QUESTION $2[20$ MARKS$]$

Atsmon:

Many organizations emphasize resilience these days. What are your thoughts on integrating

resilience into a strategy?

Rumelt:

In traditional strategy, we studied products, we studied markets, and we studied customers, then we

tried to see where we had an advantage and committed resources there. What that leaves out is

organizational functioning. Some people say, $$Strategy is important, but it$$s really about execution.$$

That$$s silly. That$$s like saying, $$We have a military strategy, but our soldiers are too fat to walk.$$

Execution is part of strategy, of course. Strategy is about what is important and the challenges you

face. If one of these challenges is that the organization is dysfunctional, then that$$s strategic. If your

managers are not managing properly, if the organization lacks the resilience it needs for the business

it$$s in$,$ that is a strategic issue.

Now, do all organizations have to be resilient? No$.$ Some companies are in businesses where things

change almost every week, and they need to be resilient and adaptive. If you have been making

brand$-$name candy bars for $100$ years, I$$m not sure how resilient you have to be$$you are in a stable

market niche with a very stable business. The hard part comes when you see a new opportunity you

can$$t resist$$and that opportunity is in a differently paced world. Then you need more resilience to

deal with attacks and responses and change while also developing a different operating pattern from

the past. That$$s a tough situation.

Based on the above excerpt, identify for yourself an organisation where resilience is vital and

another where it is less so$.$ What role does a management information system play in this

regard in decision$-$making? Compare and contrast the two organisations and their responses

to the COVID$19$ pandemic.