STRATEGIC AGILITY

Levendary Cafe
Today’s class
• Little bit about Feb 18th class
• Case analysis questions
• BREAK
• Strategic agility and multiunit enterprises
Levendary Cafe
• What is the central problem?
• Analysis of issues ?
• Central recommendation/strategic alternatives?
• An implementation plan (a specific action program for
Foster to deal with continued growth in China)
Strategic Agility for MNEs
• Maneuvering between established and
emerging markets needs strategic agility
• Sensing local opportunities
• Enacting global complementarities
• Appropriating local value
Sensing local opportunities
• Discovering opportunities through local
presence and strong ties to local partners
• Applying tailor made metrics for evaluating
and rewarding initiatives
• Championing (interaction between HQ-
subsidiary)
Enacting global complementarities
• Mobilizing and sharing complementary
resources globally
• Coordinating cross emerging market tasks
• Leveraging resources and best practices
across emerging and established markets
Appropriating local value
• Adapting go to market concepts locally
• Building legitimacy in local power networks
• Creating dynamic barriers to imitation
Strategic agility and organizational
Tensions
• ‘Tensions of Belonging’ : Differences between mindsets
between HQ and subsidiaries
• Maintaining distinctiveness versus centralizing
• Mistrust between HQ and subsidiaries
• Performing tensions: performance objectives of
subsidiaries and MNCs could be at odds over time frame
• Organizing tensions: tensions between local
empowerment and centralised directions
• Between collaboration and competition
Getting around organizational tensions
• Developing modular systems
• Having specific standardized interfaces
• Malleable subsystems
• Having integrative thinkers in the TMT
• Having high performance HRM practices
• Facilitate flow of expat and local managers
• Facilitate cross functionality and communication flow
What is a multiunit enterprise ?
• A geographically dispersed organization built from
standard units.
• Norm in several industries, such as apparel,
banking services, consumer electronics, food
and drug stores, general merchandise, hospitality,
hardware, mail and package delivery,
and toys and sporting goods.
• What are the advantages of multi
unit enterprise?

• What are its disadvantages?

• What kind of challenges does
the multi unit structure offer?
Challenges of Structure
• Hard to maintain consistency
• Implementation needs most attention
• Aligning priorities, plans and practices
• Some leverage for customization even though they are
standardized
• Attention to consumer demography/taste/prefence
• Employee availability, skill and wages
• Sharp division between corporate HQ and field
organization
• Corporate makes decisions about initiatives
• Field makes decisions about implementation
• Struggle to get the best out of field managers
Challenges of the multiunit enterprise
• Growth
• How do these firms grow?
• Starbucks
• Marriott

What can the potential impact of the different models of growth

be?
• On implementation
• On roles and responsibilities

• Strategic Responsiveness?
• Speed
• Remedial response
• Anticipatory initiatives