Strategic Management in Business Organization Samples for Students

Questions: 1.Discuss about the Strategic analysis: General external Industry Environment 2.Discuss about the Strategic direction-setting: Strategic objectives3.Disucss about the Strategic choice: Business-level Strategies4.Discuss about the Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management. Answers: 1.Strategic analysis: General external industry environment A firms external environment can be broadly divided into three parts; the general environment, the industrial environment and the competitors environment. The general environment talks about the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal and the environmental factors of a particular country where the particular firm or organization operates. A firms strategic operations are greatly influenced by the all these major factors. General environment is the macro environment that influences an industry and the firms working with the particular region. In order to successfully deal with the uncertainty in the external environment and in order to gain strategic competitiveness, it is expected that the firm should be aware and good understanding of these segments. For, this regular intervention of the market is needed to be carried on by the company. The demographic segment of a region also falls under the general environment of a firm. The demographic segment is based on the population size, geographic distribution, age structure, income distribution and even ethic mixed groups of people of a particular region. The political factors are the antitrust laws, taxation laws, labor law and others that directly related to the operation or activities of the organization. The economic factors are the inflation rate, interest rate, trade deficit or surplus, the Gross domestic product and, the business and personal savings rate that eventually affects the business of a firm. The Socio-cultural environment talks about the diverse attitude of the people in the society and the quality of work life that they lead. It also states about the work and career preferences of the people. Given the rapid pace of the technological advancement and the increasing risk of disruption, technological segment deals with product innovation, new communication technology and better application in the RD department. The environmental conditions are the availability of the resources, availability of environmentally friendly products and reacting to the man-made disasters. It has to be understood that a firm cannot directly control the general environment of a country, but these segments influence the actions that a firm take. A firms external environment creates opportunities and threats for the firm to operate in the particular business environment. The success of a firm depends on how the firm gathers all the important information needed to understand the segments of the environment and then formulates the firms strategy. When a firm wants to enter into a new market, it analyzes these factors of the general environment before entering. For example, companies like Apple Inc, Samsung or even the car manufacturers like Tata Motors, Nissan and others have seen the general environmental opportunity of India and has been found to do their business in this country. Thus, for a firm the strategic analysis of the general environment requires scanning, monitoring, forecasting and also assessing the environment. A good strategic plan is when the firm sees the opportunity in the market and turns the similar opportunity into the strategic strengths. It is when an organization successfully does it; it gains the actual success in the business. 2.Strategic direction setting: Strategic objectives: Strategic direction is the course of actions that an organization undertakes in order to achieve its goals and objective. Every organization has some goals to achieve in its business operation and it is equally important to set a particular direction in order to achieve those goals and objectives. Strategies are plans that the management of an organization undertakes to achieve those targeted plan. Strategic direction settings are the long term aims and objectives that an organization undertakes to conduct the strategic analysis of their business objectives. The strategic direction includes the analysis of the internal and the external environment of the firm and generates options for the future actions. The complete process requires constant feedback and monitoring in order to gain a better understanding of the overall situation and achieve the set target or the goal of the organization. Strategic direction needs to be focused on the changes in the environment and other factors that affect the business activities of the organization. Strategic direction is the critical enabler for governance that is important to trace the requirement of the organization to achieve the strategic goals. A capable leader has the characteristics of viewing the upcoming situation and directs the organizational activities in a way that would suit the best. The leader implies the best vision for the upcoming situation and then come up with the strategic action that is best suitable for the organization. In order to set the organization in a particular direction and needs to set a particular mission towards achieving the set goals either for long term or short term. It is needed to design the strategic objectives. The strategic objectives might include the practical application of certain things like creativity and innovative ideas to enhance the business activities. Strategic direction or t he road map set by an organization clearly states the general schemes and how the organization would follow them to achieve those objectives. The objectives are set only after consulting the same with the major authorities of the organization that ultimately results in setting the best corporate strategy that would be most effective for the organization. When the strategic goals and objectives are set, it creates a clear vision for the members of the organization as where to proceed. Strategic objectives are the critical enabler for governance and it is required to trace the step by step development and helps to align the project with the business strategy that would ultimately create value for the business. When all the members are aware of their respective part of duties, they would prepare themselves in a way that would help to achieve the set goals and objectives. The employees or the other members could also articulate their respective roles in shaping the organizational objectives and do the best as per their abilities to achieve the common goal or objective. There is no doubt that the process has great advantages and this is the reason all the major organizations, undertake the approach of setting the strategic direction and formulating the strategic business objectives. 