Unit 1 - Strategy Flashcards
The governance of an organization focuses on:
Authority and control
When a call centre sets up operations in India and hires locally, there employees are:
Host country nationals
The impact of unemployment rates on HR strategy falls under which category of environmental factors?
Economic Factors
Environmental factors that influence an organization’s strategy are the following:
Globalization, technology, and demographic factors
An organization like Apple, that provides somewhat unique products to a wide range of customers, has likely adopted which of the following competitive strategies?
Broad differentiation strategy
What are the three types of resource inputs in the production of goods & services?
Land, labour, and capital
Refers to an organization’s overall strategy & answers what business should we be in?
Corporate strategy
What are the 3 types of corporate strategies?
Restructuring, growth, and stability
What are 4 restructuring strategies?
Turnaround, divestiture, liquidation, and bankruptcy
The sale of a division or part of an organization.
Divestiture
The termination of a business & sale of its assets
Liquidation
A restructuring process that converts the loss-making company into a profitable one.
Turnaround strategy
A formal procedure in which an appointed trustee in bankruptcy takes possession of a business’ assets and disposes of them in an orderly fashion.
Bankruptcy
What are 4 growth strategies?
Incremental, international, acquisition, and merger
Is attained by expanding the client base, increasing products/services, changing the distribution networks, or using technology.
Incremental growth
Is attained by seeking new customers or markets by expanding internationally.
International growth
The purchase of one company by another.
Acquisition
Merger
When 2 org’s combines resources and become one.
What are the 4 international business strategies?
Domestic growth strategy (domestic HR strategy)
Multi-domestic growth strategy (adaptive HR strategy)
Multinational growth strategy (exportive HR strategy)
Global growth strategy (Integrative HR strategy)
Companies become international by exporting their goods abroad as a means of seeking new markets.
Domestic growth strategy
An organization that has fully autonomous units operating in multiple countries and produce within the market where goods are sold.
Multi-domestic strategy / corporation
Standardizing the products and services around the world to gain efficiency.
Multinational growth strategy
Introduces culturally-sensitive products in chosen countries with the least amount of cost.
Global growth strategy
Employee who is a citizen of a country in which an
branch is located, but the org is headquartered in
another country.
Host country national
Employee whose nationality is the same as that of
the firm, but different from the country in which they
are working
Home country national
EE whose nationality is different from that of the
firm, and of the country in which the firm is operating.
Third country national
What are 3 compensation policy options?
Home, host, and region based
Links the base salary to the salary structure of the home country, and also retains the home country’s salary structure for other international supplements, such as housing, schooling, etc.
Home based policy
Links the base salary to the salary structure of the host country, but retains the home country’s salary structure for other international supplements.
Host based policy
Compensates expats based on the “region” where they are assigned.
Region based policy
Building a competitive focus in one line of business
business strategy
What are the 7 steps involved in the strategic planning process?
- Establish the mission, vision, and values
- Develop objectives
- Analyze the external environment
- Identify the competitive advantage
- Determine the competitive position
- Implement the strategy
- Evaluate the performance
What is a mission statement?
Clearly states the reason for the existence of the business.
What is the vision statement?
Clear & compelling statement about what the org strives to achieve in the future.
What is the values statement?
Identifies what the organization cares about - outlines their basic beliefs that govern how they operate & as such shapes employee behavior. E.g., Integrity, partnership, etc.
What is a balanced scorecard & in which stage is it used in the strategic planning process?
Framework to implement & manage strategy. It links
a vision, values, and mission to strategic objectives.
It’s essentially a business performance management
tool. It’s used in the develop objectives stage.
What is a SWOT analysis and in which stage is it used in the strategic planning process?
Helps identify the organizations competitive
advantage, position, and programs/action plans
designed to implement the organizations strategy.
What does SWOT stand for?
Strengths & weaknesses (internal environment)
Threats & opportunities (external environment)
What is a value proposition?
A statement of the benefits your products or services provide in the marketplace. This is within the ‘Determine the Competitive Position’ stage of the strategic planning process.
What are Porter’s 5 Competitive Strategies?
- Low cost leader strategy
- Broad differentiation strategy
- Best cost provider strategy
- Market niche based on differentiation
- market niche based on lower cost
Overall low-cost provider of a product/service that
appeals to a broad range of customers (Sam’s Club or
Walmart).
Low cost leader strategy
More value for the money by emphasizing both low
cost and upscale difference (Ikea).
Best cost provider
Differentiate the product offerings from rivals’ that
appeal to a broad range of buyers (Whole Foods).
Broad differentiation strategy
What are 3 potential errors in strategic planning?
• Not involving key people
• Failing to use the plan you developed in the
strategic planning process as a guide.
• Failing to align incentives, other HR programs
and policies to the achievement of strategy.
Intended Strategy
The agreed-upon strategy arrived at through the formal planning process.
Emergent Strategy
A strategic plan that changes incrementally in response to environmental changes.
Created from new ideas and conditions.
Discarded Strategy
Deemed inappropriate due to changing circumstances.
Realized Strategy
The implemented plan, or “what actually happened.”
Weighted Blank
The applicant’s response to each question on the form is scored according to both (a) the answer given and (b) the relative importance of the question as a means of differentiating between suitable and unsuitable candidates.
Biographical Information Blank
Type of assessment that uses biodata in employee recruitment to help determine which of several candidates should be hired for a job. Includes questions about past personal and work experiences, as well as interests, opinions, values and attitudes.
When compensating an expatriate, the balance-sheet approach provides:
Pay that gives the employee the same purchasing power compared to the employee’s home country
Balance Scorecards
Organize objectives into four categories:
- Financial
- Customer
- Learning and growth
- Internal processes
