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business
strategic management 5th
Strategic Management 7th Edition Richard Lynch - Solutions
9 Explain briefly why strategic controls are necessary and indicate how they might be improved. Consider an organisation with which you are familiar and assess its strategic controls with reference to your explanation.
8 Devise a strategic plan for an organisation with which you are familiar and identify the main elements that you would control during the period of the plan. Consider whether you yourself can be wholly responsible for devising such a plan or whether you would, in practice, not only need to consult
7 ‘If top management devotes more effort to assessing the strategic feasibility of projects in its allocational role than it does to the task of multiplying resource effectiveness, its value added will be modest indeed.’ (Gary Hamel and C K Prahalad) Discuss.
6 How can objectives and tasks be communicated from senior management while at the same time motivating those who have to implement them?
5 What are the implications of bounded rationality and minimum intervention in developing the strategic process?
4 ‘Nothing chastens the planner more than the knowledge that s/he will have to carry out the plan.’ (General Gavin, quoted by George Day) Discuss this comment in the context of the implementation process.
3 Apply the basic implementation process outlined in Figure 13.1 to the current procedures of an organisation with which you are familiar. Where does it differ and where is it the same? What conclusions can you draw about the process?
2 Does a small company need a formal strategic plan?
1 Compare the Canon and Nestlé styles of strategic planning and discuss why they are different. Is one better than the other and, if so, which?
• explore how strategic planning can be conducted and critically evaluate its merits.
• show how the Balanced Scorecard brings together the various elements of the implementation process;
• outline the main elements of control and monitoring, and investigate their importance for strategic management implementation;
• describe how resources are allocated between parts of the organisation;
• understand the way that the objectives, tasks and timing are implemented;
• outline the nature and limitations of the implementation process;
9 ‘The hallmark of many successful business organisations is the attention given to the human element.’ (Laurie Mullins, author of the well-known text Management and Organisational Behaviour ) Is the human element more important than competitive strategy?
8 The managing director of a large company making bicycles has become worried by the lack of growth in sales, believing the company has lost its earlier innovative spark, and has turned to you for advice. What would you recommend?
7 Why is it difficult to develop reward systems to deliver the organisation’s objectives? How might such difficulties be overcome in a small entrepreneurial business venture?
6 ‘All any company has to do to explore its own potential to become a more innovatory organisation is to see what happens when employees and managers are brought together and given a significant problem to tackle.’ (R M Kanter) Discuss.
5 ‘Every organisation needs an element of innovation’ (see Section 12.5 ). Is this correct?
4 If you were asked to make PepsiCo – see Case 12.1 – more innovative, what would you do? In answering this question, you should take into account the existing culture of the company.
3 ‘If structure does follow strategy, why should there be a delay in developing the new organisation needed to meet the administrative demands of the new strategy?’ (Alfred Chandler) How would you answer this question?
2 What structure would you expect the following organisations to have? (a) A small management consultancy company based in one country only. (b) A voluntary group providing volunteers to visit the elderly and house-bound. (c) A medium-sized company with 1,500 employees, two factories and a
1 Explain the structure of an organisation with which you are familiar, using the elements outlined in Sections 12.2 and 12.3 as your guide.
• explain the formal organisation needed to motivate staff and implement the chosen strategies.
• develop the special organisation structures that are more likely to lead to innovative strategies;
• outline the six main types of organisation structure and assess their advantages and disadvantages in relation to a particular strategy;
• evaluate the importance of changing an organisation’s management style at the same time as changing its strategy;
• understand the basic principles involved in designing the structure of an organisation to meet its chosen strategy;
• evaluate critically the arguments that strategy and structure have a more complex relationship than that suggested by the early strategists;
10 If you were advising Honda Motorcycles about its strategies in the 1990s, what strategic approach or combination of approaches would you adopt? Give reasons for your views.
9 ‘Management theories are judged, among managers at least, by the demonstrable results that they deliver,’ comments Colin Egan. Apply this comment to the strategic routes described in this chapter and outline your conclusions.
8 The learning-based strategic route emphasises creativity in strategy development. Why is this important and how might it be achieved?
7 Why is negotiation important in strategic management? Why is it not better to have a strong leader who will simply impose his/her will on the organisation?
