GFU Strategic Management in the Contemporary Business World Discussion

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Economics

George Fox University

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This paper will be a free-flowing record of the student’s key learning points from the course. Such learning points could be the student’s insights about any of the concepts and topics covered in class. They could be based on the student’s critical reflection on one or more of the strategic management tools and frameworks, or about the readings. Equally, they could be about the student’s personal reflection about his/her preparation and development as a strategic management specialist getting to know the latest thinking in the field.

Students could indicate which of the topics covered in the course resonated the most with them, and why. They could summarize the questions and additional ideas that came to mind as they thought further on the topics. Finally, the learning points could indicate the possible inter-linkages the student found among concepts taught in this course with concepts taught in other courses in the MBA program, any additional insights that came to the student while reading the day’s business news in a business newspaper or magazine, or reflections that occurred while the student attempted to implement some of the concepts taught in the course to the case examples, the SAP project, or in their personal work situation.

While you do not have to cover everything that was discussed in our class readings and discussions, I expect you to write about at least seven to eight overarching concepts that together form the most important learning takeaways from the course for you.

The suggested length for this reflection paper is 5 pages (single spaced, Times New Roman 12 size font, with 1 inch margin on all sides, with page numbers), and with about 7-8 overarching (meta) learning takeaways, interwoven to tell a powerful and interesting story about the student’s own learning throughout the course.




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SUMMARY OF LEARNING ON E X T E R N A L A N A LY S I S A D M N 9 8 2 C R E AT I N G W I N N I N G S T R AT E G I E S D E V D U T TA SUMMARY • External Analysis is basically concerned with what is happening in the firm’s external environment and what impact it could have on the firm’s strategy. • External Analysis takes a close look at the firm’s environment, classified as macro or societal or “broad” environment, and industry or competitive or “task” environment. For doing both these analyses, it is important to, in some ways, take the perspective “off” from the firm, and focus on the environment concerned. Later, after analysis is complete, we bring the attention back to the firm, and infer as to what the results of the analysis “mean” for the firm. • Macro environment assessment is accomplished through PESTEL Analysis. For this, the following three steps are recommended: – Identify the important P,E,S,T,E,L trends. – Specifically, consider superimposition (intersection) of certain trends (if that is the case), and assess what additional insights do they reveal. – Classify these findings into opportunities and threats for the company in focus (this is where we bring back the analysis to the firm-level). SUMMARY • Industry structure and attractiveness assessment is accomplished through application of Porter’s Five Forces Model. For this, the following steps are recommended: – First, clearly define the industry (for the firm or its business division) for which you wish to carry out the five forces analysis. – Identify the focal firm (for which you will be doing the analysis), and a few of its competitors. Put them inside the central box of the Five Forces Model. – The rest of the analysis will now be carried out from the point of view of a “representative firm” inside the central box. This may or may not be the firm for which we are performing the analysis. – For this representative firm, identify a few critical supplies and who those suppliers are (name them if you are able to). Put these names inside the supplier box. Do the same for buyers, distinguishing between bulk (institutional buyers) versus retail buyers, if that is important. – Identify new (potential) entrants. You may not be able to point them out by name because they have not yet entered the industry. Still, try and zero in on which types of firms would be most plausible potential entrants. – Identify substitutes. Remember, substitutes are not competing brands of the same products (those would all go inside the central box). Thus, for the coffee industry, tea is a substitute. – Now begin the analysis, Assess the strength (power) of the four (outer) forces. Also, identify the extent of competitive rivalry (the fifth force) prevailing inside the central box, on its own). Now, consider the added impact of the forces due to the four outer boxes as they impinge on the central box. Do they further aggravate the competitive rivalry or attenuate (lessen) it? Perhaps some of these outer forces aggravate the rivalry, while others make it less, everything else being equal? This is called industry structure assessment. – Based on all these insights, identify what would be the profit-earning capacity of a representative player (i.e. one that operates with average competitive effort). This indicates how attractive the industry is for such a representative player. Please note, it is possible that for a firm that has been in an industry for a while, it might still be an okay industry to continue to be in, for various reasons. But for a new (potential) entrant, it may be a very unattractive industry to enter into. • Now, round-off the results of this analysis into insights for strategy for the focal firm (i.e. the company for which you are performing strategic analysis). • Finally, combine the insights from PESTEL Analysis and Five Forces Analysis, to explore together what they might mean for the focal firm. That’s it, you’re done with External Analysis! • Remember, external analysis comes from the philosophical position of environmental determinism, which assumes firms are placed in an environment that could go from varying shades of hostile to benign. As such, they can only assess and respond but they cannot fundamentally change the nature of the prevailing forces. These forces are not in control of any one firm. Of course, there’s the alternate strategic choice perspective, which we will talk about later. SUMMARY OF LEARNING ON I N T E R N A L A N A LY S I S A D M N 9 8 2 C R E AT I N G W I N N I N G S T R AT E G I E S D E V D U T TA SUMMARY • Internal Analysis is basically concerned with how the firm is placed vis-à-vis its resources, capabilities, strategies, and structural alignments, in order to compete in the market and deal with the forces/factors/trends in the external environment and industry. • Internal Analysis draws from the philosophical position of ‘strategic choice’, which is not only empowering for the firm’s managers but also contrasts against the alternate philosophical position of ‘environmental determinism’ that was discussed earlier. • Internal Analysis involves several specific frameworks, tools, and techniques. It is important to understand all these assessments are done on a ‘relative basis’, i.e. by comparing the firm with its nearest competitor(s). – Business (also referred to as Competitive or Generic) Strategy (due to Michael Porter) • Cost-leadership • Differentiation – Value-Chain Analysis (also due to Michael Porter) – Resource-Based View (RBV) of the Firm and VRIO Analysis – Corporate Strategy, Diversification, and Business Portfolio Analysis. VALUE-CHAIN ANALYSIS GENERIC STRATEGIES VRIO ANALYSIS HIERARCHICAL NATURE OF STRATEGY GROWTH AND DIVERSIFICATION BUSINESS PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS
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Explanation & Answer

