...* What is scenario planning? Under what conditions is it useful? How important do you think scenario planning is as a context for international marketing planning? Scenario planning is defined as strategic planning method that organization use to make flexible long term plans based on generating a number of “what if” situations and then options on how they might respond to those situations( Keeley, 2011). In other word scenario planning a method for learning about the future by understanding the nature and impact of the most uncertain and important driving forces affecting the business. It is strategy tool used to discover potential future environments in order to understand how today’s strategic decisions will have an impact on an organizations in times to come. The key elements in scenario planning are “creative thinking, imagination, an informal methodology and use of qualitative, subjective information” scenario planning does not predict the future; rather it considers the complete scope of likely forces that might have impact on an organization. These may be intellectual, natural, social, political, economic, cultural or technological. Scenario planning is an important strategic tool for the business. Marketers can make choices through the scenario planning. The options can be screened by matching them to possible scenarios. Scenario planning provides tools for an organization to respond critical changes. It provides methods for understanding...
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...Henry: Understanding Strategic Management The General & Competitive Environment (Slides based on Chapters 2 and 3) Key concepts we will cover: • Analysing the General Environment – PEST analysis – Risk & Scenario Planning • Analysing the Competitive Environment – Porter’s 5 Forces model – Porter’s Strategic Group Analysis – Hypercompetition The General Environment • The external environment facing the organization consists of: • General environment • Competitive environment • The changes that occur in the general environment transcend organizations and industries • The competitive environment consists of the industry and markets in which an organization competes Some Interactions Between Businesses & Their Environment Customers Shareholders & Creditors National & Local Governments Media Suppliers Competitors Business Support Groups Wholesalers Public Opinion The Organisation Foreign Governments Social Activist Groups Local Communities Employees Adapted from K Davis & W C Frederick “Business and Society: Management, Public Policy, Ethics”, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1984 The General Environment • The figure shows the relationship between the organization and its external environment • Other things being equal, it is the competitive environment that has the greatest impact on the organization Figure 2.1 The General Environment • PEST analysis is useful for scanning the general environment • PEST is political, economic, social,...
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...Number: 011-0371 Title: Managing Global Food Supply Chain Risks: A Scenario Planning Perspective A. Deep Business School, Loughborough University Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK Email: a.deep@lboro.ac.uk || Phone: +44.1509 223176 S. Dani Business School, Loughborough University Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK Email: s.dani@lboro.ac.uk || Phone: +44.1509228830 POMS 20th Annual Conference Orlando, Florida U.S.A. May 1 to May 4, 2009 Introduction Food is a fundamental requisite for human existence. An agrarian society shows the simplistic form of existence where agriculture forms the core of the society and is the prime means of support and sustenance. That, however, no longer remains the foundation of most of today’s developed economies where food chains are increasingly becoming complex and multi tiered. The chains start with agriculture and ends ultimately, with household consumption. But the numbers of entities between these ends encompass geographical, economic, political and social extremes. This compounded over uncertainty occurring from natural disasters, climate changes, epidemics and terrorist threats place the food supply chain in a particularly vulnerable position. The recent Chinese milk scare which left thousands of Chinese babies ill after consuming melamine tainted milk powder produced by the Chinese Sanlu Group required urgent action by New Zealand, United States and the European Union to issue product warnings to contain the spread of melamine related kidney failure...
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...2 2.1 The General Environment The General Environment 2.2 Scanning, Monitoring, and Forecasting Changes in the Environment 2.3 Scenario Planning 2.4 PEST Analysis 2.5 SWOT Analysis 2.6 The General and the Competitive Environments Key Work Strategic decision making under conditions of uncertainty Key Work Strategic inflection points and their impact on strategy Tools and Techniques Writing a PEST analysis Tools and Techniques Undertaking scenario planning ➜ Main Reference Schoemaker, P.J.H. (1995). Scenario planning: a tool for strategic thinking. Sloan Management Review, 36(2), 25. Learning Objectives After completing this chapter you should be able to: • Define what constitutes the general environment • Evaluate the role of scanning and monitoring in detecting environmental trends • Apply scenario planning to decision making in uncertain environments • Evaluate PEST as a framework for analysing the macro-environment • Explain the use of SWOT analysis • Evaluate the relationship between the general and the competitive environment 37 Introduction In the previous chapter we looked at what strategy is and introduced a number of different perspectives on strategy formulation. We addressed the importance of values in determining why an organization exists, and looked at how an organization’s values, its vision, and its mission guide individuals’ behaviour by signposting what is important to the organization. We explained the importance...
