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biotechnology and agriculture is creating a new field
Environmental scanning is the monitoring,
evaluation, and dissemination of information from
the external and internal environments to key
people within the corporation.
IDENTIFYING EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL
VARIABLES
natural environment includes physical resources,
wildlife, and climate that are an inherent part of
existence on Earth.
societal environment is mankind’s social system
that includes general forces that do not directly
touch on the short-run activities of the organization
that can, and often do, influence its long-run
decisions.
Task environment includes those elements or
groups that directly affect a corporation and, in
turn, are affected by it.
Industry analysis (popularized by Michael Porter)
refers to an in-depth examination of key factors
within a corporation’s task environment.
Technological break throughs that are already
having a significant impact on many industries:
Portable information devices and electronic
networking: Combining the computing power of the
personal computer, the networking of the Internet,
the images of the television, and the convenience of
the telephone ,these appliances will soon be used
by a majority of the population of industrialized
nations to make phone calls, send e-mail, and
transmit documents and other data.
Alternative energy sources: The use of wind,
geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, biomass, and other
alternative energy sources should increase
considerably.
Precision farming: The computerized management
of crops to suit variations in land characteristics will
make farming more efficient and sustainable.
Virtual personal assistants: Very smart computer
programs that monitor e-mail, faxes, and phone
calls will be able to take over routine tasks, such as
writing a letter, retrieving a file, making a phone
call, or screening requests.
Genetically altered organisms: A convergence of
of life sciences. Plant seeds can be genetically
modified to produce more needed vitamins or to be
less attractive to pests and more able to survive.
Smart, mobile robots: Robot development has been
limited by a lack of sensory devices and
sophisticated artificial intelligence systems.
Industry Analysis: Analyzing the Task Environment
industry is a group of firms that produces a similar
product or service, such as soft drinks or financial
services.
THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS
New entrants to an industry typically bring to it new
capacity, a desire to gain market share, and
substantial resources. They are, therefore, threats
to an established corporation.
entry barrier is an obstruction that makes it difficult
for a company to enter an industry.
substitute product is a product that appears to be
different but can satisfy the same need as another
product.
INDUSTRY EVOLUTION
fragmented industry—where no firm has large
market share, and each firm serves only a small
piece of the total market in competition with others
(for example, cleaning services).
By the time an industry enters maturity, products
tend to become more like commodities. This is now
a consolidated industry—dominated by a few large
firms, each of which struggles to differentiate its
products from those of the competition.
Global industries, in contrast, operate worldwide
STRATEGIC GROUPS
strategic group is a set of business units or firms
that “pursue similar strategies with similar
resources.
STRATEGIC TYPES
strategic type is a category of firms based on a
common strategic orientation and a combination of
structure, culture, and processes consistent with
that strategy.

