Topic > Understanding How Strategic Management Affects Businesses

IndexStrategic Management: Comprehensive ApproachIntroductionBasic Strategic Management ConceptsCorporate StrategyEnvironmental Scanning and SustainabilityEvaluation and ControlFunctional StrategyStrategy HierarchyInstitutional TheoryLearning OrganizationMissionPolicyStrategic Decision MakingStrategic Decision MakingStrategic ManagementStrategy Formulation and Strategy ImplementationSWOT AnalysisTriggering EventCorporate Governance Significance of corporate governanceBenefits of Corporate GovernanceGlobal objectives, mission and strategiesScan and analysis of the global competitive environmentThe nature of the global economic environmentThe five forces and drivers of globalizationTransnational and global strategyTransnational strategiesKnowledge and competence-based strategyCompetitive positioningConclusionStrategic management: global approachIntroductionStrategic management involves activities aimed to identify and describe strategies that enable managers to achieve improved performance. These strategies are also geared towards improving the competitive advantage of the organization. Competitive advantage is achieved when the profitability recorded by an organization is higher than the average profitability recorded by its competitors. On a global scale, strategic management could also refer to all activities and decisions made by management that result in the performance of the organization globally (Frynas & Mellahi, 2015). Global strategy is an important component of strategic management that must follow the fundamental principles of strategic management. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Thesis Statement: Global strategy development encompasses basic principles of strategic management such as resource-based analysis, competitive advantage, and customer focus among other factors. Basic Concepts of Strategic Management Business Strategy This concept focuses on improving the organization's competitive advantages over other global competitors (Deresky, 2017). The competitive position could be in terms of services or products in a particular market segmentation or industry. Two categories are involved in this concept; cooperative and competitive strategies. Environmental scanning and sustainability Environmental scanning deals with the monitoring, evaluation and dissemination of information from both the internal and external environment to influential people in the organization (Frynas & Mellahi, 2015). Environmental sustainability concerns the application of business practices to reduce the organization's impact on the physical and natural environment. Evaluation and Control All organizations processes and performance are monitored to ensure that the organization achieves desired performance. The evaluation exercise allows an organization to establish any deviation from desired performance and then take necessary steps to correct the situation. Functional Strategy This strategy focuses on the functional area of ​​the organization. It aims to ensure that an organization achieves its objectives by adopting strategies that maximize resource productivity. Strategy ensures that an organization's strategies and objectives are aligned to achieve maximum productivity from available resources. Strategy Hierarchy An organization must group its strategy based on their importance to the overall growth of the organization (Deresky, 2017). Strategies are grouped by levels, and each level must complement the next level.In this regard, the functional strategy must support the corporate strategy which in turn must support the corporate strategy. Institutional Theory This theory predicts that organizations engage in imitation of other successful organizations in their specific industry. Imitation is intended to help organizations adapt to the changing economic environment and conditions from local to global scales. This theory supports evidence-based practices that provide organizations with sufficient information and opportunities to overcome obstacles in their business environment. Learning organization This is an organization expert in creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge and in changing its organizational structure behavior to reflect newly acquired knowledge and insight. An organization must have the ability to apply new knowledge to improve its competitive position in the industry. Mission The organization's mission describes the reason and purpose of organizational operations. It also describes the goods and services provided by the organization, the customer base, and the technologies adopted by the organization (Frynas & Mellahi, 2015). The mission describes where the organization is today and where it hopes to be in the future. Policy This is the complete guideline for all decision-making mechanisms of the organization. Politics links strategy formulation and strategy implementation. Policy is critical to ensuring that workers at all levels of the organization make decisions and actions that advance the organization's internalization strategies, goals, and mission. Strategic Decision The strategic decision aspect focuses on the long-term future of an organization. A strategic decision has three characteristics namely; Consequential, rare, and directive (Deresky, 2017). Decisions are consequential because they require a high degree of commitment from everyone involved at every level. Strategic decisions are directive in nature, meaning they determine the organization's future decisions. They are rare and have no model to follow. Strategic Decision Making Decision making in every organization must follow an appropriate procedure. There are eight main stages involved in the decision-making process (Frynas & Mellahi, 2015); 1) evaluation of current organizational performance, 2) review of corporate governance, 3) scanning and evaluation of the external environment, 4) scanning and evaluation of the internal business environment, 5) analysis of strategic factors (SWOT), 6) generation, evaluation and selection of the alternative strategy, 7) implementation of the selected strategy through budgets, procedures and programs, 8) evaluation of the implemented strategies through control activities and feedback systems to reduce deviations from desired performance. Strategic ManagementThis refers to the managerial activities and decisions that determine the overall performance of an organization. This set of decisions and actions includes strategy implementation, strategy formation, environmental analysis, evaluation, and control. Strategic management is also referred to as corporate policy. Strategy Formulation and Strategy Implementation Strategy formulation involves the development of long-term plans for effectively managing organizational opportunities and threats. Effective management of opportunities and threats is evaluated in line with the strengths and weaknesses of the organization (Deresky, 2017). Strategy implementation concerns all the processes through which the organization implements its policies and strategies following