...Case Study - Question 3 Ida Fort Columbia Southern University Case Study - Question 3 Crate and Barrel offers unique/original products and strives to set the trends. Their products are mostly marketed via catalogs and website. They have fewer brick and mortar stores than Williams Sonoma. They offer high style but at a lower price point than Williams Sonoma. Crate and Barrel focuses on furniture rather than kitchen products. The Company is in the process of changing its combination of online and brick and mortar stores, repositioning some of its stores in their current markets (Sweeny, 2014). Restoration hardware sells pricey vintage style furniture. They compete with William Sonoma in the direct to customer market. Restoration Hardware targets the wealthiest 10 %, Williams Sonoma targets wealthiest 20%. A former senior manager left Pottery Barn to work or restoration hardware (Rouse, 2010). This inside knowledge helps with Restorations’ positioning. Its strategy is to target fast growth. Pier one stores offer similar offerings to Williams Sonoma. Pier 1 aims to get the competitive advantage by offering a variety of products to fit various market. They offer an array of household, kitchen and specialty items. Bombay Company offers classic, traditional accessories and large furniture. The company also has outlet stores that targets those they desire high style at a lower price point. While targeting a group of consumers that have less disposable income, this strategy...
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...strategic fit between external opportunities and internal strengths while working around external and internal weaknesses Wheelen / Hunger, 2010, p 224 SWOT Analysis SWOT- Strengths-WeaknessesOpportunities-Threats Strategy = opportunity / capacity Opportunity has no real value unless a company has the capacity to take advantage of that opportunity Wheelen / Hunger, 2010, p 224 Institut für Strategisches Management Distinctive Competency – Success ? A distinctive competency in a key resource or key capability of a company is no guarantee for a competitive advantage Weaknesses in other resource areas can prevent strategy from being successful Wheelen / Hunger, 2010, p 224 Institut für Strategisches Management SWOT - Analysis Broader view of strategy SA = O / (S – W) Strategic Alternative = Opportunity : Strengths – Weaknesses More investment in strengths to make them stronger ? More investment in weaknesses to at least make them competitive ? Wheelen / Hunger, 2010, p 224 Institut für Strategisches Management Criticisms of SWOT analysis Generates lengthy lists Uses no weights to reflect priorities Uses ambiguous words and phrases Same factor can be in 2 categories No obligation to verify opinion with data or analysis Requires only a single level of analysis No logical link to strategy implementation Wheelen / Hunger, 2010, p 224 Institut für Strategisches Management Strategic Factor Analysis Summary SFAS summarizes an organization’s...
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...actions that determines the long run performance of a corporation (Hunger & Wheelen, 2010). It is all about identifying and picturing the strategies used for better performance and gaining a competitive advantage for the corporation. In order for this to take place the manager must have the knowledge to make the right decisions using the SWOT Analysis and utilize the corporation’s strengths and minimizing the weaknesses. According to Hunger & Wheelen, (2010), corporations run the risk of error, costly mistakes, and economic ruin. Strategic management is used today to keep the corporations competitive in a volatile environment. The world is constantly changing and it is up to the managers to help the corporations evolve around it using the four phases of strategic management. Phase 1- Basic financial planning involves projects that are based on very little analysis. The following year’s budget takes approximately one year in which managers try to cram ideas (Hunger & Wheelen, 2010). Phase 2- Forecast-based planning usually takes three to five years. Annual budgets that have become useless for long-term planning have managers attempting five-year plans. With the internal information that is gathered, environmental information is also gathered. Managers in this phase compete for larger shares of funds with endless meetings to evaluate proposals and justify assumptions (Hunger & Wheelen, 2010). Phase 3- Externally oriented (strategic) planning is when top management...
