Strategic Leadership And Organisational Strategic Direction

There are a gazillion companies out there, but some stand out. Whether it is because of their popularity, affiliations, history, profile or service, one factor simply makes or breaks a company; it’s strategy management process.

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).

Strategy may be one of the most misinterpreted concepts in buiness which are essential in every facet of an organization. In general, it is nothing but an obligation towards a set of logical policies meant for accomplishing a definite competitive goal. To be more specific strategy is to convey the distinctive blend of values by picking a diverse set of activities (Porter, 1983). If the strategy is good it helps to prioritize the objectives and to promote alliance within the diverse organization. A company’s successful endeavours in their accomplishments, a well- driven strategy is essential and the various internal departments should have to support it. Irrespective of your part in a firm, strategy plays a crucial role for your

Strategy does not stand alone in the organization, as it has been said above, it defines the path to accomplish objectives; so in order to have an strategy the company needs to have a defined mission, vision and objectives. The mission defines what will be achieved and what the purpose of the organization is. The vision is what the organization aspires to be in the future and provides motivation for people to perform at high level. Once the organization has clearly defined who it is and what it wants to become, it needs to establish objectives to measure accomplishments. Here is where strategy interacts, strategy is about decisions and resources that need to happen in order to accomplish mission, vision and objectives.

Leadership is a winning combination of both personal traits and the ability to think and act as a leader. It acquires a person who directs the activities of others for the good of all. Anyone can be a leader. Leaders change all the time, hence, they left behind a legacy for incoming generation to appreciate and emulate. It constitutes a landmark that continues to flourish and remembered from generations after generations.

The definition makes it easy to understand the predicaments of Strategy. We as individuals, grow up with an aim in life. We strive hard, we strategize, plan looking at all the areas and aspects of elements required to move ahead and climb the ladders of success. Similarly, every organization strives to achieve success and put forth the best ideas, strategies, and analysis before reaching towards a common point, a prodigious target. The questions here that arise are: HOW DOES AN ORGANIZATION REALIZE ITS STRATEGY ? The advancements for success of either an individual or an organization relies upon two fundaments: What do you want to achieve and How will you go about achieving your desired results? The answers to this question are Objectives and Strategy respectively.

Within recent business world , strategic leadership and management has become highly influential factors by which the organisations are reaching their goals more easily and thereby competiveness is increasing between companies and businesses. As a result , it is become essential for organisations, to adopt the right leadership and management strategies. This study will thereby will focus on the following issues asked in the following questions, and thereby will advance on the next sections and for ease of discussion this study has been headed from task 1 to task 6. Also , while discussing various strategic leadership issues , focus will be given on Marks and Spencer PLC, one of the retail giant in the UK.

There is no exact definition for Strategy because it is defined in different ways as some people think that make a plan to get success in future is a strategy while others think that future is hard to predict. Exceptionally, some Japanese companies have no strategies though these companies have a good cost and continuous improvement. The definition for strategy is to explain the direction and scope of any company for the long term to achieve advantage for the company or to fulfill the needs and expectations. Strategy is different from Operational effectiveness and they work in different manner in the companies. Michael Porter, who is a professor at Harvard Business School and a strategy expert, says that it should determine how organizational resources and skills should create advantage. Accordingly, Strategy can also be defined as an organizational change during actions in the organizations for better and advantageous results or to determine how we win and get success in the future period. It is a needful developed plan with respect to market to compete the world. Organizations should be responsible for competitive changes according to the market. It is the main goal for any Organizations. Business/IT strategy is very important to know the success rate of your business. Apart from Business Strategy, the other two main types of strategy are Corporate Strategy and Team Strategy. These strategies give competitive advantage of cost leadership, differentiation and focus. The

Strategy is a high level plan in which to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. It is very important because resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited. Strategy is often the difference between mediocrity and excellence.

Strategy means consciously choosing to be clear about your company’s direction in relation to what’s happening in the dynamic environment. With this knowledge, you’re in a much better position to respond proactively to the changing environment.

1. Explain how the development of strategy at the LEGO Group reflects the key characteristics of strategic management.

"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantagefor the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations".

Before coming to USAWC I think that my experience and knowledge gained during the twenty-five years of service is an important quality to possess. At one point I thought: “A few years until retirement, and probably no special secrets for me to discover during academic year. I can only confirm what I know, gained some new knowledge and meet a bunch of interesting people before returning home". Much to my surprise, already after the first reading and discussion at the seminar, made me realize that this will be more interesting than I had hoped.

These business strategies must be developed in the context of the internal and external environments so that they are practical, or else they will remain a theoretical wish-list.

A strategy is said to be a plan that is made for the long term success of a product or brand. It is extremely important to have a strategy in order to figure out a direction towards which any company is able to focus all its resources efficiently and achieve desired outcomes. Formulating effective strategies is a considerably long process in itself that combines analysing several factors, situations and issues that are already present in a company and looking to improve on them alongside trying to implement various innovations and ideas to collectively create a direction towards which they can move and direct the resources available to them.