...between organizational culture and the process of learning to think strategically. A cadre of formal training, developmental activities, and self-directed learning initiatives can provide leaders with the skills to enhance the strategic thinking of those they lead. Keywords strategic thinking, management learning, leadership development, organizational culture “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” This management truism is linked to examples of how strategy failed, acknowledging that actions attempted were inconsistent with the organization’s values, beliefs, and assumptions (Weeks, 2006). The strategy-eating potential of culture has been used as the basis for recommending that leaders initiate large-scale change efforts to align culture with strategy. However, it has long been recognized that culture can also severely restrict the strategy selected to begin with, because of the myopia of shared beliefs among decision makers regarding the organization’s goals, competencies, and environment (Lorsch, 1985). Moreover, shared assumptions about the organization’s core mission can limit not only the strategy but also the vision (Schein, 2004). Thus, one of the...
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...Explain why strategies fail? Understanding the value of and need for a strategic plan is a great place to start, but just wanting something, isn’t enough. Developing a strategic plan takes discipline, foresight, and a lot of honesty. Regardless how well you prepare, you’re bound to encounter challenges along the way. Some of the below mention factors contribute to failure of strategies. Poor Preparation of Line Managers: Numbers of companies have recognized that the responsibility for formulating strategy belongs to line managers, not staff planners. The latter’s role is supportive and facilitative. But in many instances, line executives have been inadequately prepared to assume this responsibility. Line managers need to understand the key concepts and language of strategic planning. It is unlikely that without some help, they will uniformly understand the operational meaning of such notions as ‘bases of competition’, ‘strategic issues’, ‘key success factors’, ‘portfolio role’, and ‘strategic management’. Typically, line managers view strategic planning as an additional burden imposed from above, diverting them from ‘running the business’. All too often, many line managers adopt a grudging, mechanistic approach to their planning duties. Small wonder that staff planners creep back in to lend a hand and help fill the void. Improving line managers’ understanding and skills in strategic planning through participation in ‘quick-fix’ management development courses often yields disappointing...
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...not seen growth patterns similar to its closest competitors; the results shows that Chuy's must adopt new strategies which will enable them to become a product leader in the restaurant industry. This implementation plan will include all objectives, functional tactics, action items, milestones, tasks and resource allocations which Chuy's must implement to succeed. Other key success factors such as Chuy's budgets and forecasted financials would be perused to determine what would be the best new strategies to ensure that Chuy's attain sustainable growth. Chuy's will rely on a strategy of differentiation; which is a grand strategy that constitute "a master long-term plan that provides basic direction for major actions for achieving long-term business objectives" (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). Implementation Plan This implementation plan consists of all activities related to the achievement of Chuy's goals for sustainable growth via innovative product development. Activities listed and explained further below. I. Objectives Chuy's has potential for growth and based on that potential, the following objectives have been set for the business. • 10% increase in market share • 20% increase in revenue over the next three (3) years • Mass production of 'Green Sauce' II. Functional Tactics According to Pearce & Robinson, 2013 "Functional tactics translate business strategy into daily activities people need to execute". They are functions that will determine how well the plan...
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...New Health Medical Systems Staffing Strategy HRM/548 Gwendolyn Ford June 2, 2014 Jennifer Familant One of the main issues that needled American today is the provision of a new strategic healthcare system. With Medicare on the rise the prediction is by the year 2019 there will a vast number of people uninsured and depending on Medicare to compensate for medical treatment. The primary issue of healthcare in the United States is a leading part of the health medical system staffing problem because the staffing relies on Americans utilizing physician care. Understanding and developing current strategies will align organizations with new innovative ways to implement business strategic direction, and recommend staffing strategies that will meet the need of the organization’s goals are topics that will be address in this paper. Communicating a guided vision is the key role to planning strategically. Implementing any type of plan for the business should be deliberate strategically in order for the business to operate daily. The involvement of a diverse team of employees at any level in the organization can help to construct a communal vision, and growth all individual's in the organization motivates to understand the success of the plan. Simplicity and constant communication, from planning anticipate consequences that design the measure of performance can be vital to the success. Effective staffing frequently involves groups with simplicity of the shared vision, and extensive...
