Week 4

1.      Who is a strategist? Describe the main types of jobs that have a strong strategy element.

Ø  The organization’s individual people whose responsibility is to make strategies in order to achieve long-tern goals apparently based on the vision of the organization are known as strategists. They are the ones who have direct responsibility for the success or failure of the organization.

Ø  The  main types of jobs that have strong strategy element in their job responsibility are:

              -CEO / COO/ MD

              - Director / Executive

              - Consultant / Business Analyst

              - Leader / Associate

              - Owner / Founder

2.      What’s the difference between a strategic planner and a strategy consultant? (Use your own words or referenced quotes)

Ø  Strategy planners are the organization’s employees whose main responsibility is to make and implement strategies of the organization. Organization’s profit and growth depends on the strategies made by these employees. They help to gain the benefit from profitable market and to offset the competitor to move in market.

Ø  Strategic consultants are the external experts related to the strategy or the experts who are not from the organization. They are hired in company to make effective plan and for the settlement of strategic change in an organization. They study and analyze the environment and they pin point the relevant options and issues proper strategy for the organization. Since, they are from outside the organization they are usually hired for short-term or maybe for a particular project.

3.      What were your answers to question 1 and 2 on the group exercise this week?

Ø  Business leader

Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation: Rupert Murdoch is a self-made and hard driven

Australia-born head of an American publishing dynasty, as the founder, chairman and CEO of News Corporation. He continues to work unbelievably hard at an age when most would have retired long ago. In the midst of accusation and scandal he’s needed to find new strength to face the accusation of bribery, corruption and hacking by subsidiary firms. This news is still breaking, as Rupert resigns from the boards of several of the subsidiary companies involved. Regardless of the outcome, the work ethic and sheer tenacity Rupert Murdoch has shown in the face of adversity continues to serve as an example to all. ( Jordan Shapiro, 2013).

Ø  Inventor or Scientist

Galileo Galilei: An Italian physicist, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer and a revolutionary thinker. Galileo is known as the ‘father of modern observational astronomy’ as he was the first to use telescope. He is hailed to be responsible for the birth of modern science as his theories, ideas and beliefs based on scientific research started challenging the Church beliefs. He proclaimed Earth revolved around the sun and suffered severe criticism from the Clergyman in those days.

Ø  Sport manager

Muhammad Ali: Ali is 3 times world heavyweight champion and the only boxer to have won the linear heavyweight championship 3 times in his 20 year career he fought in massive 61 fights. Ali has been awarded Sportsmanship of the Century by both Sports Illustrated and the BBC. (Jennifer Rosenberg, 2012).

Ø  Civil rights campaigner

Anuradha Koirala:  is a social activist and the founder and director of Maiti Nepal dedicated to helping victims of sex trafficking. Currently, Maiti Nepal operates a rehabilitation home in Kathmandu, as well as transit homes at the Indo-Nepal border towns, preventive homes in the countryside, and an academy in Kathmandu. The women can stay in the homes run by Maiti Nepal until they are able to return to their homes or if not accepted by their parents they may stay until they become able to live on their own. She was the first one from Nepal to win the CNN Hero of the Year award in 2010.

Ø  Musician, writer, film-maker or artists

Narayan Gopal Guruacharya: is the most prominent and popular singer and composer in the history of Nepali music. He is popularly referred to as "Swar Samrat". He is also known as "Tragedy King." He is well known as a singer as well as a composer. He belongs to the first generation of Nepali singers who took singing as a profession. His songs have also been used in movies and dramas.

References:

Jennifer Rosenberg. (2012). Muhammad Ali A Biography of the Famous Boxer. Available: http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/a/muhammadali.htm. Last accessed 18/03/2012.

appreciatelife. (2012). The Anuradha Koirala Story – How One Woman Is Saving Young Women from Sex Slavery. Available: http://www.appreciatelife.com/blog/the-anuradha-koirala-story-how-one-woman-is-saving-young-women-from-sex-slavery. Last accessed 18/03/2012.

 Jordan Shapiro. (2013). What We Can Learn From Rupert Murdoch, News Corp, And Amplify. Available: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2013/09/30/what-we-can-learn-from-rupert-murdoch-news-corp-and-amplify/. Last accessed 18/03/2012.

          biographyonline. (2013). Galileo Galilei Biography. Available: http://www.biographyonline.net/scientists/galileo.html. Last accessed 18/03/2012.

