Chapter 1 – The nature of strategy and planning

Question 1

What is the difference between planning and strategy?

Answer 1

Planning is thinking in advance, for the actions which are going to take place in the future.

Strategy is the best chosen plan for achieving the desired outcome.

Question 2

Clegg et al (2017) adds a human dimension to strategy - expand?

Answer 2

**Strategy = Knowledge + Capability **– where:

• Knowledge is required to enable a human being to be able to imagine a future state of affairs together with the ability to visualise how one might obtain that future state; and
• Capability is the power and ability to get things done, to be able to implement ideas, visions and plans

Question 3

How does Johnson et al define strategy? Think rational and emergent models.

Answer 3

Johnson et al (2017) defines strategy as ‘the long-term direction of an organisation’, which includes ‘deliberate, logical strategy and more incremental, emergent patterns of strategy’. They suggest, further, that long-term direction can include strategies that emphasise difference and competition, and strategies that recognise the roles of co-operation and even imitation.

Question 4

What is a vision?

Answer 4

the ability of the human brain to imagine something different from a current situation

Question 5

What is a mission?

Answer 5

the ethos, beliefs and values that enable the forming of a vision

Question 6

Mintzberg recognised that strategy is difficult to get right – to help develop a better strategy, he developed five different viewpoints (5 Ps) which can be used to develop a company’s strategy. What are the five Ps?

Answer 6

1. Plan - provide a direction or course of action to get from here to there - e.g. have McDonalds restaurants in convenient locations to attract customers
2. Ploy - deliberate and intended move to thwart the competition and maintain a competitive edge
3. Pattern - familiarity and the known e.g. making each decision with the customer in mind
4. Perspective - take a step bnack and look at the organisation from another perspective - think Egg McMuffin
5. Position - there is a right time and right place - think overseas McDonalds

Question 7

Spender is interested in considering strategy from the starting point of the question ‘what are we going to do now?

What are the four paradigms outlined by Spender? GJPF

Answer 7

1. Goals
2. Judgement
3. People
4. Flexibility

Question 8

Maccoby believes the concept of strategy needs to be aligned with the concept of intelligence. He suggests that we need to develop our intelligence to consider strategy from 4 dimensions - what are they? FVPM

Answer 8

1. Foresight: in anticipation of what can be perceived as likely to happen that can change our intentions
2. Visioning: a recognition of the need to continually improve products and services to fulfil the aspirations of customers
3. Partnering: a recognition to work with others to strengthen strategy
4. Motivating: the need to inspire others and to share our vision and therefore to help implement our strategy

Question 9

What is the ladder of inference developed by Argyris?

Answer 9

Argyris used his ‘ladder’ to consider how the brain enables us to take any action, from the simplest to the most complex.

The brain moves through a series of stages (steps on the ladder) based around the initial observation (through all of our senses). A key learning from the use of the ‘ladder of inference’ model is that the penultimate stage before we take action – known as the ‘belief stage’ combined with the result of the action itself, will then inform the earlier stage of ‘data filtration’, which allows us to retain what we perceive as relevant for our ongoing approach to life (our attitude) – ‘basis of prejudice or bias within the brain’

Question 10

What are the three levels of planning?

Answer 10

• * Operational plan – short-term plans – generally concerned with accomplishing tasks with available resources
• *** Intermediate plan **– mid-term plans - To ensure cohesion among the different parts of an organisation; and
• *** Strategic plan **– long term plans - To achieve the wider business objectives of an organisation, and its stakeholders

Question 11

Name four different strategies

Answer 11

• **Corporate strategy **deals with the overall purpose and scope of an organisation and how to add value to the different parts (business units) of an organisation, for example, the decision to expand into a new geographical location or market.
• Business unit strategy is about how to compete successfully in particular markets. The head of a business unit must decide where to be based, what products to sell and the markets to target etc.
• Functional strategies are operational strategies, about how parts of an organisation such as marketing, finance or IT support the overall strategy. The heads of IT, HR, finance, marketing etc need to develop a plan to support the overall strategy in terms of recruitment, appraisal and agreeing terms and conditions.
• **Individual/team strategies **cover the real day-to-day work and where many of the key decisions are taken.