procedures, budgets and programspredetermined. SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis focuses on defining and evaluating an organization's internal factors, such as weaknesses and strengths, and external factors such as threats and opportunities. Analytics allows an organization to carry out a detailed scan of its internal and external environments. Trigger Event Trigger event refers to actions that stimulate the need for change in an organization's strategy. Some of these events include the introduction of a new CEO. The new CEO may focus on taking the company to global levels compared to his predecessors. Interventions from external institutions could also stimulate changes in the organization's strategy (Frynas & Mellahi, 2015). Threats to an organization's ownership and performance gaps are serious events that could lead to a change in the strategies adopted by an organization. Smooth corporate transitions could be achieved through good corporate governance strategies. Corporate Governance Importance of Corporate Governance Corporate governance ensures fairness and transparency in the business environment. Good corporate governance ensures that organizations are accountable and responsible for all their activities (Deresky, 2017). Weak corporate governance creates opportunities for corruption, mismanagement and waste. Corporate governance is mostly associated with the management of joint-stock organizations, but is equally significant in the management of households, cooperatives and state organizations. Sustainable business performance is only possible with good governance, regardless of the business enterprise. Benefits of Corporate Governance Organizations that fully comply with corporate governance principles are more likely to increase transparency in their operations and disclosure by improving access to financial and capital markets. It also helps organizations improve their competitive advantage through risk reduction, partnerships, acquisitions and mergers. The organization is provided with an exit policy in case conditions become unfavorable. As well as ensuring smooth transfer of wealth to avoid conflicts of interest between family-run organizations (Frynas & Mellahi, 2015). Good corporate governance also allows organizations to improve their internal control systems aimed at strengthening accountability leading to higher profit margins. Furthermore, it would pave the way for future organizational growth and improve the organization's attractiveness to potential investors. By ensuring transparency, corporate governance allows the organization to find balance in its economic development. Balancing ensures that the interests of all shareholders are taken into account (Deresky, 2017). Both the interests of minority and majority shareholders are protected in good corporate governance. Shareholders also benefit from good corporate governance as it ensures the full exercise of their rights and the recognition of those rights by the organization. Good corporate governance also ensures that an organization develops and maintains clear objectives, strategies and mission in its overall business approach. Global Goals, Mission and Strategies Every organization has its own goals that clearly state what should be done to move the organization from its current position to its desired position. position. In global strategy, an organization must have clear goals for how it hopes to move from local culture to global vision. The mission of the organization mustindicate the role the organization wishes to play globally. The strategies adopted by the organization must incorporate the principles of globalization. Managers are required to know and understand the reasons behind the industrialization of the industry and market (Deresky, 2017). The organization's strategies and mission must take into consideration environmental issues and the turbulence of globalization. Hofstede's cultural dimensions play a crucial role in strategies and goal formulation. The organization must invest time and resources to understand the culture of the foreign countries in which it wishes to operate. Failure to understand people's culture could spell doom for an organization. An example of an organization that has failed due to its inability to consider people's cultures is Wal-Mart in Germany. The organization had moved to Germany with the same business practices applied in the United States. It failed to recognize and respect the cultural differences between German and American cultures (Frynas & Mellahi, 2015). Other scholars such as Trompenaar and Tayeb have also argued that cultural dimensions are important in the global strategic management approach. Therefore, cultural analysis must be part of scanning the global business environment. Scanning and Analyzing the Global Competitive Environment Nature of the Global Business Environment Global business is described as the environment in various foreign countries with a connection to the environment of the organization's home country. These environments influence the organization's decision-making process especially regarding its capabilities and resource utilization. The international business environment is also viewed in terms of an organization's internal and external environment. The external environment includes, among others, economic, political, regulatory, social, legal and cultural factors. Effective functioning requires an organization to understand these factors before engaging in international business. The Five Forces and Globalization DriversPorter's Five Forces tool helps organizations analyze competition in the industry. The framework draws its five forces from industrial organization economics (Deresky, 2017). Through this analysis, an organization would establish competitive intensity globally and thus determine the attractiveness of doing business globally. Porter's five forces include the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of consumers, the bargaining power of suppliers, and industry rivalry. Globalization drivers are factors that indicate the potential feasibility of engaging in a global approach in the organization's strategy. They are divided into market factors, cost globalization factors, competitive factors and government factors. The market drivers involve the gradual increase in demand for various products and services in various parts of the world. This constant growth in customer demands leads to more opportunities for organizations to engage in global activities. The cost of globalization focuses on the costs of production, product development, and sourcing (Frynas & Mellahi, 2015). An organization must evaluate these costs to determine the profitability of engaging in an international business as the costs could have a large impact on the organization's profitability. Competitive factors evaluate the total composition of sales, whether it primarily includes import or export volumes. Also consider the diversity and capabilities of your competitors. High levels of competitive diversity, trade and interdependence would promote the.