              

Week 3

Reason why strategy making is like a science:

Strategies are built with the help of broad analysis and with uncontaminated and fair opinion and judgment hence strategy making is like a science. Strategy makers make strategies only after studying and with the help of logical facts which gives the organization reasonable decisions to follow. Strategy makers study and try to understand every detail available to them before making a strategy and they also follow step-by-step procedures which similar as the scientific research used by the scientists.     

Reasons why strategy making is like an art or craft:

A good and long-term strategy can only be made when strategy makers work in a group, share their creative ideas and have the knowledge to tackle the problems hence, strategy making is like an art or craft where other’s views and opinions are taken and each one put up their creative ideas. Artists become perfect after years of practice and like artists strategy makers should also have years of experience to create good and long-term strategies.

Difference between intended strategy and emergent strategy:

Intended strategy is planned course of action which is undertaken to achieve set goals of the organization. Intended strategy is a strategy that an organization intends to perform. When a strategic plan is made for a new venture it is known as business plan and somehow we can also say that intended strategy is a deliberate strategy and is prearranged and formal sort of strategy. Strategy contains organization’s current position exposition and the desired results the strategy makers would want to achieve in the end of planned period. It briefly describes the current position of the organization and the steps required to be taken to achieve what they have planned. Strategy is made by closely observing the external and internal environment of the organization and by undertaking SWOT analysis to identify the organizations strengths, opportunities, threats and weaknesses. Whereas in the process of the strategy there is timing for various actions and it is mentioned clearly that who will participate in the actions directly as well as indirectly so that there is unity of action and reorganization of efforts to stop efforts from being wasted when same action is undertaken by more than one person. But, this analysis of strategy into various components only goes on to further emphasis the basic nature of intended strategy – it is pre-planned and depends entirely on the quality of forecasts available with the management.

An emergent strategy includes unplanned strategy which is prepared to tackle the unexpected opportunities and challenges. Emergent strategy is only about exploring and not analyzing. It does not have any form and unofficial kind of strategy in organization. It is used because it is helpful in dealing with the situation that happens in the market which cannot be covered by the intended strategy. Henry Mintzberg was the first specialist who named the word ‘emergent’ while describing the constant development of corporate strategy of an organization as it not only strived to keep pace with but also attempted to overtake the external environment to reach the pre-determined targets. The emergent strategy is not the idea of a single person or a group of persons who runs the organization. Simply, it is a process of learning where the whole company absorbs facts and figures from external environment and analyzes the changes in occurred in the whole business environment and proceeds to formulate a proper and relevant answer in the form of a revised strategy. (Mintzberg, The Strategy Concept 1: Five Ps for Strategy, 1987) 

The Entrepreneurial School

Entrepreneurial school considers strategy making as visionary process which begins in the mind of the company’s CEO or the leader. Strategy becomes commendable because of the company’s CEO’s or leader’s experience, intuition, wisdom and judgment. CEO and leaders will carry out task in good manner in every situation if the company has a good vision.

The Learning School

The Learning School considers strategy making as an emergent process. In learning school the management always checks to know the things which might work and which might not work and learning is applied to plan their course of action. Learning everything at once is difficult hence this school considers step-by-step learning as a good idea. In strategy making process, learning school helps to tackle with complexity and unpredictability.

Week 2

Strategic Management

Strategic management consists of the analysis, decisions, and actions undertaken by the organization so that they can create and maintain competitive advantages. There two main elements that go to the heart in the field of strategic management. First, the strategic management of an organization undertakes three ongoing processes: analysis, decisions and actions. Strategic management is concerned with the analysis of strategic goals as well as internal and external analysis of the organization’s environment. Another one is that strategic decisions must be made by the leaders. These decisions cover two basic questions. They are:  What industries should we compete in? And How should we compete in those industries?  It involves the domestic and international operations of the organization.  And last are the actions that should be undertaken since decisions taken are not that useful unless it is acted upon.  Organizations must take correct actions to implement their strategies.  For this, the leaders should must use proper and correct resources so that they achieve what their strategies were really made for.