USING KEY SUCCESS FACTORS TO CREATE AN
INDUSTRY MATRIX
Key success factors are variables that can
significantly affect the overall competitive positions
of companies within any particular industry.
industry matrix summarizes the key success factors
within a particular industry.
COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
Competitive intelligence is a formal program of
gathering information on a company’s competitors.
Often called business intelligence, it is one of the
fastest growing fields within strategic management.
MONITORING COMPETITORS FOR STRATEGIC
PLANNING
competitors—organizations that offer same, similar,
or substitutable products or services in the business
area in which a particular company operates.
FORECASTING
Environmental scanning provides reasonably hard
data on the present situation and current trends,
but intuition and luck are needed to accurately
predict whether these trends will continue
USEFUL FORECASTING TECHNIQUES
Extrapolation is the extension of present trends into
the future. It rests on the assumption that the world
is reasonably consistent and changes slowly in the
short run.
Brainstorming is a non-quantitative approach that
requires simply the presence of people with some
knowledge of the situation to be predicted.
Expert opinion is a nonquantitative technique in
which experts in a particular area attempt to
forecast likely developments. This type of forecast is
based on the ability of a knowledgeable person(s) to
construct probable future developments based on
the interaction of key variables.
Delphi technique, in which separated experts
independently assess the likelihoods of specified
events. These assessments are combined and sent
back to each expert for finetuning until agreement
is reached.
Statistical modeling is a quantitative technique that
attempts to discover causal or at least explanatory
factors that link two or more time series together.
Prediction markets is a recent forecasting technique
enabled by easy access to the Internet.
Scenario writing is the most widely used forecasting
technique after trend extrapolation.
industry scenario is a forecasted description of a
particular industry’s likely future.
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internal strategic factors—critical strengths and
weaknesses that are likely to determine whether a
firm will be able to take advantage of opportunities
while avoiding threats.
internal scanning, often referred to as
organizational analysis, is concerned with
identifying and developing an organization’s
resources and competencies.
CORE AND DISTINCTIVE COMPETENCIES
Resources are an organization’s assets and are thus
the basic building blocks of the organization.
Capabilities refer to a corporation’s ability to exploit
its resources. They consist of business processes
and routines that manage the interaction among
resources to turn inputs into outputs.
competency is a cross-functional integration and
coordination of capabilities.
core competency is a collection of competencies
that crosses divisional boundaries, is widespread
within the corporation, and is something that the
corporation can do exceedingly well.
In general, the more core competencies are
used, the more refined they get, and the more
valuable they become. When core competencies
are superior to those of the competition, they are
called distinctive competencies.
Barney, in his VRIO framework of analysis,
proposes four questions to evaluate a firm’s
competencies:
1. Value: Does it provide customer value and
competitive advantage?
2. Rareness: Do no other competitors possess it?
3. Imitability: Is it costly for others to imitate?
4. Organization: Is the firm organized to exploit the
resource?
DETERMINING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF AN
ADVANTAGE
Durability is the rate at which a firm’s underlying
resources, capabilities, or core competencies
depreciate or become obsolete.
Imitability is the rate at which a firm’s underlying
resources, capabilities, or core competencies can be
duplicated by others.
A core competency can be easily imitated to the
extent that it is
Transparency is the speed with which other firms
can understand the relationship of resources and
capabilities supporting a successful firm’s strategy.
Transferability is the ability of competitors to gather
the resources and capabilities necessary to support
a competitive challenge.
Replicability is the ability of competitors to use
duplicated resources and capabilities to imitate the
other firm’s success.
explicit knowledge, that is, knowledge that can be
easily articulated and communicated. This is the
type of knowledge that competitive intelligence
activities can quickly identify and communicate.
Tacit knowledge, in contrast, is knowledge that is
not easily communicated because it is deeply
rooted in employee experience or in a corporation’s
culture.
BUSINESS MODELS
business model is a company’s method for making
money in the current business environment. It
includes the key structural and operational
characteristics of a firm—how it earns revenue and
makes a profit.
Customer solutions model: IBM uses this
model to make money not by selling IBM products,
but by selling its expertise to improve its
customers’operations. This is a consulting model.
Profit pyramid model: General Motors offers a full
line of automobiles in order to close out any niches
where a competitor might find a position. The key is
to get customers to buy in at the low-priced, low-
