Strategic Alliance Essays (Examples)

" Concerning the type of complementary strategic alliance, it is a horizontal one, because it is formed "when partners who agree to combine their resources and skills to create value in the same stage of the value chain," it is focused "on long-term product development and distribution opportunities" and "the partners may become competitors which requires a great deal of trust between the partners."

The answer to the second question is "no," it's not a "competition response strategy" because the two companies are not really competitors, even if the profile for both company is pharmaceutical. Excel research can be consider in this case as an ally, a support for Century Pharmaceuticals, and even as a consultancy company that works for C.P.

The answer to the third question is "yes," it can be an" uncertainty reducing strategy" because if it functions as it is established, it can reduce the uncertainty about…

Bibliography

1. Hitt Michael a., Ireland R. Duane, Hoskisson Robert a. "Cooperative Strategy." Power Point Presentation by Charlie Cook, the University of West Alabama, and ©2007 Thomson South - Western. All right reserved.

Hitt Michael a., Ireland Duane R., Hoskisson Robert a."Cooperative Strategy" ppt, pg. 9-8

Hitt Michael a., Ireland Duane R., Hoskisson Robert a."Cooperative Strategy" ppt, pg. 9-2

Hitt Michael a., Ireland Duane R., Hoskisson Robert a."Cooperative Strategy" ppt, pg. 9-3

Strategic Alignment

In the last several years, the Strategic Alignment Maturity model is focusing on understanding how an organization can evolve with the different challenges they are facing. This is achieved by carefully examining the business and IT configuration of the firm. To fully understand how this works requires comparing the model with an actual health care organization (i.e. Kaiser Permanente). These insights will illustrate its effectiveness and how it helps companies to adapt. ("About Us," 2013) (Wheatley, 2013) (Chandler, 2003)

I.1 Business Strategy 2

Kaiser Permanente is a managed care provider. They are focused on primarily delivering affordable low cost solutions to patients. This is accomplished by controlling expenses and investing in areas that will address their continuing needs. To achieve the objectives the firm operates three divisions to include: the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Permanente Medical Groups. The different kinds of products / services…

References

About Us. (2013) Kaiser Permanente. Retrieved from:  https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health/care/consumer/center/!ut/p/c5/dY3LDoIwFEShS-4F5CHy6KAbbWotWDYEIyGQEBYIIhfLxq3ziznZA6kMPeeD2WR92V7z2s4Q2pnAZOR5-kEIyuykO6scMlsYeDKgQQYpEXdXmY2wUWmKndsuWxGVcUHIYuB-1X0mnr2kj3zHltFa7XOZEH55D6FrjJa-d3gHH3h9GQXaq6BMaDOpBNG1-Tz9-NOnh6w3NiJ1-YnHS24iGr9TwiC2LTNDbrGNbvNqL0BV0dNzQ!!/dl3/d3/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/ 

Fast Facts. (2013). Kaiser Permanente. Retrieved from:  http://share.kaiserpermanente.org/article/fast-facts-about-kaiser-permanente/ 

Our Vision. (2013). Kaiser Permanente. Retrieved from:  https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health/care/consumer/center/!ut/p/c5/dY7LDoIwFEShS-4VxHEJcirrVKxVg0bgtEQCVhiqghfLxq3ziznJHMgg7G34nktC31Vt6KGI2R2HlLBPWiIre4hWRtRQtqJ1NczuEAFLKyVqeRPeAsl5XTKSaaTlb7NBHlkwUVH3pNB6Gp91hJUksFyVhvfNKJjJXdxfX4jK0ITO5H2hdbMWmP5lNnD9IG7a1DDGl-zjgSZJvx7RxkYkDtuxYKZiNPficuQhKr5gJt45ht3BlvFBv7ZQ!!/dl3/d3/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/ 

Strategic Alignment. (2010). Business Alignment. Retrieved from:  http://businessitalignment.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/strategic-alignment-maturity-model-luftman/

Strategic Management at McDonald's

McDonald's Strategic Management

Strategic Management at McDonald's

Strategic Management at McDonald's

McDonald's: Introduction

Organizational Structure and Corporate Governance

Industry Sector Analysis

Michael Porter's Five Forces Model

Key conditions in the External Operating Environment of McDonald's and its Industry

The Value Proposition on McDonald's Products

Financial Performance

SWOT Analysis for McDonald's

TOWS Matrix for Alternative Strategies

BCG Growth Share Matrix for McDonald's

Marketing, Financial, and esearch & Development Strategies

McDonald's Leadership

Joint Ventures, Strategic Alliances, and Partnerships

Performance Measurement Methods and Benchmarks

ecommendations

eferences

Table of Contents

Sr. No.

