Strategic Management 3
Strategy design 3
Efficient Strategic planning and implementation 4
References 6
Appendix A 7
Appendix B 8
Strategic Management
It is important for an organization to have an efficient strategic management as it helps to achieve business goals and targets (Hill and Jones, 2011). As a business strategic leader, the first step in designing effective strategy is well defining the vision and objectives. This is because without it, a strategy cannot be properly planned and implemented (Varbanova, 2013).
Strategy design
A strategy design consists of four important elements. Firstly, it is important to find out and list the main product lines of the business which is also referred to as LOBs (Clarke, 2012). On the basis of the identified product lines, the critical success factors or indicators are established as they provide different factors that are important while planning and implementing any strategy (Sadler, 2003). In addition, these critical success factors also help to measure and improve towards the mission of the organization (Harrison and St. John, 2013). In addition, these critical success indicators must also include a deadline which helps to present an idea of what to achieve (Hill, Jones and Schilling, 2014). The indicators include sales margin, return on investment, profit margins, employee turnover and customer loyalty etc (Roney, 2004). Secondly, in strategy design, it is important to find out the position that will be focused by an organization’s efforts. These are also called strategic thrusts and includes, focus on existing services and products, strategic alliance, joint ventures, liquidation or diversification, etc (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2007). Lastly, to implement the designed strategy and achieve organization goal, it is important to have an adaptive and learning culture that encourage implementation of strategies (Hill and Jones, 2011). The organizational goals also helps to provide a way to achieve goals through employee’s mutual understanding, values, trust, leadership and coaching, etc.
According to Hill, Jones and Schilling (2014), while designing effective strategy, it is important for an organization to focus on the methods and process that are significant to maintain the strategy and achieve the goals (Hill, Jones and Schilling, 2014). In addition, it is also necessary to align external and internal roles, accountabilities and responsibilities that will encourage timely accomplishment of goals (Harrison and St. John, 2013). An organization can map their processes which will help to identify the areas for improvement (Corbae, Jensen and Schneider, 2003). Thus, well defined and well designed strategy will help to draft operational planning and sales schedules to meet organizational targets and goals.
Efficient Strategic planning and implementation
Strategic planning basically refers to the devising strategies that help to meet objectives and find out the resources that are required to achieve the objectives (Harrison and St. John, 2013). There can be a simple plan or a complex strategic plan that involves many steps with each objective and strategies (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2007). In addition, an efficient strategic plan involves strategically defining activities of each stage. In addition, to plan effectively there must be a thorough market research, consumer demand, marketing, product development and distribution (Corbae, Jensen and Schneider, 2003). Once the plan is complete, it is important that all the stages, vision, mission and goals of the plans are communicated to all employees and stakeholders effectively.
The strategic implementation is a more important task as it is the exact executive of the plan (Hill and Jones, 2011). To implement the strategic plan, it is important to involve all the employees and also inform them about the unintended consequences and unforeseen events (Roney, 2004). In addition, the implementation of strategic plan must also include proper control to ensure that all the stages are completed as planned (Sadler, 2003).
In implementing the plan successfully, different stages are involved. However, the important task is the planning of the strategies to achieve the goals or vision (Harrison and St. John, 2013). Firstly, the strategic plan must be reviewed carefully as improper review will bring challenges (Schmitt, 2011). The plan must be considered from all aspects and plan B must also be made in case of deviation of actual plan. Secondly, there must be a vision for the plan and end results must also be known (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2007). Thirdly, the team members must be informed and communicated regularly about the plan (Harrison and St. John, 2013). Moreover, the team must also be encouraged to implement the plan effectively and motivated to work dedicatedly (Hill and Jones, 2011). Fourthly, scheduled meetings must be arranged to maintain the progress of the strategic plan. In addition, it is also important to monitor whether the implementation is made as per schedule (Ungson and Wong, 2008). In case if there is any deviation, then the changes must be made. Moreover, the progress must be monitored ahead, so that that change can be made before time. This will ensure success of the implementation of strategic plan. Lastly, the upper management must involved and they must also recommend potential changes that are required (Walker, 2010).