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Key Factors to Successful Strategic Management in the Contemporary Business World

Name Affiliation
Course
Instructor
Date

2
Key Factors to Successful Strategic Management in the Contemporary Business
World
1.0 Introduction
Over the years, the business environment has evolved significantly, requiring
organizations to incorporate strategies that match the corresponding management needs. The
challenges facing businesses today and the opportunities the contemporary business
environment present vary extensively from what was experienced a while ago. For instance,
technological advancements have minimized the barriers to entry to nearly all industries
increasing the level of competition. Besides, technological advances have changed customer
needs requiring firms to produce products and services that satisfy them as fast as possible or
lose customers and relevance. With these needs, the demand for strategic managers has
grown. As an individual with a passion for developing outstanding local and multinational
corporations, this strategic management course has equipped me with the necessary
knowledge and skills to help business organizations counter the challenges and efficiently
utilize the opportunities presented by the contemporary business environment. This report
reflects the knowledge and takeaways I have gained from the strategic management course.
2.0 The role of Strategic Management in the Contemporary Business World
Strategic management is a broad topic that covers diverse areas of life, including
business. I recently had a conversation with an English gentleman Marcus while in transit in
Toronto. This dialogue was more of a lesson than a conversation. I gained enormous
knowledge of history, current status, the future of business, Europe, and the British Isles. Not
surprisingly, Marcus is an iPhone enthusiast, just like me. At some point in our conversation,
Marcus said,”Apple reinvented the cellphone.” With that instrumental gear chat, he added
that the European Union is reinventing Europe, European, British, and nation-state concepts
initially associated with the Westphalian system witnessed in the Treaty of Westphalia 1648.
Initially, I did not feel like it was proper to compare an iPhone with established and emerging
regional political organizations such as the European Union. While the former seems like
only a big toy, the latter is such a big deal. However, as the conversation went on, I
comprehended the interlink more vividly. Marcus was talking about these two topics
simultaneously to show that the future of governments, organizations, and businesses is
primarily based on how well they can reinvent to match the corresponding demands or needs.
Although I had a basic foundation on the theoretical aspects of reinvention and business
strategies, this conversation clarified the practical approach to reinvention and the role of
strategic management.
3.0 Essence of a Business Strategy
Based on what I have learned in this course, a business strategy should be as simple as
a business is. The business strategy entails introducing value between customers and
suppliers and consistently gaining profit from these transactions while ensuring that your
products and services outshine the competitors. This approach to business strategy is honestly
the best one I have come across so far. In the contemporary business world, competition is
more challenging than ever as no firm or country can insulate itself against other counterparts
that can develop and implement better strategies. Science and technology have emerged as
the most powerful social and business change resource in the past few decades. It has led to
new needs and demands and diversified how companies operate. Consequently, firms must
incorporat...


Anonymous
Excellent! Definitely coming back for more study materials.

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