Ecolab Corporate Strategy Essay

Company strategy is management plan of how to best use of company resources to achieve the business goals successfully, includes what products and services provided that can attract and sustain customers, how the company positioning in the industry environment, how to develop and increase their sustainable competitive advantage, continuous improvements of processes in different functional such as R&D, marketing, systems and operations, and how to deliver the superior value to customers.

1. Determine the impact of the company’s mission, vision, and primary stakeholders on its overall success.

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).

Operational strategies are the core functions of an organization because these operations intensify to produce something innovative and worthy. Organizational operations are associated with the performance and work quality of an organization because these operations are practical demonstration of a project. Companies mostly use these operations to run their functions effectively in order to have a positive result.

The cost-efficiency implies that the company introduces changes that allow the company saving costs without harmful effects of such changes on the quality of products and services of the company. For instance, the company can optimize internal business processes through their automation (Clarke, 2000). The automation of internal business processes saves time of employees which they can use more effectively, for instance, to increase their productivity. In such a way, the company enhances its performance and increases its revenues while its costs drop.

What is efficiency? According to Farrell efficiency is production of maximum amount of outputs from given amount of input or alternatively minimum input quantities producing a given amount of output (Farrell, M.J.

A measure of efficiency can be produced by analysing the total surplus for a given market; this is seen by subtracting the total cost from gross consumption benefits. The higher the level of total surplus the more efficient production

Here, from my readings, I will define the two related terms and concepts which are the corporate strategy and Strategic Operations Management. Then, I will discuss the link between them. Next, I will provide four perspectives of the operations strategy. Finally, I will highlight some examples from the operations strategy of Jaguar Land Rover and how it is helping the company to achieve its business objectives.

Similar to a vehicles control board, the balanced scorecard shows indicators of performance that gives an overview of the organization. A balanced scorecard, developed by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, is a tool that merges financial and nonfinancial measurements into a view of organizational performance linked to the strategy (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). Although several versions of balanced scorecards exist, each defines an organization’s mission, vision, and objectives. Demary & Sons’ mission is to deliver freight professionally and on time while committing to highway safety. The

The   course   packet   and   the   textbook   Operations   Strategy:   Principles   and   Practice   by   J.   A.  Van  Mieghem.     Other  textbooks  that  can  give  complementary  viewpoints  on  operations  strategy:     1. Operations  Strategy:  Competing  in  the  21st  Century.    S.  L.  Beckman  and  D.  B.   Rosenfield.  McGraw-­‐‑Hill,  2007.   2. Operations,  Strategy,  and  Technology:  Pursuing  the  competitive  edge.  R.  Hayes,   G.  Pisano,  D.  Upton  and  S.  Wheelwright.  Wiley,  2005.   3. Operations  Strategy  by  Slack  and  Lewis.    Prentice  Hall,  2003.   4. Manufacturing  Strategy  by  Hill.    Irwin  McGraw-­‐‑Hill,  2000.     Other  business  books  that  may  be  of  interest  to  students  taking  this  course:     1. Supply  Chain  Management:  Strategy,  Planning  and  Operations  by  Chopra  and   Meindl.    Prentice  Hall.   2. Clock  Speed  by  Charles  H.  Fine   3. Mass  Customization

(6) What is the five-year forecast for global annual growth in the athletic footwear industry? In which regions of the world is growth expected to be highest?

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

“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).

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.

Strategic planning is central to management study. It defines the long term direction for the company and all other business functions orbit around their established strategies. This article studies how a company formulates business-level strategies, optimize their competitive positioning and obtain a competitive advantage over their rivals.