Strategy Management

Introduction

What is strategy?

A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a vision

- The science or art of combining and employing the means of war in planning and directing
large military movements and operations.
- “Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term: which achieves
advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a challenging
environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations.
- strategy is a clear set of plans, actions, and goals that outlines how a business will compete
in a particular market, or markets, with a product or number of products or services.
Business strategy is a clear set of plans, actions, and goals that outlines how a business will
compete in a particular market, or markets, with a product or number of products or
services. Planning and preparing a business strategy, therefore, requires strong skills in
strategic planning and business analysis, as well as a good understanding of functions like
marketing, sales, and distribution. Any business strategy must be:
 Flexible
 Adaptable
 Anchored in up-to-date research
Devising good business strategies involves a number of key elements:
 Leadership vision
 Culture
 Strategic Marketing Plan
 Management
 Systems
 Resources
 Strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or more of the organization’s
goals. Strategy can also be defined as “A general direction set for the company and
its various components to achieve a desired state in the future. Strategy results from
the detailed strategic planning process”.
  Strategy can also be defined as knowledge of the goals, the uncertainty of events
and the need to take into consideration the likely or actual behavior of others.
 Strategy is the blueprint of decisions in an organization that shows its objectives and
goals, reduces the key policies, and plans for achieving these goals, and defines the
business the company is to carry on, the type of economic and human organization
it wants to be, and the contribution it plans to make to its shareholders, customers
and society at large.
 Strategy is a well-defined roadmap of an organization. It defines the overall mission,
vision and direction of an organization. The objective of a strategy is to maximize
an organization’s strengths and to minimize the strengths of the competitors.
 Strategy, in short, bridges the gap between “where we are” and “where we want to
be”.
Where this word “Strategy” come?
Strategy sprung from the need for people to defeat their enemies. The first treatises that
discuss strategy are from the Chinese during the period of 400 – 200 B.C. Sun Tzu’s The
Art of War, written in 400 B.C. has received critical acclaim as the best work on military
strategy, including those that have followed it centuries later.
The term “strategy” is derived indirectly from the Classic and Byzantine (330 A.D.) Greek
“strategos,” which means “general.

what kind of organization started in use strategic management.

 Companies, universities, nonprofits, and other organizations can use strategic management as a
way to make goals and meet objectives.
 Flexible companies may find it easier to make changes to their structure and plans, while
inflexible companies may chafe at a changing environment.
 A strategic manager may oversee strategic management plans and devise ways for
organizations to meet their benchmark goals. 
Nowadays, organizations face with challenges all over the world like environmental changes,
competitiveness and uncertainty.
Environmental problems involve one or more of the following:
1.  Deforestation
2.  Desertification
3.  Rapid Population Growth
 4.  Food Production and Equitable Distribution
5.  Global Warming
6.  Depletion of the Atmospheric Ozone
7.  Acid Precipitation and Air Pollution
8.  Ocean Pollution
Business organizations try to achieve sustained competitive advantage over the rival firms.

Strategic management practices play a vital role both in military and business organizations.

Strategic management of military organizations can be defined as an initiative to

perceive changes in international security environments that are difficult to predict, to adapt to the
changes, and to reform one's assignment and role, capabilities and institution in a dynamic way.
With military planning and doctrine centres on one enemy and the purpose is to design the best
approach that bring the enemy down. The result in business strategy may be win-win or win-lose. A
business objective concerns our means of achieving goals but not on another party's objectives.
Put simply, Business strategy is a clear set of plans, actions and goals that outlines how a
business will compete in a particular market, or markets, with a product or number of products or
services.
Strategic management sets a direction for the organization and its employees. Unlike once-
and-done strategic plans, effective strategic management continuously plans, monitors and tests an
organization's activities, resulting in greater operational efficiency, market share and profitability.
The importance of achievable goals and objectives with detailed tactics to accomplish
them are the same with military and business. Progress is made with offense and not defense is the
same for both business and military. A leader, who makes no mistakes and takes no risks, probably
does not accomplish very much.

For an organisation to achieve its goals, the strategy and tactics must work in tandem. A
company with a strategy but lacking tactics means it has big thinkers without action. Possession of
tactics without strategy is a disorder. Organisations must have strategic thinking and achievement
capability. This leadership experience teaches many valuable lessons in perseverance, teamwork, and
management. It brings to perspective two entities that build’s my confidence and determination in
business.

The challenges businesses face today especially environmental , competitiveness and uncertainty
 We live in rapidly changing times, especially for businesses. Consider that, in a single
generation, businesses have had to adapt to entirely new marketing channels (web and social), decide
how to invest in and utilise new technologies, and compete on a global stage — things that were barely
imaginable to our parents’ and grandparents’ generations.
One side effect of these rapid changes and growth is that no single CEO — or any employee,
for that matter — can be an expert in everything. This was, perhaps, always true, but it has never been
more apparent.
This is why, in my opinion, some of the biggest challenges businesses face today are best met
and addressed with qualified consultants. Bringing on a consultant helps CEOs add the expertise and
skills they need to address particular problems at particular times and can provide the best possible
outcomes.
Just a few of the challenges I see businesses facing that are best addressed with the help of a
consultant include:

Uncertainty about the future

Being able to predict customer trends, market trends etc. is vital to a changing economic
climate, but not every CEO has Warren Buffett-like predictive powers. Bringing in a consultant trained
in reading and predicting those all-important trends could be the difference between a bright future and
a murky one.

Financial management
Many CEOs I know are ideas people; that means they’re great at the big picture and disruptive
thinking, but less good with things like cash flow, profit margins, reducing costs, financing, etc. Small
and medium businesses may not require a full-time CFO but would do better to employ a financial
consultant who can step into the role as needed.

Monitoring performance
Using a meaningful set of rounded performance indicators that provide the business with
insights about how well it is performing is key. Most business people I know are not experts in how to
develop KPIs, how to avoid the key pitfalls and how to best communicate metrics so that they inform
decision-making. In most cases, companies rely on overly simple finance indicators that just clog up
the corporate reporting channels.
Regulation and compliance
As markets and technologies shift, so do rules and regulations. Depending on your industry, it
can make much more sense to bring in a consultant to help with these areas rather than trying to
understand the complexities yourself — and risk fines or worse for non-compliance.

Competencies and recruiting the right talent

Again, a small or medium-sized business might not need full-time human resources or
recruiting staff, but during peak growth periods, finding the right people and developing the right skills
and competencies is the key to a sustainable future. Bringing in a consultant with the expertise to find
exactly the workers you need would be a wise investment.

Technology
As technologies change practically at the speed of light, companies need to innovate or be left
behind but many CEOs started their careers and businesses before many of these technologies even
existed! Consultants can be vital for integrating new technologies, in particular mobile, app
development, and cloud computing.

Exploding data
Grandpa’s generation certainly didn’t have to deal with terabytes of data or worry about what
to do with it. 90% of the world’s data was created in the past two years and managing, keeping safe
and extracting insights from the ever-increasing amounts of data your company produces needs to be
in the hands of a qualified professional who can help you get the most return from that data.

Customer service
In a world of instant gratification, customers expect instant customer service — and can take to
the web to share their displeasure at less than satisfactory service just as quickly. Consultants can find
ways to improve customer service and bring it into the 21st century.

