Question

List and describe each of the three strategy-evaluation activities. Be very thorough in your responses, remember essay responses require development of your work into paragraphs. Each of these three activities should be described in their own paragraphs.

Answer 1

****Please please please LIKE THIS ANSWER, so that I can get a small benefit, Please****

Strategy evaluation includes three basic activities:

(1) examining the underlying bases of a firm’s strategy,

(2) comparing expected results with actual results, and

(3) taking corrective actions to ensure that performance conforms to plans..

(1) REVIEWING BASES OF STRATEGY:

Numerous external and internal factors may prevent businesses from meeting long-term and annual goals. Outside, competitor actions, demand changes, technological changes, economic changes, demographic shifts, and government actions can prevent achieving targets. Internally, unsuccessful methods may have been selected, or there may have been weak implementation practices. Goals may have been too ambitious. Thus, inability to meet goals could not be the product of managers and workers operating unsatisfactorily. To promote their support for Strategy-Evaluation events, all organizational leaders need to know this. Organizations really need to learn when their tactics aren't successful as soon as possible. Managers and frontline staff often discover this well in front of strategists. External opportunities and risks, and internal strengths and limitations that are the pillars of existing approaches should be monitored constantly for improvement. It's not really a matter of whether certain variables are going to change, but rather when they are going to change and how.

(2) MEASURING ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE:

Another important aspect of strategy-evaluation is evaluating the efficiency of the organizations. This practice involves comparing expected results to actual outcomes, investigating deviations from expectations, evaluating individual output, and reviewing progress toward the specified objectives. In this method, both long-term and yearly goals are widely used. Criteria should be observable and easily verifiable for determining strategies. Criteria which predict outcomes may be more relevant than those which show what has already happened. Very efficient monitoring requires precise forecasting.

Failure to make adequate progress in meeting long-term or annual goals suggests a need for corrective action. Many factors, such as irrational policies, unexpected economic turns, unreliable suppliers or distributors, or unsuccessful strategies, can lead to unsatisfactory progress towards achieving the goals. Problems may result from ineffectiveness (not doing the right things) or ineffectiveness (failing to do the right things).

It can be difficult to decide which goals are most important in determining strategies. Evaluation of the approaches is based on both quantitative and qualitative parameters. Selecting the exact set of strategic assessment parameters depends on the scale, sector, policies, and ideology of a given organization. The quantitative metrics widely used to measure strategies are financial rations used by strategists to make three important comparisons: (1) compare the company's performance over various periods of time, (2) compare the company's performance with the competitors 'results, and (3) compare the company's performance with industry averages. Any primary financial indicators that are especially useful as strategic assessment metrics include: return on investment, return on equity, profit margin, market share, debt to equity, earnings per share, growth in revenue, and growth in assets.

(3) TAKING CORRECTIVE ACTIONS:

The final strategy-evaluation process involves improvements to reposition a organization competitively for the future, by taking corrective steps. Definitions of changes that might be necessary include altering the structure of an company, replacing one or more main persons, selling a division, or revising a business purpose. Other adjustments may include setting or revising targets, creating new strategies, issuing stocks to raise money, recruiting additional salespersons, allocating resources differently, or introducing new opportunities to succeed. Taking corrective steps does not automatically mean changing current approaches, or even formulating new strategies.  No organisation, by itself, can survive; no organization can prevent change. It is important to take corrective steps to keep an organisation on track towards achieving defined goals. Evaluation of the plan increases the capacity of an company to effectively respond to changing circumstances. Experts refer to this as organizational agility.

Corrective action increases anxieties among workers and managers. Research suggests engagement in strategic-evaluation programs is one of the strongest ways of overcoming the reluctance of individuals to change. Experts claim that people will only embrace change when they have a cognitive understanding of change, a sense of control over the situation, and an knowledge that appropriate steps will be taken to enact change. Evaluation of the strategies can lead to changes in strategy-formulation, changes in strategy-implementation, changes in formulation and implementation, or no changes at all. Sooner or later, strategists can not avoid having to update plans and approaches to execution.

Corrective steps will put an organization in a stronger position to draw on internal strengths; leverage key external opportunities; to eliminate external threats; and tostrengthen internal vulnerabilities. Corrective measures should have an acceptable time frame and a reasonable amount of risk. They should be consistent internally, and socially responsible. Most importantly, corrective actions could improve the competitive position of an organization in its underlying industry. Continuous review of the plan brings strategists close to an organization's pulse and offers knowledge essential for an successful strategic-management method.

****Please please please LIKE THIS ANSWER, so that I can get a small benefit, Please****