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Discussion Questions Week 2

Lynn University
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Discussion Questions Week 2

Explain the difference between a firm’s corporate strategy and business strategy.

Why do firms need to look at both aspects?

While a firm’s corporate strategy is more focused on domain selection, or the markets in

which they will compete, the business’ strategy is more focused on how the company will

compete against rival firms in order to create value for customers. They are both very

important to a firm because while the corporate strategy will target where exactly the

company will perform (it’s fields of operation), the business strategy will be more

customer oriented, trying to provide customers with their products or services as much

benefits possible by the lowest cost, therefore creating value for customers and come

forward from the competition. (Bohlander & Snell, 2010).

What steps does the firm need to take to reconcile labor supply and labor demand?

When an organization have a human resource demand, they need to take in consideration

the required qualifications or advanced trained candidates that need to be found in order

to fill a firm’s vacancies so than work on a variety of options like hiring full-time

employees, having current employees work overtime, recalling laid-off workers, using

temporary or contract employees, and outsourcing or off shoring some of their business

process. While when an organization shows a surplus of employees, they often restrict

their hiring, reduce their employees’ work hours, consider layoffs, demotions and

terminations or even gradual reduction of employees through resignations, retirements

and deaths. (Bohlander & Snell, 2010).

What competitive environmental forces influence a firm’s strategy?

Many factors, in general environment can affect a company’s strategy, factors a company

cannot directly control. They are:

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Customers, Rival Firms, New Entrants, Substitutes, Suppliers and External Supply of

Labor.

Customers forces: The company needs to focus on creating customer value.

Rival Firms: Companies must know exactly who their competitors are or can possibly be.

New Entrants: Some companies, often try to establish new barriers to keep new firms out

of the industry, however when some companies do enter an industry it is often because

they offer a different and perhaps better, way to provide value to customers.

Substitutes: Sometimes the biggest threats of some companies are not their competitors,

but the substitution of products or services they provide. Therefore they must be prepared

to adjust their employees skill bases in order to support different technologies, or they

need to thinks about how they how they will compete in different ways.

Suppliers: as companies do not create everything on their own, the rely on suppliers that

provide them with key inputs, and these suppliers often have direct implications in both

strategic planning and HRP.

External Supply of Labor: Changes in the labor supply affects directly and can also limit

the strategies available to firms. (Bohlander & Snell, 2010).

Which approach do you think should be relied on more heavily for strategy

formulation – the quantitative or qualitative approach?

They are both very important for a company’s strategy. While the quantitative approach

involve the use of statistical or mathematical techniques to predict trends, needs, sales

and other many susceptible points a company may have, the Qualitative approach

provide more inexact approximations or less statistical results, it relies on the expertise
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of it’s employees to study the firm’s needs and operations and based on that come up

with the organization forecast and needs. (Bohlander & Snell, 2010).

References: