Week 23

11)    In your own words using referenced quotes describe what is meant by the term strategic leadership.

The process of using well considered tactics to communicate a vision for an organization or one of its parts. Strategic leadership typically manages, motivates and persuades staff to share that same vision, and can be an important tool for implementing change or creating organizational structure within a business.

 (Business Directory)

The business world has few leaders who have transformed their companies and the industries in which they operate. Two of the few are Jorgen Vig Knudstorp and Clive Beddoes. (Glenn Rowe)

I define strategic leadership as an ability to influence the co-workers in the organization to willingly help in making the daily decision making in the organization which might help in long term growth and survival of the company.

22)     Identify two interesting similarities and differences between the five elements of Successful and Effective Strategic Leadership model and the Transcendent Leadership model

The differences between the 5 Elements of Successful and Effective Strategic                             Leadership model and the Transcendent Leadership are mentioned in below table:

Elements of Successful and Effective Strategic   Leadership	Transcendent Leadership
1)    Lynch model of strategic leadership believe that with an excellent relationship with both the internal and external stakeholders, the business may be capable to familiarize  to the   change in a difficult situation	1)       Transcendent model is more    focused with the structure of the organization, procedure and the rules
2)        Lynch model is more supple model as it focuses on the development of key skills of employees and emphasizes in better relationship between employers.	2)        Transcendent leadership model have not mention such relationship with stakeholders.

3)     How would you describe Jeff Bezos strategic Leadership style? Is there evidence that he demonstrate all the elements of strategic leadership from the two models? Which elements are strongly evident in the case and which less so?

Over the 19 years Amazon.com has revolutionized the way we shop and all thanks to  Mr. Jeff Bezos.  He tries to  find  the best truth but thinking how might the truth change the situation in the  future,  i  think he foresight things and also  rather than accepting  the similar  and repeating way  of getting things done, he wants to reinvent everything things and get the things done  in a lot better way.

References:

     (n.d.). Retrieved 2013, from Business Directory:                                           http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/strategic-leadership

Glenn Rowe, M. H. (n.d.). Ivey Business Journal. Retrieved 2013, from http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/strategic-leadership-short-term-stability-and-long-term-viability

MCGINN, D. (n.d.). Retrieved 2013, from Havard Business Review: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/how-jeff-bezos-makes-decisions/

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Week 21

      1)  What is an emergent strategy?

An emergent strategy is a pattern of action that develops over time in an organization in the absence of a specific mission and goals or despite a mission and goals.

It is also sometimes called a realized strategy, Mintzberg argues that strategy emerges over time and intention collides with and accommodates a changing reality. The emergent strategy states that the organization is learning as well as working.

  2)    What are the benefits and drawbacks of taking an emergent approach of strategy making?

·         The emergent strategy basically arises from the individuals working in the organization which responds directly to the market forces.

·         The decisions of the individual do reflect the shifts in the taste of the customers.

·         The emergent  strategy gives an idea  about what the market actually wants

·         Emergent strategy does not necessarily needs an organization to be very flexible.

·         It encourages informal communication network in an organization and helps in the flow of creative thinking and ideas within an organization.

                        The draw backs:

·         Might have technical errors due to less research activity.

·         They work just with anticipation and it is not necessary the end result will be perfect the result can be worst.

·         It  normally happens by  chance so  it leads to uncertainty   

33)    Did Honda’s  entry strategy  demonstrate the characteristics of logical  incrementalism.

Ø  Logical  incrementalism  is the  evolution of strategy as a result of experimentation and consensus  (Johnson, 2011). Logical incrementalism  allows strategy to be synthesised and co-ordinated  into a single coherent direction by  using as  many  multi dimensional  input as possible in  the conceptualisation process to shape   the overarching  goals. (kippenberger).