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...monitoring top management. The role of the Board of Directors has become more organized and efficient, through laws and standards, than in the past. (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010) Laws and standards are different for each country. The United States has a different approach. The U.S. has requirements for each state where the corporate charter is issued. There is an agreement through worldwide consensus that there should be key responsibilities for the board members. (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010) The following duties, listed in the order of importance, are: Setting corporate strategy, overall direction, mission or vision; hiring and firing the CEO and top management; controlling, monitoring, or supervising top management; reviewing and approving the use of resources, and caring for the shareholder interests. (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010, p. 45) The National Association of Corporate Directors performed a survey with U.S. CEOs. The four most prominent issues the survey describes are as follows: Corporate performance, CEO Succession, strategic planning, and corporate governance. (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010, p. 46) The U.S. Corporation manages the laws of the state in which it is incorporated. The directors have to ensure management’s adherence to laws and regulations. Directors have to deal with security issues, insider trading, and conflict-of-interest. (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010) The board attends to business with the due care law. If the corporations violate the due care law, they can be legally sued...
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...determines the long-run performance of a corporation” (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010, p. 5). Strategic management helps companies gain a comparative advantage over the competition. As competition increases from global expansion, companies are more interested in strategic management to remain competitive. The following paper will discuss the components of strategic management, and how Central Transport uses strategic management to remain viable in a volatile business market. Strategic Management Components Strategic management consists of four components. These components include environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and evaluation and control (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). Environmental Scanning Environmental scanning is “monitoring, evaluating, and disseminating of information from the external and internal environments to key people within the corporation” (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010, p. 16). This component is used to identify factors that will determine the corporation’s future (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). SWOT analysis is the most common way firms identify strategic factors (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). Strategy Formulation The second component of strategic management is strategy formulation. Strategy formulation is “the development of long-range plans for the effective management of environmental opportunities and threats, in light of corporate strengths and weaknesses” (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010, p. 17). Companies often define the...
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...Strategic Management Process Paper Strategic management refers to a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008, p. 3). It includes environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and evaluation and control. The content of this paper will describe the components of a strategic management process and indicate why strategic management is needed in a company, furthermore, a description of how General Electric (GE) uses strategic management process in their company. Components of a Strategic Management Process The first component is environmental scanning, which is basically gathering information from external and internal environments to key people within the corporation. Its purpose is to identify strategic factors that will establish the future of a corporation. An easy way of predicting the future of a corporation is through a SWOT Analysis. SWOT is used to describe the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for a specific company. The external environment consists of opportunities and threats (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008, p. 11). These variables happen outside the organization, which management has no control over. For instance, one company does not have the right to prevent another company of marketing the same product or service. Company A must strive to become better than other competitors. On the other hand, the internal environment consists of strengths...
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...environment. The phases consist; of basic financial planning, forecast-based planning, externally oriented planning, and strategic management. As defined by (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010), strategic management is a set of managerial decisions and actions that sets the tone and focus of the long term performance for an organization. Goals and objectives identify what the company plan to achieve and provide. Goals and objectives are vital to an organization to ensure that the business is consistently growing and meeting the expectations of stakeholders. Stakeholders are concerned with the profitability of the organization and the security of his or her investments (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). The benefits of strategic management aids to provide are a clear vision for the firm, a specific focus on what is strategically needed, and an improved sense of understanding when evaluating the environment and the changes occurring. Meaning, a corporation that has a strategic plan has the competitive advantage over other corporations not as advanced in the area of planning, implementing, and controls. Strategic management not only requires that the functions of a corporation are aligned with the mission and objectives of the organization, but managers must be aware of any external factors that may harm the reputation and productivity of the company (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). General Electric (GE) developed an...
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...global operations which includes countries like Canada, Latin America, and Europe. Harley-Davidson has two different business segments which include motorcycles and financial services. The current economic conditions have affected all industry including motorcycles. While Harley-Davidson has proven to do well during the recession, they have also faced some challenges. As the economic conditions change, Harley- Davidson has implemented new marketing strategies and e-commerce to gain a competitive advantage. Resources Strong reputation and brand name Materials as Needed (MAN) (Wheelen 16-2) Computer-Aided Design (CAD) system (Wheelen 16-3) Experienced CEO with 38 years of service in the company (Wheelen 16-5) Harley-Davidson Museum Harley-Davidson licensing for non-riding public (Wheelen 16-18) Large number of exclusive Harley-Davidson dealerships and independent dealers (Wheelen 16-9) www.harley-davidson.com...