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...provides superior value to customers at a competitive price or acceptable value at a lower price. What is strategy? Strategy describes the goal – directed actions a firm intends to take in its quest to gain and sustain competitive advantage. Strategy is about creating superior value, while containing the cost to create it. Strategy is not a zero-sum game. It is not always the case that one party wins while all others lose. Win- win scenarios: when competitors cooperate, occasionally, with one another to achieve strategic objectives, we call this co-opetition. Strategic positioning is staking out a unique position in an industry that allows the firm to provide value to customers, while controlling costs. Strategy as a Theory of How to Compete. It provides managers with a roadmap to navigate the competitive territory. A firm´s strategy can be seen as its managers’ theory about how to gain and sustain competitive advantage. (A theory answers the questions, what causes what and why?) These theories have to reflect reality. The strategic management process, therefore, is a never-ending cycle of analysis, formulation, implementation and feedback. * It is the managers´ theories about how to gain and sustain competitive advantage. * It is...
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...emeraldinsight.com/0025-1747.htm Crises, scenarios and the strategic management process David Pollard and Sabine Hotho Dundee Business School, University of Abertay, Dundee, UK Abstract Purpose – The aim of this exploratory paper is to consider the strategic importance of crisis management and integration of crisis planning with the organisation’s strategy processes, in particular the utilisation of scenario planning as a crisis planning activity. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the crisis management literature was undertaken and key issues identified, subsequently strategic aspects of crisis management were developed in the context of scenario planning. Findings – The paper contains a discussion of major factors related to a strategic approach to crisis management and a more proactive approach to building relationships with the media. Particular attention should be given to the roles and responses of the media and agencies acting on behalf of the company, as both should been treated in the same way as other relatively powerful stakeholders. The authors suggest that firms can obtain significant advantages through proactive preparation for major relevant contingencies, and its incorporation into the strategic management process. Originality/value – This paper brings together the debate on the strategic position of crisis management with scenario planning processes to provide a mechanism for designing, evaluating and managing crisis futures. It should prove useful to managers...
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...Mo. 09592010278 Article history: Received 8 April 2013, Received in revised form 28 May, Accepted 29 May 2013, Published 30 May 2013. Abstract: Environmental management, a term encompassing environmental planning, protection, monitoring, assessment, research, education, conservation and sustainable use of resources, is now accepted as a major guiding factor for sustainable development at the regional and national level. It is now being increasingly recognized that environmental factors and ecological imperatives must be in built to the total planning process if the longterm goal of making industrial development sustainable is to be achieved. Here we will try to define and discuss the role of Environmental Analysis in the strategic management process of organization. The present complex world require as far as is feasible, it consider impact of important factors related to organizations in strategic planning. The strategic planning of business includes all functional subdivisions and forwards them in a united direction. One of these subsystems is human resource management. Strategic human resource management comes after the strategic planning, and followed by strategic human resource planning as a major activity in all the industries. In strategic planning, it can use...
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...The role of scenarios in strategic foresight” Article Summary In the context of the global financial crisis and the turbulence that this has brought to the world economy and therefore to organisations, the article “The role of scenarios in strategic foresight” by Gill Ringland published in the journal Technological Forecasting & Social change volume 77 (9) aims to persuade the reader on the need for strategic foresight over the next decade and what role scenarios can play within strategy foresight activities in organisations (Ringland, 2010). The author predicts that organisations in the west will experience a period of great change and that they are mostly ill-prepared to deal with the rate or the enormity of this change. Ringland believes that conventional business planning will need to change and suggests the need to develop a systematic review of organisational practices that will lead to strategic foresight. This will ensure that organisations are in a position to cope and survive changes in their external environment. Ringland begins by pointing out that the current position of the world economy shows that business and government have a significant debt burden that will take years to pay back especially in the west. In an environment of unemployment, reduced consumer spending and debt repayment, wealthy nations will recover slower than developing nations. There is also a shift in international competitiveness due to changes in labour skills and costs as well as technological...