Second element is that the study of strategic management is important to find out the reasons for why some of the organizations do better than the others.  So it is very important for the managers of the organizations to decide how the organization should compete so that they can gain advantages which can be enjoyed by the firm for longer period. It focuses on two fundamental questions. They are: how should the firm compete in a marketplace to achieve competitive advantage? And how can the organization competitive advantages in the marketplace that are not only unique and valuable but also difficult for competitors to copy or substitute?

Therefore, we can say that strategic management is a process which consists of set of decisions which is usually made by the managers which is useful to determine the long-run and success of the organization. It involves the process of analysis of internal and external environment, long term planning or strategy, implementation of strategy and evaluation.

Similarities between Business Strategy and Military Strategy

On the basis of experience, in business strategy, leaders of the business cannot make correct strategies without experience to survive in the competitive corporate world whereas in military strategy, military officers should must be experienced so that they can survive in war and maintain their security as well.

On the basis of extensive preparation, in business strategy, the business leaders should must be well prepared to create and implement successful strategies and in military strategy, extensive preparation is important in military perspective.

On the basis of SWOT analysis, in business strategy, proper analysis of the businesses’ strengths and opportunities and as well as their weaknesses and threats is required so that they can stand out from their competitors and in military strategy, SWOT analysis is needed to own self and enemy.

Difference between Business Strategy and Military Strategy

On the basis of purpose, the main purpose of business strategy is to maximize the value of the shareholders and the main purpose of military strategy is to maintain their security.

On the basis of success, in business strategy success is required so that the business can survive in competitive market and in military strategy, success is essential to survive in war and maintain security.

Strategic Analysis

Strategic analysis is the method about observing and looking what is happening and what will happen outside the organization in present and in future. It tackles with two basic questions: how you are going to be affected by what is happening? And how will you respond to those changes.

Strategic analysis helps to predict what might happen, evaluate how likely it is to happen and prepare for the happening. It will lead to clear and more relevant goals, better quality decisions, and a more secure future as it prepares you for what will happen.

It is also known as “external environmental analysis” since it is an important phase in strategic planning. It is the connection between making right direction and making the right decisions. Better decisions can be made only if one is able to understand the outside influence to which may have to tackle with in future.You will make better decisions if you understand the influences from the outside world to which you might have to respond in the future.

     Strategic development

      

      Strategy development is even known as strategic planning and is important to create and run a business. In simple words it is like a game plan in which specific goals and objectives are set but they have the capability of being changed according to the changing competitive market. Hence, the managers have to change their strategy as the changes occur in technologies, flow of information, competition and political changes. Managers should be flexible so that they can make changes to be successful. There are four components of strategic development and they are: awareness, planning, development and results.

     Strategic Implementation

     

     Strategic implementation is the process of developing, utilizing and integrating the overall organization’s structure in order to pursue the strategy made and gain its competitive advantage. Strategies made in an organization are not useful unless it is implemented into actions as it is planned. Therefore, strategy implementation is an important process.

Experience with today’s case study

The case study that we had to do was kind of confusing and hard when I first started reading. It was about UK and how towns there had developed. After a bit if individual and group work I was able to answer the questions.  

CASE STUDY: TEXAS IN THE SHIRES

Question1. I think the cities like Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Swindon  are growing rapidly because of following reasons:

1.    They are connected with motorways to London.

2.     Swindon and Peterborough are located near Cambridge and oxford. In addition, different developing activities took place in these places.

3.     Likewise, these cities advertised about them to attract families and businesses.

4.     There are large lands available where roads and building sites can be constructed.

5.      Companies like Amazon are attracted to these cities due to good motorways and closeness to railways.

     

Question 2. The strategy can be called mad because they are moving away from the homely suburban feel that they are known for. It is funny that most of the development activities have been carried out by the immigrants. In addition the construction works are also polluting the environment.

Question 3. These cities are trying to attract universities students and therefore establishing different restaturants, bars, hotels and college. This is a very good strategy because students from different part of the UK who belong to different culture will migrate to these cities. This not only increases love and respect to each other but also helps promote deiversity.

      Question 4. Yes, I would love to live in any of these three towns because they have everything from cheap housings to motor ways and road ways to nearest big cities. The diversity in culture, religion and language makes these cities even amazing. In the same way the business and employment opportunities is one of the main reasons why I would like to live in these towns.