Maintaining reputation
In a similar vein, because customers can voice any displeasure so much more publicly and
loudly than ever before, businesses have to monitor and maintain their online reputations. And while
it’s an important task, it’s one best suited to a third party who can monitor and mediate with a certain
amount of distance.
Knowing when to embrace change
Early adopter or late to the game? Consultants can help CEOs determine when to embrace
change and when to stay the course. Not everything new is better, yet eschewing every change runs the
risk of becoming obsolete. A professional outside opinion can make all the difference in these
decisions.
We are living in an era of constant change for the foreseeable future: change is the new normal.
Preparing for and embracing that change by investing in the right kind of advice is the best way to
meet these challenges head-on.
Competitive Advantage-
Competitive advantage refers to factors that allow a company to produce goods or services
better or more cheaply than its rivals. These factors allow the productive entity to generate more sales
or superior margins compared to its market rivals. Competitive advantages are attributed to a variety of
factors including cost structure, branding, the quality of product offerings, the distribution network,
intellectual property, and customer service. Competitive advantages generate greater value for a firm
and its shareholders because of certain strengths or conditions. The more sustainable the competitive
advantage, the more difficult it is for competitors to neutralize the advantage.
To achieve competitive advantage, it is necessary to understand and establish strategy and
practice the strategic management for the business organization
Understanding Strategic Management
Strategic management is divided into several schools of thought. A prescriptive approach to
strategic management outlines how strategies should be developed, while a descriptive approach
focuses on how strategies should be put into practice. These schools differ on whether strategies are
developed through an analytic process, in which all threats and opportunities are accounted for, or are
more like general guiding principles to be applied.
Business culture, the skills and competencies of employees, and organizational structure are all
important factors that influence how an organization can achieve its stated objectives. Inflexible
companies may find it difficult to succeed in a changing business environment. Creating a barrier
between the development of strategies and their implementation can make it difficult for managers to
determine whether objectives have been efficiently met.
While an organization’s upper management is ultimately responsible for its strategy, the
strategies themselves are often sparked by actions and ideas from lower-level managers and
employees. An organization may have several employees devoted to strategy rather than relying solely
on the chief executive officer (CEO) for guidance.
Because of this reality, organizational leaders focus on learning from past strategies and
examining the environment at large. The collective knowledge is then used to develop future strategies
and to guide the behavior of employees to ensure that the entire organization is moving forward. For
these reasons, effective strategic management requires both an inward and outward perspective.

9 Strategies to Gain a Competitive Edge

1. Charge More
2. Become an Online Influencer
3. Speak at Events in Your Industry
4. Create Your Own Data
5. Niche Down
6. Leverage New Technology
7. Delight Your Customers
8. Invest in Deeper Customer Relationships
9. Create a Killer Culture
1. Charge More
While many businesses think of slashing their prices to stand out, there’s value in going the
other direction. Consider the adage: “You don’t buy a Rolex to tell time.”
Charging more is what’s referred to as “prestige pricing.” It’s used not just to boost margins but
to increase a brand’s image and social capital by appealing to buyers who don’t take cheaper products
seriously.
The only caution here is that your products or services need to be able to justify the higher
pricing you want to command. Don’t be the next Fyre Festival, promising luxury and delivering a bare-
bones experience.
2. Become an Online Influencer
Influencer is a nebulous term these days, but its function as a competitive edge is simple to
understand. The more people who know and respect your company, the more customers you’ll acquire
when these same people have a problem you can solve.
3. Speak at Events in Your Industry
Speaking at conferences, meetings and other events have a similar impact on expanding your
company’s perceived authority.
 Know Your Company’s CEO Claire Lew shares both the monetary and intangible benefits of
pursuing this type of competitive edge: “Of all the channels we’ve tried, I’ve found speaking at events
and conferences to have been the most interesting experiment for us. While speaking wasn’t the
biggest source of sales for us last year (we saw 47% of our sales come from inbound marketing, while
38% came from speaking opportunities)—it’s where our greatest learnings have come for me as a
CEO, and for our business.”
4. Create Your Own Data
Businesses are often encouraged to use data points and statistics in the marketing content they
create, as doing so gives the appearance of authority and credibility. You can be the business they cite.
While you’ll want to adhere to proper surveying and sampling protocols, gathering market data can be
done easily with tools like Google’s Consumer Surveys and SurveyMonkey. Package your results in a
neat format for distribution and your industry presence will grow.
5. Niche Down
Trying to be everything to everybody often has the opposite effect. Take copywriter and
business coach Ash Ambirge of The Middle Finger Project. Ambirge’s site isn’t for everyone—as
evidenced by the “Snark Mode” versus “Censored” toggle switch and blog posts with titles like, “Self-
Promotion Doesn’t Have to Turn You Into a Self-Absorbed A-Hole.” The Middle Finger Project isn’t
for everyone. But for its target audience, the site’s unique tone and niche appeal create an immediately
compelling competitive advantage.
6. Leverage New Technology
Another way to stand out in your space is to use new technology that nobody else is using.
Take live chat, for example. According to Econsultancy, “79% of customers say that they prefer live
chat because of the immediacy it provides,” yet live chat adoption has been uneven across industries.
Adding technologies like this to your digital repertoire gives customers a great reason to shop
with you rather than your competitor.
7. Delight Your Customers
Everyone wants to work with a company dedicated to delighting them. Take the example
of real estate agent Naomi Hattaway , who gives kids a “let’s go look for houses” goodie bag to keep
them occupied while their parents are looking at homes.
It’s a simple, inexpensive option, but it’s one that’s sure to delight the families she works with,
leading to more satisfied customers and more future referrals.Make customer delight your competitive
advantage with a similar approach by giving out (or mailing out, if your customers are remote) swag in
recognition of major client milestones—the way FreshBooks sent giant cookies to those celebrating 10
years of account usage.
8. Invest in Deeper Customer Relationships
Advocacy marketing is a hot topic these days, yet so many advocacy programs stop at auto-
generating referral codes to top spenders.
What if you took things one or two steps further? What if you invested time and energy into
forming real relationships with your best customers—maybe by grabbing a beer together or renting a
suite at a local sports stadium for a small gathering? The business world is impersonal enough already.
Real relationships stand out and create a powerful competitive edge.
9. Create a Killer Culture
As many people talk about Zappo’s work culture  as they do its shoes. And yes, the company
has hit some road bumps in its growth. But consistently investing in creating a killer culture has driven
a number of business benefits.
Customers want to buy from companies that treat their workers well. At the same time, these
companies can attract the best talent. This talent—in turn—goes on to provide great service for the
company’s customers.
It’s a win-win cycle that leads to positive growth and the development of a compelling
competitive edge.
 II. Literature Review

What is strategic management?

Strategic management is the art and science of formulating, implementing, and evaluating
cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objectives. As this definition
implies, strategic management focuses on integrating management, marketing, finance and accounting,
production and operations research and development(R & D), and information systems to achieve
organizational success. The term strategic management is used synonymously with the term strategic
planning. The latter term is more often used in the business world, whereas the former is often used in
academia. Sometimes the term strategic management is used to refer to strategy formulation,
implementation, and evaluation, with strategic planning referring only to strategy formulation. The
purpose of strategic management is to exploit and create new and different opportunities for tomorrow:
Long-range planning, in contrast, tries to optimize for tomorrow the trends of today. Strategic
Management is all about identification and description of the strategies that managers can carry so as
to achieve better performance and a competitive advantage for their organization. Strategic
Management gives a broader perspective to the employees of an organization and they can better
understand how their job fits into the entire organizational plan and how it is co-related to other
organizational members. One of the major role of strategic management is to incorporate various
functional areas of the organization completely, as well as, to ensure these functional areas harmonize
and get together well. Another role of strategic management is to keep a continuous eye on the goals
and objectives of the organization.

The main constituents of a strategic statement are as follows: intent, mission, vision, goals.

What are the benefits of strategic management?