Particulars

Page No.

Figure 1: Organizational Structure of McDonald's

Table 1: TWOS Matrix

Figure 2: BCG Growth Share Matrix

Table 2: Gantt chart for Strategy implementation

List of Figures and Tables

Executive Summary

This report presents a complete analysis of strategic management practices at the world's largest fast food restaurant chain, McDonald's. The report starts by introducing and…

References

About McDonald's, (2011). Sustainability Scorecard. Retrieved on November 24th, 2012, from

ADVFN, (2012). McDonald's Historical Stock Chart. Retrieved on November 24th, 2012, from

Baertlein, L., & Dorfman, B. (2012). McDonald's July same-store sales flat, worst in 9 years. Retrieved on November 24th, 2012, from

Hill, C.W., & Jones, G.R. (2012). Strategic Management Theory, 10th Edition. Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning

Strategic Information Technology

The three options for organizational strategies that will be discussed are the global strategy, the cooperative strategy and the E-business strategy. A global strategy implies an international presence for an organization. This international presence may translate into production outlets in foreign countries or presence on foreign markets or a combination of the two.

Porter (1986) was one of the first who conducted studies on global strategy. As more and more companies operated in similar economic systems and implemented technological change that made them more efficient and productive, the incentive was to expand on an international level, in order to benefit from emerging markets, from new resources (often at lower costs) and from economies of scale that could thus be generated.

Many of the large multinationals are employ a global strategy. Some of the most eloquent examples include Coca-Cola, Apple Computers and many of the car producers such…

Bibliography

1. Porter, Michael (ed.). (1986). "Competition in Global Industries." Harvard Business School Press.

2. Beynon-Davies P. (2004). "E-Business." Palgrave, Basingstoke

3. Mowery, David C. (1996). "Strategic Alliances and Interfirm Knowledge Transfer" Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17

Strategic Framework in BP-Deepwater horizon accident

One of the most eminent names in the oil and gas industry is British Petroleum, considered as the largest provider of oil and gas to its customers for transportation, energy for heating and light and retail services for petrochemical products globally. The financial and operational picture of the company's performance is illustrated in table1 below.

Performance at a glance for 2010

Facts and figures

Sales and other operating revenues

eplacement cost profit

Number of employees

Proved reserves

etail sites

Upstream

efineries (wholly or partly owned)

efining throughput

$297,107 million (year 2010)

($4,519) million (year 2010)

79,700 (at 31 Dec 2010)

18,071 million barrels of oil equivalent

22,100

Active in 29 countries

16

2,426 thousand barrels per day (year 2010)

(BP's Corporate website, 2010)

On 20th April 2010 the company faced a serious challenge when one of its oil rigs started leaking and simply couldn't…

References

BP's Corporate website, 2010. Annual Report 2010. Retrieved through  http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=9035798&contentId=7066618  on 12th August 2010

Corner, P. Kinicki, A. And Keats, B. (1994) Integrating organizational and individual information processing perspectives on choice, Organizational Science, vol. 3.

Drucker, P. (1954) The Practice of Management, Harper and Row, New York, 1954.

Gellerman, S. (1989) Managing Ethics from the Top to Down, Sloan Management Review;

As the combination of the different pieces, would allow three out of the four business segments to be able to see earning growth between 2007 and 2008, when the economy was severely contracting. (Exhibits 2009)

Using appropriate theoretical frameworks evaluate alternative options to create growth?

An alternative option that company could use to achieve growth would be: to acquire a weaker competitor. One way to do this is: to evaluate the underlying levels of debt and examine how a particular retailer could help the company expand its brand into a particular market. While at the same time, taking the image and line products that they have become known for and making it a part of Ann Taylor product line. This is important, because if the company can aggressively expand, by purchasing a weaker competitor. They will be able to take advantage of the different demographics and segments of consumers. Over…

Bibliography

'Ann Taylor Background,' 2009, The Case Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 4-5.

