...get more out of life. The company constantly enhancing company’s brands to deliver more intense, rewarding product experiences. It invests nearly €1 billion every year in cutting-edge research and development, and has five laboratories around the world that explore new thinking and techniques to help develop its products. (www.unilever.com) Oxfam: Oxfam GB is a leading international NGO with a worldwide reputation for excellence in the delivery of aid and development work. Its purpose is to work with others to overcome poverty and suffering. Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International. 14 organisations with over 3,000 partners is around 100 countries working under Oxfam International. Building on its mission, values, and beliefs, the Strategic Plan has been developed to cover its work over the next three years. Its aim in the Plan is to increase its impact. The intention...
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...Strategic Management & Business Policy Week Two Assignment: Starbucks From its humble beginning to multi-billion dollar corporation, Starbucks has had its fair share of ups and downs. Many of which can be associated with the constant changes in public demand. By utilizing the SWOT, the company was able to not only tackle each of the obstacles it in countered, it managed to strengthen organization and stay ahead of the competition. SWOT is an acronym that stands for a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis. This analysis tool is used by the strategic business unit (SBU) to identify the company’s internal strengthens and weaknesses, as well as external opportunity or threats the company may encounter in the future (Marcus 2011). Companies use their strength to take advantage of the market and use it to increase their net earnings. By identifying weaknesses within the company, SBU is able to allocate resources to the under performing areas to improve productivity and income. Opportunities can sometimes be confused as threats, as there is usually some form of risk involved. This type of cautious business practice can hinder a company from reaching its full potential; it might also cause the firm to go out of business. In its infancy Starbucks was already ahead of its competition, created by three men with a passion for fine coffee and tea, the business offered the public a chance to experience coffee at its finest. At the time most coffee had...
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...The Board of Directors for ABC Complete Kitchens, Inc. has one more requirement for you before they are ready to turn operations over to the executive team. The board members would like your input regarding leadership of the new plant and the strategic environment in which the plant will operate. They have requested that you prepare a detailed description and discussion of the strategic environment, internally and externally, that will help formulate an overall strategic plan for the new manufacturing plant. For this assignment, your requirement is to research and create a presentation that describes and discusses the strategic environment of the new manufacturing plant using a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis process. Your analysis should consider not just the new start-up plant, but also the manufacturing industry as a whole. Be sure to include citations for quotations and paraphrases with references in APA format and style. Make sure your presentation follows good PowerPoint design principles (e.g., readable font, uses one template, one-inch borders around the slides) and contains transitions, builds, and animation when appropriate. The last slide(s) in the presentation should be the list of references you used for the assignment in APA format. For this assignment, you do not need to use outside resources and references for the PowerPoint presentation. All the information you need for this assignment is included within the custom-published...
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...Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS TOOLS Strategic Management Analysis Tools XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX xxxxxxxx Abstract The number of strategic management analysis tools have increased dramatically in the last twenty years. This increase could be a result of a growing demand to meet the new demands this new global market. This literature review aims to outline these articles and findings by concentrating on the strategic management research tools and describing the tools that are the most useful for managers to use. Keywords: tools, strategic analysis, strategic management, strategic planning. Strategic Management Analysis Tools Brief History In recent decades, strategic management research has become so complex and expensive that managers have found it difficult to utilize it effectively. Increasing competition across all industries combined with the ever changing variables such as the economic realities of an expanding global community, have created this market for strategic market analysis tools. Hence, as a method to support managers needs to meet stockholders expectations, a number of tools and methods have been created. Essentially, the problem is there are so many strategic management analysis tools choosing the right one is challenging. Research on strategic analysis is not abundant, despite the numerous reviews on the subject matter. It should be noted that all of the authors of existing reviews state that strategic analysis is the premise...
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...INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGIC MANAGENT 1.0 Introduction This chapter introduces the concept of strategic management and provides an overview of strategic management. This chapter is divided into six sections. The first section explains the evolution of the strategic management concept. This is followed by the second section on definition of strategic management. The third section describes the context in which strategic management takes place. This is followed by the fourth section which covers the scope of strategic management. The fifth section shows some of the benefits of strategic management for organizations. Finally the sixth section describes the process of strategic management. Upon the completion of this chapter you should be able to: 1. understand the concept of strategic management 2. know the brief history of the strategic management concept 3. understand the definition of strategic management 4. know the context in which strategic management occurs 5. comprehend the scope of strategic management 6. describe the benefit of strategic management 7. know the strategic management process 1.1 Introduction to the Strategic Management Concept Strategic management is a concept that originated from the military field. The concept of strategic management was first applied in ancient battles. The period around 500 B.C. saw numerous battles that took place Greece and China. The early written record on strategic management can be traced back during this warring...
