Why Strategy is Important to Business
Linda Ann Gonzales
March 7, 2012
Management Policy and Strategy: MT460-03
1201B
Unit 2
Abstract
This project is about why it is important to apply the strategic management process to business and at the same time will be discussing the importance of strategy for business. This paper will continue to explain the concept of the strategic management process, and will discuss the importance of having a future oriented plan, the organization’s vision, mission, purpose, philosophy, or goals, and the strategic process as input for future decision making. The information gathered will be provided from the ebook, Strategic Management, 12th Edition, Authors, John A. Pearce, II, Villanova University
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The internal analysis includes the company’s financial, human and physical resources. It is here where the company assesses the strengths and weaknesses of management and organizational structure (Pearce & Robinson, 2011).
The company’s external analysis includes all the forces outside the company (external environment) and consists of its competitors, stakeholders, government, ordinances, etc. The three interactive segments of the external environment are: the remote, industry, and operating environments. The strategic and choice analysis is an assessment of the company’s external environment and its profile to look for attractive opportunities, such as investments and maximizing shareholder values. This process focuses on achieving the company’s mission and making a strategic choice, and results in long-term objectives and generic and grand strategies. Long-term objectives involve profitability, return on investment, competitive position, productivity, social responsibility, human relations, etc. A company seeks long-term objectives to keep the company in dynamic productivity and greater profitability for years to come. Generic and grand strategies concentrate on low cost and differentiation competitive advantages that results in a comprehensive and general plan of actions to achieve long-term objectives. Short-term objectives are desired results for a year or less. Short-term
This paper will discuss some of the primary components of a strategic management process, while also explain why the process is crucial for a company success. This paper in addition will evaluate one organization that uses the strategic management process to accomplish their short-term, long-term goals, and objectives of the firm’s (University of Phoenix. (2015).
the internal analysis of the firm and the external analysis of the industry and competitive environment
Strategic Management is the theory and practice of making decisions that shape the future of the firm. This course looks at the content and process of strategic decision making from the perspective of managers who are responsible for an entire business unit. These may be individuals who are acting in the capacity of a Chief Executive of a company, divisional General Managers, or departmental heads. It is also the perspective most
The purpose of this paper is to explain the definition of Strategic Management and why it is critical to the success of an organization in meeting its goals and mission. The paper will include a brief analysis of the situation and pending decision problem, as presented in the case and in relevance to the answer. In addition, the major issues will be surrounding the organization or individuals involved with the organization. Included will be alternate courses of action to
In everything that we do, we have used some kind of strategy (plan). From driving to the store, which street to take to get there the fastest, to selecting that perfect item at the high tech store, the newest digital gadget. It is in our nature to formulate this kind of behavior when we are given a choice. In an organization it is much harder to accomplish that same behavior because there is more than one individual in the process, but still possible to do. Strategy is a guide by which an organization moves from a current state of affairs to a future desired state. In this paper I will explain the strategy implementation concept of the basic model of strategic management that we can use to make this happen. Strategy implementation is the process
Pearce and Robinson describe strategic management as the art of making complex, long-term, future-oriented decisions and taking actions that result in the formulation and implementation of plans designed to achieve a company's objectives. The process focuses on the belief that a firm's mission can be best be achieved through a systematic and comprehensive assessment of both its internal capabilities and its external environment (Pearce & Robinson, 2005). In the article Strategic Management, the strategic management process is described as the implementation of the company's strategy by executive management considering its resources, circumstances, and environment to position the organization to complete is mission in a
Strategic Planning is one of the most fundamental factors in the success of an organization. This research project will discuss the importance of strategic planning as well as the different components of strategic planning. Many organizations fail to accomplish their goals and tasks due to the lacking of strategic planning. In order for their businesses to be successful, organizations need to be well informed about how the strategic planning process works.
The external analysis provides the company and observers basis to identify threats and opportunities that exist in the outside environment from the company. A basic question to ask is would the threat or opportunity still be there if the company wasn’t and if you can answer that question with a yes answer then you have potential threats and opportunities to consider in the analysis of the company. These items need to evaluate to minimize the threats and to maximize the opportunities. During your analysis you must take a panoramic evaluation of political issues, funding sources, the economy, future trends, and physical environment. These are just some of the areas that you can draw information for making educated decisions for the company.
Henry (2011) refers to Strategic Management as the process that analyses a given situation faced by a company or organisation, and on the basis of the findings of the analysis, formulating a strategy and then finally implement that strategy. Appendix A, a strategic management process model illustrates and underpins this theory. Henry (2011) continues by stating, “the end result is for the organisation or company to achieve competitive advantage over its rivals in industry”.
Environmental factors to the firm usually can be classified as Strengths or Weakness, and those external to the firm can be classified as Opportunities or Threat. Such an analysis of strategic environment is related to as a SWOT analysis.
Strategic Management, what is this? It is that set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation. It includes environmental scanning, strategy formulation and implementation, and evolution and control. The study of Strategic Management helps us to monitoring and evaluating the opportunities and threats of a company’s strengths and weaknesses.
There will be 2 parts to external analysis; it will be done based on general environment and competitive environment. External analysis is basically analyzing the factors that are not within the control of an organization for the general environment part. As for the competitive environment part, the strength of an organization’s current competitive position, and the strength of a position it is considering moving into will be identified to help prepare itself for every possible happenings in the near future.
Strategic planning process is very much important to an organization as it offers sense of direction and summarizes the goals of an organization. This planning guides daily decisions, evaluates progress and current market approaches for success of business. Its begins with defining organization mission like implementation of real time strategies, procedures and decisions with appropriate direction and clear vision. Company also gains favor in building a stage into strategic planning process which permits the evaluating the objectives and progress after certain span of time. In this process success factors are defined by customer and market but not by the company. The key success factors includes strategic market segmentation, reliable delivery, solid sales and support staff members, abundant services, minimized costs and operates lean, quick response customer needs, utilizing employee strategically, efficiency obtained from implementing new technologies, market activities, functions.
An analysis of the external environment includes the factors in a business’s external environment about a business's industry, competition, and political and social environments, and affects the firm’s strategy (Aaker, 2001).
Strategic planning is central to management study. It defines the long term direction for the company and all other business functions orbit around their established strategies. This article studies how a company formulates business-level strategies, optimize their competitive positioning and obtain a competitive advantage over their rivals.