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...Mo. 09592010278 Article history: Received 8 April 2013, Received in revised form 28 May, Accepted 29 May 2013, Published 30 May 2013. Abstract: Environmental management, a term encompassing environmental planning, protection, monitoring, assessment, research, education, conservation and sustainable use of resources, is now accepted as a major guiding factor for sustainable development at the regional and national level. It is now being increasingly recognized that environmental factors and ecological imperatives must be in built to the total planning process if the longterm goal of making industrial development sustainable is to be achieved. Here we will try to define and discuss the role of Environmental Analysis in the strategic management process of organization. The present complex world require as far as is feasible, it consider impact of important factors related to organizations in strategic planning. The strategic planning of business includes all functional subdivisions and forwards them in a united direction. One of these subsystems is human resource management. Strategic human resource management comes after the strategic planning, and followed by strategic human resource planning as a major activity in all the industries. In strategic planning, it can use...
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...printing and copy services • The company has recorded revenues of $25.1 billion with an increased rate of 1.9 % compared with the previous year. Staples Strategic Plan 1. Mission Statement and a Vision Statement. • Maintain their leadership position by delivering their brand promise. Focus on customer service, customer acquisition and retention and providing customers a broad assortment of core office product and services. Focuses on expanding categories beyond core office supplies, copy and print services, promotional products and furniture. Database Upgrade, PeopleSoft upgrade, Implementing Kronos time and labor for timesheet, Ecommerce application support/upgrade/enhancements. • Staples Inc. vision is to be a world’s leading office product. Maintain sustainability and make a good reputation. Staples would open many stores worldwide in many countries to make customer easy to buy their product respectively and want the customer choose their company as the only one supplier office product for their business. Analysts are expecting earnings growth to increase by 5.58% over this year's forecasted earnings. Take over competitors business to get their customer base and provide better services. 2. Statement of Strategic Direction • Execute a market penetration strategy to increase...
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...Chapter 1- Introduction to Strategic Management Overview Strategy: set of related actions that managers take to increase their company’s performance -for most, if not all companies, achieving superior performance relative to rivals is the ultimate challenge -if a company’s strategies result in superior performance, it is said to have a competitive advantage -Ex: Dell’s strategies produced superior performance from mid-1990s until mid-2000s, as a result, Dell enjoyed competitive advantage over its rivals -How did they achieve competitive advantage? -due to successful pursuit of varying strategies: Direct selling, customization and efficient supply chain mgmt. -enabled company to lower cost structure, charge low prices, gain market share, and become more profitable than its rivals -Dell lost competitive advantage in later half of 2000s HP offered bundled products, needed to find ways to sell to intermediaries & Apple differentiation -first step toward achieving objective is to describe in more detail what superior performance/competitive adv mean and to explain pivotal role that managers play in leading strategy-making process Strategic Leadership: creating competitive adv through effective mgmt. of the strategy-making process -strat-making process is the process by which managers select/implement a set of strategies that ain to achieve a competitive adv Strategy Formulation: selecting strategies based on analysis of an org’s external/internal environment...
