Define Strategic Management. Discuss the 3 steps to strategic Management? 1) What do you understanding strategic planning.

Discuss the 6 steps in Strategic Planning? 2) What do you understand by vision & Mission. Discuss in Detail? 3) What do you understand by Environment Scanning/ Dignosis discuss the swot analysis? 4) What do you understand by MACRO ENVIRONMENT? Discuss the pest analysis? 5) Discuss porters 5 forces Analysis? 6) Discuss Competitor Analysis? 7) What are the arguments in favour of free trade and in favour of protectionism? 8) What do you understand by Strategic Management? What is the purpose of Strategies? 9) What do you understand by Grand Strategies? Discuss the types of Grand Strategies? 10) What do you understand by Strategy Implementation? Discuss the steps involved in Strategy Implementation? 11) What do you understand by Strategy Evaluation? Discuss its importance. The Difficulties in Strategy Evaluation. Discuss the 5 steps of Strategy Evaluation & Control Process?

The systematic analysis of the factors associated with customers and competitors (the external environment) and the organization itself (the internal environment) to provide the basis for maintaining optimum management practices. The objective of strategic managementis to achieve better alignment of corporate policies and strategic priorities.

Question 1 Ans:Strategic management can be defined as the art and science of formulating, implementing, and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization toachieve its objectives. 1. The term strategic management is used synonymously with strategic planning. 2. The purpose of strategic management is to exploit and create new and different opportunities for tomorrow while long-range planning tries to optimize for tomorrow the trends of today. The strategic-management process consists of three stages. Strategy Formulation Strategy formulation is the first stage of strategic management, this stage includes developing vision and mission statement, identifying external opportunities and threats, evaluating company internal strengths and weaknesses, developing alternative strategies, selection strategies which benefits the business. Strategy formulation issues include deciding what new business to enter, what business to abandon, how to allocate resources, whether to expand operation or diversify, whether to enter international market. whether to merge or form a joint venture. No organization have unlimited resources, strategists must go with the strategies which are most feasible and beneficial for the business.Strategy formulation commit an organization to specific products,services, markets, resources and technologies over an extended period of time. Strategies are developed for long term competitive advantage over its competitors. Strategy Implementation Strategy implementation is the second stage of strategic management. Strategy implementation can be only proceed after completion of strategy formulation stage, when strategists are done with strategies selection. This stage includes number of activities such as defining policies, building organizational structure, allocating resource to implementing strategy, assigning tasks to each functional area employees and tracking the progress of strategy implementation.

This stage is often referred as action stage because each individuals is looking to get the thing implemented according to the strategy. To execute the strategy in a right way each individual must ask himself or herself the following questions. What are the objectives? What must we do to implement out part of the organizations strategy? How best can we get the job done? The challenge for the managers to create gel effect among the employees and guide them throughout the strategy implementation. Strategy Evaluation Strategy evaluation is the last stage of strategic management, the purpose of this stage to monitor the implemented strategies and find out whether they are working or not to achieve organization objectives.Strategy evaluation consist of three fundamental activities reviewing external and internal factors that are bases for current strategies, measuring performance and taking corrective action. Each implemented strategy is evaluated to determine the outcomes, if the outcomes are meeting the expectation it means strategy is successfully otherwise corrective action is required.

Question 3 VISION Leaders must have a solid vision in order to be effective. A leader must know what makes his/her followers tick and then use that knowledge to create a vision that will inspire. Furthermore, a leader has an obligation to not only formulate a specific vision but also to make sure that the followers have a clear understanding of that vision. Their vision should transform their followers. Visions empower followers. If followers feel that there is true potential in the vision, they will be eager to become part of it. If the vision seems unrealistic, followers are bound to feel alienated and lose all motivation to contribute to the vision. As a leader, you yourself have to walk the talk. If you set forth a vision, then you have to be its chief supporter. You have to be the one who lives the vision from the word go. In this way, the followers see that you have faith in the vision and that you are willing to work towards it. Most likely, your attitude will rub off on your followers. Kouzes and Posner claim that a vision is an ideal and unique image of the future. Moreover, a vision is the image of the possibilities of the future. Within organizations, the vision jump-starts everyones energy. However, these groups need to have a shared vision by which they are bound together by a common aspiration. Organizations simply cannot function with multiple visions. A shared vision is created through the compilation of many separate personal visions from the different views of the followers. Guidelines for Constructing a Vision 1. Make it EXCITING! 2. Challenge yourself and others to reach new heights. 3. Put a deeply held value or feeling into words. 4. Portray a realistic future. MISSION Members of every organization in existence are bound together by a shared vision. They work as a group to carry out a mission. Organizations have goals that focus on improving themselves as well as the lives of others. Therefore, they create a philosophical statement of the human and societal needs and problems the organization exists to serve. This is referred to as a mission statement. SAMPLE MISSION STATEMENT: The ASPIRA Association, Inc. To empower the Puerto Rican and Latino Community through advocacy

and the education and leadership development of its youth. Mission Statement Creation 1. To create your mission statement, first identify your organization's "winning idea". 2. This is the idea or approach that will make your organization stand out from its competitors, and is the reason that customers will come to you and not your competitors (see tip below). 3. Next identify the key measures of your success. Make sure you choose the most important measures (and not too many of them!) 4. Combine your winning idea and success measures into a tangible and measurable goal. 5. Refine the words until you have a concise and precise statement of your mission, which expresses your ideas, measures and desired result. Example: Take the example of a produce store whose winning idea is "farm freshness". The owner identifies two keys measures of her success: freshness and customer satisfaction. She creates her mission statement which is the action goal that combines the winning idea and measures of success. The mission statement of Farm Fresh Produce is: "To become the number one produce store in Main Street by selling the highest quality, freshest farm produce, from farm to customer in under 24 hours on 75% of our range and with 98% customer satisfaction."