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...the CEO can accentuation to help the organization and enhance inspiration. The primary quality is representative preparing and unwaveringness (Wheelen and Hunger, 2004). We realize that the organization's workers are not unionized (Wheelen and Hunger, 2004). The organization additionally does not appear to be stressed over the likelihood of their workers unionizing, demonstrating the representatives are upbeat and substance (Wheelen and Hunger, 2004). This is a great quality for the organization. Upbeat and substance representatives are fundamental to the thriving of the vacationer business that exists in their Vermont production line (Wheelen and Hunger, 2004). Remote access requesting is one more of the organization's qualities. There are progressively three sorts of individuals, the individuals who need to go to the store, the individuals who need to arrange via telephone and the individuals who lean toward the web (Wheelen and Hunger, 2004). Web requesting and the 800 telephone number give quick and helpful access to the organization's items and give clients the choice to utilize which ever strategy is more agreeable for them. Numerous organizations are building up online request models to give comfort to customers, this is crucial to the accomplishment of the Vermont Teddy Bear Company they keep focused of web innovation (Wheelen and Hunger, 2004). The Vermont Teddy Bear Company has an excellent item and clients are exceptionally fulfilled (Vermont, 2005). The organization's...
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...Strategic Management Process The strategic management process is a philosophical approach to business that consists of four basic elements: environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and evaluation and control (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). This paper examines these elements, why this process is important, and discusses the strategic management process of Microsoft Corporation. Environmental Scanning Environmental scanning involves an in-depth analysis of the factors that can affect the goals of the company (Clayton, 2013). This information is disseminated to the key people within the company and is often conducted through SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis. The strengths and weaknesses form the internal environment of the company and look closely at the company’s structure, resources, and culture; whereas, the opportunities and threats are the variables that comprise the external environment (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). Strategy Formulation Once the opportunities and threats have been analyzed, long-term plans for their effective management are formulated. It is within this step that the company’s mission is clearly set to achieve the desired objectives (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). During this stage, any issues are prioritized prior to the development of the strategy, and contingency plans created. Economic environments are continually changing; therefore, these alternative approaches should be built into...
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...questions are in line with the strategic management process and why the process is needed. Strategic management is a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008, p. 5). A strategic management plan primary components generally will include environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation. Environmental scanning helps a business identify current and future issues along with “monitoring, evaluating, and disseminating of information from the external and internal environments to key people within the corporation” (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008, p. 10). Strategy formulation is the most imperative portion of the plan mainly because it focuses on “effective management of environmental opportunities and threats, in light of corporate strengths and weaknesses” (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008, p. 12). Management is a key component; without effective management theirs no one to implement, enforce and enhance the company. Managers also work with associated whom generally find the flaws that will ultimately help the business. Strategy implementation is “process by which strategies and policies are put into action through the development of programs, budgets, and procedures” (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008, p. 16). Having these items outlines and available it helps the company know they direction they are heading....
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... I will also take a look at Johnson & Johnson and describe their strategic management process. According to Hunger and Wheelen strategic management is “a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation” (Hunger, D.J. & Wheelen T.L, 2010, p. 5). This process includes checking for internal and external drivers, long range planning, implementation, and evaluating how the plan is working (Hunger, D.J. & Wheelen T.L., 2010). Every possible route and influence must be looked at when developing the plan. The strategic management process has four phases. First there must be financial planning. No matter what the strategic plan is, there must be money allocated in the budget. Secondly, long-range plans are developed usually on a five or three year term. Thirdly, after the internal drivers are thoroughly examined the external drivers must be scanned. Some of those drivers could be the economy and competitors. Finally the last phase is the strategic management, which incorporates input from lower level management. (Hunger, D.J. & Wheelen T.L., 2010). The strategic management process is important because it enables organizations to plan for the future. Any company can handle short-term changes, but those that plan in the long term will be more successful (Hunger, D.J. & Wheelen, T.L., 2010). Strategic planning makes an organization stay aware of the ever-changing environment and adapt to changes. Changes...