Ø  Yes, I  belive Honda’s entry  strategy  demonstrate the characteriscitc of logical  incrementalism  because  they basically  analysed  the US  (American market)  environment and  also developed the marketing strategy accourdingly  and  they  also  followed  a policy  of the US market region  by region.  Honda  did not  come  up with  a big screen plan,  it  came up with specific goals  and tried  achieving it slowly. US being a big market for  motorcycle,  it  has  already established brands like Harley  Davidson and many  other established ones.  But Honda however being the first timer in  the huge international market came  up wit h very  specific strategy and the applied strategy  did work  for the company  as a  whole and it was able to beat the costly and branded  bike’s market in a very short spam  of time,  very  good quality,  light weight bikes in a  low cost compared to others. They took the risk and  faced the   challenge and  was innitally  change  the image of motorcycle  to the people who had a bad  impression  for bikes.  It’s  not that   they were successful  in the first time   it self there were many problems in the bike’s clutch  failure,  oil leakage  but they  redesigned the bike again  in japan and finally  were able  to  satisfy the customers. Adding up to its collection  of bikes it came up with the idea of big bikes which  the Americans preferred and then launched the 500  CC supercubs.

Questions:

1 4)     Was Honda’s entry  strategy  in the US more  deliberate  or emergent?

I think  Honda’s entry  to  the US market was mostly  a deliberate one rather than a emergent one, because they had researched and analysed about the market beforehand  and also differentiated itself  from other  bike manufacturing giants.  Japanese manufacturer had a normal philosophy that high volumes per model  provide  the potential  for high  productivity   as a result  of using  capital intensive and highly  autpmated techniques which  makes it a deliberate  strategy.

If we look  at the other side of the coin,  we  could  see the company  faced several problems such  as  oil leakage and  clutch failure,  which deployed  the Honda’s image  but giving up was  not their  way and came   up with many more new  strategies  to overcome  the problem in the near future.

Hondas’s  main  entry to the US market was when they saw the emerging motorbike market in  the US market and wanted to test if  the Honda bike would turn  out to be people’s favourite, here they  practiced  emergent strategy, they just had a made up strategy for a certain period of time and  moved  alonged  with it  like goinging with the flow. Eventually,  in 1963  a student did a Honda advertisement assignment  and from then the brand  has been inseperable.

45) Do  you  think Honda would have been more  or  less successful if they  had  adopeted a more formalized strategic  planning  approach to the launch.

I think Honda  would have been  more  successful if it had adopted  a  more  formalized strategic planning   approach.  If   I have to have my  say  then I would say that a lot of planning before hand  can  sometimes lead  to  failure as  well because  everything is pre planned and if  one plan does  not work then  the whole  of the idea  can  fail  and become  a flop one and that might have also resulted in  the kick  out of the Honda bikes from  the  markets itself. 

2  6)Which of the accounts  seem  more accurate  and why?  Why do you  think the two differ so  much?

The  second Idea  to me seems more accurate because it is based on the real life  interview with the Honda executive  by pascale, they  have clearly mentioned everything everything  from the start of their establishment in the United States. They have mentioned the smallest details from their visit,  researching  about the market,  the language barriers, the currency  problem, sleepless nights       on  the floors etc  and  all of the facts a real. Entering  into a big market like US market  was not like  getting a candy from the store,  they entered with their front foot first  prepared for all  the challenges and taking full risk  as well always having the fear  of being  a failure  and at  the same time also being hopeful for  a  better prespective  not having  a specific goal but definitely  worked  towards achieving their ultimate goal.

The two accounts differ from  each  other because the first  one states that they had a planned  vision  to  enter the  US market and working towards achieving  their goal where as the second one stated that they happened to enter the market coincidently.

Week;18 Case Study Hewlett- Packard

How can using change kaleidoscope and force- field analysis help an organization to deliver its intended strategy?

