The cultural web provides a way of auditing an organisation’s culture. It can also identify possible barriers within the existing culture to change. The web can also be used to describe the way an organisation should look after a transformation. This particular angle is of importance for this management project, because management felt that there was a clear difference between the current cultural web and the desired one within the organisation. Culture is defined in many different ways. However, in most definitions elements like “basic assumptions and beliefs of an organisation or “the accepted way of working and behaving in an organisation” are included. Johnson and Scholes describe organisational culture as: “the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operate unconsciously and define, in a basic fashion, an organisation’s view of itself and its environment.” The assumptions and beliefs are in Continue reading
Strategic Management Tools
Strategic Marketing Tools – Ansoff Matrix and BCG Matrix
Ansoff Product-Market Expansion Grid A useful planning tool in respect of markets and products is the matrix developed by Igor Ansoff, who is regarded by some as the ‘Father of Strategic Management’. Fully titled the Ansoff Product-Market Growth Matrix, the tool was first published in Harvard Business Review, 1957, in Ansoff’s paper Strategies for Diversification. The Ansoff Product-Market Expansion Grid or Ansoff Matrix helps to understand and assess marketing or business development strategy. Any business or part of a business can choose which strategy to employ, or which mix of strategic options to use. This is a fundamentally simple and effective way of looking at strategic development options. Each of these strategic options holds different opportunities and downsides for different organizations, so what is right for one business won’t necessarily be right for another. Think about what option offers the best potential for your own business and market. Think about Continue reading
Exploring the Concept of Sustainable Strategic Fit
Sustainable strategic fit is a concept that refers to the alignment between a company’s business strategy and its sustainable practices. In today’s business landscape, sustainability is increasingly becoming a critical factor for companies to remain competitive and relevant in the long-term. Sustainable strategic fit helps companies achieve their sustainability goals while also driving business value. To understand sustainable strategic fit, it is important to first define what is meant by sustainability in business. Sustainability refers to the ability of a company to operate in a way that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This includes environmental, social, and economic considerations. Businesses can achieve sustainability through various practices, such as reducing waste and emissions, sourcing materials sustainably, supporting local communities, and promoting diversity and inclusion. However, achieving sustainability is not enough on its own. Companies must also ensure that Continue reading
Competitor Analysis
Analyzing competitors is an integral part of strategic planning. Porter’s book, “Competitive Strategy,” gives various insights in Competitor Analysis. In identifying current and potential competitors, firms must consider several important variables: How do other firms define the scope of their market? How similar are the benefits offered by the products and services to those of other firms? How committed are other firms in the industry? What are the long-term intentions and goals of competitors? The goal of competitor analysis is to be able to predict a competitor’s probable future actions, especially those made in response to the actions of the focal business. Competitor analysis has two primary activities, 1) obtaining information about important competitors, and 2) using that information to predict competitor behavior. A competitor analysis should include the more important existing competitors as well as potential competitors such as those firms that might enter the industry. Two complementary approaches Continue reading
The Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM)
The Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM) identifies a firm’s major competitors and their particular strengths and weaknesses in relation to a sample firm’s strategic position. The Competitive Profile Matrix resembles an External Factor Evaluation (EFE) Matrix with a comparison to other organizations and/or companies. The weights and total weighted scores in both a CPM and EFE have the same meaning. However, the factors in a CPM include both internal and external issues; therefore, the ratings refer to strengths and weaknesses, where 4 = major strength, 3 = minor strength, 2 = minor weakness, and 1 = major weakness. There are some important differences between the EFE and CPM. First of all, the critical success factors in a CPM are broader; they do not include specific or factual data and even may focus on internal issues. The critical success factors in a CPM also are not grouped into opportunities and threats such Continue reading
Political Environmental Scanning
Business firms, like people, are touched directly and indirectly by political/legal influences at all levels of government (central, state, and local). These influences run the alphabetic gamut from antitrust to zoning. The scale of central intervention in business is matched only by its turbulence. In addition to serving as regulatory bodies, governments also represent a major factor in the private sector through fiscal policy. Taxation and government spending can represent both opportunities and threats, depending upon the nature, timing, and position of the impacted enterprise. And, of course, fiscal policy can have dramatic impacts on the overall economic climate of the firm. Shareholders are affected by government interventions in a variety of ways. Changes in tax structures can affect tax exposure on corporate payouts when treatments of capital recovery versus earnings distributions are considered. To the extent that corporations themselves are shareholders, inter-corporate shareholding can be can affect the “tradability” Continue reading