Meaning of Strategic Groups Strategic group is a group of firms within an industry which face the same environmental forces, have same resources and follow similar strategy in response to the environmental forces. These strategies include pricing practices, level of technology investment and leadership, product scope and scale capabilities, and product quality. By identifying strategic groups, analysts and managers are better able to understand the different types of strategies that multiple firms are adopting within the same industry. For example, the restaurant industry can be divided into several strategic groups including fast-food and fine-dining based on variables such as preparation time, pricing and presentation. The number of groups within an industry and their composition depends on the dimensions used to define the groups. The concept of strategic groups in strategic management stems from an observation by Hunt (1972). Hunt coined the term strategic groups to describe a group of firms Continue reading
Strategic Management Concepts
Business Clusters
In a globalized economy, companies can access capital, goods, information and technology from all parts of the world. Thanks to faster methods of transportation and communication, physical location has become less important. Yet, there are geographic concentrations of industrial activities. For example, Silicon Valley in California is reputed for its cluster of computer hardware and software companies. Even though it is a very expensive location, many tech companies continue to perform their key value adding activities in this region. Michael Porter uses the term “clusters” to describe geographical concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular business. Business clusters include suppliers of components, machinery, services and institutions which provide specialized infrastructure. Sophisticated, demanding customers who keep companies on their toes can also be considered a part of the cluster. So can the local government, universities, research centers and think-tanks who play a vital role in encouraging innovation and creating Continue reading
Corporate Governance and Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement
SEBI revise Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement pertaining to corporate governance vide circular date October 29th, 2004, which superseded all other earlier circulars issued by SEBI on this subject. All existing listed companies were required to comply with the provisions of the new clause by 31st December 2005. The major provisions included in the new Clause 49 are: The board will lay down a code of conduct for all board members and senior management of the company to compulsorily follow. The CEO an CFO will certify the financial statements and cash flow statements of the company. If while preparing financial statements, the company follows a treatment that is different from that prescribed in the accounting standards, it must disclose this in the financial statements, and the management should also provide an explanation for doing so in the corporate governance report of the annual report. The company will have Continue reading
The Link Between Innovation and Strategy
Innovation is usually defined as the successful commercial exploitation of new ideas or simply as the successful implementation of new ideas. This encompasses ideas that are ‘new to the world’, ‘new to an industry’ or merely ‘new to a particular firm’. The prominence given to the role of innovation in strategy is to a large extent the result of the prevailing social and economic conditions. In what Peter Drucker – the most influential management thinker of the second-half of the twentieth century – termed the ‘knowledge economy’ that has emerged due to the rise of the service industry and decline of manufacturing since the end of the Second World War, business organizations have increasingly had to react to change more rapidly if they wish to succeed in the marketplace. Indeed, so important is the successful implementation of new ideas that Drucker famously reflected that: ‘Business has only two basic functions Continue reading
Stakeholder, Dynamic Capabilities and Sustainable Development Approaches to Strategic Management
Strategic management is the process regulated and formatted by the top level management in accordance with the policies and the rules of the top level management. These are developed in order to acquire the market share as well as to attain the goals and the objectives in the target market. The strategies developed and adopted by the management are the tools through which the efficiency could easily be enhanced in order to attain the desired goals and the objectives for the organization. Apart from these, there are certain actions which are implemented by the top level management on behalf of the directors and the organizational owners in order to attain the better and effective outcomes. For implementation of the tools and the techniques, organization is required to analyze the internal and external environment. This will help the management to adopt certain crucial set of strategies through which organization could be Continue reading
Role of Strategic Management in the Survival of Organizations
Strategic management is considered to be the collection of the ongoing processes and activities that an organization uses so that to systematically coordinate and align the resources and actions with the vision, mission, and strategy all through the organization. The activities in strategic management usually transform the static plan in the system that provides strategic performance feedback in decision making and enabling the plan to grow and evolve as the requirements and several other circumstances change. Strategic management has emerged as a primary value in helping organizations to successfully operate in complex, dynamic environments. In order for organizations to be competitive in the complex, dynamic environments, the organizations are supposed to be less bureaucratic and should be more flexible. In environments that are stable, competitive strategy involves defining the competitive position and then defending it. With strategic management, it allows companies to be more flexible. Organizations are supposed to develop Continue reading