'Ann Taylors Brand Identify,' 2009, The Case Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 12 -- 13.

'Balance Sheets,' 2009, The Case Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pg. 20.

'Exhibits,' 2009, The Case Journal, vol.5, no.2, pg. 16.

For example, as Sheridan (2003) emphasizes, "When Short Message Service (SMS) was first introduced on mobile phones, it was seen merely as an extra feature that might be used by people on an irregular basis. But in fact, text-messaging turned out to be one of the device's most desirable assets, and is regarded by many as one of the most significant cultural developments of the past decade" (p. xxviii).

Given its enormous popularity, this feature of the company's product line could be refined, for example, to provide instant language translation services into the predominant languages used throughout the European Union. Language translation features, especially Spanish to English, would also be desirable for the company's strategic partner in Mexico, Grupo Iusacell, the country second largest wireless carrier (Business and your money, 2001). Likewise, the existing charges for SMS services could be reduced (or even eliminated), thereby keeping existing customers satisfied while…

References

Business & Your Money: Market on Edge as City Looks to U.S.; Stocks and Shares." The News Letter (Belfast, Northern Ireland), 10.

Chan, Wai-Chan, T.C. Chu, Allan R. Gold and Glenn Leibowitz. 2001. "Thinking out of the boXX." The McKinsey Quarterly, 43.

Culpan, Refik. 2002. Global Business Alliances: Theory and Practice. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.

Gillingham, John. 2003. "European Integration, 1950-2003: Superstate or New Market Economy?" Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Strategic Choices

Please attached documents create a research paper accordance guidance provided.

Low cost

Differentiation

Preemptive

Strengths: Outbound logistics

The company should improve their distribution method to make it more cost effective thus allowing them to cut distribution costs and these savings can be passed on to the consumers. As posited by Alagse (2012)

, the best strategy for Kraft foods would be to become the lowest cost supplier of their products rather than the lowest cost producer. This would enable the company to translate their cost advantage into price advantage for their consumers enabling them to improve their market share.

The company should ensure availability of their products in order to enjoy prolonged sustainability as a result of ease of access of their innovative products to the consumers thus increasing brand loyalty. The company will also be able to create unique value for their products as a result of…

References

http://www.alagse.com/strategy/s10.phpAlagse. (2012). Customer focused low cost leadership strategy Retrieved November 22nd, 2012, from Dennis, A.R., Nunamaker, J.F., Jr., & Paranka, D. (1991). Supporting the Search for Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management Information Systems, 8(1), 5-36. doi: 10.2307/40397972

Jemmeson, P. (1997). Using the Internet for competitive advantage. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 97(4), 139-142. doi: 10.1108/02635579710173202

Lindahl, D.P., & Beyers, W.B. (1999). The Creation of Competitive Advantage by Producer Service Establishments. Economic Geography, 75(1), 1-20. doi: 10.2307/144459

Ma, H. (1999). Creation and preemption for competitive advantage. Management Decision, 37(3), 259-267. doi: 10.1108/00251749910264497

strategic choices made in the modern corporate world today are what separate success and failure for most companies. The importance of strategic efficiency and its regular evaluation can never be overestimated in the context of modern competition. This paper will hence focus on numerous potential strategic approaches that an organization can take in order to not only attain success but also sustain and increase it in the long run. The paper will focus on four primary strategic domains, which are: generic, value-based disciplines, grand or macro and multi-business strategies. Each of these strategic domains is discussed below.

Potential Generic Strategies

The generic strategy of a company is primarily its 'core idea'. In other words, the generic strategy of a company forms the basis for any and all grand strategies, long-term goals and image that it wants to project onto the market. The generic strategies also help identify the specific target…

References

Pearce, J.A. And Robinson, R.B. (2011a). Strategic Management. Formulation, Implementation, and Control, Twelfth Edition -- Chapter Seven 'Long-Term Objectives and Strategies'. McGraw-Hill Company.

Pearce, J.A. And Robinson, R.B. (2011b). Strategic Management. Formulation, Implementation, and Control, Twelfth Edition -- Chapter Eight 'Business Strategy'. McGraw-Hill Company.