margin entry point (Saturn’s basic sedans) and move
them up to high-priced, high-margin products (SUVs
and pickup trucks) where the company makes its
money.
Multi-component system/installed base model:
Gillette invented this classic model to sell razors at
break-even pricing in order to make money on
higher-margin razor blades. The product is thus a
system, not just one product, with one component
providing most of the profits.
Advertising model: Similar to the multi-component
system/installed base model, this model offers its
basic product free in order to make money on
advertising. Originating in the newspaper industry,
this model is used heavily in commercial radio and
television.
Switchboard model: In this model a firm acts as an
intermediary to connect multiple sellers to multiple
buyers. This model has been successfully used by
eBay and Amazon.com.
Time model: Product R&D and speed are the keys
to success in the time model. Being the first to
market with a new innovation allows a pioneer like
Sony to earn high margins.
Efficiency model: In this model a company waits
until a product becomes standardized and then
enters the market with a low-priced, low-margin
product that appeals to the mass market. This
model is used by Wal-Mart, Dell, and Southwest
Airlines.
Blockbuster model: In some industries, such as
pharmaceuticals and motion picture studios,
profitability is driven by a few key products. The
focus is on high investment in a few products with
high potential payoffs—especially if they can be
protected by patents.
Profit multiplier model: The idea of this model is to
develop a concept that may or may not make
money on its own but, through synergy, can spin off
many profitable products.
Entrepreneurial model: In this model, a company
offers specialized products/services to market
niches that are too small to be worthwhile to large
competitors but have the potential to grow quickly.
This model has often been used by small high-tech
firms that develop innovative prototypes in order to
sell off the companies (without ever selling a
product) to Microsoft or DuPont.
De Facto industry standard model: In this model, a
company offers products free or at a very low price
in order to saturate the market and become the
industry standard.
VALUE-CHAIN ANALYSIS
value chain is a linked set of value-creating activities
that begin with basic raw materials coming from
suppliers, moving on to a series of value-added
activities involved in producing and marketing a
product or service, and ending with distributors
getting the final goods into the hands of the
ultimate consumer.
The value chains of most industries can be split
into two segments, upstream and downstream
segments.
upstream refers to oil exploration, drilling, and
moving of the crude oil to the refinery,
downstream refers to refining the oil plus
transporting and marketing gasoline and refined oil
to distributors and gas station retailers.
A company’s center of gravity is the part of the
chain that is most important to the company and
the point where its greatest expertise and
capabilities lie—its core competencies.
After a firm successfully establishes itself at this
point by obtaining a competitive advantage, one of
its first strategic moves is to move forward or
backward along the value chain in order to reduce
costs, guarantee access to key raw materials, or to
guarantee distribution. This process, called vertical
integration,
THREE BASIC ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES.
Simple structure has no functional or product
categories and is appropriate for a small,
entrepreneur-dominated company with one or two
product lines that operates in a reasonably small,
easily identifiable market niche.
Functional structure is appropriate for a medium-
sized firm with several product lines in one industry.
Employees tend to be specialists in the business
functions that are important to that industry, such
as manufacturing, marketing, finance, and human
resources. In terms of stages of development.
Divisional structure is appropriate for a large
corporation with many product lines in several
related industries. Employees tend to be functional
specialists organized according to product/market
distinctions.
Strategic business units (SBUs) are a modification of
the divisional structure. Strategic business units are
divisions or groups of divisions composed of
independent product market segments that are
given primary responsibility and authority for the
management of their own functional areas.
Conglomerate structure is appropriate for a large
corporation with many product lines in several
unrelated industries. A variant of the divisional
structure, the conglomerate structure (sometimes
called a holding company)
CORPORATE CULTURE: THE COMPANY WAY
Corporate culture is the collection of beliefs,
expectations, and values learned and shared by a
corporation’s members and transmitted from one
generation of employees to another.
Corporate culture has two distinct attributes,
intensity and integration
Cultural intensity is the degree to which members of
a unit accept the norms, values, or other culture
content associated with the unit. This shows the
culture’s depth.
Cultural integration is the extent to which units
throughout an organization share a common
culture. This is the culture’s breadth.
STRATEGIC MARKETING ISSUES
Market position deals with the question, “Who are
our customers?” It refers to the selection of specific
