week 2

    1.      In your own words and using Referenced quotes describe what ‘strategic management’ is?

-          Strategic management is a broader term than strategy and is procedures that comprise top management analysis of the environment in which the business operate previous to prepare a strategy, as well as the plan for implementation and control of the strategy. Strategy management thinks about what must be done before a strategy is formulated through evaluating the success of an implemented strategy. The strategy management is sum up through five steps:

1.      External Analysis: Evaluate the opportunity and threat of the association external environment, together with industry and macro environmental forces.

2.    Internal Analysis: Evaluate the organization strength and weaknesses in its internal environment.

3   Strategy formulation: Formulate strategies that construct and sustain competitive advantage by matching the business strength and weaknesses with the environment opportunities and threats.

4.      Strategy Execution: Put into practice the strategies that have been developed.

5.   Strategy Control: Calculate success and make correction when the strategies are not producing the desired outcome.

2.      How business strategy similar to military strategy? How is it different?

-          Similarities of business and military strategy are as follows:

a)      By learning both strategies we can observe the similarities of why definite things lead to success while other lead to failure: and why avoiding fundamentals leads to struggle and failure.

b)      Military lacking good foundation, knowledge and extensive study of strategy often fail and lose. This same pertain to business leaders.

c)      In Military strategy it is important to measure own weakness and this is similar as SWOT analysis which is done in business internal and external environment.

d)     The military proverb of “do not give up ground earned because it is too costly to get it back” this is similar to business with the importance to keep customers and market share and how costly and long time to get back if lost to competition.

e)      In Military ‘ command and control’ means that officers have their own duty and responsibilities assign by higher level Officers which is similar in business that top management authority or assign duties and responsibility to lower level.

Differences between military and Business Strategy are:

a)      Different purpose: Security Vs Stakeholder Value.

The key difference is in the mission and final purpose of each type of organization. The military emphasis is one of security to fight and win nation war and the purpose of the industry is to promote the interest of the shareholders, generating value of all constituencies such as partners, employees, investors and the public. More briefly developed businesses are even working a triple lowest line: profit, people and planet. Preparing and fighting wars is dissimilar than managing profitability, growing market shares and buying assets.

b)     Organization – Command and control Vs collaborative Matrix model.

The opinion of civilians is that the military is hierarchical in nature; yes the military does stretch a lot of duty to the junior’s officers. Conversely, the military does have an extra vertical structure, with extra exact rules of conduct, more steadily across units and defined roles and ranks associated to the business world. Furthermore there are values and tradition, share benefits, across all military units’.

In business there is a more collaborative and matrix structure. Geographical sales, product and functional units pooled across the business. Duties and position are not permanently secure. There is no set time or least prerequisite needed to be met to progress to another position. Countless business functions are temporary in nature and project based. Compounding the dissimilarities is the fact that companies can range from a hundred-thousand individual multi-nationals to a ten man start-up. Lastly, company’s principles vary greatly- from a formal, suit and tie banking culture to a jeans and tee-shirt wearing start-up environment, there is not at all similar business culture like a military.

c)      Career progression – the ladder Vs Self-managed.

One of the important differences is self-managed. It is difficult at first to understand future career at military in your own hands. That’s because the world of business, unlike military, there is no clearly describes career progression.

At first new junior officer, should be promoted to first lieutenant and after four years lieutenant would be promoted to captain. Enlisted workforces and officers have an organized path to promotion. The business world is fairly different. You are not going to built-up up a business comparable of the army’s times to see if you prepared the cut-offs for your next promotion. Yes bigger MNE’s had some hierarchy but is not very secure. In various job at first a certain amount experience and knowledge is required, but it is not permanently consistent. You may have a vice chief for a small company be quite young compared to a twenty year veteran with the similar title working in another organization.

      3. What do you understand by the term “strategic analysis”, strategic Development and      strategic Implementation?

-          Strategic Analysis :

Strategy analysis may be observed upon as the preliminary point of the strategic management procedure. It involves of the “advance work” that need to be done in order to successfully formulate and implement strategies. Numerous strategy fails as managers may need to formulate and implement strategies lacking a careful research and investigation of the principal goals of the business and without a systematic analysis of its internal and external analysis that is SWOT analysis. The three things which are necessary in strategic analysis are:

a)      Analyzing organization goals and objectives.

b)      Analyzing the internal environment.

c)      Analyzing the external environment.

-          Strategic Development:

Each organization has two things in common i.e. future and present. Change is unpredictable and will take place whether it is planned or not.  All association is perfectly planned for the results they are now getting. The excellence of the future depends on the quality of the process we exercise to get there. Strategy progress is about change. How management feels the new realities in technology, global completion, information flow and political responsibility is the key to success. Effective leaders understand these dynamics and work to manage change within the organization.

Strategy development has four elements:

·         Awareness.

·         Planning.

·         Development.

·         Results.

-          Strategic Implementation :

Simply the strategy implementation is the procedure that locates plans and strategies into action to attain goals and objectives. The strategic procedure is on paper document that sketch out the strategy of the company to reach goals, but will sit beyond without strategic implementation. The implementation constructs the business plans into the real world.

4.      Write about your experience with today’s case study. What answer did you give? Was it easy to answer the question? Did your group agree with each other?

-          Group discussion plays a vital role to understand the subject matter of the text and when group members are participatory then it add more benefits to learn. There are 4 members in my group. The answer was not easy to give straight on. The answer which I give and my group agrees are :            

          

a)      Why are Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Swindon growing rapidly? (List as many as you can).

-          These are the various causes that put together for massive growth of Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Swindon.

·         Roadways are linked to London.

·         Development is taking place everywhere.

·         Increase in population.

·         May be newly opening university near in future is another reason.

b)     Why might their growth strategy be “mad"

-          14200-17500 houses are built in different area in next decade, university opening in near future may turn these places into city also immigration plays a role in most of the growth, so it may be a mad.

c)      What do you think –is it a good strategy to continue with? (be ready to state your reasons)

-               In near future, a newly university is opening and it surely, no doubt, confidently plays a key role to develop these cities simultaneously, so I think it is a good strategy.

d)     Would you live in any of these three towns? (list the reasons why or why not)

-          Sure, why not, I would like to live in these cities; because of numerous opportunities are available in these cities, expenses are low to spend as compared to other cities, In addition, third of the price are lesser then compare to home in London of similar sized and motorways located on these cities are directly linked to London.





              References:

1.      Collis, D. J. & Montgomery, C. A. 1987. Corporate strategy: Resources and the scope of the firm. New York: McGraw-Hill.

2.      This section draws on Hrebiniak, L. G. & Joyce, W. F. 1984. Implementing strategy. New York: MacMillan; and Oster, S. M. 1994. Modern competitive analysis. New York: Oxford University Press.

3.      The discussion of the benefits and costs of vertical integration draws on Hax, A. C. & Majluf, N. S. 1991. The strategy concept and process: A pragmatic approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall:139.

4.      This section draws on Porter, op. cit.; and Hambrick, D. C. 1985. Turnaround strategies. In Guth, W. D., ed. Handbook of Business Strategy. Boston: Warren, Gorham & Lamont:10-1–10-32.

5.      This imagery of the corporation as a tree and related discussion draws on Prahalad, C. K. & Hamel, G. 1990. The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Business Review, 68 (3):79–91. Parts of this section also draw on Picken, J. C. & Dess, G. G. 1997. Mission critical. Burr Ridge, IL. Irwin Professional Publishing, chapter 5.