals, or even worse, individuals who actively practice bad strategy. Overall, this publication’s main takeaway is to obtain the tools necessary to identify the difference between this fluff and actual strategy and hopefully apply strategic thinking to your personal
Strategic planning consist of four steps starting from defining the company’s mission. When talking about a mission were talking about a certain phrase or slogan for say, that is intended to draw attention to customers and make them want to be even more loyal to the company. For example Walmart says, “Save money. Live Better”. Therefore, Walmart’s mission would be to let people know that they have low prices all day every day, insinuating that their products are affordable for everyone. This is a good mission because it gets the majority of the people in this world to want to go out and save money on their everyday necessities and even luxuries. The second step would be to set certain objectives and goals for the company as well. For example, CVS did use “Health is everything” as their mission and this didn’t just set out for a name it became a goal as well. Sooner or later you must set goals on your mission to understand the level that you need to get to and reach. Another example of a goal that I believe CVS set was to start selling healthier products. In the chapter it says that CVS stopped selling tobacco and other products that
Strategic decision making is a word that is very commonly and widely used in the field of business. Strategic decisions are long term decisions that are required to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. They are an important factor in the growth of an organization. They conform to the mission and vision of the organization. The success of an organization is determined by strategic decisions. If the outcome of these decisions is not really satisfying, the organization has failed to conform to the strategic decisions and to explore into the details of the objectives of the organization.
If asked what strategic planning is one could interpret it as simply a road map that can guide the organization in the right direction. It is very unlikely that an organization would know which direction to take without a sense of direction. Managers are faced every day with decisions that have a major impact on the direction the organization must take, therefore, strategic planning can play an important role in guiding managers in the right direction. In other words strategic planning is a tool that management can use to give them a sense of direction that will guide them in doing a better job and to ensure that all the members of the organization are working toward the same goals
Strategic planning has a focus on stabilizing the current environment, and it also support the organization's business plans and goals. Strategic planning helps to implement new projects, new technology, consolidation of data centers, data warehouses, exponential data growth, cost of ownership, and resources available in an organization to assess the future requirements. Strategic planning analyzes the business plan, potential blockage or other issues in the current architecture, processes and their implementation in new initiatives, and processes. Strategic planning helps to formulate the ideas about the key factors that are affecting the present and future development of the organization and the opportunities offered by the environment and the competence of the organization.
...c management or planning presents a structure or agenda for dealing with issues and solving problems, therefore, understanding potential risks or pitfalls of strategic management and being prepared to deal with them is critical and vital to success. Strategic management not only permits top leaders and managers to be more proactive than reactive in building or developing their own potential or outlook in an organization, and it also lets them to make the first move and influence activities, consequently, executives and management can control or in charge of the company’s own future, and achieve its main goals and objectives. Overall, increasing cost-effectiveness and efficiency, improving the value for its stakeholders, and advancing customer services and management excellence are the key objectives of strategic management and decision making in an organization.
It tells a layman business person or a person interested in setting up a business soon that a strategy is about planning for the future. It is to plan the future in a way that makes it easy for the managers to set up objectives and for the employees to follow those objectives (McKeown, 2012). The book gives examples of successful business persons and how they made their business strategy when they came into the business field. There are examples of people, who found success instantly, and there are also examples of business persons who struggled at first, but then after reshaping the strategy they were able to effectively conduct their business. It is very helpful for new entrepreneurs to know about these strategies so that they could also learn and implement it in their
There are four main business strategies that can be used they are Cost leadership strategy, Differentiation strategy, Focus strategy (low cost) and Focus strategy (differentiation). We can use Porter’s generic business strategies to understand the difference in these strategies.
Strategic planning is an organizational process in which it looks towards developing and sustaining success or balance in its ever changing environment.
Strategic Planning is looking at where you are now, knowing where you want to be in the future and planning the steps to get you there.
There are few more confusing concepts in management than “strategy”. What is strategy? My quick, working definition: Strategy is the validation – expression, elaboration and extension – of what works. It is the configuration of operative means with desired ends.
Strategic planning is the continuous and systematic process of guiding members of an organization to make decisions about its future, develop the necessary procedures and operations to achieve that future, and determine how success will be achieved.