Inside an organization there are only cost centers. The only profit center is the customer whose check

Fantastic news! We've Found the answer you've been seeking!

Question:

“Inside an organization there are only cost centers. The only profit center is the customer whose check has not bounced.”
—Peter Drucker (1909-2005)
Goal:
I want you to practice telling the “story of a strategy” for a firm or organization in a brief narrative using the theories, models, and frameworks from class. No single article on any subject can ever be complete. You’ll need to make assumptions and speculate as
appropriate. In some cases, drawing analogies from your own experience may be helpful.
Objective:
Find an article on a current event that you believe is an example of an organization’s strategy. Choose an article on a subject for which you have a deep, abiding interest. A passion for the subject matter and context is crucial for actionable strategic thinking.
The source of the article must be from one of the following sources: Los Angeles Times (business section), New York Times (business section), Wall Street Journal, The London Times (business section), The Economist, or Fortune magazine. The article must be at least 500 words in length. For this exercise, “current event” is defined as “since you have
been enrolled in college.”
Do not select an article that is an assigned reading for class, such as an article listed in the “Library Materials”. Also, if you study with a teammate, each person should choose a different article on a different company.
Print out the article in its entirety. On a separate sheet, answer the following questions. Staple your answers and the article together (with your answers on top), so that you can turn in this bundle as a single unit.
To make it simple, just use a single paragraph to answer each of the following questions.
Additionally, just label each paragraph with the relevant question number, such as “Q1”.
Q1. Why did you select this article? That is, what is its visceral appeal to you?
Q2. Identify the central organization in the article. To be clear: an organization is larger than a single individual, but smaller than an entire society. In some cases, an organizational unit within a larger organization is specifically identified in the article.
Page 2 of 2

Q3. Briefly summarize a key strategic issue illuminated in your article. Also, is the strategic issue chiefly at the business-level (“the core business model”), the product-level (“key goods or services”) or a functional-level (“crucial internal processes”)?

Q4. How do you know this issue is truly strategic? That is, how do you know that the issue is long-term in nature, is organization-wide in scope, and requires substantive change in working capital and/or labor behavior on the part of many individuals?

Q5. Strategy is always “all-inclusive.” Are there any elements from your prior lowerdivision class study (i.e., Principles of ACCT, Principles of ECON, Business Statistics, Business Law) that you think are relevant to understanding this strategic issue? Explain.

Q6. As in Q5, strategy is always “all-inclusive”; that is, we use all skills, knowledge, and abilities at our disposal. Are there any elements from your prior upperdivision class study (i.e., FIN 303, SOM 306, MGT 360, MKT 304) that you think are relevant to understanding this strategic issue? Explain.

Q7. Which specific element(s) (i.e., ideas, concepts, theories, models, frameworks, etc.) on strategy from the textbook (i.e., Chapters 1, 2, or 3) do you think best explains or predicts an organizational outcome associated with this strategic issue?

Q8. Draw an analogy from your current event article to one of the assigned Library articles from class.
Q9. Which of the two strategic measurement frameworks (Drucker’s 15 Principles) or Balanced Scorecard) discussed in class would you suggest be used to evaluate the success (or failure) of the strategic issue? Explain your answer.

Q10. Do you believe that somewhere in the firm’s addressing of this strategic issue that the strategic vision, strategic mission, or values of the organization is likely to change? Explain your answer.