areas for marketing concentration and can be
expressed in terms of market, product, and
geographic locations.
market segmentation with various products or
services so that managers can discover what niches
to seek, which new types of products to develop,
and how to ensure that a company’s many products
do not directly compete with one another.
Marketing mix refers to the particular combination
of key variables under a corporation’s control that
can be used to affect demand and to gain
competitive advantage.
One of the most useful concepts in marketing,
insofar as strategic management is concerned, is the
product life cycle
BRAND AND CORPORATE REPUTATION
A brand is a name given to a company’s product
which identifies that item in the mind of the
consumer.
Corporate brand is a type of brand in which the
company’s name serves as the brand.
corporate reputation is a widely held perception of
a company by the general public. It consists of two
attributes: (1) stakeholders’ perceptions of a
corporation’s ability to produce quality goods and
(2) a corporation’s prominence in the minds of
stakeholders.
STRATEGIC FINANCIAL ISSUES
Capital budgeting is the analyzing and ranking of
possible investments in fixed assets such as land,
buildings, and equipment in terms of the additional
outlays and additional receipts that will result from
each investment.
STRATEGIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D)
ISSUES
R&D intensity (its spending on R&D as a percentage
of sales revenue) is a principal means of gaining
market share in global competition.
Basic R&D is conducted by scientists in well-
equipped laboratories where the focus is on
theoretical problem areas. The best indicators of a
company’s capability in this area are its patents and
research publications.
Product R&D concentrates on marketing and is
concerned with product or product-packaging
improvements.
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS ISSUES
In intermittent systems (job shops), the item is
normally processed sequentially, but the work and
sequence of the process vary.
continuous systems are those laid out as lines on
which products can be continuously assembled or
processed.
Management commonly uses the experience curve
in estimating the production costs of (1) a product
never before made with the present techniques and
processes or (2) current products produced by
newly introduced techniques or processes.
STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE (HRM) ISSUES
The primary task of the manager of human
resources is to improve the match between
individuals and jobs. Research indicates that
companies with good HRM practices have higher
profits and a better survival rate than do firms
without these practices.
INCREASING USE OF TEAMS
autonomous (self-managing) work teams in which a
group of people work together without a supervisor
to plan, coordinate, and evaluate their own work.
cross-functional work teams. As a way to move a
product more quickly through its development
stage
Virtual teams are groups of geographically and/or
organizationally dispersed coworkers that are
assembled using a combination of
telecommunications and information technologies
to accomplish an organizational task.
****
Human diversity refers to the mix in the workplace
of people from different races, cultures, and
backgrounds.
Supply chain management is the forming of
networks for sourcing raw materials, manufacturing
products or creating services, storing and
distributing the goods, and delivering them to
customers and consumers.
The company also needs to know where its
products are being used in order to take them back
—known as the art of reverse logistics.
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Friedman’s Traditional View of Business
Responsibility
Friedman thus referred to the social responsibility
of business as a “fundamentally subversive
doctrine” and stated that:
There is one and only one social responsibility of
business—to use its resources and engage in
activities designed to increase its profits so long as it
stays within the rules of the game, which is to say,
engages in open and free competition without
deception or fraud.
Carroll’s Four Responsibilities of Business
1. Economic responsibilities of a business
organization’s management are to produce goods
and services of value to society so that the firm may
repay its creditors and shareholders.
2. Legal responsibilities are defined by governments
in laws that management is expected to obey.
3. Ethical responsibilities of an organization’s
management are to follow the generally held beliefs
about behavior in a society.
4. Discretionary responsibilities are the purely
voluntary obligations a corporation assumes.
Carroll lists these four responsibilities in order of
priority. A business firm must first make a profit to
satisfy its economic responsibilities.
CORPORATE STAKEHOLDERS
The concept that business must be socially
responsible sounds appealing until we ask,
“Responsible to whom?”A corporation’s task
environment includes a large number of groups
with interest in a business organization’s activities.
These groups are referred to as stakeholders
because they affect or are affected by the
achievement of the firm’s objectives.
Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder analysis is the identification and
evaluation of corporate stakeholders.
This can be done in a three-step process.