Change Kaleidoscope was developed by Hope Hailey and Balogun (2002). It is a diagnostic framework and can be particularly useful in a context sensitive change processes, which one can argue is the case in the management processes. (Stanford University USA).  The kaleidoscope contains of an outer ring  concerned  with  the  organisational strategic context,  the next  ring is the middle  ring which  comprises of the features  of the  change concept/ context,  and  finally  the  third  ring consists  of the choices that can  be  made.

The eight contextual features of change kaleidoscope is as follows:

Time	How much  time is allotted to the organization to  achieve plan or is it concerned with  long term strategic planning or development
Scope	If  it is the change then is it going to hamper the organization as a whole or is it going to effect a particular department. What kind of change is required?
Preservation	If a change is about to happen than what are  the company assets that have to  be preserved or protected.  To what extent is it essential to maintain continuity in certain practices or preserve  specific assets
Diversity	Is the staff in the organization concerned diverse or relatively homogenous in terms of its values, norms and attitude?  Are there professionals who identify more with their profession than their organization?
Capability	Is  the organization capable enough to handle changes?
Capacity	Is there enough capital and resources to divert towards the change?
Readiness	Is the staff informed about the upcoming change and are they ready to accept it?
Power	Where is the power vested in the organization?

Force Field Analysis:

Force field analysis is a useful decision making technique. It helps us to make decisions by analyzing the forces for and against a change, and  it helps us communicate the reasoning behind our decisions. (Cralson)

While carrying out force field analysis we should consider the following questions:

·     What business benefit will the change deliver?

·     Who supports the change? Who is against it? Why?

·     How easy will it be to make the change? Do you have enough time and resources to make it work?

·     What costs are involved?

·     What other business processes will be affected by the change?

·     What are the risks involved?

dChange Kaleidoscope for Hewlett Packard.

Works Cited

Cralson, A. (n.d.). Retrieved from Mind tools: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_06.htm

Stanford University USA. (n.d.). Retrieved from Pro Work Project: http://www.proworkproject.com/prowork/change-kaleidoscope.html

Week 17

Can you think of an organization that has implemented a ‘high risk strategy’?

Investing in a small private business/company is regarded as a high risk strategy.  If there is no proper strategy there is very high possibility of a complete failure.

A company is considered a high risk business based on two conditions. It operates within a high risk industry and risk of financial failure exists. So both of the condition might be applicable.

 If I have to  answer about any organization that has implemented ‘high risk strategy’ that has been successful would be SAMSUNG.

SAMSUNG a globally recognized name was founded by Mr. Lee Byung Chul,  in 1938 in Daegy, South Korea as a small export business has grown to  become one of the world’s leading electronics company. Today Samsung’s innovative and top quality products and processes are world recognized.  Through innovative, reliable products and services; talented people; a responsible approach to business and global citizenship; and collaboration with their partners and customers, Samsung is taking the world in imaginative new directions. (Samsung/US). Being a globally recognized brand it is dedicated in developing innovative technologies and efficient processes that creates new markets and continue to make Samsung a digital leader. (Samsung/US)

Samsung have a very simple philosophy that they follow that is to  devote their talent and also  use their technology to the fullest to create  superior products and services that can be contributed to make a society a globally better one. This is the era  of technology that also a very fast moving one so it has become a necessity for a constant change and new innovations no one can think of surviving in the market with one innovation and then full stop, everyone has to keep in consideration the fact that there should be a consideration for a long term goal for its  successful existence in the competitive market.

Samsungs Electronics vision for the new decade is to ‘’Inspire the world and create the Future’’. (Samsung/US)

In the market of smart phones the Apple Inc has been ruling so far with their I phone series and almost created monopoly with it,  it is not a easy nut crack to come in competition with the Apple itself  and here Samsung took a greater risk with coming with the Samsung galaxy series and boom Samsung galaxy was the biggest hit in Asian market as well as the European market as well, it came up with a user friendly smart phone in a cheaper price then the I phone and was mostly  successful in  diverting I phone’s loyal customers to Samsung  and it was a risk well taken. The strategy a successful one.