3.Strategic implementation: McKinseys 7S Plus model The process that puts the plans and strategies of the business of an organization into action to reach a specific goal is called the strategic implementation. It is important for the organization to find out who, where, when and how a particular factor might help to improve the overall business activities of the organization. The McKinseys 7S Plus model is used to evaluate how well an organization has been positioned in the market and how it is intended to achieve its objectives. Every organization has a strategic vision that they have designed in order to achieve their organizational objectives. McKinseys 7S model is based on the model that an organizations performance is based on seven basic elements that are needed to be aligned with the organizational objectives in order to gain the best outcome. The model is basically based on the restructuring and re-enforcing certain elements that would help to maintain alignment during the major changes. The factors that contribute to the changes in the organizational activities have been divided into the hard factors and the soft factors. The hard factors are strategy, structure and systems and the soft factors are the style, staff, skills and the shared values. The hard factors are easier to identify and manage compared to the soft factors. The foundation of the organization is more likely to create a sustained competitive advantage in the market where it operates. Strategy is the plan that an organization develop in order to sustain advantage in the competitive market. A well aligned strategy is the one that is easily understandable and one can clearly articulate it by setting strong mission and vision of the company. Structure of an organization is the business division and how the organization has been structured. This is done to create a hierarchy that it becomes easier for the people in the organization to know whom to report and who is accountable for a particular thing. The systems talks about the process or the procedure that reveals how a business operates. The managers or the higher authorities are responsible to determine how the business needs to be done and this is how the systems are designed. Skills are the abilities of the employees working in the firm. Their skills are important to reinforce the set strategies for the organization. Staffs mean the type of the employees that is required in the organization to achieve its target. However, in order to make the staffs eligible for the particular organization, the staffs are trained and their behavior is molded to keep them motivated towards the activities of the organization. Style represents the way the managers or top-level authorities interact and how well they create symbolic value for the organization. The last element, the shared value are the norms or the standard that actually guides the behavior of the employees and the action that happen to be the foundation of the organization. These factors are very important points to be considered at the time of organizational change management. 4.Contemporary issue in strategic management: Culture and leadership Considering the emerging trends in the global business, many leaders are facing major management and leadership issues in the contemporary time. Considering the changes, the organizations are embracing the need to monitor and anticipate the changes and challenges in the global perspectives. Organizations are facing major issues related to innovations, competitiveness, and emerging workforce and most importantly due to globalization. These key trends have a long term impact on the organization and the leadership. It is important to find out how the leaders would fight against these changes and would bring out the best as per their ability and add to the betterment of the organization. It is clear that the physical size of the planet has not decreased but people have come closer. Leaders are not only differing in their ideologies but there is a difference in their working attitudes as well. Leaders are facing issues related to cultural ethics like racial discrimination and the standard of living of the employees working for an organization. In the competitive market, the factors that lead to the survival of an organization are the creative and innovative approaches towards the business activity. It has to be understood that the innovative and creative business ideas can be proposed by any person. Here lies the importance of a diverse group of people working in the same organization. In fact, in a globalised world and in the world of e-commerce activities, understanding the perspective of various cultures holds great importance. The leaders are responsible for undertaking the approach to manage the diversity in an organization. At many instances, the leaders are bound to face challenges due to these reasons but it depends on the capability of the leader to deal with the situation and bring out the best that suits the organizational policies. The best suitable leader is the one who mitigates the changes and support the organizational activities to the extent that would help to overcome the resistance and help to react wit h the changes that follows. The leader might face major challenges in leading and guiding the team because a diverse group of employees would bring diverse way of thinking and diverse working procedure. It shall fall under the responsibility of the leader to guide the employees accordingly and manage the situation. The leaders are also responsible to take care of the stakeholders of the organization. The organizational strategies that are framed are not the only concern for the leaders but it is also the major concern for the stakeholders as well. This is why when the organizational business strategies are framed it is discussed with the major stakeholders of the organization. It is only when a collective approach is made towards a particular decision, the same is brought to the notice of the authorities and the decision is imposed. In such decisions as well, the management might face challenges to deal with and the leader ultimately has to suffer. The most eligible leader has the capability of fighting these o dds and brings prosperity in the organization.