6 For organisations, such as the telecommunications companies, involved in lengthy investment decisions that take many years to implement, the uncertaintybased route forward, with its very short time-horizons, appears to have little to offer. Can this strategic route provide any useful guidance to
5 Some have argued that the survival-based strategic route is over-pessimistic in its approach. Do you agree?
4 Is it possible for the prescriptive strategy process to be creative?
3 Take an organisation with which you are familiar and consider to what extent it plans ahead. How does it undertake this task? Is it reasonably effective or is the whole process largely a waste of time? To what extent does any planning process rely on ‘people’ issues and negotiation? What
2 Why does context matter in strategy development? What are the main elements of context in the case of European telecommunications? How do they influence strategy development?
1 Charles Handy has described recent technological breakthroughs in global development as discontinuous. He commented that ‘Discontinuous change required discontinuous upside-down thinking to deal with it, even if thinkers and thought appear absurd at first sight.’ Can discontinuities be
• decide the extent to which a learning-based strategy is needed as part of an organisation’s strategy process.
• explain the two main elements of the network-based route forward and comment critically on its usefulness;
• outline the importance of the uncertainty-based route forward and comment on its relevance, depending on the organisation’s context;
• identify the relevance of a survival-based route forward in the context of the circumstances of the organisation;
• explain five approaches to strategy development that go beyond the classic prescriptive approach;
• understand the importance of context in the development of strategy;
10 ‘Most firms rarely engage in explicit formal strategy evaluation . . . rather, it is a continuing process that is difficult to separate from normal planning, reporting and control.’ (Richard Rumelt) Discuss the implications for the evaluation criteria explored in this chapter.
9 ‘Merger and acquisition is the most common means of entry into new markets.’ ( John Kay) What is the evidence of success from such ventures? What are the strategic implications of your answer for organisations considering this option?
8 With regard to new, fast-growing markets such as that for mobile telephones, the ADL matrix would suggest that weak and dominant companies face quite different strategic opportunities and problems. Is this really true when the market is changing so rapidly?
7 A well-known German company is primarily engaged in supplying motor components such as car radios and gear boxes to car companies in the EU, such as Ford and Toyota. It is considering acquiring a medium-sized US company as the basis for its first expansion outside Europe. What would you advise in
6 ‘Strategy evaluation is an attempt to look beyond the obvious facts regarding the short-term health of a business and appraise instead those more fundamental factors and trends that govern success in the chosen field of endeavour.’ (Richard Rumelt) Discuss this statement.
5 What are the dangers, if any, of using quantified and precise evaluation criteria in strategy selection?
4 ‘Discounting techniques rest on rather arbitrary assumptions about profitability, asset deterioration and external investment opportunities.’ (Robert Hay) Explain the implications of this comment for strategy evaluation and comment on its application in strategy selection.
3 Japanese companies have tended to favour payback criteria while US/UK companies have been more inclined to use DCF criteria in evaluating strategic options. What are the merits of the two approaches? Can you suggest any reasons why one might be preferred to another?
2 If you were developing strategy for a small company with 50 employees and a turnover of around $5 million, would you use all the selection criteria outlined in Section 10.1 or would you select only some for this purpose? Give reasons for your answer and, if only choosing some, explain which you
1 Using Section 10.1 , what criteria would you consider were particularly important if you were evaluating strategy options in the following organisations: a small chain of petrol stations; a large multinational developing a global strategy; a government telecommunications com pany that was about
• comment on the weaknesses in the classic process and suggest how these might be overcome.
• describe the main elements of the classic prescriptive process for developing strategic management;
• apply empirical evidence and guidelines to the various options in order to assist the selection procedure;
• undertake an evaluation of strategic options in order to select the most appropriate option;
• outline the main prescriptive procedures and techniques used in selecting between strategy options;
• identify the six main criteria that might typically be used to evaluate the content of strategic options;
• distinguish between the content and the process of the prescriptive approach;
8 ‘Good corporate parents constantly search for ways in which they can improve the performance of their businesses.’ (Michael Goold) Is it wise for corporate parents to interfere in the strategies of diversified groups of companies?
7 Using the Nokia case ( Case 9.2 ) as an example, what are the benefits and costs of focusing on one product area such as mobile telephones? Would you recommend Nokia to diversify in such a way again?
6 What are the benefits and problems of unrelated diversification? Do multi-product companies need to find degrees of relatedness in all their subsidiaries?