Now do the same for an organization who embarked on a high risk strategy that resulted in some sort of failure. Why was it a high risk? Why did it fail bad luck  or poor judgement?

Lloyds bank Plc is a British retail bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the big four clearing banks.  It was originally founded in 1765. In 1995 it merged with the trustee savings bank and traded as Lloyds TSB bank plc from 1999. Lloyds bank has an extensive network of branches and ATM in England and Wales and offers 24 hour telephone and online banking services. As of 2012 is has 16 million personal customers and small business accounts.

As we all know how banks work the more customers they have the more money they generate with it. So in this way Lloyds bank opened accounts of almost everyone be that be students  or others  as for other banks they asked  for  funds verification and many other things but Lloyds made things easier for others, but in the future it definitely strike them with a drawback,  and another  issue is they also offered bank loans, house loans, car loans etc  in  cheaper rate. People were easily granted loans with less stricken checked credit history, so people applied for loans but as in the recession period people were not able to pay back the loans and the bank was in trouble that was the same issue with the credit cards as well. So this is a strategy fail for them, they tried to generate income with it but caught up in more trouble. It can  be regarded as the poor judgement of the organization and also  a poor startegic planning as well  which resulted in the downfall of the Lloyds Tsb.   

WEEK: 16

Organic growth:

Organic growth strategy involves strengthening your company using its own energy and resources. This approach to company growth is slower than others, but it has relative low upfront cost. ( (Chron). Which will make it an attractive option for basically to small businesses and also helps in expand their companies not having large amount of capital? 

Merger and acquisition

A merger  or  acquisition  is  a combination of two companies where one  corporation is completely absorbed by  another  corporation. The less important company loses its identity and becomes  part of the more important  corporation,  which retains its identity.

In other words methods by which corporations legally unify  ownership  of assets  formely subject to  separate controls. A merger is not  as same as consolidation in which two corporations  lose their separate identities  and unites to form a complete new corporation.   

Strategic Alliance

An arrangement between two companies that have decided to share resources to undertake a specific, mutually beneficial project. A strategic alliance is less involved and less permanent than a joint venture, in which two companies typically pool resources to create a separate business entity. In a strategic alliance each company maintains its autonomy while gaining new opportunities. A strategic alliance could help a company develop a more effective process, expand into a new market or develop an advantage over  a competitor ,  among other possibilities. (investopedia)

Give an example of a company that has grown through a)  Organic growth  b)  Merger and acquisition   c)   strategic alliance. 

ORGANIC GROWTH

The early history of Bibby Line Group is characterised by organic growth. Starting with seven ships at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the company expanded over the next 20 years to acquire another 18 vessels. Initially it focused on routes to Mediterranean ports, before expanding to support trade with India, China and, later still, South America. Its ships carried many different cargoes, including cotton, sugar, animal hides and many other commodities.

STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

In 1996 Starbucks partnered with PepsiCo to bottle distribute and sell the popular coffee based drink Frappuccino.

Merger or Acquisition

It was a complete and total shock when bitter rivals Publicis  (PUBGY) and Omnicom (OMC) agreed to a so-called merger of equals to create the largest advertising agency holding company in the world

CASE STUDY

Briefly discuss the merger between Britiv and AG Baar. What advice  would you you give to the new board?

The combined entity of both merger of Britvic and AG Barr is called ‘’Barr Britvic  Drinks plc’’. In which the Britvic shareholders holds 63% of the total share and AG Barr shareholders hold approximately 37% of the share capital. (The Telegraph)

The advice I would like to give a new board is:

·         First of all cut off all the unnecessary expenses

·         Focus on research and development before direct investment

·         Good hierarchy system with proper flow of information.

·         Proper advertising.

What are the positive benefits? What should work well?

·         Being an individual  brand before both the drinks had its own customers preferring their drink,  after the merger there is  more chance of the drink selling with both the loyal customers coming together.

·         If you have a  partner sharing risk you spend more,  and it might be beneficial for the company.