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...Strategy and Planning What is Strategy? The term ‘strategy’ proliferates in discussions of business. The term ‘strategy’ is derived from the Greek word ‘stratēgia’, which means the “art of the troop leader”: a plan, course of action, or a set of decisions creating a pattern or a common link. All the successful business enterprises today constantly take in new information about their markets, customers, and operating environments. Then, management uses that knowledge and data to shape new strategic directions, to reorganise how they respond to marketplace demands, and to ensure that their views regarding all aspects of the business are fresh and viable. Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term, which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations. What is the difference between Tactics and Strategy? Strategy differs from tactics. Tactics are schemes for specific manoeuvres, whereas strategy is the overall plan for deploying resources to establish a favourable position. An organisation’s strategy consists of the combination of competitive moves and business approaches that managers employ to please customers and achieve organisational objectives. Strategy is a plan or course of action denoting a pattern which evolves a direction for the organisation. It relates to pursuing those activities which move an...
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...I. INTRODUCTION STYRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: DEAD OR IN DEMAND AS NEVER BEFORE A lot of companies are striving hard to get a place in business. A number of those that started die along the way due to lack of proper strategy. Yes, I do believe that organizations with proper strategy implemented and managed stand a better chance and have better competitive advantage over their counterparts. Strategic management is used by organizations to analyze and learn from their internal and external environment. It is about going forward (where to from here) It is about establishing a strategic direction. It is about establishing a strategic direction Strategic management is also about implementing strategies that would satisfy customers. The nature of strategy, which needs to be managed, is formulated around the 5 Ps (Louw and Venter 2010:15) Plan, pattern, position, perspective and ploy. As a plan, strategy has been viewed as something that an organization has, and strategy as a perspective viewed as something that people do. Strategy is influenced by extra organizational practices and inter-organizational practices. Therefore there is a reciprocal relationship between intra and extra organizational strategic activities. - Strategy as a plan: Provides overall direction and course of action. As a plan, strategy formulation is a formal process. This approach ahs been criticized for being a rational, top-down approach, hoever research shows that formal planning contributes...
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...GRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOL FACULTY OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT MGT 790 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Course Outline 2011 Course Prescription Strategic Management is the process and practice of managerial decision making and implementation that seeks to create and maintain competitive advantage. In essence it determines the long term performance of a business and as such is the role of the senior executive members to refine but the responsibility of all to roll out. Included in the process is comprehensive environmental scanning, strategy formulation (strategic planning), strategy implementation, and monitoring. Students in this course will review how the strategic decision makers within an organisation first identify, define and analyse commercial problems and then develop practical and ethical solutions. It provides a practical guide for, and an initial experience in, strategy formulation and strategic management. Class time will be largely spent in lecture, discussion, case studies and experiential exercises. Students will learn from the theoretical literature, instructor, case studies, videos, research presentations, and from each other. The course materials explain and describe the different aspects, challenges, and stages of strategic management simply and clearly. Goals of the Course To examine and understand the nature and role of strategy, strategic management and strategic leadership within an organization. Learning Outcomes 1. To develop skills...
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...banking industry in addition to competition in market is getting intense day by day. The management is required to optimally deploy its resources for enhancing profitability and growth of business. The need of minimizing to vulnerability of depending on single market is also crucial and required business expansion in different regions. It is therefore necessary for the management of the bank to strategically utilize its limited resources so that the growth of the bank can be maintained in the competitive environment. The role of management practices is crucial in ensuring the business growth but necessary to be aligned with the rapidly changing behavior of market. It was highlighted by Charles Hill & Dr. Jones (2007; pp. 335) that management enhances its skills for exploring new business opportunities and deploys its resources to fulfil the needs of market. In this regard the strategy of business is also required to be appropriate so that it can enable the management to attain its goals. These measures particularly enhance the management skills through which the influence of market environment on operations can be ascertained. It is therefore crucial for the management to adopt appropriate strategy because it helps in strategically managing the operations of bank. Through strategic management practices the growth of bank can be instigated in the market. In this project, strategic management practices of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are explored. 2. Research Questions ...
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...Strategic Management Process MGT/498 Abstract The primary components of the strategic management process are strategic planning and strategic execution. The strategic management process is an important factor to the success of an organization. Components to consider are the planning and execution of the strategy. Wal-Mart is trying to increase their sales by reinventing how they do business and building on the Internet side of the business. Strategic Management Process Organizations begin because someone had an idea and wanted to share it with the world. However, an organization cannot be successful based on the ideal alone. Some planning must take place to establish the internal and external components of the organization. In other words, policies on how the company will operate, procedures on how the product is developed, and how to reach the customer base is imperative prior to starting a business. This is when strategic management is most effective. According to Wheelen and Hunger (2008), strategic management is “a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation” (p.5). The purpose of the paper is to explain the primary components of a strategic management process, indicate why a strategic management process is needed, and examine a strategic management process of Wal-Mart. Primary components of strategic management Strategic planning and strategic execution are the primary components of strategic management...