5 Can small companies benefit from any of the corporatelevel strategy concepts explored in this chapter? If so, which ones and why? If not, then does that mean that small companies cannot diversify?
4 Choose two organisations with which you are familiar, one from the commercial sector (perhaps from work or from your place of study) and one voluntary body (perhaps from a hobby, sport or society to which you belong). Do they ever make corporate decisions – related either to diversification
3 This chapter suggests that corporate headquarters should make the final decision with regard to acquisitions and other major activities. Do you agree with this? What are the difficulties of this approach?
2 Using Siemens as an example (see Case 9.1 ), why would this company choose to acquire other companies rather than grow from within? What are the benefits and problems with such a corporate strategy?
1 Considering the Unilever case earlier in the chapter, does the ‘path-to-growth’ strategy represent an option available only to Unilever or can other companies benefit from such an approach?
• describe the role of corporate headquarters and identify the implications for strategy development;
• identify the levels of diversification in corporate strategy and their implications for strategy options;
• outline the benefits and costs of corporate-level strategy options;
• define and explain the two main elements of corporate-level strategy;
11 It has been argued in this chapter that small businesses can develop competitive advantage over larger companies by offering higher degrees of service. What are the possible problems with this approach?
10 Take a small student society or charitable institution with which you are familiar. What strategic options based on its resources does it have for development?
9 If key competitive resources are important, can they be acquired in the space of a few months or do they take years to develop? What are the implications of your response for the development of competitive advantage?
8 ‘During the 1990s, top executives will be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible.’ (Gary Hamel and C K Prahalad) Discuss whether this is still relevant in the twenty-first century. Was it appropriate in the last century?
7 Identify the probable key competitive resources of the following: a charity like UNICEF; a major consumer electronics company; a holiday travel tour operator; a multinational fast-moving consumer goods company.
6 Choose an organisation with which you are familiar and identify the upstream and downstream parts of the value chain for that organisation. Which is the most important for that organisation or do they contribute equally?
5 ‘A recurring theme to criticisms of strategic planning practice is the pedestrian quality of the strategic options that are considered.’ (George Day) By what methods might this legitimate concern be overcome, if at all?
4 Take an organisation with which you are familiar, such as a small voluntary group, and consider the possibilities of expansion: apply the market options matrix and expansion method matrix to your choice. What conclusions can you draw about future expansion strategy?
3 ‘Generic strategies are a fallacy. The best firms are striving all the time to reconcile opposites.’ (Charles Baden-Fuller and John Stopford) Discuss this statement.
2 Plot the position of News Corporation on the generic strategies matrix. What conclusions, if any, can you draw from this about future strategies for the company? (Note the hint in the ‘if any’ phrase.)
1 Do small firms have anything useful to learn from a consideration of the options available from generic strategies?
• critically evaluate the contributions of all these routes to the strategic development process.
• identify resource options based on cost reduction in the organisation;
• develop options based on the distinctive capabilities and the core competencies of the organisation;
• generate options from the resource-based view of the organisation; • use the value chain in the development of resource-based options;
• investigate the options prompted by the expansion method matrix and their implications for industry-based options;
• outline the market options matrix and its contribution to developing industry-based options;
• explore generic strategy options and evaluate their potential;
• generate options on the environment-based view of the organisation;
• undertake a SWOT analysis;
9 ‘Innovate or fall behind: the competitive imperative for virtually all businesses today is that simple.’ (Dorothy Leonard and Susan Straus) Is this true? Is innovation fundamental to all business strategy?
8 Quinn argues that large companies need to behave like small entrepreneurial ventures to be truly innovative. Gluck suggests that major innovations only come from a ‘big-bang’ push that needs major resources. Can these two views of the innovative process be reconciled? (See references 40 and
7 Identify some recent innovations and classify them into market pull and technology push. Explain how each innovation has been delivered into the market, using the S-shaped curve to show the process.
6 Do you think that the increased use of information technology will affect all organisations equally? Will some remain relatively unaffected apart from the introduction of a few computers and a link to the internet? What are the strategic implications of your answer?
5 With the introduction of the web, it has been argued that this: ‘will give consumers increased access to a vast selection of goods but will cause a restructuring and redistribution of profits amongst stakeholders along the [value] chain’ (Robert Benjamin and Rolf Wigand). Discuss the
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