Question

1.) What are some tests of a good strategy? How do we know if a company’s strategy is working? What are some options for a company if their strategy is not working?

Your answers will be short essays and should be three full paragraphs or longer.

Answer 1

Part A)

Here are some tests of a good strategy:

A test of a good strategy would involve a clear vision that defines why or the purpose of what is planned needs to be done. A good strategy test also involves clearly defined values that will be involved in the journey to achieve the same. It involves the end objective and answers where are we trying to reach and through what processes.

A good strategy should involve the gathering of important facts. It is important to know the current/present stage of the business and before moving ahead performance and current situation review must be done. It is important because helps to identify areas of business in terms of what worked well in past, what could have been improvement areas and what opportunities lie in the future. Having a SWOT (Strengths, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis helps to understand all the internal and external factors.

Performance management also becomes an important aspect of a good strategy. It helps to make sure that business is on track.

Part B)

Here is how we know if a company strategy is working:

A strategy is working when it is linked with the objectives which are planned to be achieved. It is working when the resources allocated are working and giving results as per the allocation planned. The overall performance should match with the planned strategy like for example - if the strategy is to expand to a new market it should be know how many members of the new market are buying the product.

It is is important to ensure the effectiveness is measured as it will help to inform whether a strategy is working or not. Targets must be achievable and the result must be available to measure whether the strategy is working.

It is important to continuously evaluate performance to make sure it is working in the right manner.

Part C) Options if the strategy is not working

It the strategy is not working it is essential to have enough time to add more resources, adjustment of the overall operation and corrective actions needs to be taken.

It is important to determine the causes and areas where strategic implementation failed and re-planning needs to be done. If the strategy is not aligned with company strengths can be one of the main reasons and hence re-alignment may be required. Other factors can be that strategy has objectives which are not attainable and hence revised goals have to be planned. The review and check of all factors is an important process to ensure that options and alternatives are figured out at the earliest.

Readjustment or a completely new strategy will be based on the areas where strategy is not working. If most of the areas are not working out then a new strategy aligned with the mission & vision needs to be formed.

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