By Comparison with the Other Factors, Evaluate How Important Stakeholders Are in Strategic Management.

‘Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through it’

The key terms that are important in this paper are defined to give a full understanding of the issue. The definition of

way. In this paper, I will offer definition and clarification of basic ideas and terms that are

‘The flame of competition has changed from he smokey yellow to intense white heat. For companies to survive and prosper they will have to have a vision, a mission and strategy’ (Johnson, 2001). The use of strategy in this well known quote from the Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB Peter Elwood shows the importance strategic decisions plan in the modern era for organisations. To supplement this, strategy is theoretically defined as ‘the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieves advantages in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations’ (Johnson et al., 2005). According to this definition, the

Is sustainable competitive advantage possible, and how can technology be used as its catalyst? This is the question that has vexed managers and business leaders for decades. According to Michael Porter, the answer lies in how technology is used. In this Case Study Report, Team 3 discusses how Mrs. Fields, Inc. leveraged technology for strategic positioning. Mrs. Fields, Inc. did not create the sweet snack industry, but it was the company’s innovative use of technology that helped the company sustain a competitive advantage over other companies vying for those same impulse snack dollars.

Strategic management covers enterprise wide strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation. It emphasizes sustained wellbeing of organizations. Why? According to Thomas and Strickland (1996) strategic management

The case study primarily discusses five main perspectives with regard to strategy. They, in essence, shed focus on aspects that are crucial to the determination of a solid platform for strategy definition. The different strategies discussed mainly evolve around the mentioned concepts.

In order for an organisation to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage and increase its profitability, it must consider its internal and external environment. This is where strategic management comes into play as it provides direction to an organisation, assist in the formulation and implementation of key decision strategies and helps ensure that an organisation adapts to the fundamental changes in its environment. (Du toit et al 2011:529). Apple Inc. is a good example of an organisation in an ever-changing business environment. Due to increased consumer knowledge and technological advances, Apple Inc. needs to respond quickly to demand changes in order to stay the frontrunner for innovation and setting the benchmark

Alfred Chandler(1963) defines strategy as ‘ the determination of the long-run goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals’. And Michael porter(1996) sees it as ‘Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value’.

Organisational strategy can be described as the direction and scope of on organisation over a long-term, which benefits the organisation through the planed use of resources within the challenging environment, for the purpose of fulfilling its objectives and

Michael Porter’s five forces model is widely used in strategic management for analyzing how a firm can generate or consistently maintain competitive advantage (Porter, 2008 p.79.). I chose Apple to analyse Porter’s forces on as it has dominated the technology industry and it is arguably the first to come out with innovative and revolutionary products. Even though Apple’s products are expensive compared to the competitors; Apple makes up for this through reliability and quality. Throughout this report, it will show the importance of using Porter’s forces on Apple’s strategic segment of the business.

Technologies have the ability to revolutionize enterprises, making them more customer-centric and giving them the ability to be more resilient in the face of significant and often unforeseen change. The intent of this analysis is to evaluate and describe five specific areas where IT represents a significant risk to a company's competitive advantage. Second, this analysis concentrates on the five specific areas in an enterprise where IT can support and strengthen enterprises' core competitive advantages. Third, one of the five major risks faced by a company is evaluated in terms of how it could be mitigated to reduce risk and deliver significant value to the enterprise. The fourth and final step of this analysis is the evaluation of a one of the advantages, and how it can be accentuated and strengthened to ensure a company's ongoing successful operation. One of the most interesting factors with regard to technology's benefits and risks is how mercurial it can change over time. As Professor Clayton Christensen have often shown in his many case analyses published in the best-selling book The Innovator's Dilemma, there is greater need for agile, value-driven competitors even in the most stable and slow-growth market (Gebhart, 1998). The assessment of several industries in The Innovator's Dilemma underscore just how effective technology combined with creativity can be in creating innovation, at the levels of disruption that Apple achieved under the guidance of

Johnson, Wittington, Scholes, Angwin and Regnér (2014, p. 3) defines strategy as ‘the long-term direction of an organisation’.

Strategy is the determinator of the basic long-term goals of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals.

A strategy is a fundamental pattern of present and planned objectives, resource deployments, and interactions of an organisation with markets, competitors and other environmental factors.