Strategic Management BUSM 3200

These guidelines are provided to help in your preparations for the group assignment. They do

NOT represent in any way “model answers” or a correct approach. Rather they provide

suggestions as to how to proceed with data collection and analysis leading to the completion of

your report. Make sure you read the guidelines provided by the RMIT course coordinator carefully.

1-1 BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

Strategy Evaluation

The final part of the report!

What are you asked?

Evaluate the suitability of the firm’s current business strategy based on the outcomes of your analysis and integration above (e.g., the identification of the firm’s current business strategy and the most significant factors affecting the firm’s performance, and your understanding of business strategy)

4-2 BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

Read Lecture 7: Chapter 11

Strategy evaluation : SAFe

BUT the question asks us only for ONE

SUITABILITY

Read the text pages 363- 371

Then decide what concepts you are going to use

Remember you are evaluating the current business strategy

DO NOT make any recommendations on future strategies!

4-3 BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

Read the paragraph again for section 6

4-4

Evaluate the suitability of the firm’s current business strategy based on

the outcomes of your analysis and integration above (e.g., the

identification of the firm’s current business strategy and the most

significant factors affecting the firm’s performance, and your

understanding of business strategy)

1. Based on outcomes of analysis: means what did

your findings show from your external and internal

analysis

2. Integration above: how would you link or match the

strategies of your company with the external factors

and internal capabilities

3. Consider the most significant factors means the key

success factors for your strategy to work

BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

Table 11.2

This table has lots of rich implications; you can review and decide which areas you can link your business strategy to a selected few of the models listed there. DO NOT write on all!

4-5 BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

Table 11.2 (cont’d)

4-6

From this table, pick two or three concepts and show how your

business strategy for your company could be assessed by LINKING it

back to the given model or concept

BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

For example :PESTEL linkage

4-7

This means that you assess your strategy based on the capability of your

organization to drive competitive advantages by taking advantage of

specific opportunities in the external environment

BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

Key elements of the

business strategy of

Differentiation used by

our firm

PESTEL Factors Political/ Legal Economic Sociocultural Technology

Marketing : Product

development,

branding, distribution

(you give the relevant

examples in RELATION

to what the company is

CURRENTLY doing)

Operations and

Logistics:

Human Resource

Development:

Technology and IT

Others

Example if my strategy is ‘differentiation’

4-8

So in the selected boxes you write some short

bullet points explain how that component of your

differentiation strategy is exploiting external

opportunities arising from that particular category

of PESTEL factors

BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

When you complete this table…

You are in fact explaining how effective your strategy is in meeting the challenges of the different dimensions of the external environment

And from which you conclude the suitability of your given business strategy

You can also link to other models as well……

Five Forces

Value Chain

Cultural Web

Others

4-9 BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

Five Forces Linkage

Go back and refer to my Lecture 5: Business Strategy

See slides 65 - 72 (showing how you link Cost Leadership strategy and the five forces)

See slides 54 - 61 (showing how you link Differentiation strategy and the five forces)

4-10 BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

Five Forces Linkage

4-11

Key elements of the

business strategy of

Differentiation used by

our firm

Industry Five Forces Threat of new entrants Rivalry in the industry Substitutes Buyer Power Supplier Power

Marketing : Product

development,

branding, distribution

(you give the relevant

examples in RELATION

to what the company

is CURRENTLY doing)

Operations and

Logistics:

Human Resource

Development:

Technology and IT

Others

So in the selected boxes you write some short

bullet points explain how that component of your

differentiation strategy is mitigating or reducing

the threat of that respective force

BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

Value Chain or Cultural Web??

4-12

Value Chain: Go and read my lecture 5 on Business Strategy: I showed some

slides on how to link the business strategy to a Value Chain

We can also take the model of the Cultural Web and assess whether the internal

aspects of the organizational culture support and create effective implementation

of strategy

BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS

Linking Differentiation Strategy and Value Chain

4- 13

Differentiation Strategy impact on the specific

activities within the Value Chain

Briefly explain how the chosen business strategy is supported by

the appropriate functions in the VC. This is another way of

explaining suitability factor in terms of the fit of business

operations to the chosen strategy (example differentiation)

BUSM 3200- Strategic

Management (JAN

2013) GDS

The Cultural Web model

4-14

Read chapter 5 of the text. Here you need to show how each area of the cultural

web (internal dynamics) helps the company achieve superior implementation of a

given strategy- whether it is cost leadership or differentiation

The purpose is to

show how the

internal culture is

a major factor in

achieving success

in strategy

implementation

(suitability factor)

BUSM 3200- Strategic Management (JAN 2013) GDS