Pearce, J.A. And Robinson, R.B. (2011c). Strategic Management. Formulation, Implementation, and Control, Twelfth Edition -- Chapter Nine 'Multi-Business Strategy'. McGraw-Hill Company.

Big Dog |

Strategic Plan

Economic: According an April 2004 American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, Inc. (APPMA) news release, pet owners are projected to spend "$2.2 billion for other [pet] services" in 2004 (Veter, 2011). That's a small portion of the more than $34 billion they will spend on all classes of pet care and product spending in 2004. The same APPMA news release reports that consumer spending on pet products has doubled from $17 billion to a projected $34 billion since 1994 when the APPMA first began tracking pet industry statistics.

Social: The sales strategy will be to develop a list of happy past customers who are willing to act as referrals for Big Dog. Once this list is developed, their names will be given out when a prospective client calls (May, 2009). The advantages of pet foster care are so obvious relative to kennels that it will not…

References

Benett, L. (2010). Pet Industry Trends for 2010. Small Business Trends. Retrieved from  http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/01/pet-industry-trends-for-2010.html 

May, L. (2009). Pawsible Marketing. Retrieved from  http://www.marketingmypetbusiness.com/p/about-pawsible-marketing.html 

Pet Business (2008). Macfadden Communications Group. Retrieved from  http://www.petbusiness.com/ 

Vetere, B. (2011). Before entering the pet product industry. American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. Retrieved from  http://appma.typepad.com/pet_industry_insight/

barriers you anticipate and how you plan on overcoming them.

Lean and Discrete-event simulation (DES) are two approaches that both aim at improving service delivery processes. The two approaches are both utilized to better healthcare delivery but they are seldom utilized together (obinson, Stewart, adnor, Z.J., Burges, Nicola, & Worthington, Claire, 2012). Improving the use of IT in healthcare delivery can assist in avoiding deaths that may result from medical errors. Use of IT may increase significantly as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's requirements force the health sector to use standardized and better electronic communications. A more elaborate, efficient and effective information and communication coordination process can help a big deal in EBPs delivery. Nonetheless, vital policy, social, organizational, cost and technical issues have to be resolved first prior to widespread adoption and implementation of IT systems (Bradley N. Doebbeling, Ann F. Chou, & William M. Tierney, 2006).…

References

Julie A. Harrison, Paul Rouse, & Charl J. De Villiers. (2012). Accountability and Performance Measurement: A Stakeholder Perspective. The Business and Economics Research Journal, 243-258.

Valentina Ivancic. (n.d.). THE BIGGEST FAILURES IN MANAGING STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION. University of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, (pp. 197-208). Republic of Croatia.

Samsung Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness

Samsung Electronics was established by Byung-Chull Lee in 1969 in Suwon City in South Korea and was at the time referred to as Samsung electric industries. When founded, the company was designed to manufacture computer constituents, radios, televisions and other electronic devices. A decade into its establishment, the company began to manufacture telecommunication devices. Its initial product offerings consisted of switchboards. Subsequently, Samsung started manufacturing mobile phones (Samsung, 2017)

Assess how globalization and technology changes have impacted the corporation you researched

Globalization encompasses a practice by which state and regional economies, communities, and cultures have come to be assimilated through the international network of trade, communication, migration and transportation. In addition, in recent years, the world has experienced a substantial advancement in technology, which has had a major influence on industries and companies. These two aspects have largely affected Samsung Electronics. One of the…

References

Fahy, J. (2002). A resource-based analysis of sustainable competitive advantage in a global environment. International Business Review, 11, 57 -- 78.

Grant, R. M. (2001). The Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Strategy Formulation. California Management Review, Vol. 33(3): 114-135.

Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning.

Hoovers. (2017). Samsung Electronics Competition. Retrieved from: http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/competition.samsung_electronics_co_ltd.a166cb2c88a2e408.html

Leadership-Level Implementation of Strategic Plan

Good leadership is a key aspect of project management. Leading a project requires working with the manager and other staff drawn from the project's functional areas. It is not accurate to say that a leader only influences the subordinates under him. esponsibilities of a leader can go either vertically or horizontally. An effective leader will not only lead the subordinates under him or her, but also all the people involved in the project including those who are his seniors. A leadership model referred to as 3D model has been fronted by various players and promotes team leadership, self-leadership as well as teamwork that is leadership oriented. Effective leadership takes the ability to spot opportunities to improve a project and also execute on the project improvement. Besides the existing good personal traits, the style of leadership can be modeled through experience, training as well as dedication.…

References

Abou-Zeid, E.S. (2005). A culturally aware model of inter-organizational knowledge transfer. Knowledge management research & practice, 3(3), 146-155.