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...book by Thomas Friedman called: “The World is Flat”, he discusses how “jobs, knowledge, and capital” are capable of crossing boarders much quicker and with a lot less resistance than they once previously had only a short while ago (Wheelen., Hunger, Hoffman, & Bamford, 2015, p. 8). As for the role of strategic management in globalization, which is specified in the textbook, has become an increasingly important method when it comes to retaining a correct order of global occurrences and situating a firm for an extension of their opposition, based on the reason of gaining more knowledge when it comes to the expansion of modern goods for establishing personal financial systems (Wheelen., Hunger, Hoffman, & Bamford, 2015, p.8). An example of this would be a company such as Target that opened up franchises in Canada about 3 years ago mostly because their final major franchise named Zellers was failing (Austen, 2011).. Question 2 In accordance to the information in which the textbook provides, “a business’s sustainability is modernly known today as the triple bottom line”. In 1994, John Elikgton used this phrase in order to give way that firms should compose three separate bottom lines in their yearly statement (Wheelen., Hunger, Hoffman, & Bamford, 2015, p.8). In reference to the textbook, these three bottom lines consist of firstly: “a Traditional Profit/Loss”, secondly: “a People Account” which is the responsibility of the firm, and thirdly: “a...
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...Nestle was the culprit. When Nestle was in its strategic planning process ethics and social responsibility to the community was not a priority. Ethics and social responsibility have a very important role when a company is developing a strategic plan. During the strategic planning process ethics and social responsibility must also be taken into careful consideration for stakeholders within organizations. There are preventive measures that companies can take to prevent unethical behavior and prevent stakeholders from overstepping boundaries. Roles of Ethics and Social Responsibility in Strategic Planning Business Ethics Ethics is defined as the consensually accepted standards of behavior for an occupation, a trade, or a profession (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). Many will debate whether business ethics actually exists. The argument has been that there is no absolute right ethics. Other debaters believe that ethics establishes a foundation for a business. Every company has a set way of doing and handling business, and this organizational culture will vary depending on the company and industry. In the strategic planning process it is imperative that a company provides a code of ethics for the strategic plan. Not only must the organization provide this code of ethics but ensure all parts of the code is understood by each individual involved in the process. Business social responsibility. The main purpose for any business is to make a profit. However, a business is not only...
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...Learning Team Weekly Reflection Jennifer Naccarato, Nancy Perez, Anthony Aguirre, Edward Felix MGT/498 May 5, 2015 Dr. Tim Fish Learning Team Weekly Reflection The team discussed the topics covered in the reading material and concluded that it is difficult to forecast and foresee what is significant enough to understand what is applicable information to work with for the success of each of the companies. Seeing as we have each worked in an individual department within the organization, we are unable to predict and foresee when we are not aware of necessary information to understand what direction to go in. We are expecting to learn how to think outside the box and have the capacity to see the big picture. The team knows how strategic management could be advantageous to an organization, and how ethics should be a part of that too. We have seen in our companies on various occasions where people have committed wrong actions and how it could hurt the organization. Those actions can slowly or swiftly take over and destroy an organization. Such unethical behaviors can disrupt the goals of the company to perform efficiently and effectively. After finishing the homework and reading the objectives, the team was comfortable discussing both internal and external environmental scans and how it is not the same as a SWOT analysis. Environmental scanning is composed of observation, reviewing, and finally circulating the data assembled from internal and external environments based...
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