Strategic management is generally thought to have financial and nonfinancial benefits. A
strategic management process helps an organization and its leadership to think about and plan for its
future existence, fulfilling a chief responsibility of a board of directors. Strategic management sets a
direction for the organization and its employees. Unlike once-and-done strategic plans, effective
strategic management continuously plans, monitors and tests an organization's activities, resulting in
greater operational efficiency, market share and profitability.
Strategic management concepts
Strategic management is based around an organization's clear understanding of its mission; its
vision for where it wants to be in the future; and the values that will guide its actions. The process
requires a commitment to strategic planning, a subset of business management that involves an
organization's ability to set both short- and long-term goals. Strategic planning also includes the
planning of strategic decisions, activities and resource allocation needed to achieve those goals.
Having a defined process for managing an institution's strategies will help organizations make
logical decisions and develop new goals quickly in order to keep pace with evolving technology,
market and business conditions. Strategic management can, thus, help an organization gain competitive
advantage, improve market share and plan for its future.

Five stages of strategic management process

There are many schools of thought on how to do strategic management, and academics and
managers have developed numerous frameworks to guide the strategic management process. In
general, the process typically includes five phases:
 Assessing the organization's current strategic direction;
 Identifying and analyzing internal and external strengths and weaknesses;
 Formulating action plans;
 Executing action plans; and
 Evaluating to what degree action plans have been successful and making changes when
desired results are not being produced.
Effective communication, data collection and organizational culture also play an important part
in the strategic management process -- especially at large, complex companies. Lack of communication
and a negative corporate culture can result in a misalignment of the organization's strategic
management plan and the activities undertaken by its various business units and departments. (See
Value of organizational culture.) Thus, strategy management includes analyzing cross-functional
business decisions prior to implementing them to ensure they are aligned with strategic plans.
Strategic management practices play a vital role both in military and business organizations
Strategic management of military organizations can be defined as an initiative to perceive
changes in international security environments that are difficult to predict, to adapt to the changes, and
to reform one's assignment and role, capabilities and institution in a dynamic way.
 With military planning and doctrine centres on one enemy and the purpose is to design the best
approach that bring the enemy down. The result in business strategy may be win-win or win-lose. A
business objective concerns our means of achieving goals but not on another party's objectives.
Put simply, Business strategy is a clear set of plans, actions and goals that outlines how a
business will compete in a particular market, or markets, with a product or number of products or
services.
Nowadays, organizations face with challenges all over the world like environmental changes,
competitiveness and uncertainty.

Especially business organizations try to achieve sustained competitive advantage among the rival
firms
A company with a patent on a technology may be able to sustain its competitive advantage
because rival firms cannot duplicate the product or service the company offers. Even this advantage
may not be permanent because competitors can develop technological breakthroughs of their own.

Why Are Some Firms Able to Sustain Competitive Advantage Over Their Rivals?
Maintaining a competitive advantage refers to a company's ability to attract new customers at
a faster rate than its competitors because its products or services are viewed by customers as being
superior. An advantage is referred to as sustainable if the company can maintain the advantage over
time. In many instances, a company that sprints out ahead of the competition finds that the advantage
erodes as competitors upgrade their products and service offering to be comparable or even better
than those of the leading company.

Flair for Innovation

Some companies are adept at innovating -- bringing new products or services to market that
are an improvement over what has been available in the past in terms of meeting customer needs.
Successful innovation allows the company to attract new customers and also retain existing ones
because they continue to be completely satisfied with the solution to their needs the company is
offering, as explained by Entrepreneur .
To foster innovation, a CEO should encourage employees to express their ideas about
improving any aspect of the business's operations. These good ideas can evolve into innovations
instrumental in maintaining a competitive advantage.
Superior Customer Service
Providing consistently excellent customer service helps you maintaining a competitive
advantage because this leads to higher customer satisfaction. Customers who are totally satisfied
have little reason to consider doing business with competitors. In evaluating which company to do
business with, customers look beyond price and product features to also measure how much the
company demonstrates that it cares about them as individuals with individual needs. A loyal
customer base is extremely valuable, because it represents an ongoing revenue stream.

Lower Cost Structure

If you can produce and market your goods for a lower unit cost than your competitors, you
can build an advantage over time, because you will be able to charge a lower price and still maintain
high profit margins. You may, for example, have a more efficient manufacturing operation than your
competitors or access to lower-cost raw materials.
To compete with you, competitors will have to lower their prices, which cuts into their profit
margin. Less-profitable companies do not have as much cash flow to devote to their marketing
campaigns or product development efforts, which can cause them to fall even farther behind the
company with the more favorable cost structure and higher margins.

Proprietary Features
A company with a patent on a technology may be able to sustain its competitive advantage
because rival firms cannot duplicate the product or service the company offers. Even this advantage
may not be permanent because competitors can develop technological breakthroughs of their own.
Maintaining a competitive advantage requires agility, visionary thinking and a team of technology
experts. Forbes suggests using online marketing tools like Google Analystics and search engine
optimization (SEO) techniques to stay ahead of hungry competitors.

Brand Equity
Your company's brand strength can be a powerful tool to sustain your advantage, for example
if customers trust your brand, and the brand or trademark is more well-known among your target
customers than your rivals' names are. The value of your brand is termed brand equity, which is
accumulated over time through establishing and maintaining an image in the marketplace for quality,
dependability and fairness in your dealings with customers.
Three Stages of Strategic Management
The strategic-management process consists of three stages ; strategy formulation, strategy
implementation and strategy evaluation. Strategy formulation refers to the process of choosing the
most appropriate course of action for the realization of organizational goals and objectives and thereby
achieving the organizational vision. Strategy formulation includes developing a vision and mission,
identifying an organization’s external opportunities and threats, detrtmining internal strengths and
weaknesses, establishing long-term objectives, generating alternative strategies and choosing particular
strategies to pursue. Top managers have the best perspective to understand fully the ramifications of
strategy formulation decisions; they have the authority to commit the resources necessary for
implementation. The process of strategy formulation basically involves six main steps.
1. Setting Organizations’ objectives
2. Evaluating the Organizational Environment
3. Setting Quantitative Targets
4. Aiming in context with the divisional plans
5. Performance Analysis
6. Choice of Strategy
Strategy implementation is the translation of chosen strategy into organizational action so as to
achieve strategic goals and objectives. Strategy implementation includes developing a strategy-
supportive culture, creating an effective organizational structure, redirecting marketing efforts,
preparing budgets, developing and using information systems, and linking employee compensation to
organizational performance. It is also called “ action stage” of strategic management, often considered
to be the most difficult stage in strategic management and implemented strategy requires personal
discipline, commitment and sacrifice. Strategy implementation is also defined as the manner in which
an organization should develop, utilize, and amalgamate organizational structure, control systems, and
culture to follow strategies that lead to competitive advantage and a better performance.Following are
the main steps in implementing a strategy:
Developing an organization having potential of carrying out strategy successfully.
Disbursement of abundant resources to strategy-essential activities.
Creating strategy-encouraging policies.
Employing best policies and programs for constant improvement.
Linking reward structure to accomplishment of results.
Making use of strategic leadership.
 Excellently formulated strategies will fail if they are not properly implemented. Also, it is
essential to note that strategy implementation is not possible unless there is stability between strategy
and each organizational dimension such as organizational structure, reward structure, resource-
allocation process, etc.
Strategy implementation poses a threat to many managers and employees in an organization.
New power relationships are predicted and achieved. New groups (formal as well as informal) are
formed whose values, attitudes, beliefs and concerns may not be known. With the change in power and
status roles, the managers and employees may employ confrontation behavior.
Strategy Evaluation is as significant as strategy formulation because it throws light on the
efficiency and effectiveness of the comprehensive plans in achieving the desired results. This is the
final stage in strategic management. In this stage, managers need to know which particular strategies
are not working well. Three strategy evaluation activities are
1. Reviewing external and internal factors that are the bases for current strategies
2. Measuring performance
3. Taking corrective actions
The process of Strategy Evaluation consists of following steps-
1. Fixing benchmark of performance
2. Measurement of performance 
3. Analyzing Variance
4. Taking Corrective Action 

The first stage of strategic management process includes strategy formulation by establishing
vision, mission and objectives of the organization.