Ale Ebrahim, N., Ahmed, S., & Taha, Z. (2009). Virtual teams: a literature review. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 3(3), 2653-2669.

Bidgoli, H. (2013). MIS 3. Boston, Mass: Course Technology/Cengage Learning.

Caligiuri, P. (2006). Developing global leaders. Human Resource Management Review, 16(2), 219-228.

qual xchange Strategic Management Analysis

Introduction of Company

The (qual xchange) is an organization that distributes organic, cocoa, bananas, tea, gourmet coffee, chocolate bars and avocados produced by farmers in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. stablished in 1986, the core competence of the is by paying the agricultural product directly from the farmers assisting the organization to purchase the product at a fair price. Moreover, the organization promotes the sustainable farming by educating farmers to develop quality products. The strategy assists the in procuring quality products at affordable prices, however, the company is facing several threats in a business environment, which affect its operations.

The objective of this strategic paper is to discuss the general environmental factors affecting the in the industry. The paper also discusses the threats facing the company and the strategy to address the problems.

Situation Analysis

In a competitive business environment, the qual xchange is being…

Equal Exchange (2014). Annual Report 2014. USA.

Equal Exchange, (2015). About Us. USA.

Simpson, C. R; & Rapone, A. (Summer 2000). Community Development from the Ground up: Social-Justice Coffee. Human Ecology Review. 7 (1): 46-57.

Sherwin Williams Company Analysis

Overview of the Company

Founded in 1866 by Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams, the Sherwin Williams Company has grown to be one of the largest paint producers in the world. Nearly 150 years ago, Sherwin Williams established itself in Cleveland, Ohio, as the first ready-to-use paint store in America (History Timeline, 2015). Sherwin Williams began as a partner in Truman, Dunham & Company, which sold paint ingredients; when Truman Dunham dissolved to pursue the manufacturing of linseed oil, the Sherwin Williams company replaced it: the year was 1870. Within 40 years with Henry Sherwin as CEO, the company would have over $10 million in sales per year (History Timeline, 2015). Today, the company maintains more than 3000 product and service stores with over 40,000 employees and a net income per employee of $26,178 (SHW-Fundamental eports, 2016). Shewin Williams manufactures, develops, distributes and sells paint, coatings and…

References

About Sherwin Williams. (2015). Sherwin Williams. Retrieved from  http://www.sherwin-williams.com/about/ 

Caring in Full Color. (2015). Sherwin Williams. Retrieved from http://careers.sherwin-

williams.com/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=Content-Type&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobheadervalue2=inline&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1386278272509&ssbinary=true

Evans, J. (2015). Retail Management. NY: Prentice Hall.

Business Studies

ecommendation of a Growth Strategy for MGM esorts International

MGM esorts International is a major leisure and gaming organization. The company is undertaking a great strategy as seen with the organic growth which is taking place through the development of new resorts, including the current development of MGM Coati, which is scheduled to open in 2016, as well as the proposed development in Ontario, to be undertaken in partnership with Fairview Cadillac (MGM, 2013). Other plans for further development are also being considered. However, if an organization wishes to undertake an aggressive growth strategy, it is necessary to consider the different potential strategies which may be utilized. The aim of this paper is to consider the way in which MGM results International may undertake a growth strategy, considering the different options which are available.

