Question

I need to find an interesting article related to a topic How Exceptional Managers Realize a Grand Design

Presentations topic related to Management. Speaking about provides another chance to reinforce what’s been learned, and gives you the opportunity to develop verbal communication skills in a virtual environment, a highly sought-after skill that most employers seek today.

Answer 1

How Exceptional Managers Realize a Grand Design

Strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or more of the organization's goals. Strategy can also be defined as “A general direction set for the company and its various components to achieve a desired state in the future. Strategy results from the detailed strategic planning process”

1.Strategy is the creation of a unique & valuable position. Few needs, many customers

2.Strategy requires trade-offs in competing. Broad needs, few customers

3.Strategy involves creating a “fit” among activities. Broad needs, many customers

The Strategic-Management Process

1.Establish the mission and the vision

2.Assess the current reality

3.Formulate the grand strategy

4.Implement the strategy

5.Maintain strategic control

Assess the Current Reality

Current reality assessment Also called organizational assessmentto look at where the organization stands and see what is working and what could be different soas to maximize efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the organization’s missionFormulate the Grand Strategy

Grand strategy: explains how the organization’s mission is to be accomplished.

Strategy formulation: process of choosing among different strategies and altering them to best fit the organization’s needs

Strategy implementation: putting strategic plans into effectThe Strategic Management Process

Strategic control: consists of monitoring the execution of strategy and making adjustments, if necessary

Competoitive Intelligence: Gaining information about ones' competitor's activities so you can anticipate their moves and react appropriately

• ways to gains Competoitive Intelligence: Public prints and advertising, Investor information (corporate annual reports), informal sources(salespeople, marketers, trade shows)

Environmental Scanning

careful monitoring of an organization's internal and external environments to detect early signs of opportunities and threats that may influence the firm's plans

Porter's Model for Industry Analysis

Business-level strategies originate in 5 primary competitive forces in the firm's environment:
1) Threats of new entrants
2) Bargaining power of suppliers
3) Bargaining power of buyers
4) Threat of substitute products or services
5) Rivalry among competitors

Porter’s four competitive strategies

Porter’s four competitive strategies (also called four generic strategies) are

(1) cost-leadership, (2) differentiation, (3) cost-focus, (4) focused-differentiation

o Cost-leadership strategy is to keep the costs, and hence the prices, of a product or service below those of competitors and to target a wide market (puts pressure on R&D managers to develop products/services that can be created cheaply, production managers to reduce production costs, and marketing managers to reach a wide variety of customers as inexpensively as possible)

o Differentiation strategy is to offer products or services that are of unique and superior value compared with those of competitors but to target a wide market (managers may have to spend more on R&D, marketing, and customer service because products are expensive)

o Cost-focus strategy is to keep the costs, and hence prices, of a product or service below those of competitors and to target a narrow market (often seen executed with low-end products sold in discount stores

o Focused-differentiation strategy is to offer products or services that are of unique and superior value compared to those of competitors and to target a narrow market value

Feedback Loop

return to an earlier step in the strategic-management process

BCG matrix

BCG matrix is a means of evaluating strategic business units on the basis of (1) their business growth rates and (2) their share of the market

o Business growth rate is concerned with how fast the entire industry is increasing

o Market share is concerned with the business unit’s share of the market in relation to competitors

o It suggests that the organization will do better in a fast-growing market in which it has high market share

o Look at pic about stars, question marks, dogs, and cash cows for range

Blue Ocean Strategy

E. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne define a “blue ocean” as a completely new market, in contrast to a “red ocean”, in which industry boundaries are defined and accepted and the competitive rules of the game are known

• The blue ocean strategy refers to a company’s creating a new, uncontested market space that makes competitors irrelevant, creates new customer value, and decreases cost (create a completely new industry or create a blue ocean in a red ocean by having an existing company expand its boundaries

Strategic control

Strategic control consists of monitoring the execution of strategy and taking corrective action if necessary. Barry Bryan suggests you need to do the following:

o Engage people- actively engage people in clarifying what you group hopes to accomplish and how you will do so

o Keep it simple- keep plan simple

o Stay focused- focus on important things

o Keep moving- keep moving toward your vision of the future, adjusting your plans as you learn what works