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SURNAME 1

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1. According to Housenbold, success is to "figure out what you're good at, figure out

where you can make money, and focus". How is his remark related to strategic

management?

Housenbold emphasizes on the basic tenets of strategic management in his remark. Strategic

management revolves around identifying and describing the strategies that when implemented,

can propel the organization to achieving better performance and affording it competitive

advantage (Jeff Housenbold n.d.). Housenbold posits that a company should identify a task that

affords it competitive advantage and focus on it. Strategic management also constitutes the

decisions and acts undertaken by management which influence the firm’s performance (Dyer et

al.665). The manager takes into consideration general and competitive environment to make

appropriate decisions. It entails planning for predictable outcomes and unfeasible contingencies.

When a firm formulates and implements appropriate course of action, they achieve a higher

likelihood of sustainable competitive advantage (Dyer et al.665). Housenbold suggests that an

organization must undertake a continuous process of evaluating and controlling the business and

the industry, evaluate competitors and formulate goals and strategies to favorably compete.

Moreover, the remark addresses focusing on continuous reevaluation of strategies regularly to

ascertain success and the need for new ones (Dyer et al.665). With strategic management,

managers come up with ways of managing employees, resources and business units to achieve

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business objective. What Housenbold suggests is to focus employee commitment to specific

organizational tasks, provide appropriate training and skill development to the strategic goal.

Focus of the employees and business units is redirected to implementing strategies efficiently

and effectively. The primary goal of strategic management is incorporating functional areas

together to harmonize in achievement of a common goal, continuously checking for progress to

ensure that the appropriate course of action is followed as stipulated (Dyer et al.665).

2. What industry is Shutterfly competing in? Use the five forces model

to briefly analyze this industry.

Shutterfly is in the digital print industry as an e-commerce whose specialty is digital-photo

services and products for consumers and professional markets (Jeff Housenbold n.d.). The

company offers services ranging from photo uploads, sharing, storage, and editing features on its

website. Other than the conventional 4-inch by 6-inch photo prints, Shutterfly offers prints that

include wallet-sized and jumbo enlargements, and personalized photos in its personalized

business segment. The five forces model focuses on the capacity of Shutterfly Inc. to create

sustainable competitive advantage in the Personal Service Industry (Jeff Housenbold n.d.). The

model comprises of five models with which Shutterfly can analyze its strategic position and

explore profitable opportunities (E. Dobbs 40). First, the threat of new entrants in the industry is

high and the company has to constantly innovate to manage the challenge of new entrants and

effectively safeguard the prevailing competitive advantage. Second the bargaining power of

suppliers is high as all companies in the industry use materials from similar suppliers. The

overall profitability is lowered with higher supplier bargaining power. The bargaining power of

buyers in the personal services industry is high as the industry is saturated with offerings

available at minimum pricing. The company’s customer base is small and powerful with a high

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SURNAME 1 Student: Professor: Course: Date: Questions: 1. According to Housenbold, success is to "figure out what you're good at, figure out where you can make money, and focus". How is his remark related to strategic management? Housenbold emphasizes on the basic tenets of strategic management in his remark. Strategic management revolves around identifying and describing the strategies that when implemented, can propel the organization to achieving better performance and affording it competitive advantage (Jeff Housenbold n.d.). Housenbold posits that a company should identify a task that affords it competitive advantage and focus on it. Strategic management also constitutes the decisions and acts undertaken by management which influence the firm’s performance (Dyer et al.665). The manager takes into consideration general and competitive environment to make appropriate decisions. It entails planning for predictable outcomes and unfeasible contingencies. When a firm formulates and implements appropriate course of action, they achieve a higher likelihood of sustainable competitive advantage (Dyer et al.665). Housenbold suggests that an organization must undertake a continuous process of evaluating and controlling the business and the industry, evaluate competitors and formulate goals and strategies to favorably compete. Moreover, the remark addresses focusing on continuous reevaluation of strategies regularly to ascertain success and the need for new ones (Dyer et al.665). ...
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Tags: management industry analysis