Implementing strategy Flashcards
what do businesses need to consider to determine its strengths and weaknesses?
Internal factors such as skills and motivation of staff, quality of the products and the businesses financial situation
what do businesses need to consider to determine its opportunities and threats?
External factors such as competition, market conditions and legal restrictions
what is a contingency plan?
outlines what to do if something unexpected happens
why can mangers not plan for every unexpected event?
there are too many and it is expensive, instead managers decide how likely a particular adverse event is too happen and how badly it would damage the business
why is strategic planning helpful?
Gives the business clear direction so everyone works toward the same goal
-makes managers think about the strengths and weaknesses of the business and its external opportunities and threats. may identify new opportunities
what are the disadvantages of strategic planning?
- can restrict the businesses flexibility. employees might feel that they need to follow the plan even though there is a better way of doing things
- Strategic planning is usually more useful in stable markets rather than innovative markets where change is regular
what are the three factors that a business needs to get right in order to effectively implement strategy ?
Leadership, communication and organisational structure
what should a manager do to implement strategy effectively?
- Set clear and inspiring visions that come from the top and sets an example
- motivate everyone to engage with the process
- Authoritarian leadership may be better in times of change
what is gonna be a better leadership style when trying to implement change ?
democratic or paternalistic
why would an authoritarian leadership not be good in trying to implement new strategy?
may make employees more fearful of change and thus try and resist it
what is wrong with laissez-faire leadership in trying to implement change
the employees will not have confidence that the change will work out well so they will not be supportive
what is vital for good implementation of change?
good communication- think K+S, leads to rumours
how is a functional structure organised?
by department eg. HR, Operations and finance
what is the advantage and disadvantage of a functional structure?
advan=each function can work in its own area of expertise
Disadvan= each department may develop its own culture and focus on its own priorities
how is a product based structure organised
by product eg . each product a business sells has its own director, marketing and finance team
how are regional structures organised?
geographical location eg branches grouped into regional divisions
how can a regional structure be combined with B+G’s international strategy?
a high pressure for local responsiveness will mean that the business may want to decentralise into a regional structure
how is a matrix structure organised?
organise staff by two different criteria eg project and function
what some of the difficulties that a company needs to overcome to ensure the success of its strategy
- Lack of resources eg money
- Miscommunication
- accurate forecasting
- changing the structure eg delayering
what is a planned strategy?
a strategy that has been planned out before action is taken to implement it
what are the disadvantages to a planned strategy?
- could be too detailed and theoretical and wont work in practice
- the strategy can become too rigid which stops people becoming creative or innovating
- difficult to implement a planned strategy into changing environment
what is an emergent strategy?
develops over time as a businesses actions lead to pattern of behaviour. usually adapted from a planned strategy
what is the advantages of an emergent strat?
- stay relevant because they can adapt to the changing environment
- relies more on the decisions of the junior and middle managers which will have more up to date information about the business and its environment
what is strategic drift?
when strategy becomes less and less suited to the businesses environment, therefore when a business doesn’t adapt to keep up with changes in the external environment
how may a business try and prevent strategic drift from happening?
making small changes to deal with it in the short term but may have to implement a big change every so often
why should strategies be constantly checked and reviewed?
to make sure the business is sticking to its timescale and budget
if strategic drift is spotted it should be acted upon
how can a business use market analysis to monitor how the strategy is going
- use both primary and secondary market research to check how the strategy is proceeding
- they audit sales growth
what is a example of a management information system
enterprise resource planning- collects and processes routine data to give a picture of the current state of the business