Vision and Mission

One of the first things that any observer of management thought and practice asks is whether a
particular organization has a vision and mission statement. In addition, one of the first things that one
learns in a business school is the importance of vision and mission statements.
A vision statement is a written declaration clarifying your business’s meaning and purpose for
stakeholders, especially employees. It describes the desired long-term results of your company’s
efforts. A vision statement should answer the question “ What do we want to become?”. A completed
vision statement should offer a clear idea of your company’s path forward. Vision statements need to
be written from a customer perspective. They need to do more than identify the product or service a
firm offers.
A mission statement defines what line of business a company is in, and why it exists or what
purpose it serves. A mission statement answers the question “ What is our business?” in other way “
What is our mission?”. It is also the declaration of an organization’s “reason for being”. Sometimes it
is called “the creed statement, a statement of purpose, a statement of philosophy, a statement of beliefs,
a statement of business principles, a statement defining our business”. A mission statement id the
foundation for priorities, strategies, plan and work assignments. It is the starting point for the design of
jobs and organizational structures.

Some of the benefits of having a vision and mission statement are discussed below:
 Above everything else, vision and mission statements provide unanimity of purpose to
organizations and imbue the employees with a sense of belonging and identity. Indeed, vision
and mission statements are embodiments of organizational identity and carry the organizations
creed and motto. For this purpose, they are also called as statements of creed.
 Vision and mission statements spell out the context in which the organization operates and
provides the employees with a tone that is to be followed in the organizational climate. Since
they define the reason for existence of the organization, they are indicators of the direction in
which the organization must move to actualize the goals in the vision and mission statements.
 The vision and mission statements serve as focal points for individuals to identify themselves
with the organizational processes and to give them a sense of direction while at the same time
deterring those who do not wish to follow them from participating in the organization’s
activities.
 The vision and mission statements help to translate the objectives of the organization into work
structures and to assign tasks to the elements in the organization that are responsible for
actualizing them in practice.
 To specify the core structure on which the organizational edifice stands and to help in the
translation of objectives into actionable cost, performance, and time related measures.
 Finally, vision and mission statements provide a philosophy of existence to the employees,
which is very crucial because as humans, we need meaning from the work to do and the vision
and mission statements provide the necessary meaning for working in a particular organization.

Objectives of an organization
 Objectives are defined as goals that organization wants to achieve over a period of time. These
are the foundation of planning. Objectives are essential for organizational success because they provide
direction; aid in evaluation; create synergy; reveal priorities; focus coordination; and provide a basis
for planning, organizing, motivating and controlling activities. Objectives should be challenging,
measurable, consistent, reasonable and clear.
Strategies are the means by which long-term objectives will be achieved. Annual objectives are
short-term objectives that organizations must achieve to reach long-term objectives. A set of annual
objectives is needed for each long-term objective.
Policies are the means by which annual objectives will be achieved. Formulation of objectives is
the task of top-level management. Effective objectives have following features-
 These are not single for an organization, but multiple.
 Objectives should be both short-term as well as long-term.
 Objectives must respond and react to changes in environment, i.e., they must be flexible.
 These must be feasible, realistic and operational.

It is necessary to take into account the business ethics and corporate social responsibility in setting
organization’s vision and mission statement.

Ethics
Business Ethics refers to carrying business as per self-acknowledged moral standards. It is
actually a structure of moral principles and code of conduct applicable to a business. Business ethics
are applicable not only to the manner the business relates to a customer but also to the society at
large. The main aim of business ethics is to provide people with the means for dealing with the moral
complications.
A man or woman might know too little, perform poorly, lack judgement and ability and yet not
to do too much damage as a manager. But if that person lacks character and integrity- no matter how
knowledgeable, how brilliant, how successful- he destroys. He destroys people, the most valuable
resource of the enterprise. He destroys spirit and performance. This is particularly true of the people at
the head of an enterprise because the spirit of an organization is created from the top. If the
organization is great in spirit, it is because the spirit of its top people is great. If it decays, it does so
because of the top rots. Being unethical is a recipe of headaches, inefficiency and waste. Business
relationships are built mostly on mutual trust and reputation.
Below is a list of some significant ethical principles to be followed for a successful business-
1. Protect the basic rights of the employees/workers.
2. Follow health, safety and environmental standards.
3. Continuously improvise the products, operations and production facilities to optimize the
resource consumption
4. Do not replicate the packaging style so as to mislead the consumers.
5. Indulge in truthful and reliable advertising.
6. Strictly adhere to the product safety standards.
7. Accept new ideas. Encourage feedback from both employees as well as customers.
8. Present factual information. Maintain accurate and true business records.
9. Treat everyone (employees, partners and customers) with respect and integrity.
10. The mission and vision of the company should be very clear to it.
11. Do not get engaged in business relationships that lead to conflicts of interest. Discourage black
marketing, corruption and hoarding.
12. Meet all the commitments and obligations timely.
13. Encourage free and open competition. Do not ruin competitors’ image by fraudulent practices.
14. The policies and procedures of the Company should be updated regularly.
15. Maintain confidentiality of personal data and proprietary records held by the company.
16. Do not accept child labour, forced labour or any other human right abuses.

Corporate Social Responsibility ( CSR )

Social responsibility is defined as the obligation and commitment of managers to take steps for
protecting and improving society’s welfare along with protecting their own interest. The managers
must have social responsibility because of the following reasons:The first social responsibility of any
business must be to make enough profit to cover the costs of the future because if it’s not achieved, no
other social responsibility can be met. No social need can be met if the firm fails.
1. Organizational Resources 
2. Precautionary measure 
3. Moral Obligation
4. Efficient and Effective Employees 
5. Better Organizational Environment 

You should describe about SWOT analysis from your text books
 Organizational environment consists of both external and internal factors. Environmental
scanning refers to possession and utilization of information about occasions, patterns, trends, and
relationships within an organization’s internal and external environment.

It helps the managers to decide the future path of the organization. Scanning must identify the
threats and opportunities existing in the environment. While strategy formulation, an organization must
take advantage of the opportunities and minimize the threats. A threat for one organization may be an
opportunity for another.

