Chapter 8

Question 1

8.1: Differentiate between ‘vision’ and ‘mission’ in the development of strategy

Answer 1

• Vision creates and identifies a picture of the perceived strategic outcome – what does it look like?
• Mission explains and defines the rationale and the values that sit behind the vision – why does it look like that?

Question 2

8.2: Suggest how Johnson differentiated between four different approaches to organisational mission in his alignment of strategic drivers and ethical stance.

Answer 2

• Secretive – keeping it to yourself
• Evangelical – spreading the word
• Regulation procedure – keeping others happy
• Politics – trying to satisfy all of the people all of the time

Question 3

8.3: Briefly outline each of the six ‘S’ words used by McKinsey in its model to surround the seventh ‘S’ – shared values.

Answer 3

• Strategy – where are we going?
• Structure – what does the organisation look like?
• Systems – how do the resources work together?
• Style – what gives us a competitive edge?
• Staff – have we got the right people?
• Skills – have we got the right skills?

Question 4

8.4: Differentiate between objective and goal in the following scenario:

Answer 4

When given his budget, Peter was tasked with saving £1.2 million of staffing costs in the next financial year, through
a radical reduction of overtime and a realignment of his team. This was part of the organisational drive for greater
efficiency and the retention of customers.

• The objective is at the organisational level – greater efficiency and customer retention. This might be achieved in a
  number of different ways.
• The goal is the focused saving of £1.2million – this will either be achieved or not.