Innovation Phase Assessment Summary

Winston Churchill once stated “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results”. The current business environment is rapidly evolving due to the pressures of changing technology as well as the increasing demands firms are under to expand regionally and globally. Successful organizations in this often chaotic and changing environment must continually scan their internal and external conditions in order to respond proactively to market conditions and new trends. Firm leadership needs to not only have a vision for the organization’s future but also the ability to critically analyze the internal processes and structure of the firm in comparison to the outcomes or results of the firm’s current orientation. Strategy and vision are meaningless if the way they are being executed does not provide the organization a sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore it is critical that firm leadership examine how their organization is implementing their strategy to determine its effectiveness and results.

This paper will discuss some of the primary components of a strategic management process, while also explain why the process is crucial for a company success. This paper in addition will evaluate one organization that uses the strategic management process to accomplish their short-term, long-term goals, and objectives of the firm’s (University of Phoenix. (2015).

The past decade was branded with changes and events which placed huge pressure on companies in all industries, it concluded with a trend of essential organisational changes among companies with an aim of strategic repositioning at the market and developing strategic opportunities and/or benefiting from the core capabilities. It resulted to the area of organisational change and transformation being a huge interest among researchers of Strategic Management.

Strategic Innovation takes the road less traveled – it challenges an organization to look beyond its established business boundaries and mental models and to participate in an open-minded, creative exploration of the realm of possibilities. “All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.” – Sun Tzu Some organizations may feel that seeking breakthroughs is too grandiose a goal, and that they would be content with “simply growing the business”. Experience shows, however, that focusing on the short-term typically yields only short-term results – while teams aspiring to seek significant breakthroughs will both identify “big ideas” and also generate closer-in, incremental ideas.

At some point it becomes necessary for an organization to undergo changes. If embracing change is truly one of the organizations core beliefs than efforts should be taken to make the necessary transition. A strategic planning structure allows the organization to stay focused on plans, yet be flexible and adaptive and, therefore, able to deal with change effectively (Galbraith, et al., 2001, pg. 38).”

When discussing business with friends and family, the knowledge expressed concerning how businesses succeed can be surprising. People are often on the outside looking in and do not realize how practices have changed over the years. From the 1960’s, businesses have begun to analyze competition in markets, strategic leadership, along with the social responsibility of the corporation (Guerras-Martin, Madhok, & Montoro-Sanchez, 2014). In addition, the incorporation of web-sites and computer interaction has also greatly influenced business practices. Strategic management can be described as the actions demonstrated by top management to evaluate internal and external environments of an organization in order to set goals and oversee them (Parnell, 2008). Businesses of today must exemplify the ability to be competitive in addition to realizing inner strengths and weaknesses. In addition, this writer would continue the conversation, describing the importance of a plan,

If an organization is not continuously alert to change in the environments it is surrounded by it will most likely end up like the countless failed and bankrupt organizations that have littered the economy over the past few decades. Just being cognizant of the ever present need for change does not ensure success however, having the ability to, as John Kotter puts it, Make it Stick, is crucial to survive in the current evolving world we live in (Kotter & Rathgeber, Our Iceberg Is Melting, 2005). That is exactly what we will examine in this paper, some of the numerous ways to sustain change.

Organisational development is often seen as being the more conservative approach, as it develops the organisational structure through an extended period of time. This approach has an emphasis that

Any organization that does not have plans for the future will always be at the risk of collapsing. The plans of any organization are the ones that trigger it to make some changes that will help it face any challenges that may be encountered in the future. There are those challenges that an organization may face in future such as competition from a similar organization that may come up with similar services or products that the organization is offering and yet make them better. Due to this, the company has to have plans for improvement that may help take it to the next level that will enable it to compete effectively with other organizations. Therefore, there are three categories of improvement that any organization may have and ones that may help the same organization to improve and be better (Harrington, 2007).

If organizations are to thrive and be sustaining, they need to respond to the dynamics of their environment with change. However, change is not a singular event with an isolated focus (Spector, 2007). Effective strategic renewal is a combination of “the three faces of change”—turnaround, which targets costs; technology, which targets internal process; and behavioral, which targets employee actions and interactions (Spector, 2007). In a discussion on change management, particularly management-by-control versus management-by-shaping, Palmer, et al. (2009) draw a similar conclusion that “organizations and human systems are complex and evolving and therefore cannot be reduced to a single, linear objective of maximizing shareholder

Changing circumstances and ongoing management efforts to improve the strategy cause a company 's strategy to evolve over time—a condition that makes the task of crafting a strategy a work in progress,

| Increasingly the only sustainable competitive advantage is continuous innovation is the application of new knowledge

To begin a maintainable goal plan the firm implements these changes with an expectation of employee’s acknowledgment of overall improvement to achieve appropriate business strategies. In addition to objectives, an analysis of the business informations in relations of raw data involving complete financial records internal and external reducing costs and beneficial investment opportunity. The business is made up of people, resources and mutual objectives for progression. A competitive advantage approach implements a method to stay organized understand your business compared to the competition. Using a competitive advantage Approach implements high skills that only drive profitability but also longevity a successful business.

This article explains the concept of sustainable competitive advantage, the relationship between strategic management and the four specific factors in relation to core competencies, resources and capabilities. It encompasses the Issues relating to competitive performance, and a critical view on how acknowledgement of these issues enables managers to gain an edge over other competing firms. According to Resource based approach, heterogeneity of a product is difficult when its resources are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate and non-substitutable. (Barney J, 1991) We examine these four criteria,

Today’s organisation operates in a rapidly changing environment therefore the organization has to change to suit the needs of the environment in order to remain competitive. The field of Organization Development is focused on improving the effectiveness of organizations and the people in those organizations. It is a strong set of concepts and techniques for improving organizational effectiveness and individual well being "Organization development is a system-wide application of behavioural science knowledge to the planned development and reinforcement of organizational strategies, structures, and processes for improving an