Concept of Dynamic Capabilities of a Firm A dynamic capability refers to company’s ability to integrate, build and transform internal and external competencies. They can help an organization to achieve innovative forms of competitive advantage through integration, building and transformation of internal and external competencies, as to respond to changes in the environment. This management theory was defined by David Teece, Gary Pisano, and Amy Shuen in their 1997 paper Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management. In the context of achieving organizational change, aligned to the external pressure: namely, these capabilities are perceived as business processes that use resources — specifically the processes of integration, restructuring, acquisition and release resources — to adapt or create market changes. Dynamic capabilities are especially helpful in explaining the sources of competitive advantage in extremely volatile markets. Dynamic capabilities are determined by organizational and managerial processes, positions and paths. The organizational and managerial processes refer Continue reading
Strategic Management Tools
Internal-External (IE) Matrix
The Internal-External (IE) Matrix positions an organization’s various divisions in a nine cell matrix. The IE Matrix is a strategic management tool which is used to analyze the current position of the divisions and suggest the strategies for the future. The Internal-External (IE) Matrix is based on an analysis of internal and external business factors which are combined into one suggestive model. The IE matrix is a continuation of the EFE matrix and IFE matrix models. The Internal-External (IE) Matrix is based on two key dimensions: the IFE total weighted scores on the x €‘axis and the EFE total weighted scores on the y axis. Recall that each division of an organization should construct an IFE Matrix and an EFE Matrix for its part of the organization. The total weighted scores derived from the divisions allow construction of the corporate-level IE Matrix. On the x €‘axis of the IE Matrix, an Continue reading
Business Strategy: The Three Generic Strategies
Three of the most widely read books on competitive analysis in the 1980s were Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy, Competitive Advantage, and Competitive Advantage of Nations. In his various books, Porter developed three generic strategies that, he argues, can be used singly or in combination to create a defendable position and to outperform competitors, whether they are within an industry or across nations. The strategies are (1) overall cost leadership, (2) differentiation, and (3) focus on a particular market niche. Cost Leadership, Differentiation, and Scope These strategies are termed generic because they can be applied to any size or form of business. We refer to them as trade-off strategies because Porter argues that a firm must choose to embrace one strategy or risk not having a strategy at all. Overall lower cost or cost leadership overall cost-leadership strategy, a strategy in which an organization attempts to gain a competitive advantage by Continue reading
Advantages and Disadvantages of having a Mission Statement
Mission statement is a summary statement of a company’s or organization’s purpose about what it wants to accomplish in the larger environment. Mission statement is playing an important role with the overall strategic planning of an organization. All of the strategic planning of an organization should base on the mission of an organization that had been set. Strategic planning include all the long-range plans, strategic plans and also annual plans which include decision making about the human resource management, production and operation, finance and it is also concerned about the marketing planning. A well-defined mission statement is very important to guide people in the organization, clearly defines who the customer is and what services and products the businesses are intended to provide. A good mission statement should contain some criteria. First, a good mission statement should be market-oriented. A market-oriented mission statement focuses on satisfying customer’s needs. A mission statement Continue reading
Strategic Information Systems
A Strategic Information System (SIS) is a system to manage information and assist in strategic decision making. A strategic information system has been defined as, “The information system to support or change enterprise’s strategy.” Simply says, a Strategic Information System is a type of Information System that is aligned with business strategy and structure. The alignment increases the capability to respond faster to environmental changes and thus creates a competitive advantage. An early example was the favorable position afforded American and United Airlines by their reservation systems, Sabre and Apollo. (American Airlines worked with IBM to develop an improved booking/reservation system, and the Airline Reservation Systems (ARS) and the Semi-Automatic Business Research System (SABRE) launched thereafter in 1960. The network completed set-up in 1964, and it was recognized as the largest data processing system in existence. United Airlines developed the Apollo Reservation System, and shortly after allowed travel agents access. Continue reading
Survey Feedback as an Organizational Development Tool
The study of Survey Feedback played an important role in formation and history of Organizational Development (OD). Developed as an organization wide intervention by Mann and his associates (1957-1965), survey feedback is a process in which organizational members complete questionnaires on various organizational issues, receive feedback on the results, then take appropriate actions to address the critical needs and concerns. Though some type of survey method was prevalent in various organizations earlier, Institute for Social Research (ISR) of University of Michigan, USA developed a comprehensive questionnaire for conducting survey in different aspects of an organization. The basic objectives of survey feedback method are as follows: To assist the organization in diagnosing its problems and developing action plan for problem-solving. To assist the group members to improve the relationships through discussion of common problems. Process of Survey Feedback Survey feedback method usually proceeds with sequential activities involving data collection, feedback of Continue reading