Internal Analysis ( Strengths and weaknesses )

Internal analysis of the environment is the first step of environment scanning. Organizations
should observe the internal organizational environment. Analysis of internal environment helps in
identifying strengths and weaknesses of an organization. Identifying and evaluating organizational
strengths and weakness in the functional areas of a business is an essential strategic management
activity. Strengths and weakness are determined relative to competitors. They can also be determined
by elements of being rather than performance. Organizations strive to pursue strategies that capitalize
on internal strengths and eliminate internal weakness. Sometimes, it may be determined relative to a
firm’s own objectives.
External Analysis ( Opportunities and threats )
External opportunities and external threats refer to economic, social, cultural, demographic,
environmental, political, legal , governmental, technological and competitive trends and events that
could significantly benefit or harm an organization in the future. External trends and events are
creating a different type of products, services and strategies. A competitor’s strength could be a threat
or a rival firm’s weakness could be an opportunity
This includes employee interaction with other employees, employee interaction with
management, manager interaction with other managers, and management interaction with shareholders,
access to natural resources, brand awareness, organizational structure, main staff, operational potential,
etc. Also, discussions, interviews, and surveys can be used to assess the internal environment.
External opportunities
As business becomes more competitive, and there are rapid changes in the external
environment, information from external environment adds crucial elements to the effectiveness of
long-term plans. As environment is dynamic, it becomes essential to identify competitors’ moves and
actions. Organizations have also to update the core competencies and internal environment as per
external environment. Environmental factors are infinite, hence, organization should be agile and
vigile to accept and adjust to the environmental changes. 
While in external analysis, three correlated environment should be studied and analyzed —
 Immediate/industry environment
 National environment
 Broader socio-economic environment/macro-environment
Examining the industry environment needs an appraisal of the competitive structure of the
organization’s industry, including the competitive position of a particular organization and it’s main
rivals. Also, an assessment of the nature, stage, dynamics and history of the industry is essential. It also
implies evaluating the effect of globalization on competition within the industry.
Analyzing the national environment needs an appraisal of whether the national framework helps
in achieving competitive advantage in the globalized environment.
Analysis of macro-environment includes exploring macro-economic, social, government, legal,
technological and international factors that may influence the environment. The analysis of
organization’s external environment reveals opportunities and threats for an organization.

What are the Types of Business Strategy? 

There are generally 3 (sometimes broken into 4) Types of Business Strategies:
 Organizational (Corporate) Strategy
 Business (Competitive) Strategy
 Functional Strategy
 Operating Strategy
Generally, organization’s strategy can be categorized as
A. A business strategy is a clear set of plans, actions and goals that outlines how a business will
compete in a particular market, or markets, with a product or number of products or services.
When leaders formulate a strategy, it helps them understand their strengths and weaknesses.
This way, they can capitalize on what they are good at and improve on their weaker aspects. It
ensures that every aspect of a business is planned. This means more efficiency and better and
more effective plans. The CEO and the senior leadership team must own the strategic plan. The
board's job is to monitor progress and hold the CEO accountable for results. A CEO with a
strong reputation and many past achievements has built up political and performance capital.A
competitive strategy, often referred to as a business-level strategy, focuses on how a business
unit will compete against competitors within the market. Implementing a business unit’s
 competitive strategy should further the organization-level strategy. The objective of
competitive strategy is to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Another influential source
on competitive advantage is the Resource-Base View (RBV) of the firm, which focuses on the
effective use of firm resources to create competitive advantage. Porter’s Value Chain, and the
concept of a value chain in general, which quantifies activities along the value delivery process.
This provides and understanding or where competitive strategies can be effectuated. The
primary understanding of competitive strategies comes from Michael Porter’s Generic
Strategies, which include:
 Cost-Based Strategy,
 Differentiation Strategy, and 
 Focus (Niche) Strategy.  

B. A corporate strategy will work to establish the overall value of a business, set strategic goals
and motivate employees to achieve them. It is a continuous process that should be carefully
tailored to respond appropriately to changing conditions in the marketplace. There are four
types: stability, combination, retrenchment, and expansion strategy. It is different from the
business strategy because business strategy surrounds and focuses on a specific business unit.
Other examples of corporate strategies include the horizontal integration, the vertical
integration, and the global product strategy, i.e. when multinational companies sell a
homogenous product around the globe. A corporate-level strategy, often referred to an
organizational-level strategy, focuses on vision, mission, values, or purpose of the organization.
It often relates to the company’s core value proposition and objectives that it hopes to achieve
in doing so. It may also regard what the company stands for and how it will be perceived by
stakeholders and third parties. Organizational Strategies are generally broken down into:
 Growth-Based Strategies,
 Stability Strategies,
 Retrenchment Strategies, or
 Mix of these Strategies

C. An international or global strategy involves the tactics adopted in different countries specific to
the markets of those countries whereas, a global strategy is a concept that involves putting
together plans that are unique for the worldwide market. An international strategy is usually the
first approach most businesses take with global expansion: exporting or importing goods and
 services while maintaining a head office or offices in their home country. Global expansion
as a business doesn't have a one-size-fits-all approach. Companies use a global strategy are
 Red Bull.
 Airbnb.

 Dunkin Donuts.

 Domino's.

 Rezdy.

 World Wildlife Foundation.

 Pearse Trust.

 Nike.

D. functional or operational strategy is the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term
capabilities of any type of operations and their contribution to the overall strategy,”
While operational-level strategies cover the company as a whole, functional-level strategies
involve individual departments, functions, or roles within the company. These functional
strategies serve as components to the overall operational strategy.
On a corporate level, the CEO or president are responsible for the implementation of the most
important strategies. Some examples of common functional strategies are production strategy,
debt financing, organizational strategies, marketing strategies, financial strategies, etc.
While operational reporting looks at the overall function of the day-to-day business, functional
reporting looks at the challenges of individual departments. It focuses on the functions and
roles within the company. Functional reporting looks at the operational report to focus on
specific tasks. A functional strategy concerns how a functional division of a company will
achieve its objectives. Carrying out a functional strategy is in support of a business unit’s
competitive strategy through maximizing resource productivity. It focuses on developing
competence in pursuit of a competitive advantage.  Major functional areas include marketing,
accounting, finance, operations), Research and Development, and Human Resources. Three
factors characterize the formulation of functional-level strategies:
 Short-term nature of the objectives,
 How specific are the objectives, and
 Extent of involvement of managers. 
 The functional strategy will revolve around key individuals in the functional area and focus on key
operational aspects in the value chain, such as productivity, pricing, logistics, cost-effectiveness,
efficiency, product design, product branding and image, product-life cycle, etc. 

What is an Operating strategy?

While often included within a functional strategy, an operating strategy is concerned with how the
component parts (operating divisions) of an organization deliver effectively the corporate, business and
functional -level strategies in terms of resources, processes and people. They are at departmental level
and set periodic short-term targets for accomplishment.
 The third part of strategic management process consists of strategy implementation which
designing organizational structure and establishing control system.
 Types of organizational structure
 There are seven basic types of organizational structure: (1)functional, (2) divisional by
geographic area, (3) divisional by product, (4) divisional By customer, (5) divisional by process,
(6) strategic business unit(SBU) , and (7) matrix.
 In this step, organization needs to understand clearly advantages and disadvantages of the
strategic choices, for example, merger, acquisition, alliance and organic organization as an
international strategy or domestic business organization’s strategy.
You should explain about merger, acquisition, alliance and organic organization strategy as well as
their advantages and disadvantages.
Mergers, Acquisitions and Strategic Alliances
Strategic method
A strategic method is the means by which a strategy can be pursued. Mergers, acquisitions and
alliances are all common methods for achieving growth strategies. A merger occurs when two
organizations of about equal size unit to form one enterprise. An acquisition occurs when a large
organization purchases (acquires) smaller firm or vice versa. If a merger or acquisition is not desired
by both parties, it is called a hostile takeover, as opposed to a friendly merger. Not all mergers are
effective and successful.
Table 2.1 Nine reasons why many mergers and acquisitions fail
n
reasons why many mergers and acquisitions fail
o
1 Integration difficulties
 2 Inadequate evaluation of target
3 Large or extraordinary debt
4 Inability to achieve syjnergy
5 Too much diversification
6 Managers overly focused on acquisitions
7 Too large an acquisition
8 Difficult to integrate different organizational cultures
9 Reduced employee morale due to layoffs and relocations

Table2.2 Eleven potential benefits of merging with or acquiring another firm

n Eleven potential benefits of merging with or acquiring another firm
o
1 To provide improved capacity utilization
2 To make better use of the existing sales force
3 To reduce managerial staff
4 To gain economies of scale
5 To smooth ort seasonal trends in sales
6 To gain access to new suppliers, distributors, customers, products, and creditors
7 To gain new technology
8 To gain market share
9 To enter global markets
1 To gain pricing power
0
1 To reduce tax obligations
1

A strategic alliance is an arrangement between two companies to undertake a mutually

beneficial project while each retains its independence. The agreement is less complex and less
binding than a joint venture, in which two businesses pool resources to create a separate business
entity. An example of an alliance is two teenage girls who are best friends and let nothing come
between them. An example of an alliance is when two people who are new to a job bond together and
hang out. The act of becoming allied or the condition of being allied. The church, acting in alliance
with community groups. When managed carefully, alliances contribute to regional and global
stability (and therefore allow prosperity to be maximised).

