1. How does Pixar use strategic management?
Referencing Chapter 1: Strategy Concept: Introduction and Analyzing Goals and Objectives
Strategy is all about the ideas, decisions, and actions that enable a firm to succeed. See Chapter 1, Exhibit 01: Strategic management consists of the analyses, decisions, and actions an organization undertakes in order to create and sustain competitive advantages:
• strategy directs the organization toward overall goals and objectives;
• includes multiple stakeholders in decision making;
• incorporates both short-term and long-term perspectives;
• recognizes trade-offs between efficiency and effectiveness.
Leaders face a large number of complex challenges. Leaders must be proactive, anticipate change and continually refine changes to their strategies. This requires a certain level of “ambidextrous behavior”, where leaders are alert to opportunities beyond the confines of their own jobs, and are also cooperative and seek out opportunities to combine their efforts with others. Leaders must make strategic management both a process and a way of thinking throughout the organization.
See Chapter 1, Exhibit 06: The primary role of the organizational leader is to articulate vision, mission and strategic objectives. Leaders must communicate their initial vision of the organization’s purpose: what was the original goal that evokes a powerful and compelling mental image of a shared future, one that would be massively inspiring, overarching, and long-term, that represented a destination that is driven by and evokes passion?
The organizational mission also needs to be considered: a mission encompasses both the purpose of the company as well as the basis for competition and competitive advantages. In writing a mission statement, it is important to understand the definition of the business: 1) who are its customers, 2)