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...Term Paper Information Technology Strategic Plan CIS 500: Information Systems for Decision-Making Information Technology Strategic Plan Established in 1984, in Chattanooga, TN, 1st Step Counseling started as a privately owned counseling practice, primarily serving the local courts by providing first time DUI offenders with DUI education service and assessment, as mandated by their court ordered probation. Over the next ten years 1st Step Counseling has expanded its’ services to deliver out-come focused Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder counseling. By 1995, 1st Step Counseling had a patient census of approximately 300 patients, requiring the employ of an Internal Medicine Specialist, a Psychiatrist, a Nurse Practitioner, three Licensed Practical Nurses, two Clinical Psychologist, six Licensed Professional Counselors and two Clinical Social Workers, plus eight Administrative and Support staff. Later the same year, 1st Step Counseling opened a second office in Farragut, south of Knoxville, TN. Since this first expansion, 1st Step Counseling has established itself as a prominent Mental Healthcare Service provider, with 14 locations in or near metropolitan areas, throughout the Southeast. In January 2014, the Board of Directors decided to expand to the national market. To begin steering the company toward the national stage, the Directors and Senior Executives rebrand the company’s identity by changing the name to Access-Link Behavioral Healthcare (BHC)...
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...Supply Needs INF 336 Prof. Beverly Williams February 27, 2012 Supply Needs All companies have some type of supply need and must identify the specifications of the needs to be efficient. Supply strategies are best aligned with corporate strategies when requirements and procurability are determined, risks assessed, and suppliers are identified. Supply needs and specifications, early supplier involvement, and strategic requirements will be discussed in this paper. It is preferable to separate need identification and defining commercial equivalents into two separate stages because a company must first know what it needs and why it is needed. The type or category of need should then be determined so it is known exactly what is desired to fulfill the need. There is normally more than one way or option to satisfy a need, so the “why” helps determine how it must be produced. It must also be determined if the need is repetitive or nonrepetitive. This will determine how the product or service is purchased and through what source. A repetitive need may require a sample or trial run to ensure that the need can be met consistently on more than one occasion. Once the need is identified, it can then be converted into a commercial equivalent so the supplier can comprehend the specifications required. Separating the two stages helps identify suppliers with lower costs, higher quality, or cutting-edge technology. Without the separation, value opportunities may be overlooked. According...
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...McDonald's Marketing Strategy McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chain. It has more than 30,000 restaurants in over 100 countries. Over one billion more customers were served in 2007 than in 2006. Although net income was down by $1.1 billion in 2007, McDonald’s sales were up 6.8%, and revenue was a record high of $23 billion. “The unique business relationship among the company, its franchisees and suppliers (collectively referred to as the System) has been key to McDonald’s success over the years. The business model enables McDonald’s to play an integral role in the communities we serve and consistently deliver relevant restaurant experiences to customers.” (McDonald's, 2008, 25). McDonald’s overall strategic plan is called Plan to Win. Their focus is not so much on being the biggest fast-food restaurant chain, rather it is more focused on being the best fast-food restaurant chain. McDonald’s “strategic alignment behind this plan has created better McDonald’s experiences through the execution of multiple initiatives surrounding the five factors of exceptional customer experiences – people, products, place, price and promotion” (McDonald's, 2008, 25). McDonald’s also incorporates geographical strategic plans. In the U.S., McDonald’s strategic plan continues to focus on breakfast, chicken, beverages and convenience. These are the core areas in the United States. McDonald’s has launched the Southern Style Chicken Biscuit for breakfast and the Southern Style...