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...1.0 Introduction Singapore Airlines (SIA) flew its first flight way back in the year 1947. It was then known as Malaysian Airlines, which became two separate entities – SIA and Malaysian Airline System (MAS) in 1972. In between that period from 1947 till 1972, the airline was named MAS when the Federation of Malaysia was born after gaining independence from the British government in 16 September 1963 and later renamed as Malaysia-Singapore Airlines in May 1966. The airline’s key advertising strategy was the “Singapore Girl”, a personification of charm and friendliness where stewardesses dressed in a designed “sarong kebaya” uniform by Pierre Balmain, a French couturier. Stewardesses also wore a standard make-up and hairdo. With its stringent training and modern facility, the airline had since gained great reputation for its service and became the top 10 biggest international airline in the world and one of the most profitable airlines. 2.0 Situational Analysis SIA established in the year 1972, has grown and consolidated its position to become one of the world’s largest and most successful airlines. It is the national carrier of Singapore, which has an international presence, but a focus on the Asian and Australasian markets. It owns an expansive and relatively young fleet of planes (Singapore Airlines, 2014). It’s published mission statement, "Singapore Airlines is a global company dedicated to providing air transportation services of the highest quality...
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...HRA 4210 Work Planning & Talent Management The process of determining staffing levels aims to identify the numbers and types of employees needed to be successful in solidifying the business plans and strategies for an organization. Organizations apply several different techniques to accomplish this task. However, there are ways to implement fundamental building blocks to set a baseline for success; but due to numerous variables, a step-by-step concrete solution for determining staffing levels cannot exist. Consistent within any stage of strategic staffing, it is crucial to understand the overall plans and strategies of the business and what factors are driving staffing. As discussed by Heneman, “organization effectiveness and staffing systems exist, and should be used, to contribute to the attainment of organizational goals such as survival, profitability, and growth. A macro view of staffing like this is often lost or ignored because most of the day-to-day operations of staffing systems involve micro activities that are procedural, transactional, and routine in nature. While these micro activities are essential for staffing systems, they must be viewed within the broader macro context of the positive impacts staffing can have on organization effectiveness” (6). Managers and Human Resources must share a common understanding of the business needs and react through implementing corresponding staffing levels. Only with a common perspective between management and human...
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...Excellence in Financial Management Course 10: Strategic Planning Prepared by: Matt H. Evans, CPA, CMA, CFM This course provides a concise overview of how to do a strategic plan. The entire strategic planning process is outlined within this course. This course is recommended for 2 hours of Continuing Professional Education. In order to receive credit, you will need to pass a multiple choice exam which is administered over the internet at www.exinfm.com/training Chapter 1 Preliminary Considerations What is Strategic Planning? The essence of management includes the ability to plan. As you work your way up the organization, planning moves from operational to strategic. Strategic Planning is one of the principal responsibilities of upper-level management. Once management decides on the Strategic Plan, lower-level managers implement the Strategic Plan through an Operating Plan. Strategic Planning attempts to answer a very fundamental question: Where do we want to be one year from now, two years from now, three years from now, etc.? Strategic Planning requires that an organization develop a vision of itself - how do we see ourselves in the future? Strategic Planning looks at the big picture from a long-range perspective whereas the Operating Plan represents the specific tactics for carrying out the Strategic Plan year to year. Strategic Planning is a process whereby an organization makes choices about: ▪...
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...MBA 685 Corporate Strategy Strategic thinking What is strategic thinking? The term ‘strategic’ has become a much over-used word in business today. You may have observed that the term is increasingly attached to people’s job titles and is used to dignify roles and elevate the status of projects that might otherwise not be regarded as sufficiently important. The dilution of the term strategic is unfortunate because one of the key functions of general managers in all organisations is to engage in strategic thinking. Strategy has a long heritage. The word ‘strategy’ comes from the Greek word for generalship. This betrays the origins of strategy, which lie in the military. Indeed, long before companies were said to have strategies, strategy was a well-developed art within the military sphere. The first writer on strategy is generally held to be the Chinese philosopher, Sun Tzu, whose most popular work, The Art of War, is widely read to this day (Sun Tzu, 2005). In Sun Tzu’s view, the art of generalship was about outmanoeuvring your opponent, convincing them that you were strong in places where you were weak and, conversely, that you were weak in places where you were strong. It was about luring the opposition into a position of weakness before battle was engaged, so that even if you possessed weaker forces, you could overcome the enemy through guile and cunning. Military writers often make a distinction between strategic decisions and tactical decision-making...
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