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...1.0 WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT? Strategic management consists of the analyses, decisions and actions an organization undertakes in order to create and sustain competitive advantages. The strategic management process is made up of four elements: situation analysis, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation. These elements are steps that are performed, in order, when developing a new strategic management plan. Situation Analysis The situation analysis provides the information necessary to create a company mission statement. Situation analysis involves "scanning and evaluating the organizational context, the external environment, and the organizational environment" (Coulter, 2005). This analysis can be performed using several techniques. Observation and communication are two very effective methods. To begin this process, organizations should observe the internal company environment. This includes employee interaction with other employees, employee interaction with management, manager interaction with other managers, and management interaction with shareholders. In addition, discussions, interviews, and surveys can be used to analyse the internal environment. Organizations also need to analyse the external environment. This would include customers, suppliers, creditors, and competitors. Several questions can be asked which may help analyse the external environment. It examines the company’s relationship with its customers and...
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...Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PROCESS PAPER Strategic Management Process Paper University of Phoenix Strategic Management Process Paper “Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it’s encouraging because things may get better. To the hopeful it is inspiring because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better” (Whitney, 2011). In this day and age businesses are faced with great challenges one in particular is becoming a profitable organization. In order for businesses to combat these challenges they must take risks and utilize strategic management to determine which direction the company will move. This paper will attempt to discuss the primary components of strategic management and why it is used in a company. Next a company will be researched and the strategic management process will be identified. Environmental scanning is the first step in the strategic management model (Wheelen and Hunger, 2010). This process involves looking at internal and external variables that have an impact on a business. The environmental scanning process identifies strategic factors. Businesses use many tools to identify this information, the most common being the strengths, weakness, opportunities, trends and threats (SWOTT) analysis. This helps to identify the factors that can play a significant...
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...Strategy is a diverse term that is differently perceived by different people. However, here we are concerned with its meaning in relation to the higher management of organizations. Strategy may be defined as the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieve advantage in a changing environment its configuration of resources and competences as to fulfil the expectations of the stakeholders. For any plan to be successful, it is crucial to use the tool of effective management. Strategic management would be the right term to use here. Under the phenomenon of strategic management, organizations try to procure benefits by amalgamating realistic plans and meaningful actions. Strategic management is a phenomenon that can be classified into three elements. These are strategic position, strategic choices, and strategy implementation. Strategic position is central to the strategic management according to which any business entity must evaluate its position in relation to macro and micro environment. Macro environment includes the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and ecological factors. Obviously, a business organization cannot be immune to all these factors. A continuous change in the intensity of these factors means that their impact on the business will keep changing. Decisions are, therefore, should be taken by keeping in view these factors. Factors of micro environment also need consideration for assessing the capability of your organization...
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...Strategic Management Student’s name: Lecturer’s name: Date: Introduction Strategic management is a core requirement in organizations due to it capability of enhancing the operations and competitiveness in the market. Organizations that employ powerful strategies management in undertaking their operations have the potential of penetrating the market efficiently and effectively since, it allows the management to identify and execute strategic plans timely. Furthermore, the management is able to match the abilities of the firm with it environment demands (Witcher & Chau, 2010). Consequently, the strategic management that has been adopted by Firefox in entering the telephone industry has the potential of improving it service delivery significantly. Firefox Strategic Management One of the aspects that demonstrates that Firefox strategy management has the capability of enhancing it operations is it current business definition. The strategic plan of the entity has come up with a brilliant description on the business the firm should operate on due to it current capabilities. Consequently, the firm strategic plan has identified the line of mobile phone services to offer. In addition, the strategic plan has established how the firm will continue differentiating it product from that of competitors to improve it attractiveness in the market. This has been informed by the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities in the mobile phone market that will determine it future operations...
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...S trategy a nd H uman R esource Management: S etting t he S cene Ed van Sluijs & Frits Kluytmans MERIT Open University This article is based on a journey through the wilderness of strategic human resource management. Part 1 gives an overview of the recent literature on this topic, particularly pertaining to the two issues which received have most attention until now: the relational aspects and the content aspects. In part 2, we go deeper into the wilderness and explore the least known aspect of strategic human resource management, namely the process aspects. This exploration is based on the simultaneous study of the (scarce) literature and four cases. Finally, the connection between the three aspects is investigated. INTRODUCTION Increased integration between human resource management and business strategy is one of the most important demands that are placed upon modern strategic human resource management. In both the management and the academic literature, it is generally acknowledged that the strategic deployment and management of personnel can contribute to the success and continuity of the firm. Some go even further by stating that a firm’s human resources form the basis of the firm’s competitive advantage. In this view, the human resources are the most important assets of an organisation. At the same time, in addition to the importance of the human resources as such, it is believed to be important that the management of the human resources should be...
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