References
Clarke, S. (2012). Information Systems Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach. Routledge
Corbae, G., Jensen, J. B., and Schneider, D. (2003). Marketing 2.0: Strategies for Closer Customer Relationships. Springer Science & Business Media
Harrison, J., and St. John, C. (2013). Foundations in Strategic Management. Cengage Learning
Hill, C., and Jones, G. (2011). Essentials of Strategic Management. Cengage Learning
Hill, C., Jones, G., and Schilling, M. (2014). Strategic Management: Theory: An Integrated Approach. Cengage Learning
Lamb, C., Hair, J., and McDaniel, C., (2007). Marketing. Cengage Learning
Roney, C. W. (2004). Strategic Management Methodology: Generally Accepted Principles for Practitioners. Greenwood Publishing Group
Sadler, P. (2003). Strategic Management. Kogan Page Publishers
Schmitt, B. (2011). Experience Marketing: Concepts, Frameworks and Consumer Insight. Now Publishers Inc
Ungson, G. R., and Wong, Y-Y. (2008). Global Strategic Management. M.E. Sharpe
Varbanova, L. (2013). Strategic Management in the Arts. Routledge
Walker, R. (2010). Strategic Management Communication for Leaders. Cengage Learning
Appendix A
Hypothetical Organization Parameters
Industry
Wal-Mart belongs to retail industry.
Organization Type
Wal-Mart is a publicly traded organization
Organization Size/Reach
Wal-Mart is a large organization spread into diverse geographic regions, i.e., in 27 countries with more than 11,000 stores. The total revenue of Wal-Mart is 476.294 billion US$ and net income is 26.872 billion US$ as of 2013. Moreover, in 2013, its total assets and total equity are 204.751 US$ billion and 76.255 US$ billion respectively.
Other Parameters
The company is engaged in selling different products such as footwear, apparel, cash & carry, hypermarket, club discount store, supercenter, super market, superstore and e-Commerce etc. Wal-Mart constantly strategically plans all the activities to sell its products effectively. However, while operating globally, the company has to deal with many strategic issues such as external environment, internal environment, competitors, macro environment, etc.
Appendix B
Activities, Benefits, and Value
SWOT Analysis
Description: SWOT analyzes internal environment (Strengths and weaknesses of organization) and external environment (threat and opportunities outside the organization).
Benefits and Value: This benefits Wal-Mart to analyze its internal and external situation and increase its internal capabilities to meet external demands.
PEST ANALYSIS
Description: PEST analysis analyzes political, economic, social and technological environment.
Benefits and Value: This benefits Wal-Mart to analyze macro environment in which it is operating
Identification of resources and capabilities
Description: It analyzes the resources and capabilities that are important to an organization.
Benefits and Value: This benefits Wal-Mart to increase its internal resources and capabilities that helps an organization to achieve competitive advantage.
Competitor Analysis
Description: It analyzes the competition that exists in the industry.
Benefits and Value: This benefit Wal-Mart to identify what capabilities has enabled the competitors to achieve the superiority position and can be adopted by them.
Balance Score Card
Description: It provides financial, learning and growth, customer and internal business process.
Benefits and Value: The balance score card helps Wal-Mart to analyze information from four different perspectives that enables the organization to understand its current and future position.
Diamond’s five forces
Description: It provides an organization to analyze buyer power, supplier power, competition in industry, new entrants and substitute products.
Benefits and Value: This benefits Wal-Mart to find out the industry situation that reflects business success or failure.
Product Life Cycle
Description: It helps to analyze the product’s current position, i.e., introduction, growth, maturity and decline
Benefits and Value: It benefits Wal-Mart by identifying which product or segment needs to be given more investment to generate higher return.