Question 6 Strategy: Porter's Five Forces Model: analysing industry structure Defining an industry An industry is a group of firms that market products which are close substitutes for each other (e.g. the car industry, the travel industry). Some industries are more profitable than others. Why? The answer lies in understanding the dynamics of competitive structure in an industry. The most influential analytical model for assessing the nature of competition in an industry is Michael Porter's Five Forces Model, which is described below:

Porter explains that there are five forces that determine industry attractiveness and long-run industry profitability. These five "competitive forces" are - The threat of entry of new competitors (new entrants) - The threat of substitutes - The bargaining power of buyers - The bargaining power of suppliers - The degree of rivalry between existing competitors

Threat of New Entrants New entrants to an industry can raise the level of competition, thereby reducing its attractiveness. The threat of new entrants largely depends on the barriers to entry. High entry barriers exist in some industries (e.g. shipbuilding) whereas other industries are very easy to enter (e.g. estate agency, restaurants). Key barriers to entry include - Economies of scale - Capital / investment requirements - Customer switching costs - Access to industry distribution channels - The likelihood of retaliation from existing industry players. Threat of Substitutes The presence of substitute products can lower industry attractiveness and profitability because they limit price levels. The threat of substitute products depends on: - Buyers' willingness to substitute - The relative price and performance of substitutes - The costs of switching to substitutes Bargaining Power of Suppliers Suppliers are the businesses that supply materials & other products into the industry. The cost of items bought from suppliers (e.g. raw materials, components) can have a significant impact on a company's profitability. If suppliers have high bargaining power over a company, then in theory the company's industry is less attractive. The bargaining power of suppliers will be high when: - There are many buyers and few dominant suppliers - There are undifferentiated, highly valued products - Suppliers threaten to integrate forward into the industry (e.g. brand manufacturers threatening to set up their own retail outlets) - Buyers do not threaten to integrate backwards into supply - The industry is not a key customer group to the suppliers

Bargaining Power of Buyers Buyers are the people / organisations who create demand in an industry The bargaining power of buyers is greater when - There are few dominant buyers and many sellers in the industry - Products are standardised - Buyers threaten to integrate backward into the industry - Suppliers do not threaten to integrate forward into the buyer's industry - The industry is not a key supplying group for buyers Intensity of Rivalry The intensity of rivalry between competitors in an industry will depend on: - The structure of competition - for example, rivalry is more intense where there are many small or equally sized competitors; rivalry is less when an industry has a clear market leader - The structure of industry costs - for example, industries with high fixed costs encourage competitors to fill unused capacity by price cutting - Degree of differentiation - industries where products are commodities (e.g. steel, coal) have greater rivalry; industries where competitors can differentiate their products have less rivalry - Switching costs - rivalry is reduced where buyers have high switching costs - i.e. there is a significant cost associated with the decision to buy a product from an alternative supplier - Strategic objectives - when competitors are pursuing aggressive growth strategies, rivalry is more intense. Where competitors are "milking" profits in a mature industry, the degree of rivalry is less - Exit barriers - when barriers to leaving an industry are high (e.g. the cost of closing down factories) - then competitors tend to exhibit greater rivalry.

Question 9 Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of rms in their external environments.[1] It entails specifying the organization's mission, vision and objectives, developing policies and plans, often in terms of projects and programs, which are designed to achieve these objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the policies and plans, projects and programs. A balanced scorecard is often used to evaluate the overall performance of the business and its progress towards objectives. Recent studies and leading management theorists have advocated that strategy needs to start with stakeholders expectations and use a modified balanced scorecard which includes all stakeholders. Strategic management is a level of managerial activity under setting goals and over Tactics. Strategic management provides overall direction to the enterprise and is closely related to the field of Organization Studies. In the field of business administration it is useful to talk about "strategic alignment" between the organization and its environment or "strategic consistency." According to Arieu (2007), "there is strategic consistency when the actions of an organization are consistent with the expectations of management, and these in turn are with the market and the context." Strategic management includes not only the management team but can also include the Board of Directors and other stakeholders of the organization. It depends on the organizational structure. ConCept Strategic management is an ongoing process that evaluates and controls the business and the industries in which the company is involved; assesses its competitors and sets goals and strategies to meet all existing and potential competitors; and then reassesses each strategy annually or quarterly [i.e. regularly] to determine how it has been implemented and whether it has succeeded or needs replacement by a new strategy to meet changed circumstances, new technology, new competitors, a new economic environment., or a new social, financial, or political environment. Strategic management can depend upon the size of an organization, and the proclivity to change of its business environment. These points are highlighted below:

A global/transnational organization may employ a more structured strategic management model, due to its size, scope of operations, and need to encompass stakeholder views and requirements. An SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) may employ an entrepreneurial approach. This is due to its comparatively smaller size and scope of operations, as well as possessing fewer resources. An SME's CEO (or general top management) may simply outline a mission, and pursue all activities under that mission. Whittington (2001) highlighted four approaches to strategic management, utilising different factors that organisations may face. These are the Classical, Processual, Evolutionary and Systemic approaches. Each paradigm is suited to specific environmental factors, of which global firms have faced over the past 4/5 decades. Mintzberg has stated there are prescriptive (what should be) and descriptive (what is) schools, in the sense that the prescriptive schools are "one size fits all" approaches designed to work as best practice methods, and the descriptive schools merely describe how corporate strategy is devised in given contexts.

It can be said that there is no overriding strategic managerial method, and that a number of differing variables must be taken into account, relative to how a corporate strategic plan is outlined. It can also be said to be a subjective and highly contextual process. The Purpose of the Strategy The purpose of the Strategy is as follows: What is the purpose of Strategy? 1. Identifying core competence: something the organization does especially well in comparison to its competitors. * Superior research and development. * Mastery of a technology. * Superior customer service. 2. Creating Synergy: when organizational parts interact to produce a joint effect that is greater than the sum of its parts acting alone. 3. Value Creation: use core competence and synergy to provide increased benefits received with lower costs paid.

Question 11 Strategy implementation is the translation of chosen strategy into organizational action so as to achieve strategic goals and objectives. Strategy implementation is also defined as the manner in which an organization should develop, utilize, and amalgamate organizational structure, control systems, and culture to follow strategies that lead to competitive advantage and a better performance. Organizational structure allocates special value developing tasks and roles to the employees and states how these tasks and roles can be correlated so as maximize efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction-the pillars of competitive advantage. But, organizational structure is not sufficient in itself to motivate the employees. An organizational control system is also required. This control system equips managers with motivational incentives for employees as well as feedback on employees and organizational performance. Organizational culture refers to the specialized collection of values, attitudes, norms and beliefs shared by organizational members and groups. Follwoing are the main steps in implementing a strategy: Developing an organization having potential of carrying out strategy successfully. Disbursement of abundant resources to strategy-essential activities. Creating strategy-encouraging policies. Employing best policies and programs for constant improvement. Linking reward structure to accomplishment of results. Making use of strategic leadership. Excellently formulated strategies will fail if they are not properly implemented. Also, it is essential to note that strategy implementation is not possible unless there is stability between strategy and each organizational dimension such as organizational structure, reward structure, resource-allocation process, etc. Strategy implementation poses a threat to many managers and employees in an organization. New power relationships are predicted and achieved. New groups (formal as well as informal) are formed whose values, attitudes, beliefs and concerns may not be known. With the change in power and status roles, the managers and employees may employ confrontation behaviour.

Avoiding the Implementation pitfalls Because you want your plan to succeed, heed the advice here and stay away from the pitfalls of implementing your strategic plan. Here are the most common reasons strategic plans fail:

Lack of ownership: The most common reason a plan fails is lack of ownership. If people dont have a stake and responsibility in the plan, itll be business as usual for all but a frustrated few. Lack of communication: The plan doesnt get communicated to employees, and they dont understand how they contribute. Getting mired in the day-to-day: Owners and managers, consumed by daily operating problems, lose sight of long-term goals. _ Out of the ordinary: The plan is treated as something separate and removed from the management process. An overwhelming plan: The goals and actions generated in the strategic planning session are too numerous because the team failed to make tough choices to eliminate non-critical actions. Employees dont know where to begin. A meaningless plan: The vision, mission, and value statements are viewed as fluff and not supported by actions or dont have employee buy-in. Annual strategy: Strategy is only discussed at yearly weekend retreats. _ Not considering implementation: Implementation isnt discussed in the strategic planning process. The planning document is seen as an end in itself. No progress report: Theres no method to track progress, and the plan only measures whats easy, not whats important. No one feels any forward momentum. No accountability: Accountability and high visibility help drive change. This means that each measure, objective, data source, and initiative must have an owner. Lack of empowerment: Although accountability may provide strong motivation for improving performance, employees must also have the authority, responsibility, and tools necessary to impact relevant measures. Otherwise, they may resist involvement and ownership. Its easier to avoid pitfalls when theyre clearly identified. Now that you know what they are, youre more likely to jump right over them!

nstitutionalization of strategy. Institutionalization of strategy is the first activityinvolved in activating the strategy.Institutionalization of strategy involves twoaspects: -i) Communication of strategy: Once thestrategy is formulated it must be communicatedto those persons who would implement it.Strategy communication is a process of transferring the strategy information from theformulators to the implementers.Ii) Securing Acceptance of Strategy: It is notenough to communicate the strategy to themembers of the organizations, but it is equallyimportant to secure their acceptance of thestrategy, so that they implement effectively.