 The last step of strategic management process, strategy evaluation analyzes the suitability,
acceptability and feasibility of strategy and organization as well as the stakeholders of those
organizations. It is the matching of strategy, structure and control systems of the business
which already establish the firm’s strategy.
 Therefore, the strategic management process attempts to organize quantitative and qualitative
information under conditions of uncertainty
 If the established strategy is unacceptable by the stakeholders or impossible to implement for
real practices or unsuitable in organizational resources, it needs to change the strategy.
Changes in strategy often require changes in the way an organization is structured, for two
major reasons. First, structure largely dictates how objectives and policies will be established.

 Organizations should continually monitor internal and external events and trends so that timely
changes can be made as needed.
 It also consider the stakeholders’ feedback or reaction regarding to the strategic choice for the
organization.
 Sometimes the strategy established by the organization may be intended strategy and emergent
strategy depending on the situations that organization faced.
 Therefore, strategy should be flexible according to the organization fit.
 Strategy fit, structure fit and organization capability fit are essential to strategy formulation,
implementation and evaluation.

Organic Development (internal method of strategic growth)

Where a strategy is pursued by building on, and developing, an organisation’s own internal
resources and capabilities. Example: easyGroup’s creation of a new subsidiary easy Food store –
drawing on internal capabilities developed from its successful startup easy Jet.

Advantages:
Knowledge and learning – using the organisations existing capabilities to pursue a new strategy
can enhance organisational knowledge and learning.
 Spreading investment over time – organic development allows the spreading of investment over
the whole time span of the strategy’s development rather than an immediate upfront payment as with
acquisitions.
No availability constraints – has the advantage of not being dependent on the availability of
suitable acquisition targets or potential alliance partners.
Strategic independence – independence means that an organisation does not need to make
compromises as might be necessary if it made an alliance with a partner organisation.
Culture management – allows new activities to be created in the existing cultural
environment, which reduces the risk of culture clash.

Disadvantages:
1. Can be slow, expensive, risky
2. Difficult to use existing capabilities as the platform for major leaps in terms of innovation,
diversification or internationalization.
Strategic
 III. Empirical Study of strategic management practices

Our Company is Royal Nine Delivery.col.td. Located in Yangon, Myanmar.

Vision and Mission of our company

OUR objective is to become an extension of our clients' business by taking care of all their courier
needs by providing them
Delivery Express Logistics creates, implements, and manages logistics solutions. We achieve excellence with
our superior people, processes, and technology. As a result, our people have challenging, rewarding careers
while providing our customers competitive advantages and sustained value. We are guided by our values of
Integrity, Leadership, Resilience, Excellence, Safety and Professionalism. We strengthen communities and
enhance lives by delivering the things that matter.
Vision
To provide our customers with the most professional, fast, dependable, and technologically advanced delivery
service

The strength and weakness of our organization

The SWOT analysis is your key to setting up a stable organization. The S stands for strength, the W
stands for Weaknesses, the O stands for Opportunities while the T stands for threats.
The huge strength of a delivery service company is that we can always available. Most of the delivery
service companies allow their customers to order products 24/7, usually through their website. This
means that the customers can reach out to your delivery service company at any time and from
anywhere.

Every delivery company has its own set of weaknesses. Make sure that SWOT analyst takes into
consideration.
The world has become technology based. Delivery service companies are trying their best to adapt to
new technology. Those who can’t adapt, end up lagging behind.

For instance, if our delivery service company does not have a proper IT department, then our delivery
service website is likely to crash from time to time. Every minute that is it out of service we lose a
huge amount of orders from our customers. Also, our delivery services have our own smartphone apps
now. If our delivery service doesn’t have one of its own, then this will be a huge weakness for our
company.

Stakeholders expected from our organization

A stakeholder is a party that has an interest in a company and can either affect or be affected by the
business. The primary stakeholders in a typical corporation are its investors, employees, customers,
and suppliers. An entity's stakeholders can be both internal or external to the organization.
Stakeholders can be internal or external to an organization. Internal stakeholders are people whose
interest in a company comes through a direct relationship, such as employment, ownership, or
investment.

External stakeholders are those who do not directly work with a company but are affected somehow by
the actions and outcomes of the business. Suppliers, creditors, and public groups are all considered
external stakeholders.

Kind of strategy our organization want to choose

Our delivery strategy covers everything to do with the delivery of your products - from how you
present the delivery information on your ecommerce website and in your marketing, right down to the
product that arrives on the doorstep.
A delivery strategy will determine how well you can deliver what you promise to customers. It will
help you meet your goals and objectives, as well as those of your customers. In this way, a delivery
strategy is a vital part of any organization's overall strategy.
Strategy is fit for our organization’s structure and control systems

For strategy implementation, what we will do according to our business situation.

The opportunities and threat of our organization concerning the external environment.

What kinds of reaction from our stakeholders

If our strategy is unacceptable from our stakeholders and give reasons.

Should describe as much as possible for our organizational information concerning strategic
management practices that we experienced

IV. Conclusion

Summarize the strategic management practices, it is a significant role in modern business

organization.
Strategic management process entails understanding the strategic situation of an organization,
making strategic options for the future and turning strategy into action. It involves strategic analysis,
choice and execution. Strategic management provides overall direction by developing plans and
policies designed to achieve objectives and then allocating resources to implement the plans. It
involves defining a business strategy with clear objectives, creating clear plans as to how these
objectives will be achieved, aligning business activities to support the objectives, and allocating the
resources needed to achieve the objectives. Strategic management sets a direction for the
organization and its employees. Unlike once-and-done strategic plans, effective strategic
management continuously plans, monitors and tests an organization's activities, resulting in greater
operational efficiency, market share and profitability. Ultimately, strategic management is for
organizations to gain a competitive edge over their competitors.

Entrepreneurs faced with challenges from their competitors global and local basis.

Entrepreneurs face many challenges in today’s ultra-competitive business world. Fortunately,

entrepreneurs also have more resources than ever before to tackle those problems.
The following 7 challenges are faced by many entrepreneurs today. Perhaps you've run up against
some of them already. Read on to learn why each challenge exists, and to get solutions and
workarounds so you can operate your business efficiently and successfully.
1. Cash Flow Management

Cash flow is essential to small business survival, yet many entrepreneurs struggle to pay the bills (let
alone themselves) while they’re waiting for checks to arrive. Part of the problem stems from delayed
invoicing, which is common in the entrepreneurial world. You perform a job, send an invoice, then get
paid (hopefully) 30 days later. In the meantime, you have to pay everything from your employees or
contractors to your mortgage to your grocery bill. Waiting to get paid can make it difficult to get by —
and when a customer doesn’t pay, you can risk everything.
The solution: Budget and plan

Proper budgeting and planning are critical to maintaining cash flow, but even these won’t always save
you from stressing over bills. One way to improve cash flow is to require a down payment for your
products and services.