Ansoff defined four potential methods of growth based on two dimensions; products and markets,…

References

12 manage.com, (2013), Product/Market Grid (Ansoff), retrieved  http://www.12manage.com/methods_productmarketgrid.html 

Davis, M, D, (1997), Game Theory: a Non-Technical Introduction, Dover Publications

Kotler Philip; Keller Kevin, (2011), Marketing Management, Prentice Hall

MGM Resorts International, (2013), 2012 Annual Report, accessed at  http://mgmresorts.investorroom.com  / on 1st Dec 2013

Strategic and Financial Analysis of Office Depot

Company Overview

Office Depot Strategic Analysis

Porter 5 Analysis

Office Depot Strategies

Office Depot Profitability

Annotated Bibliography

In a contemporary business environment, a strategic planning is one of the effective tools that an organization employs to achieve competitive market advantages. This paper carries out a strategic analysis of Office Depot, and identifies Office Depot as one of the Fortune 500. While Office Depot has recorded a consistent increase in total revenues, however, the company has recorded a net income loss in the last three years. The findings of the SWOT analysis and Porter 5 analysis reveal that Office Depot lacks distinct competencies to differentiate itself in the market. Typically, product differentiation, cost leaderships, and resources capabilities are the effective tools to achieve strategic market advantages. Although, Office Depot has resources, however, the company lacks effective strategic planning to achieve competitive market advantages. The…

Strategic Planning:

Apple Inc. and Industry

Apple Inc. is global technological corporation based in California, America. The company's business operations encompass the designing, developing and retailing of computer software, electronics and also provision of online services. In particular, Apple Inc. is set within the technology industry, competing on different fronts such as the mobile sector and computer sector as well. Technology transformation and change has completely altered the mobile industry and the manner in which it used to function. The internet specifically has changed the way in which people view business and make transactions. The current business model of Apple Inc. can be categorized broadly into three sectors: etail, Software Engineering and Hardware Engineering. Apple can be said to be a multinational corporation as it is involved with three major companies; Microsoft, The Gap and Dell which lie in different industries and that makes it even more successful. The software…

References

Blodget, H, 2013, Apple's 'Mission Statement' Is Making People Worry That the Company Has Gone to Hell, Business Insider. Retrieved:  http://www.businessinsider.com/apples-new-mission-statement-2013-8 

Bohm, A, 2009, The SWOT Analysis. Berlin: GRIN Publishers.

Cole, G, 1994, Strategic Management. New York: Thomson Learning.

Fine, Lawrence, G, 2009, The SWOT Analysis: Using Your Strength to Overcome Weaknesses, Using Opportunities to Overcome Threats, New York: Independent Publishing Platform.

Complementary skills

As it has been mentioned previously, the companies setting the basis for mergers and acquisitions to benefit from strategic synergies operate in the same industry, address the same types of consumers and manufacture similar and competitive products which satisfy the same needs. But what makes their union result in success is the joining of their complementary skills, all to result in a superior quality of the manufactured products, a better and more extensive customer satisfaction and ultimately, increased profits. The complementary skills represent those capabilities that are held by one company or the other, but which could be joined or transferred to offer a better result. To best understand the dynamics of strategic synergies and complementary skills, take the hypothetical example of two French companies manufacturing cosmetics products. Say for instance that the first company produces high quality and reputable products, but they have been severely criticized for…

References

Iversen, M., 1997, Concepts of Synergy - Towards a Clarification, Danish Research Center Unit for Industrial Dynamics, Retrieved at  http://www.druid.dk/uploads/tx_picturedb/dw1997-311.pdfon  May 6, 2008

Strategic Synergy as an Engine for Growth, USS, Retrieved at  http://www.ussnet.co.jp/ir/pdf/annual_03/4732_04.pdfon  May 6, 2008

In fact, as recently as October 11, 2005, Tim Beyers of the Motley Fool pointed to the 38% increase in the closing price of ITT's stock from a year ago at the same time, and suggested that the company is "worthy of further investigation" (Beyers, 2005, p. 4).

2.4.2

Weaknesses. Although Apollo has not fared well in recent months, ITT's competitors continue to represent a major threat to the company's efforts to capture additional market share in this dynamic industry; the company's initiatives to attract increasing numbers of minority students, though, together with its emphasis on developing new degree programs that reflect current market demand may serve to offset this increased competition.

2.5

Critical Issues. The most critical issues facing the company today are the pending investigations by the SEC and the Department of Justice (see further discussion in 4.0 Business isk Assessment below).

3.0

Business Leverage

3.1

Operating leverage.…

References

Beyers, T. (2005, October 15). Who's buying now? The Motley Fool. [Online]. Available:

 http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2005/commentary05101107.htm?source=eptyhol  nk303100& logvisit=y& npu=y& bounce=y& bounce2=y.