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... * It provides a sense of direction by being the light at the end of the tunnel. * It helps the entrepreneur to define his or her goals. * It provides the entrepreneur with a sense of warmth and encouragement when the going gets tough. * It guides the generation of strategy for the venture. * It gives the venture a moral content and helps define social responsibilities. * It can be used to communicate what the entrepreneur wishes to achieve to other people. * It can be used to attract people to the venture and motivate them to support it. * It plays a crucial role in supporting the entrepreneur’s communication and leadership strategy. Communicating and Sharing Vision-the first stage must be to understand why other people will find the vision attractive. Approaches to Communicating Vision 1. I have a Dream-entrepreneurs are explicit about their vision. * They describe the better world just as they see. 2. Talking Specific Goals-entrepreneurs can break down their vision into a specific goals relating. * To the value that will be gained * To the relationships that will be created * To the moral content of the new world 3. Talking Strategy-approach that the business will take to achieving its goals and the task that must be undertaken in order to create the new world. 4. Story-telling-entrepreneurs give their vision a dynamic form by describing scenarios and telling stories...
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...quality packaging service in a competitive market. The company is also innovative with unique selling point of 24 hours delivery as well as having new model of machinery allow the company to take complex orders which makes it a high regarded firm. Although CBC has already got established network overseas with overseas clients, the firm is looking for further expansion and transforming the company on a global platform. In order to expand globally, careful planning and strategic analysis is needed to carry out to foresee potential opportunities and risks as the implications not only may affect on a global level but also has influence on the domestic market. There are three types of global strategy to be applied in general which is international strategy, multinational strategy and global strategy which is useful to distinguish from company’s resources, capabilities and current global position. Strategic analysis of expansion to new market There are a few basic steps to be carried out in order to profoundly write a comprehensive strategic analysis. First thing first, a concise goal has to be set in order to help to guide the effort into the right direction. This could be set by separate portion of the firm instead of the entire company, setting goals for each departments could be more relevant and specific. Second of all is to collect the relevant information to assess the company’s strength and weaknesses in order to seek for a solution for the problem arouse for the expansion...
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...Environmental Scan Paper Environmental Scan Paper According to BusinessDictionary.com, “an environmental scan is the vigilant monitoring and evaluation of a firm’s external and internal environments for detecting early signs of opportunities and threats that may influence current and future plans” (BusinessDictionary.com, 2011). In strategic planning, an environmental scan can help an organization increase understanding of the internal and external environmental factors that are required to reach the long-term goals of the company. This paper’s purpose is recognizing and exploring the external and internal situations of two successful organizations, Apple and Coca Cola. Also, to examine the competitive advantages and strategies used by these organizations, as well as sustaining value in an increasingly competitive market through creative strategic business plans. Another area being explored is the measurement guidelines used to substantiate the strategic effectiveness for these organizations and the effectiveness of these measurement guidelines. Internal and External Environments The whole process can be seen as beneficial knowledge for managers wishing to increase the long-term efficiency and develop strategic plans for the business. An organization’s environment can be broken into two separate divisions. First, the internal environment which is generally compiled of the factors or elements directly involved within the company. This would basically include the managers...
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...Your Strategy Needs a Strategy The internet software industry would be a nightmare for an oil industry strategist. Innovations and new companies pop up frequently, seemingly out of nowhere, and the pace at which companies can build—or lose—volume and market share is head spinning. Still, the survey found, in practice many rely instead on approaches that are better suited to predictable, stable environments, even when their own environments are known to be highly volatile or mutable. Here we present a simple framework that divides strategy planning into four styles according to how predictable your environment is and how much power you have to change it. Using this framework, corporate leaders can match their strategic style to the particular conditions of their industry, business function, or geographic market. How you set your strategy constrains the kind of strategy you develop. With a clear understanding of the strategic styles available and the conditions under which each is appropriate, more companies can do what we have found that the most successful are already doing—deploying their unique capabilities and resources to better capture the opportunities available to them Finding the Right Strategic Style Your choice of strategic style should begin there as well. Although many industry factors will play into the strategy you actually formulate, you can narrow down your options by considering just two critical factors: predictability (How far into the future and how accurately...
