Crafting and Executing Strategy

Assignment 1 Crafting and Executing Strategy Harry G Williams Strategic Management Bus 599 Strayer University April 21, 2013

Crafting and Executing Strategy 1. Develop an argument supporting the importance of a strategic plan for the success of the defined business. Telecommunications cable operations industry of my choice. Strategic plan is likely describe the companys values (Dealbook, 2009). Strategic plan will better position a company to compete and capital structures more suited to the company respective needs. (Murris, Scheffman, & Spiller, 2005). The business professional that is responsible for creating and executing the companys strategic plan must understand that the business must be guided by a set of core principles. Those principles are a strategic plan designed to ensure the business will grow and expand properly. Strategic planning ensures that the decision made will guide and direct the business in the pre-determined path (Bryson, 2011). Infrastructure is the lifeline of cable operators. The strategy must take in account the capital spending to build infrastructure to reach new customers. Any plan will have to determine the best geographic area to build infrastructure which give more return on investment (Henisz, 2004). With this in mind, a plan is needed to ensure that growth can also be managed at an active pace where the competitors do not get the advantage. Strategic planning is said to be the process that create and define policy, direction and making effective decisions (Thompson, 2009). The best possible decisions will take in account the allocation of resources, current market situations, and make use of particular course of action as well. A strategic plan, in essence is a road map for business. It covers which direction the business is headed. It will address various areas such as marketing, sales, customers, finance etc. All of these areas are the driving force to make goals achievable (Bryson, 2011). This shows that crafting of strategic plan is very much required in order to allow the cable operation to grow and flourish at its best.

Crafting and Executing Strategy

In short, with a strategic plan, a telecommunication company will have a clearer idea of what type of company it will be, what it does effectively, and what challenges it faces. If the plan is followed, company will enjoy enhanced performance and responsiveness to its market challenges. 2. Create a mission statement for the company explaining how the mission will be essential to the companys success. The mission statement is a short paragraph which reflects the companys core purpose, identity, values and principle business aims (Thompson, 2009). Mission statement gives the fundamental reason why a company is in business. Crafting a mission statement guides the way company approach each and every workday. A company with a mission statement makes potential customers aware that the business does exist. Mission Statement: To bring information, entertainment to people and business in simple and easy way. This mission statement is a relatively simple statement of what the company hopes to achieve. Mission statement is crafted as a guide to help the business to grow and excel at its best (Olsen, 2011). The statement, however; is directly related to a corporate social responsibility, and reveals little about what the company does outside of its business functions. At this point, the telecommunication industry is set for making its business practices effective. Its mission statement is linked with how it will deliver service to customers. Many companies have mission statements. And many mission statements often sound lofty and promising. What separates companies from each other is in how truly they apply their mission statements.

Crafting and Executing Strategy 3. Create a vision statement for the company explaining how the vision statement supports the companys mission. Vision statement: Our vision is to be the best company in the world--in the eyes of our customers, shareholders, communities and people. We expect and demand the best in leading technology and innovation we have to offer by always keeping the company's values top of mind. A strategic vision is a view of an organizations future direction and business makeup (Olsen, 2011). It is a guiding concept for what the organization is trying to do and to become. People often confuse this description with mission statement because both are base on the value of the company. The mission focus on the company present where as vision is totally focuses on the company future. A vision statement describes the business as it would appear in a future successful condition. It tries to answer this question: What would it look like 5 to10 years from now? An effective vision statement is inspirational and aspirational (Olsen, 2011). With a vision statement the aim is to create a mental image of the future goal that the company is after. A vision statement should challenge and inspire employees. It reminds all employees of what the company is trying to build and excite everyone to work toward the goal. Crafting a strategic vision statement is needed to provide long-term direction. It will clearly state the vision of what the companys future business makeup will be and where the company is headed. It outlines what kind of activities the company will engage in to achieve its goal. Vision gives a company with a sense of purpose. A vision should put a company on a path to pursue and creates organizational purpose and identity. Strategic vision spells out a direction and describes the destination (Simerson, 2011).

Crafting and Executing Strategy 4. Establish five (5) key objectives for the company encompassing operational, financial, and human resource aspects of the business and justify why each of these objectives is essential to the success of the business. The five key objectives for the company encompassing operational, financial, and human resource aspects of the business is a straightforward process. The five keys objectives established for the telecommunication company are excellence, teamwork, initiative, innovation, integrity, and community. In essence, key objectives are a set of functional strategies, representing the competitive tools that a company employs to compete in a given industry. The purpose of the five keys objectives are to attain the operational standards, maximizing the output and eliminating excessive costs, optimizing human resources, devising better strategies as well as achieving the goals and controlling the unfavorable areas (Thompson, 2009). When all of these objectives are used together it allows a business to grow and expand effectively. The five of these objectives are considered to be essential to the success of the business (Olsen, 2011). Financial resources concern with the ability of the business to finance its chosen strategy. For example, a strategy that requires significant investment in new products, distribution channels, production capacity and working capital will place great strain on the business finances. Such a strategy needs to be very carefully managed from a finance point-ofview. As mentioned earlier, infrastructure is the lifeline of cable operation. On the competitive front, the traditional phone companies are investing in fiber technology and continuing to expand their service in cable industry footprint by offering new video services. To remain competitive cable operators must continue to build infrastructure, carefully managed our operating and capital expenses, and continue to enhance products to customers needs to compete effectively.

Crafting and Executing Strategy

5. Justify how the five (5) key objectives established support the mission and vision statements of the company as defined in the assignment. Linking the mission and vision statement together will give you the core concept and values of the telecommunication company. The values of the company are based on integrity, honest dealing with customers and community. These values have to be more than just words. They must be part of policies and standards. The company must invest in infrastructure and product development to offer customers new and enhanced services that make it simpler and easier for them to receive and share information. Not only this, the business would achieve heightened level of success (Tallant, 2011). Most companies faced the challenges of the continuing economic downturn. Telecommunication cable operations will also continue to face vigorous and increasing competition by telephone and satellite industries. Nonetheless, the company continued could have positive growth with its strategic planning.

Crafting and Executing Strategy References Bryson, J. M. (2011). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: a guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley& Son. Dealbook. (2009). Time Warner Cable spinoff to finish next month. The New York Times . Henisz, W. J. (2004). The institutional environment for telecommunications investment. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 124-147. Marcus, A. (2009). Management strategy: achieving sustained competitive advantage. McGrawHill/Irwin. Murris, T. J., Scheffman, D. T., & Spiller, P. T. ( 2005). Strategyand transaction costs. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 83-128. Olsen, E. (2011). Strategic planning kit for dummies, 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons. Simerson, B. K. (2011). Strategic planning: a practical guide to strategy formulation and execution . ABC-CLIO. Tallant, J. (2011). The importance of strategic planning in the business environment. John Wiley& Sons. Thompson, A. (2009). Crafting & executing strategy: the quest for competitive advantage: concepts and cases. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Crafting and Executing Strategy