Coffee, M.N. (2004, August 8). For-profit schools attracting minorities -- colleges graduating higher percentage of black males than nonprofits. Daily Herald, 2.

Company profile: ITT Educational Services, Inc. (2005). Yahoo! Finance. [Online].

Strategic Information Technology Plan

Oesterlen Services for Youth is an organization that helps troubled youth in Ohio. It consists of a counseling center and a foster care placement program, as well as residential services for both male and female youth for intensive care cases. In order for Oesterlen to continue to help as many youth as possible, it has to be up-to-date on its technology. To that end, it has set some goals for its computers from both a software and hardware standpoint. The current M.T.I. goals for the organization are to consolidate the servers and applications as much as possible. By partnering with others, Oesterlen will be better able to fulfill its mission of helping youth. The alliance between Qbase, ADP online, and the merger of a sizeable competitor will enable Oesterlen the ability to serve the clients better while maintaining the delicate balance between the mission goals and…

References

Haviland, W.A. (2004). Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge. The Thomson Corporation.

Kelly, K. (2010). What Technology Wants. New York, NY: Viking Press.

Kleiman, L.S. (2010). Management and Executive Development. Reference for Business: Encyclopedia of Business.

Kotter, J.P. & Cohen, D.S. (2002). The Heart of Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.

raster graphics, wire-frame and 3D modeling performance, and refresh rates of their screens. What began to occur in the company's culture as a result of this focus on graphics performance and CPU acceleration was a bifurcation or splitting of product lines. At the high end Apple was gradually turning into a workstation company that could easily challenge Sun Microsystems or Silicon Graphics for supremacy of graphically-based calculations. At the low-end, the company was pursuing an aggressive strategy of dominating special-purpose laptops.

This strategy was entirely predicated on the core metrics of price/performance on hardware defining a culture that put pricing above all else, paradoxically nearly driving the company out of business during this period. The focus on metrics that were meant to purely define the Apple competitive advantage made the company descend into pricing wars with competitors whose business models were much more attuned to pricing competition. The metrics the…

Reference

Berling, Robert J. (1993). The emerging approach to business strategy: Building a relationship advantage. Business Horizons, 36(4), 16. Accessed from: http://www.berlingassociates.com/features/horizon.pdf

Keidel, Robert . THE GEOMETRY OF STRATEGY New York: Routledge, May 2010

Sakakibara, Kiyonori, Lindholm, Chris, & Ainamo, Antti. (1995). Product development strategies in emerging markets: The case of personal digital assistants. Business Strategy Review, 6(4), 23. Accessed from  http://www.soc.utu.fi/laitokset/iasm/SakakibaraEtAlPDAs1995.pdf

However the lack of stability in these partnerships is a major weakness for the company today. In 2008, Apple released the following graphic illustrating just how pervasive they believed video-based devices would be, which clearly makes the value of digital content providers critical to their future business model.

Market Assessment of Video-Capable iPods

source: (Apple Investor Relations, 2008).

Implementation: Apple will need to work closely with their research and development team to see what Apple is bringing to the table. Despite the success of the iPod and the iPhone, Apple should continue making products that are familiar to the customer but more user friendly. By doing so Apple can offer their customers products at a lower cost. In addition, Apple can also cut costs by using outsourced research and development teams.

Implementing a competitively featured product relevant to Apple then needs to take into account a business model that reflects…

The ramifications of creating a more equitable partner ecosystem that respect the needs and profit requirements of digital content providers will serve to create greater differentiation faster than products (Berling, 1993). Apple's innovation has been driven at the product level, yet they are faltering in the areas of partnerships (Abel, 2008). What is needed are products that compete with Apple at a functional level yet have a more open architecture that allows content providers to retain their margins and profitability.

Evaluation

In evaluating the performance of the differentiation strategy the metrics associated with content use and transfers which Apple relies on heavily (Casadesus-Masanell, Hervas-Drane, 2010) need to be added to with profit per partner as well. Only then, will an open

Strategic Advantage

Goold and Campbell's comprehensive study sheds a new light on the ways a company uses to improve its financial results, whether from a quantitative point-of-view (i.e. through acquisitions) or a qualitative one (i.e. through the improvement of ratios) It would seem, according to the two researchers, that multi-business company management proves to be a difficult problem, considering that, according to their study, most "parent" companies tend to destroy value rather than add value to the businesses it parents.

