A term coined by Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel to describe a dramatic change in competitive forces. At that time, the leaders must give up the past, see closely how the industry is evolving and find new ways of competing. This point of dramatic change in the industry is known as Strategic Inflection Point. “a strategic inflection point is a time in the life of business when its fundamentals are about to change. That change can mean an opportunity to rise to new heights. But it may just as likely signal the beginning of the end” Andrew S. Grove, Only the Paranoid Survive. For example, the arrival of containers marked a strategic inflection point in the shipping industry. The introduction of the IBM PC was a strategic inflection point in the computer industry. The emergence of large discount store chains like Walmart and Tesco may well turn out to Continue reading
Strategic Management Tools
Seven Strategy Questions
“The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of the wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong questions.” – Peter Drucker Executing a successful business strategy often requires making tough, sometimes uncomfortable choices. But we frequently avoid making choices in the mistaken belief that we can have it all. Robert Simons, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, addresses this issue in his latest book, Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution. He identifies what he calls the questions that will “stress test your strategy”. The goal of this seven strategy questions is to help marketers identify the weakest parts of their business strategy in order to understand where confusion and inefficiency lie. Simons presents the seven strategy questions you and your team must regularly explore together: Who is your primary customer? Have you organized your company to deliver maximum value Continue reading
Business Model Canvas – Business Model Generation
Business Model Canvas is the most popular tool for entrepreneurs to create their business models. The Business Model Canvas is an analytical tool outlined in the book Business Model Generation by Alex Osterwalder. It is a visual template preformatted with the nine blocks of a business model, which allows you to develop and sketch out new or existing business models. It’s an amazing and powerful too and instantly creates a shared visual language while defining a business. A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value. Using the Business Model Canvas, the business model is defined across 9 key areas. With a central focus on the value proposition facilitated groups are able to quickly capture (i) how the business will actually create the products, (ii) how customers will access the products, and (iii) how the business will monetize the transactions. The nine building Continue reading
Jay Galbraith’s Star Model of Organizational Design
Organizational design is not simply about structure and the resulting organizational chart. It is about the relationships between people, work, formal structures and informal practices and behaviors. It is about the way in which an organization structures and coordinates its people and process so it can benefit from its unique capabilities over the long-term. It determines who makes decisions and how those decisions will be made. It changes the role of the leaders as they become less decision makers and more decision shapers. Through organizational design, leaders become the shapers of the organization’s decision-making process. Organizational design and the resulting capabilities are the last sustainable sources of competitive advantage. Star Model of Organizational Design is a well-known model that has been used for decades to identify the key elements of an organization and focus on the issue of strategy and strategy implementation. Developed by Jay Galbraith, an American consultant and Continue reading
Case Study: A Critical Analysis of Restructurings by Sony Corporation
Restructuring is considered to be the corporate management term of reorganizing an organisations ownership, operations, legal and other structures within in order to make the company more profitable and more organized with its needs to be successful. There are many reasons for why restructuring includes the changes of the owner ships or the organisational structure, or a reaction towards a crisis or a change such as a change in the financial position, the company becomes bankrupt or it repositions or it bought out. Sony had restructured themselves approximately five times over nine years. They have reorganized operation systems, they have restructured management teams, and they have added structures in the purpose to make profits. Due to all their problems they faced, Sony tried to correct them by changing structures and even eliminating some to try solving the problems. Sony has restructured itself firstly by restructuring of electronics business, It has Continue reading
PEST Analysis – External Business Environment Analysis
A PEST analysis is a way to analyze the general external environment of an organization. Every organization has an external environment. The external environment is quite important because it is the environment in which a company operates. PEST analysis is a useful tool for understanding the “big picture” of the environment in which industry is operating, and environmental understanding will bring the advantage of the opportunities and guide to minimize the threats. PEST components are Political, Economic, Social and Technological. The PEST analysis is used to identify forces in the macro-environment that are affecting the business at present and are likely to continue to affect the business in the future. Macro-environmental analysis is interested in factors in the wider environment that influence the demand for the product or service offered by a company; demand for the product or service; the manner in which the product or service is distributed; the Continue reading