The first step in stakeholder analysis is to identify
primary stakeholders, those who have a direct
connection with the corporation and who have
sufficient bargaining power to directly affect
corporate activities. Primary stakeholders are
directly affected by the corporation and usually
include customers, employees, suppliers,
shareholders, and creditors.
The second step in stakeholder analysis is to identify
the secondary stakeholders—those who have only
an indirect stake in the corporation but who are also
affected by corporate activities. These usually
include nongovernmental organizations (NGOs, such
as Greenpeace), activists, local communities, trade
associations, competitors, and governments.
The third step in stakeholder analysis is to estimate
the effect on each stakeholder group from any
particular strategic decision.
***
Some people joke that there is no such thing as
“business ethics.” They call it an oxymoron— a
concept that combines opposite or contradictory
ideas.
MORAL RELATIVISM
moral relativism claims that morality is relative to
some personal, social, or cultural standard and that
there is no method for deciding whether one
decision is better than another.
Four Types Of Moral Relativism
Naïve relativism: Based on the belief that all moral
decisions are deeply personal and that individuals
have the right to run their own lives, adherents of
moral relativism argue that each person should be
allowed to interpret situations and act on his or her
own moral values.
Role relativism: Based on the belief that social roles
carry with them certain obligations to that role,
adherents of role relativism argue that a manager in
charge of a work unit must put aside his or her
personal beliefs and do instead what the role
requires, that is, act in the best interests of the unit.
Social group relativism: Based on a belief that
morality is simply a matter of following the norms of
an individual’s peer group, social group relativism
argues that a decision is considered legitimate if it is
common practice, regardless of other
considerations (“everyone’s doing it”).
Cultural relativism: Based on the belief that morality
is relative to a particular culture, society, or
community, adherents of cultural relativism argue
that people should understand the practices of
other societies, but not judge them.
Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Development
three levels of moral development
1. The preconventional level: This level is
characterized by a concern for self. Small children
and others who have not progressed beyond this
stage evaluate behaviors on the basis of personal
interest—avoiding punishment or quid pro quo.
2. The conventional level: This level is characterized
by considerations of society’s laws and norms.
Actions are justified by an external code of conduct.
3. The principled level: This level is characterized by
a person’s adherence to an internal moral code. An
individual at this level looks beyond norms or laws
to find universal values or principles.
CODES OF ETHICS
A code of ethics specifies how an organization
expects its employees to behave while on the job.
Developing codes of ethics can be a useful way to
promote ethical behavior, especially for people who
are operating at Kohlberg’s conventional level of
moral development.
GUIDELINES FOR ETHICAL BEHAVIOR
Ethics is defined as the consensually accepted
standards of behavior for an occupation,a trade, or
a profession.
(ability to affect the company), legitimacy (legal or
moral claim on company resources), and urgency
(demand for immediate attention) are given priority
by CEOs.
2. Individual rights approach: The individual rights
approach proposes that human beings have certain
fundamental rights that should be respected in all
decisions. A particular decision or behavior should
be avoided if it interferes with the rights of others.
A problem with this approach is in defining
“fundamental rights.” The U.S. Constitution includes
a Bill of Rights that may or may not be accepted
throughout the world. The approach can also
encourage selfish behavior when a person defines a
personal need or want as a “right.”
3. Justice approach: The justice approach proposes
that decision makers be equitable, fair, and
impartial in the distribution of costs and benefits to
individuals and groups. It follows the principles of
distributive justice (people who are similar on
relevant dimensions such as job seniority should be
treated in the same way) and fairness (liberty
should be equal for all persons). The justice
approach can also include the concepts of
retributive justice (punishment should be
proportional to the offense) and compensatory
justice (wrongs should be compensated in
proportion to the offense).

Morality, in contrast, is the precepts of personal

behavior based on religious or philosophical
grounds.

Law refers to formal codes that permit or forbid

certain behaviors and may or may not enforce
ethics or morality.

code of ethics is to consider the three basic

approaches to ethical behavior

1. Utilitarian approach: The utilitarian approach

proposes that actions and plans should be judged by
their consequences. People should therefore
behave in a way that will produce the greatest
benefit to society and produce the least harm or the
lowest cost. A problem with this approach is the
difficulty in recognizing all the benefits and the costs
of any particular decision. Research reveals that
only the stakeholders who have the most power