 Your down payment should cover all expenses associated with a given project or sale as well
as some profit for you.
 By requiring a down payment, you can at least rest assured you won’t be left paying others’
bills; by padding the down payment with some profit, you can pay your own.

Another strategy for improving cash flow is to require faster invoice payments.

 Invoice clients within 15 days, which is half the typical invoice period. This means if a customer
is late with a payment, you have two weeks to address it and get paid before the next month’s
bills are due.
 In addition, more and more companies are requiring immediate payment upon project
completion — and in our digital age when customers can pay invoices right from their mobile
phones, it’s not a stretch to request immediate payment.
You can also address cash flow management from the other side of the equation by asking your own
vendors to invoice you at 45, 60 or even 90 days to allow ample time for your payments to arrive and
checks to clear. If you can establish a good relationship with vendors and are a good customer, they
may be willing to work with you once you explain your strategy.
And if you’re looking for an easier way to pay bills and save money, consider sending checks via
email.
2. Hiring Employees

Do you know who dreads job interviews the most? It’s not prospective candidates — it’s
entrepreneurs. The hiring process can take several days of your time: reviewing resumes, sitting
through interviews, sifting through unqualified candidates. Then, you only hope you can offer an
attractive package to get the best people on board and retain them.
The solution: Be exclusive

Far too many helps wanted ads are incredibly vague in terms of what qualifications candidates must
have, what the job duties are, what days and hours will be worked, and what wages and benefits will
be paid. You can save yourself a ton of time by pre-qualifying candidates through exclusive help
wanted ads that are ultra-specific in what it takes to be hired at your firm, as well as what the day-to-
day work entails. Approach your employee hunt the same way you would approach a customer-
centric marketing campaign: through excellent targeting.

 Once you have a pool of prospects, arrange for a “walking interview” in which you take
candidates on a tour of their working environments.
 Ask questions relevant to the job and to candidates’ experiences, expectations, dedication,
and long-term goals.
 Don’t act like an overlord determining which minion gets to live another day; rather, behave as
though you’re seeking a partner to help you operate and grow your business.

Take the time to seek real references: not the neighbor lady your candidates grew up with, but people
who can honestly attest to their work ethic and potential. Once you’ve picked a candidate and before
you’ve made a job offer, ask them specifically what it will take to keep them employed with you for the
long haul.

 Tell them to be honest with their expectations.

 Provided they do a good job for you, you’ll know what kind of rewards they’re seeking, and you
can make adjustments accordingly: Do they want more vacation? The opportunity for
advancement? More pay? Freedom from micromanagement?
This isn’t to say you have to bend backward for your employees; however, it stands to reason that if
you make expectations clear for both parties you can lay the foundation for a long-term, mutually-
rewarding client-boss relationship.
3. Time Management

Time management might be the biggest problem faced by entrepreneurs, who wear many (and
sometimes all) hats. If you only had more time, you could accomplish so much more!

The solution: Make time

Like money, time doesn’t grow on trees, so you have to be smart about how you spend it. Here are
some tips:

 Create goal lists: You should have a list of lifetime goals, broken down into annual goals,
broken down into monthly goals, then broken down into weekly goals. Your weekly goals, then
will be broken down into specific tasks by day. In this manner, what is on your task list in any
given day is all you need to do to stay on track with your lifetime goals.
 If any tasks do not mesh with your goals, eliminate them.
  If any tasks do not absolutely have to be completed by you, delegate them.
 Consistently ask yourself: “Is what I’m doing right now the absolute best use of my time?”

4. Marketing Strategy

You don’t know the best way to market your products and services: print, online, mobile, advertising,
etc. You want to maximize your return on investment with efficient, targeted marketing that gets
results.

The solution: Find marketing expertise

Again, if you’re not adept at creating marketing plans and placing ads, it’s a good idea to outsource
your marketing strategy to someone who is. At this point, all you need is a core marketing plan: Who
is your audience, and what marketing activities will you undertake to motivate purchases? Give your
planner a budget and tell them to craft a plan that efficiently uses that budget to produce profits.
This is not the time for experimentation. You can do that later, after you’ve established a baseline that
works.
5. Raising Capital

You want to start or grow your business, but you have little capital to do it with.

The solution: Start small

There are many ways to earn funding, from traditional bank loans to Kickstarter campaigns and self-
fueled growth models.

Instead of trying to launch a multimillion-dollar corporation overnight, focus on your initial core
customers.

 Continually work to find new customers, of course, but consistently strive to be remarkable to
those customers you already serve. Word-of-mouth will spread, and more customers will come
looking for you.
 As they do, develop systems and business processes that allow you to delegate tasks without
sacrificing quality. Your business will grow slowly and steadily, and you’ll be able to solve
problems while they’re small.
Think about where you want to be five years from now. Can you get there without help, even if you
have to delay growth a bit while you’re doing it? If you do feel you need funding, however, be sure to
consult an attorney to make sure you’re not giving up too much of your business to get it.
6. Business Growth

You’ve come to the point at which you can’t take on any more work in your current structure.

The solution: Reconsider your processes and roles

Create new processes that focus on task delegation. Many entrepreneurs, used to wearing all the
hats, find themselves in this position once they’ve achieved a modicum of success. Because you’re
doing everything, your growth halts to a stop when it hits a self-imposed ceiling. The only way to break
through is to delegate tasks to others to take yourself out of the production end, and segue into
management and, finally, pure ownership.

7. Self-Doubt

An entrepreneur’s life is not enviable, at least in the beginning. It’s extremely easy to get discouraged
when something goes wrong or when you’re not growing as fast as you’d like. Self-doubt creeps in,
and you may feel like giving up.

The solution: A good support system and focusing on tasks

Being able to overcome self-doubt is a necessary trait for entrepreneurs. Having a good support
system will help: family and friends who know your goals and support your plight, as well as an
advisory board of other entrepreneurs who can objectively opine as to the direction of your business.

One of the best ways to deal with self-doubt is to work on your goals and tasks lists. When you’re
down and lack motivation, look at your lists and know that the tasks you do today are contributing to
your lifetime goals. By doing them, you’re one step closer, and you can rest assured that you are,
indeed, on the path to business success.

Entrepreneurs face many challenges, and volumes have been written about how to overcome them.
Perseverance and intelligence are your allies; use them to your advantage to keep working toward
your goals. Understand that you’re not the first to struggle. Because of that, there are many resources
available to help you get through your darkest days as an entrepreneur, so you can reap the
immeasurable rewards that come with building your own successful business.

Moreover to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, organization’s internal

 To achieve competitive advantage, firms need to constantly focus on the identification of
differential product strategies, building or reshaping core competencies, acquiring unique
technologies, and accumulation of intellectual property, all of which can all be harnessed to make the
company successful in a highly competitive marketplace. Identifying the exact mixture of resources
and capabilities that truly provide sustained differentiation is not easy. These are likely embedded
deep in the firm, influenced by many things, and will manifest themselves as differentiated products,
efficiencies, quality, innovation, or customer service. Some of the major organizational levers that are
highly likely to influence a company's competitive advantage are:

• Leadership - Company Vision, Mission, Leadership and Governance

• Incentives - Reward and Performance management systems

• Organizational Culture - Corporate Orthodoxies and Values

• Organizational Design - Organizational Structure, Globalization, Collaboration Effects

• Organizational Systems - Strategic Planning, Information Technology Infrastructure

These organizational levers represent some of the fundamental control systems that can influence a
firm's competitive advantage. However, due diversity of today's companies, i.e. globalization, multi-
cultural companies, pace of technology and new environmental/economic factors, it is unlikely that a
qualitative model, no matter how insightful, can be universally applied. However, in a given industry, it
would be interesting to build on the study reported in this paper by refining the survey to probe deeper
in certain areas to give more insight into the (i) highly valued traits and strategies of a successful
leadership team, (ii) success factors in a company's culture that provide agility, innovation and
creativity, (ii) success factors for higher trust customer relationships, (iv) development strategies and
use of new technology and (v) human capital management factors to highly motivate people within a
given company.