·         New  company can bring new taste in the market and can give competition to other flourishing soft drinks.

·         The resources and the technology can  be shared

·         The human resource can  be used to  the  fullest 

What are  the negative  and potential risks?  What problems might occur?

·         The other  partner   can be less enthusiastic because of less profit sharing ratio.

·         Change in  the regular taste can decrease its sales

·         Clash in decision making, and getting more or less priority.

·         The major issue is cutting off the jobs of the staffs working in both the company .

 REFERENCES

(n.d.). Retrieved from Chron: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/organic-growth-strategy-57130.html

(n.d.). Retrieved from investopedia: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/strategicalliance.asp

The Telegraph. Britvic and AG Barr merger.

 

Week: 15 Madonna Case Study

MADONNA  LOUISE CICCONE

1) Why has this artist been so successful?  What are her key source of sustainable  competitive advantage?

Think about her unique resources and core competencies, think  about how  she has responded to changes in the external environment,  why is she so difficult to imitate? 

Madonna Louise Ciccone born on August 16,1958 is an american singer- song writer,  actress, author, director, entrepreneur  and philanthropist. Many of her songs peaked top record charts including  ''Like a Virgin'',  ''Into the groove'',   ''Papa  don't  preach'', ''Like a  Prayer'', ''Hung Up'', 4 minutes etc. The remarkable hyper  ambitious material girl who never  stop re-inventing herself, Madonna has sold over 300 million records and CD's to  adoring fans worldwide.  Her film  career  however is another story. The 1980 was Madonna's boom decade, and she dominated the music charts with a succession of multi-million selling albums, and her musical and fashion influence on young women was felt around the globe.

 She has been successful because of her  transformation in  her music and her fashion sense. The foundation of Madonna's business success has been her ability to sustain her reign  as the 'queen  of pop'. Like it has been mentioned in  the case example, Madonna's chameleon like ability to change persona, change her music genre with it and yet still achieve major  record sales has  been the hallmark of her success and  is seemingly not replicable  by  other male and female artists.  She has always been able to  shock and surprise her fans with her new  image and  new sense of style with her comeback, so people will  always be anticipating what will be her next move or her next style statement-  either that  be her sexuality, her music, or  be  her  sense of style. Madonna  pioneers as one of the most influential celebrity women in the planet.    She has always changed and adopted herself with the change in time and era. Music industry is full of one hit wonders and brief careers but Madonna was one celebrity that remained at the top for decades. Madonna will  do everything in her way- the only way. Madonna has been undoubtedly the most important  women in the history  of popular music  and a great business  women in herself creating fashion, breaking taboos  and provoking controversies. 

Her key  source of sustainable  competitive advantage is as follows

• She always have  a surprise ready  for her fans.
• She is always ahead of others  with her creative sense of style and music.
• She  is always focused in what she does.
• She  has her  strategy well planned  and  uses  it  correctly  and  timely.
• She has a huge number of fan following who  have been very supportive.
• She never misses to create something  new.

2) What  strategy directions could the artist pursue over the next ten years to continue  her commercial success?

Consider each of the four boxes from the Ansoff matrix. What new products or markets could  she enter? How might she diversify or continue to penetrate her  existing market? Try to  think logically  but also creatively and Innovatively.

Over the next ten years the artist can pursue following strategy directions to continue her commercial success:
The Ansoff matrix for Madonna to continue her commercial success:

Market Penetration

She being a brand in herself can easily join in new labels and sign deals.

She can continue and give more focus on working as a director.

New Products and services

She can endorse her own clothing line, makeup, accessories e.t.c.

She can sign up some television shows so as to keep impressing her fans.

Market Development

She should think of giving a concert tour in Asian countries as well so as to add up to her fan following numbers.

Diversification

She can write a book on herself and her success story.

She can establish a Music school.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_(entertainer)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000187/bio

http://www.mtv.com/artists/madonna/