Strategy Formulation: Evaluating Efficiency and Effectiveness for

Strategy Formulation: Evaluating Efficiency and Effectiveness For any business to continued growing over time it must balance the strategic formulation of its business model with the implementation of strategies (Buttner, 2006). There is however, an inherent conflict between strategic formulation on the one hand, or effectiveness, and the implementation of strategies, or efficiency, on the other. As markets change and economic conditions vary by country and region, strategy formulation and implementation are forced to flex or change over time to keep serving customers and generating revenue.

The intent of this analysis is to explain how strategic effectiveness becomes more critical the greater the uncertainty there is in a given industry or geographic market. The effectiveness of a business must also be based on a solid foundation of agility and market focus (Dandira, 2011). Efficiency must be increasing in speed and accuracy of execution in highly competitive markets, yet must be guided by purposes and focus that effectiveness delivers (Mouzas, 2006).

Comparing Strategy Formulation and Implementation An example of strategy formulation, or effectiveness, is in how Apple continues to innovate by creating the digital tablet market with the iPad. The effectiveness of launching a digital tablet PC robust enough in features to gain the attention and interest of customers eventually led to over 1 million being sold in the first thirty days of the product introduction (Desposito, 2010). The product design of the Apple iPad and its very successful launch are an example of strategy formulation.

The effectiveness of the Apple iPad design is what is also driving an entirely new level of innovation throughout the tablet PC market, creating competition between the Google Android operating systems and Apple's own iPhone operating system (Desposito, 2010). Exceptional effectiveness creates entirely new markets and industries. An example of efficiency is the global launch of the Apple iPad throughout the company's hundreds of stores in the U.S. And selected parts of Europe that participated in the initial product launch.

The synchronizing of all factors in the product launch, from the television commercials that were both regional and national in scope to the many Internet-based offers all had to support and strengthen the selling value proposition of the new device. The efficiency of the launch process contributed to Apple customers, some loyal to the company for decades, buying them sight unseen online as well. Efficiency can generate customer demand, excitement around a product introduction, and lead to exceptional sales growth of new products.

The Apple iPad launch is a perfect example of how effectiveness in product design and efficiency of strategy execution completely reshaped the digital tablet marketplace. The Apple iPad launch was one of the most successful in the history of Apple as a result (Desposito, 2010). In evaluating which of these two attributes, strategy formulation or strategy implementation is the most important, clearly in the case of Apple specifically and high tech products in general, strategy formulation is.

The effectiveness of the iPad product vision, from the initial shape and structure to the many features that are included in its operating system that makes it unique, set the foundation for the marketing strategies and selling programs. Effectiveness of strategic vision made efficiency relevant in this example, as it often does across many business strategies in nearly all industries. Effectiveness of vision must also compensate for the agility of the product vision to stay relevant to customers over time (Meskendahl, 2010).

Inherent in this point is the fact that that high tech industry is known for a continual stream of new products, often creating a demand for highly skilled project managers that can quickly understand and launch new products (Raes, Heijltjes, Glunk, Roe, 2011). Clearly the more aggressive the development timeframe, the more critical is the interlinking and integration of strategy formulation and implementation. Of the two, strategy formulation or effectiveness is by far the most critical however.

Managing Restaurants If I owned and opened three restaurants after I graduated, I would make them divisional in nature as each would have a different marketing strategy, customer base, cost structure and approach to attracting loyal customers. The functional structure would quickly constrain the growth of the business, as each store would need to rely on a centralized set of resources. Having a decentralized approach to managing the.