Organization also exploits opportunities and avoid or prevent the threat from the external
environments
GM105Chapter2_10e.pptx
In addition, organization needs to aware of political and legal factors of nation and should
negotiation , co-ordination and cooperation with the business partners
Political and legal factors are so important because they affect a company in the whole sense,
from their approach to do business, operations, short term and long-term objectives and even their
grand strategy. The Negotiation coordination and cooperation with the business partners relationships
within the realm of external supply chain partnerships. Each unique partnership offers both benefits
and challenges within a supply chain and must be aligned with company and supply chain strategy in
order to achieve maximum effectiveness. So, organization needs to aware of political and legal factors
of nation and should negotiation, coordination and cooperation with the business partners.

References
What is strategic management?
Strategic management is the art and science of formulating, implementing, and evaluating
cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objectives. As this definition
implies, strategic management focuses on integrating management, marketing, finance and accounting,
production and operations research and development(R & D), and information systems to achieve
organizational success. The term strategic management is used synonymously with the term strategic
planning. The latter term is more often used in the business world, whereas the former is often used in
academia. Sometimes the term strategic management is used to refer to strategy formulation,
implementation, and evaluation, with strategic planning referring only to strategy formulation. The
purpose of strategic management is to exploit and create new and different opportunities for tomorrow:
Long-range planning, in contrast, tries to optimize for tomorrow the trends of today. Strategic
Management is all about identification and description of the strategies that managers can carry so as
to achieve better performance and a competitive advantage for their organization. Strategic
Management gives a broader perspective to the employees of an organization and they can better
understand how their job fits into the entire organizational plan and how it is co-related to other
organizational members. One of the major role of strategic management is to incorporate various
functional areas of the organization completely, as well as, to ensure these functional areas harmonize
and get together well. Another role of strategic management is to keep a continuous eye on the goals
and objectives of the organization.

The main constituents of a strategic statement are as follows: intent, mission, vision, goals.

What are the benefits of strategic management?

Strategic management is generally thought to have financial and nonfinancial benefits. A
strategic management process helps an organization and its leadership to think about and plan for its
future existence, fulfilling a chief responsibility of a board of directors. Strategic management sets a
direction for the organization and its employees. Unlike once-and-done strategic plans, effective
strategic management continuously plans, monitors and tests an organization's activities, resulting in
greater operational efficiency, market share and profitability.

Strategic management concepts

Strategic management is based around an organization's clear understanding of its mission; its
vision for where it wants to be in the future; and the values that will guide its actions. The process
requires a commitment to strategic planning, a subset of business management that involves an
organization's ability to set both short- and long-term goals. Strategic planning also includes the
planning of strategic decisions, activities and resource allocation needed to achieve those goals.
Having a defined process for managing an institution's strategies will help organizations make
logical decisions and develop new goals quickly in order to keep pace with evolving technology,
market and business conditions. Strategic management can, thus, help an organization gain competitive
advantage, improve market share and plan for its future.

Five stages of strategic management process

There are many schools of thought on how to do strategic management, and academics and
managers have developed numerous frameworks to guide the strategic management process. In
general, the process typically includes five phases:
 Assessing the organization's current strategic direction;
 Identifying and analyzing internal and external strengths and weaknesses;
 Formulating action plans;
 Executing action plans; and
 Evaluating to what degree action plans have been successful and making changes when
desired results are not being produced.
Effective communication, data collection and organizational culture also play an important part
in the strategic management process -- especially at large, complex companies. Lack of communication
and a negative corporate culture can result in a misalignment of the organization's strategic
management plan and the activities undertaken by its various business units and departments. (See
Value of organizational culture.) Thus, strategy management includes analyzing cross-functional
business decisions prior to implementing them to ensure they are aligned with strategic plans.
Strategic management practices play a vital role both in military and business organizations
Strategic management of military organizations can be defined as an initiative to perceive
changes in international security environments that are difficult to predict, to adapt to the changes, and
to reform one's assignment and role, capabilities and institution in a dynamic way.
With military planning and doctrine centres on one enemy and the purpose is to design the best
approach that bring the enemy down. The result in business strategy may be win-win or win-lose. A
business objective concerns our means of achieving goals but not on another party's objectives.
Put simply, Business strategy is a clear set of plans, actions and goals that outlines how a
business will compete in a particular market, or markets, with a product or number of products or
services.
Nowadays, organizations face with challenges all over the world like environmental changes,
competitiveness and uncertainty.

Especially business organizations try to achieve sustained competitive advantage among the rival
firms
A company with a patent on a technology may be able to sustain its competitive advantage
because rival firms cannot duplicate the product or service the company offers. Even this advantage
may not be permanent because competitors can develop technological breakthroughs of their own.

Why Are Some Firms Able to Sustain Competitive Advantage Over Their Rivals?
Maintaining a competitive advantage refers to a company's ability to attract new customers at
a faster rate than its competitors because its products or services are viewed by customers as being
superior. An advantage is referred to as sustainable if the company can maintain the advantage over
time. In many instances, a company that sprints out ahead of the competition finds that the advantage
erodes as competitors upgrade their products and service offering to be comparable or even better
than those of the leading company.

Flair for Innovation

Some companies are adept at innovating -- bringing new products or services to market that
are an improvement over what has been available in the past in terms of meeting customer needs.
Successful innovation allows the company to attract new customers and also retain existing ones
because they continue to be completely satisfied with the solution to their needs the company is
offering, as explained by Entrepreneur .
To foster innovation, a CEO should encourage employees to express their ideas about
improving any aspect of the business's operations. These good ideas can evolve into innovations
instrumental in maintaining a competitive advantage.

Superior Customer Service

Providing consistently excellent customer service helps you maintaining a competitive
advantage because this leads to higher customer satisfaction. Customers who are totally satisfied
have little reason to consider doing business with competitors. In evaluating which company to do
business with, customers look beyond price and product features to also measure how much the
company demonstrates that it cares about them as individuals with individual needs. A loyal
customer base is extremely valuable, because it represents an ongoing revenue stream.

Lower Cost Structure

If you can produce and market your goods for a lower unit cost than your competitors, you
can build an advantage over time, because you will be able to charge a lower price and still maintain
high profit margins. You may, for example, have a more efficient manufacturing operation than your
competitors or access to lower-cost raw materials.
To compete with you, competitors will have to lower their prices, which cuts into their profit
margin. Less-profitable companies do not have as much cash flow to devote to their marketing
campaigns or product development efforts, which can cause them to fall even farther behind the
company with the more favorable cost structure and higher margins.
Proprietary Features
A company with a patent on a technology may be able to sustain its competitive advantage
because rival firms cannot duplicate the product or service the company offers. Even this advantage
may not be permanent because competitors can develop technological breakthroughs of their own.
Maintaining a competitive advantage requires agility, visionary thinking and a team of technology
experts. Forbes suggests using online marketing tools like Google Analystics and search engine
optimization (SEO) techniques to stay ahead of hungry competitors.

Brand Equity
Your company's brand strength can be a powerful tool to sustain your advantage, for example
if customers trust your brand, and the brand or trademark is more well-known among your target
customers than your rivals' names are. The value of your brand is termed brand equity, which is
accumulated over time through establishing and maintaining an image in the marketplace for quality,
dependability and fairness in your dealings with customers.
Alliances
Mergers &
Acquisitions
Organic
Development