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...JOURNAL OF MANAGERIAL ISSUES Vol. XVI Number 3 Fall 2004: 361-381 Diversification Strategy and Top Management Team Fit Dan Marlin Assistant Professor of Management University of South Florida — St. Petersburg Bruce T. Lamont Professor of Management The Florida State University Scott W. Geiger Assistant Professor of Management University of South Florida — St. Petersburg Matching managers to diversification strategy has long been a cornerstone of strategy implementation research (Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1996; Guthrie and Datta, 1998; Krishnan et al, 1997; Leontiades, 1982; Michel and Hambrick, 1992; Pitts, 1977; Reed and Reed, 1989; Song, 1982; Tihanyi et al, 2000). The basic premise underlying this body of research is that different strategies pose different management challenges that, in turn, require systematically different management skills and experiences to be implemented successfiilly. Managers with backgrounds and skills matched to the critical task demands of a firm's diversification strategy, therefore, should be reflected in superior financial performance. Despite the logical appeal of these arguments, their empirical support remains limited and uneven. The cumulative findings suggest that managers of multi-business firms are generally matched to the task demands of their firm's diversification strategies (Michel and Hambrick, 1992; Pitts, 1977; Song, 1982), although contrary evidence has been found as well (Reed and Reed, 1989). Further, the...
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...the importance of strategic sourcing? Sourcing the right components is the first step in launching the new product. 3. What are the pros and cons of Whirlpool’s global sourcing strategies? Cons: Payment terms. Pros: To avoid delays in launching the new product. 4. How are suppliers identified, evaluated and selected? It was necessary to define the commodity and allocate responsibilities and resources through co-ordination of global and regional activities. Using the Sourcing Strategy Development (SSD) process in 4 steps: Step 1: internal analysis, identified and prioritized the process –partner requirements, then evaluated the performance of the existing supply base and reviewed the existing supply base, it also identify the switching costs. Step 2: external analysis, which includes analysing the supplier industry and competitors and evaluating competitor performance and strategies. The evaluation process makes use of SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threat). Step 3: strategy development, is to analyse the competitiveness and their financial impact. Preliminary negotiations could be carried out, a suitable strategy and suppliers should be selected and the critical path for implementation should be defined. Step 4: implementation, wherein the planned strategy is put into play, give feedback to the chosen process partners and suppliers and final negotiations will be nailed down. 5. What do you think of the evaluation process? There are...
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...management at the university became increasingly important. Some schools use strategic management in facing the challenges and catch the opportunities brought by environmental changes to earn improvements and thus to achieve a historic leap forward. Competition exists in every field not only in similar businesses, but also in other industries that offering competing products or services (Stacey 2007). The only way to surge ahead of competitors is to have new approaches in the competition. Strategic management principles of the institution must be innovative and creative. It is important because all the organizations are trying to employ traditional methods and this can mean a closer competition level. This essay will discuss the main strategies in existing and new markets of the University of East Anglia under the current situation of UEA in the whole UK educational industry. New market space New market space is the creation or reinvention of existing products in such a way that it must appeal to the existing customers as well as a whole new group of customers. The products offered must be unique in every aspect and it should make the organization a clear leader in that particular market segment. According to Hitt et al., (2008) “Imagine a market universe composed of two sorts of oceans: red oceans and blue oceans. Red ocean represents all industries in existence today. This is the known market space. Blue oceans denote all the industries not in existence today. This is...
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...with speaker notes, in which you address the following: • Evaluate the planning function of management as it relates to the organization’s goals and strategies. Use steps in the planning process outlined in the text. • Analyze the influence that legal issues, ethics, and corporate social responsibility have had on management planning at BP. Provide at least one example for each. • Analyze at least three factors that influence the company's strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning. Planning Part of the management function that involves setting goals and deciding how to best achieve them is called planning. Setting goals and developing plans helps the organization to move in a focused direction while operating in an efficient and effective manner. Strategies or plans are then developed for moving the organization closer to its goals. Types of Planning There are four types of planning a company can use; strategic, tactical, operational and contingency planning. Planning is part of making a decision and a manager can use the following types of planning in making short and long term decisions for a company. Strategic Strategic planning is an “organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people” (Bradford & Duncan, 2000). Strategic planning is the formal consideration of an organization's future course, usually anything...
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