Journal Entry (Week 2) - Strategy Management

1.In your own words and using referenced quotes describe what “strategic management” is

2.How is business strategy similar to military strategy? How is it different?

3.What do you understand by the terms “strategic analysis”, “strategic development” and “strategic implementation”

4.Write about your experience with today’s case study. What answers did you give? Was it easy

To my understanding strategic management incorporates analysis of current situation, formulation of new strategies, its implementation, evaluation and control. Fig. 1 clearly identifies the elements that makeup strategic management.

Fig 1: Elements of Strategic Management [Johnson, G et al. ( 2008)]

Some of the interesting discoveries I found out related to Military Strategy and Business Strategy are:

Similarities

•The word strategy is derived from Strategos in which Stratos= Army and ago=lead

•Many of the terms introduced in business strategy were first developed in military strategy

•The terms "Mission", "objectives" used in business were formulated for battle field

•The key aim of both business and military strategy is to gain competitive advantage

• Both believe in capitalizing on their own strength and attacking the weakness of competitors

•Procedure for strategic planning is similar i.e. information gathering, evaluation, developing plan, reevaluation.

•Strategy makers for both business and military organization need leadership skills, intuition and experience to back up.

•Strategies for both need to be flexible with contingency plan ready

Differences

•Business strategies are developed on assumptions of competition while military strategies are developed on assumption of CONFLICTS

•The implementation of the developed strategies are different.

•The effects of failure vary in both cases i.e. company might undergo loss in case of business strategy failure. But, people may lose lives and nation may collasp if military strategies fail.

Strategic analysis:

Strategic analysis is concerned with identification of impact that environment, resources and expectations of stakeholder has on strategy.
As shown in fig.1, strategic analysis includes:

The environment:
An organization exists in the environment that consists of PESTEL forces, Porters 5 forces model. Potential change in any environmental variables may lead to either opportunity or threat for the organization. Example, unstable political scenario may pose a threat to organizational functionality.

Value, expectation, objective:
An organization has a prior responsibility towards its shareholders. With the degree in difference in their expectations, the future strategic choice can be impacted. Moreover, the notion of corporate governance has also impacted the way business strategies are made today.

Resources:
Resources and competence meaning strength and weakness of organization helps to develop a framework on how the organization should develop strategies in order for it to gain competitive advantage over its competitor.

Strategic development:

It is concerned with the understanding the base for business level and corporate strategies and developing strategies in terms of direction in which the strategy might head and method of development.
While developing strategies it is essential to understand our core competencies and identify bases for competitive advantages (strategy clock). For example: Apple as a brand name and its sleek sexy design provides it with advantage over others.
\Both business level and corporate level strategies need to be thoroughly planned. decisions regarding portfolio are the key issues.
The direction of strategy developed on basis of product market matrix and method of strategy development like merger, acquisition, strategic alliance etc also includes in strategy development.

Strategic implementation:
It is concerned with ensuring that the developed strategy is working is practice. It includes

Organization structure:This includes the use of organizational structure example, functional, project or matrix structure, the processes required for implementation

Resource planning:
Resources include man, money and machine. Effective utilization of these resources will yield productive result.

Change management:
Uncertainty is a part of life. With every obstacle, mitigation plan needs to be developed. Organization should always be open to change and therefore it should manage it effectively by embracing it as a way towards organizational learning.

Case Study:
Personally, I didn't much prefer the case study. I felt difficulty at times to link with the case because it felt kind of vague to me. I was unsure of my answers at some point because of mixed opinion. I couldn't get a concrete answer out of me.

My answers were:
After government relocated citizens from demolished slums to Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Swindon, they became location for expansion. Continuous T.V advertisements in the 1980’s attracted families. Even after that, the pro-growth corporate mindset forced the town councils to make growth plans for housing and population expansion. Some of the reasons why these places are seeing rapid growth are:

- Policy developed by councils to get more houses built out of the ground
- Affordable housing ( less than a third of similar housing in London)
- They have motorways connected to London and train links too
- Availability of infrastructure like malls, flee market, Mc Donald’s.
- Enormous immigrants each year 

The growth strategy of these places seems mad because the council plans of extreme growth over a short period of time. They plan to build 14,200 to 17,500 houses in the respective areas over the next decade. They envision universities built over the decade turning these places into cities. They want more immigrants, more population, and more vibrancy in their places.

I believe just stacking population is not a very good option though their plan for university is good. These places having difficulty in attracting highly skilled population and students leaving the place after graduating etc do not point towards a great future. The councils should now pause, look at its achievements, evaluate the performance, make any necessary corrections and then proceed forward.

I would live in these towns considering it is affordable and rather economic. There are motorways and train links to London provided I get a job there. However, other than that the places do not sound too appealing to me. If I were to settle down and have a family, I’d choose a rather peaceful and relaxed environment with not much crowd and concrete surrounding me.

Reference:

Chaffee, E (1985). Three models of strategy. Academy of Management Review. vol 10, 1.

Johnson, G et al. ( 2008). Exploring Corporate Strategy, 8th ed. Essex: T Prentice Hall, 15-19

Mintzberg, Henry and Quinn, J.B (1988). The Strategy Process.Harlow: Prentice-Hall