Question

Discuss the following statement:''If you do the same things as your rivals, but do them better, you do not need a strategy.'' Don't give just an opinion;try to use textbook concepts.Provide examples

Answer 1

If you do the same things are your rivals and somehow do them better it is still important to have a strategy in place as the situation might not be similar for a long period of time. The strategy is important to be not just ahead but be sustainable and introduce new technologies and offers for the customers.

Here are some the reasons and concepts:

• The strategy is important not just from the fact that we are doing well as compared from competitors but also the fact that routine choices and decisions also require a lot of strategic work.

• Having a strategy is also important as it helps to gather facts and other relevant information. 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. Doing a SWOT (Strengths, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis helps to understand all the internal and external factors.

• Strategic planning helps in alignment and makes the overall strategy understandable in a simplified manner and avoids misunderstanding and confusion. Hence having the strategy is important even when the business is going well. It is an important aspect of the engine of running the business rather than just a performance-based decision.

• It is important to make to drive down new behaviours, processes, and practices. Such things help the business grow further and make a unique position in the market where dependence on competition performance is less and more value is being created.

• This strategic planning stage also involves a degree of innovation and creativity in play. The customer-centric behavior should be at the heart of alignment as it helps to bring change management in the organization. Even when the business is doing good it needs a strategy in place to continuously deliver high value to customers.

• Strategic planning also ensures that all team members are able to figure out how their individual job descriptions are related to overall strategies. Even if the company is performing well team members will strive for better roles and career advancement which is not possible without having a strategy.

Overall I feel the success is not just based on absolute performance as compared to competitors but how well it is in all areas and also how well it is being continued. That is the essence of having strategies and related thinking in place.

Examples:

Amazon

• Amazon is a great example where so much Competiton exists and they are doing than the most of them but still focusing on future strategies to grow and leverage from the market condition in future.
• For example - Amazon has developed systems and technology which helps to monitor purchasing patterns, willingness and choice of products. By developing its own mobile and tech systems it will offer greater and diverse delivery options causing others to adopt the same.
• This wasn't needed if they only relied on the fact that they are doing better than the competition.
• The company still focuses on constant in ovation, fast convenient and supporting decision, high-quality customer services and In to win it mindset as part of strategies.

Another example can be Under Armour who despite doing well than the competitors focussed on developing more strategies to further consolidate their market share.

• It worked on its unique strengths to build on market technologies and creating marketing ideas that are innovative.
• It built on tangible resources like technology and management systems and in parallel working in intangible resources like marketing ideas and efficiently managing human resources.

=========================================================================================