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business Strategic
Management
“Strategy is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of
activities.”
Genie in a Lamp
A man was walking along a road when he found a lamp. Upon rubbing the lamp a genie
appeared who stated "I am the most powerful genie in the world. Because I am so powerful, I
can grant you any wish you want, but only one wish."
The man then said, "Well, we are starting a Management Programme. I wonder if you could
teach the students this MBA thing."
“Strategy is a framework which guides those choices that determine the nature and
direction of an organization.”
“In terms of the three key players (competitors, customers, company) strategy is defined as
the way in which a corporation endeavors to differentiate itself positively from its
competitors, using its relative corporate strengths to better satisfy customer needs.”
-Kenichi Ohmae
As we have observed that for the formulation of strategy the planning is required for this in the
business world, Henri Fayol, the French industrialist, is credited with the first successful attempts
at formal planning. Growth is an accepted expectation of a firm; however, growth does not
happen by itself. Growth must be carefully planned: questions such as how much, when, in
which areas, where to grow, and who will be responsible for different tasks must be answered.
Unplanned growth will be haphazard and may fail to provide desired levels of profit. Planning is
required in making a choice among the many equally attractive alternative investment
opportunities a firm may have. Thus, the introduction of the concept of risk & uncertainty.
Planning for future action has been called by many different names: long-range planning,
corporate planning, comprehensive planning, and formal planning. Planning is essentially a
process directed toward making today’s decisions with tomorrow in mind and a means of
preparing for future decisions so that they may be made rapidly, economically, and with as little
disruption to the business as possible. For a good planning it requires some of the philosophies
1- Planning on the basis of the satisfying philosophy aims at easily achievable goals and
molds planning efforts accordingly. This type of planning requires setting objectives and
goals that are “high enough’’ but not as “high as possible.’’
2- The philosophy of optimizing planning has its foundation in operations research. The
optimizing planner seeks to model various aspects of the organization and define them as
objective functions.
For example, an objective may be to obtain the highest feasible market share;
planning then amounts to searching for different variables that affect market share:
price elasticity, plant capacity, competitive behavior, the product’s stage in the life
cycle, and so on. The effect of each variable is reduced to constraints on the market
share. Then an analysis is undertaken to find out the optimum market share to target.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is a systematic, analytical approach that reviews the business as a whole
in relation to its environment, with the objective of: “Developing an integrated,
coordinated and consistent view of the route the company wishes to follow, Facilitating
the adaptation of the organisation to environmental change.”
The aim of strategic planning is to create a viable link between the organization’s
objectives and resources and its environmental opportunities. Strategic management
planning produces both the primary goals for operational plans and the framework in
Harmeet singh ( Lecturer Rakshpal Bahadur
Management Institute, Greater Noida)
which they can be realized. The main intended outcome of strategy is the successful
positioning of the company in the market place.
For the organizations every plan should have: Objectives, Strategies, Programmes,
Controls and the evolution is essential for Strategic Management.
In the present scenario following Levels of Strategy; Hierarchy of Strategies are used
to compete in the market.
Unfortunately, these sets of processes are not carried out as discrete actions and do not
follow nicely in a linear manner
The concern of strategy is effectiveness (doing the right things). The concerns of
operations are efficiency (doing things right).
Strategic thinking can be divided into two segments : strategy formulation and strategy
implementation.
Strategy formulation involves: Doing a situation analysis: both internal and external;
both micro-environmental and macro-environmental (where you are now).
Concurrent with this assessment, objectives are set. This involves crafting vision
statements (long term), mission statements (medium term), overall corporate objectives
These objectives should, in the light of the situation analysis, suggest a strategic plan.
The plan provides the details of how to obtain these goals. (how to get there)
The next phase, is the implementation of the strategy. This involves: Allocation of
sufficient resources, Establishing a chain of command or some alternative structure,
Assigning responsibility of specific tasks or processes to specific individuals or groups,
Involves managing the process - this includes monitoring results, comparing to
benchmarks and best practices, evaluating the efficacy and efficiency of the process,
controlling for variances, and making adjustments to the process as necessary.
Charles Lindblom (1959) claimed that strategy is a fragmented process of serial and
incremental decisions.
James Brian Quinn (1980) developed an approach that he called "logical incrementalism”
"Constantly integrating the simultaneous incremental process of strategy formulation
and implementation is the central art of effective strategic management."
5. When is the planning mode of strategic decision making superior to the entrepreneurial
and adaptive modes?
6. What are common differences between functional and strategic actions and decisions?
1. Perspectives on Strategy from The Boston Consulting Group (1998). Carl W. Stern and George
Stalk, Jr. (Eds). John Wiley & Sons.
2. The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action (1996). Robert S. Kaplan and David P.
Norton. Harvard Business School Press.
3. The Strategy Concept and Process, 2nd Edition (1996). Arnoldo C. Hax and Nicolas S. Majluf.
Prentice-Hall.
4. The New Strategists (1995). Stephen J. Wall and Shannon Rye Wall. Free Press.
Articles
1. “What’s Wrong with Strategy” (Nov-Dec 1997). Andrew Campbell and Marcus Alexander. Harvard
Business Review, pp. 2-8.
2. “What Is Strategy?” (Nov-Dec 1996). Michael E. Porter. Harvard Business Review, pp. 61-78.
3. “Strategy as Revolution” (Jul-Aug 1996). Gary Hamel. Harvard Business Review, pp. 69-82.