SUGGESTED GUIDE FOR MGT B399 Specimen Exam Paper B&A OUHK PART A Question 1 (a) Describe the role of organizational control and organizational culture play in strategy implementation. (20 marks) Organizational controls guide the use of strategy, indicate how to compare actual and expected results, and suggest actions to take to improve performance when it falls below expectations. When properly matched with the strategy for which they were intended, structure and controls can be a competitive advantage. Strategic controls (largely subjective criteria) and financial controls (largely objective criteria) are the two types of organizational controls used to successfully implement a firm’s chosen strategy. Both types of controls are …show more content…
One major challenge is, however, the question whether the unique Wal-Mart culture as part of its successful control system will mesh with the local culture. This is a challenge that the Wal-Mart executives need to work on. MGT B399 Specimen Exam SG 2/5 PART B Question 2 (a) Define strategy and business-level strategy. What is the difference between these two concepts? (b) Describe ONE advantage and ONE disadvantage for each of the generic strategies suggested by Professor Michael Porter. a) In general, a strategy consists of the choices an organization makes in an attempt to gain strategic competitiveness and earn above-average returns. The organization’s strategic choices are influenced by threats and opportunities in the external environment and by the nation and quality of its internal resources, capabilities, and core competencies. The strategy reflects the firm’s vision and mission. Business-level strategy is an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions the firm uses to gain a competitive advantage in a particular product market. It is the organization’s core strategy. Business-level strategy is concerned with a particular product market. The essence of a firm’s business level strategy is choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities than competitors. b) Students should mention items from the following lists. Cost Leadership provides protection against rivalry and price wars,
Whether a light bulb needs to be changed, a critical audio or visual component shorts out, or the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) system goes out, proper maintenance could be the factor that saves or destroys an event before it even begins. Proper maintenance can not only save the organization from unscheduled downtime but it can also prevent unwarranted cost. For example: if a vehicle doesn’t have its oil regularly serviced, it could cause the vehicles engine to fail possibly causing thousands of dollars of damage. The same thing can be said when it comes to a facility and its maintenance.
Integration and agreements made will reduce tariffs barriers that are associated with trades of goods, services and the factors of produced goods between countries (Hill, 2004). As this paper will demonstrate a proper analysis of how integration will promote global advantages in business, and will deliberate the disadvantages and advantages of integration. Therefore touching basis of contrast and comparing the development of economic stages within a region and the effect on the process of development of business globally.
Structure and organization is necessary in every group setting. How formal and how rigid that structure is, can be dependent on the type of organization. A large government or corporation will obviously have many layers of leadership and will have a definitive expression of authority and direction of its members. Even much smaller groups, a family for example, has a need to have a clear statement of goals and responsibilities, and also have a definitive structure of leadership. The success of each organization, regardless of the size, is wholly reliant on the
• [pic]Conduct that atrocious and utterly intolerable in civilized community, outrageous conduct by the media is thought to cause extreme anxiety (usually unsuccessful)
Strategy is a set of complicated tactics formulated by the executives of a company directed towards the achievement of company’s goal (Salmela, 2002). It is about all the path ways that a company would follow to reach its ultimate goal. It is a company’s strategy which helps to identify what it does better than the other companies in the industries, which may be different from what it does best. For successful strategy formulation and implementation, a company should know the needs of customers and should have knowledge of its competitors. Through a good strategy a company would identify that opportunity which makes it different from the others (Thompson, 2005).
Chapter 6 – Strategy Formulation: Situation Analysis and Business StrategyChapter 7 – Strategy Formulation: Corporate StrategyChapter 8 – Strategy Formulation: Functional strategy and Strategic Choice
Walmart’s organizational structure determines the company’s business activities. Its organizational structure also enforces limits on how the business discourses its problems. In relation, Walmart’s organizational culture decides the way people react to challenges in the workplace. The elasticity of the human resources of the company partly depends on the mindset maintained through the organizational culture of the Wal-Mart. Nonetheless, the long history of Walmart in progressing successfully and continually growing internationally proves that the firm’s organizational structure and organizational culture have been very positive in bringing competitive advantage and achievement. Such organizational structure interacts with the organizational culture to maintain the significant competitive advantage of Walmart.
3.How these strategies are related the performance of these companies over time? Why? What is going on in terms of industry competition and markets that makes one strategy outperform the other at any point in time?
According to Slack et al. The corporate strategy or business strategy is the guide lines for the whole corporation’s businesses in relation to its markets, customers, and the competitors (2007). In the same context, the same authors discussed the link between the corporate strategy and
A competitive strategy, or business-level strategy, is the way a business used to successfully enter and penetrate into a market (Eastwood et al, 2006), and also, to succeed in this chosen market against its competitors (Johnson et al, 2014). A company needs to develop and apply appropriate strategy to help the company to generate distinctive competences (David, 2007). Compared with the strategies implemented in other levels of operation, competitive strategy is more focused on the competition against other competitors and strategic choices to better attain market share (Harrison and St. John, 2009). According to
Corporate-level strategies are liable for market definition; they address the entire scope of the business. This strategy helps a business to diversify its service. It gives them direction in which geographic region they should operate and which service markets to strive in. “Thus, an effective corporate-level strategy creates, across all of a firm’s businesses, aggregate returns that exceed what those
Strategy formulation has been acknowledged as one of the most crucial factors of ensuring the long-term growth of the business. However, the manner in which strategy is formulated, and most importantly, the nature of the strategy chosen for the company determines its future position in the marketplace (Grant, 2005).
Q: Explain how has leadership been used to support such strategy and develop an organizational culture that could accept and how the link worked between strategic management and the leadership?
“Competitive strategy involves positioning a business to maximize the value of the capabilities that distinguish it from its competitor’s” (Porter 1980:47). A successful business plan requires first and foremost the formation of an appropriate strategy. Through the implementation of a suitable strategy, the company is able to obtain its own industry niche and gain an understanding of its customers (Porter 1985). Whichever strategy is adopted it must be adequately integrated within the firms goals and missions to achieve a competitive advantage (Parker and Helms 1992).