Strategy Formulation And Implementation

Question 0

What should strategy focus on?

Answer 0

• Exploiting a core competencies, which is a business activity that an organisation does particularly in comparison to competitors
• building synergy- the organisations parts interact to produce a joint effort that is greater than the sum of the parts acting alone.
• delivering value to customers, combination of benefits customers and costs paid.

Question 1

What is strategy?

Answer 1

It is the way that the goals and plans enable you to succeed

Question 2

What are the four steps of the strategic management process?

Answer 2

Step one: evaluate current position
Step two: SWOT analysis
Step three: levels of strategy
Step four: implementation

Question 3

Describe SWOT analysis….

Answer 3

SWOT analysis involves assessing the internal strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats of the external environment

Question 4

What are the features of corporate level strategy? Which is concerned with what business are we in?

Answer 4

• portfolio approach- the organisations mix of strategic business units and product lines that fit together in such a way as to provide the organisation with synergy and competitive edge.
• strategic business units SBU- a division of the organisation that has a unique business mission, product line, competitors and markets relative to other SBU’s in the same organisation
• BCG matrix- a concept that evaluates strategic business units with respect to the dimensions of business growth rate and market share. This is the box with the question mark, stars, dogs and cash cow
• growth strategies- expanding scale of current operations through concentration, diversification, vertical integration
• retrenchment strategies- decreasing scale of operations through liquidation, restructuring or downsizing
• cooperative strategies- strategic alliances to partner with other organisations for mutual benefit through outsourcing, supplier and distribution alliances.

Question 5

What are the features of business level strategy? Asking how do we operate? How can we compete for customers in each of our businesses I.e. In our industry and markets?
It includes Porters five forces model which helps an organisation determine the attractiveness of the industry in which it is competing or plans to compete. There are three generic business strategies. What are they?

Answer 5

• cost leadership strategy- seeks to operate with lower costs than competitors
• differentiation strategy- offer products that are unique from competitors and for which consumers will pay premium.
• focus strategy- organisation focuses in specific regional market or buyer group.

Question 6

What are the challenges and problems in implementing strategy?

Answer 6

• failures of substance- inadequate attention to major strategic planning elements
• failures of process- poor handling of strategy implementation