Rapid, Volatile, and Discontinuous Change: Impact on Strategic Management and Organizations

All organizations will encounter strategic challenges over their duration of years in business. These challenges will come at all different levels across the company. Knowing that these challenges have happened in the past and will happen in the future, it is important to see how an organization will react to overcome the challenges.

Researchers seeking perspectives to enhancing performance and sustained survival of organizations have extensively in literature discussed strategic management. Ramiretz and Wallin, (2000) defined strategic renewal as the core which involves the transformation of organization capabilities that can reposition the firm in terms of its market or product mix which ultimately develops new markets or industries. This definition convey the fact that strategic renewal is an action aimed at examining critically all aspects of work (technology, structure, product, human resource) with a view to reaching strategic decisions that will assist in repositioning the organization.

The following assignment options provide the opportunity for you to identify how a health care process might be updated, streamlined, or implemented in a health care organization.

Strategic planning is crucial for the success of all business endeavors. Analyzing currents trends in technology, consumer markets, competition, and the workforce can play a pivotal part in whether or not the organization can survive. Overtime, strategic planning strategies must be modified in order to compensate for changes in the industry. Goals and strategic planning often necessitate change to ensure that the organization is performing at peak level, while offering the most beneficial and quality services to consumers.

In today’s highly competitive market, the continuous changes that are occurring in the social, politic and economic environment create serious challenges in the corporate world. Corporations cannot afford to do business as usual if they want to remain in the game and be successful. In order to achieve their goals and objectives, they need to evolve, adapt, learn and apply different new strategies that will help them secure long-run success and performance. Among those strategies, we are going to discuss ten of them and their advantages in connection with corporation’s goals and objectives.

Businesses continually adapt to a changing environment to maintain their market position (Appelbaum, Habashy, Malo, & Shafiq, 2012; Biedenbacha & Soumlderholma, 2008). Change is inevitable considering the current rate of technological advancement and the growth in global competition (Appelbaum et al., 2012; Armenakis & Harris, 2009; By, 2007). Increasing competition and the need for strategic flexibility and globalization is affecting almost every organization today, regardless of size, market, focus, and so on (Jaros, 2010).

An article called “, Knowing When To Reinvent,” was composed by three company leaders, one being a CEO, to inform other company leaders about potential fault lines that have caused many companies to have downfalls. However, to prevent economic downfalls, the authors compiled a list of the downfalls and how to avoid them. Many companies have taken what seemed to be drastic measures to be successful in a changing marketplace. The thesis outlines the five fault lines within the article which are: customer needs, performance metrics, industry position, business model, and talent and capabilities (Bertolini et al., 2015).

What factors contribute to the rapid pace of change in business? Is the pace likely to accelerate or decrease over the next decade? Why?

The world today is constantly changing. Certain aspects of the world are beginning to advance and transform more rapidly than others, such as technology. These modern transformations of society are important to take into account when developing a strategic plan for any organization. This is because these advances in society can pose “threats, challenges, or opportunities” to the organization at hand (Bryson 2011, 151). Furthermore, according to Bryson assessing the strengths and weakness of an organization in relation to these different features that were just mentioned is an important step in the strategic planning process (Bryson 2011, 151-152). Assessing these strengths and weakness involves members or an organization to identify and analyze different external and internal trends and then develop a SWOC/T analysis of how these external and internal trends can come together to affect the impending organization.

Organizational changes are often initiated because of an adjustment in strategy (Yukl, 2013). Examples of strategic changes include the introduction of new products or services, entering new markets, or changing or adding partners, suppliers, or distributors. Because strategic changes often require multiple changes in roles, attitudes, values, and technologies, this type of organizational modification can be especially difficult to implement and sustain (Szabla, 2007; Yukl,

Organic structures are flexible and decentralized and communication lines are more fluid and flexible (David et al., 2013). Employee job descriptions are broader and employees are asked to perform duties based on the specific needs of the organization. Organic structures tend to be related to higher levels of job satisfaction on the part of employees. These structures are conducive to entrepreneurial behavior, continuous improvement and innovativeness.

Changes are necessary for every organization in order to survive from strong competition, although changes always follow risks, organization must properly handle the existing institution, some employee’s resistance, or the uncertainty reduction. “Organizations pursue to enhance their competitive positions and their adaptability in volatile markets. At the same time, they seek the uncertainty reduction and inimitable resources that stability can provide” (Leana & Barry,

Steven H. Appelbaum Faculty of Commerce and Administration, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Normand St-Pierre Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada William Glavas Pratt and Whitney Canada, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The volatility of the world economy has made competition between businesses intense, complex, and challenging. The competitiveness of today’s economy is accompanied by numerous opportunities and threats that many companies have to contend with. Many firms rely on effective leadership practices and strategies to enhance their performance and enable them to compete effectively in the volatile markets. Therefore, this paper seeks to analyze how technology and globalization have enhanced business operations and decision making (Claeskens, 2012). The analysis is essential in helping other organizations in obtaining essential information that support a competitive advantage. Consequently, the competitive advantage can be used to make substantial

Understanding the benefits of strategic management is one of the key theme of the chapter and it is important for the long-term performance and operational success of a firm. A firm must adapt to the changing market and technological environment is another major concept that is explained briefly in the chapter. Strategic management provides a clear sense of strategic vision for the firm, sharper focus on what is important, and an improved understanding of a rapidly changing environment. Importance of innovation is another important concept explained in the chapter with respect to an example using the struggling retailer, Sears. Sears succumbed to the lack of innovation, which shows that if a firm stands still, it will be run over by the competition. Strategic planning and innovation should go hand in hand, because innovation is the machine that generates business opportunities in the market and its implementation drives businesses to be remarkable. Theories of organizational adaptation is another important concept, because it helps a company keep track of the changes in technological, economic, and political-legal areas, and the sociocultural trends around the world. The theory of population ecology seems very critical in today’s changing market environment in that it explains how inertia (which is unable to adapt to changing conditions once an organization is successfully adapted to a particular environment niche). For example, Walmart and Target is