The two authors conduct a short analysis of the previous strategies used by multi-business corporations, and find that the growth / share matrix, which was implemented on a large scale in the United States in the 70's and 80's lead to disillusionment, as the performance of companies was quite poor. In regard to the core-competence concept, although its appeal is quite powerful, it failed to provide practical guidelines for its…

Bibliography

1. Campbell A., Goold M., Alexander M., Corporate Strategy: The Quest for Parenting Advantage," "Harvard Business Review," March-April 1995

2. Campbell A., Goold M., Alexander M., "Corporate Strategy and Parenting Theory," Long-Range Planning, Vol. 31, No. 2, 1998

3. Campbell A., Goold M., Alexander M., "Corporate Parenting," Answer to Lasse Kivikko and Rolf Lappaenen

4. Campbell A., Goold M., Alexander M., "The Value of the Parent Company," California Management Review, Vol. 38, No. 1, Fall 1995

argaining power of suppliers

Price of aviation fuels is directly related to the cost of oil.

Regional airports have little bargaining power as they are heavily dependent on one airline.

4. argaining power of customers

Customer are price sensitive and switching to another airline is relatively simple

5. Threat of substitutes

a. UK -- none

b. Europe

c. Driving holidays

d. High- speed trains

e. No loyalty of customers (Ryanair, 2009)

. Ryanair - Value chain analysis

Cost-containment is the focus of the low cost airline and includes the following:

Cost containment realized through spending as little money possible for advertising with all marketing identified as 'in-house' marketing to customers to increase turnover;

Cost containment realized through turning the costs of food and drinks on a flight into a revenue stream through making drinks and a selection of food available at a reasonable price;

Cost containment realized through creating additional…

Bibliography

Ryanair.com

Industry Competitors

Rivalry among Existing Firms

HIGH

Strategic Plan for General Motors Upper Mid Sedan Vehicle Segment

Mission Statement

To maintain and consolidate the status of the company as the number one auto manufacturer in the U.S. y employing the core values of continuous improvement, innovation and integrity and teamwork. To foster consumer enthusiasm and also enhance the team by giving them individual respect and responsibility.

External Environment

Remote Environment

Economic: Currently the U.S. economy is experiencing a slowdown. The buying power of the American consumers is shrinking and that is causing the sellers of goods to suffer. The automotive industry, being seller of high priced and high involvement product, is suffering as a result of this slowdown. The consumers are spending less and less on upgrading their cars or buying second hand cars. This will cause the sales of light vehicles in 2002 to go down from the 17 million units' barrier that has been achieved…

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. GM official web site, accessed on 7-26-2002: www.gm.com

2. Author not available, [FEBRUARY 1, 1999]. COVER STORY: Reviving GM. Business Week.

3. Kiley, D. [11/07/2001]. GM exec predicts market share gain. USA TODAY. B10

4. Stoddard, H. [03-01-2002]. How's fourth best sound?., Ward's Dealer Business, 16.

This is a business system for organizing and managing production development, operations, suppliers, and customer relations which needs less human endeavors, less capital and less time to manufacture products with lesser flaws to accurate customer wants as opposed to the earlier system of mass production. Lean production was groundbreaking approach by Toyota after Second World War and till 1990, characteristically needed 50% of the effort, 50% of the production room and capital investment for a required amount of capacity, and a fraction of the development and lead time of mass production systems, whereas manufacturing products in wider variety and lower quantities with the least flaws.

The terminology crafted by John Krafcik, a research assistant at the MIT with the International Motor vehicle Program in the late 1980s. Another pillar of success at Toyota constitutes Obeya which in Japanese implies 'big room'. At Toyota it has come to be recognized as…

References

All about Toyota" Retrieved at  http://www.toyoland.com/index.html . Accessed on 19 May 2005

Capsule Summary of Lean Concepts" Retrieved at  http://www.lean.org/WhoWeAre/NewsArticleDocuments/Capsule%20summaries%20of%20Key%20Lean%20Concepts%20B.doc  www.lean.org/WhoWeAre/NewsArticleDocuments/Capsule%2520summaries%2520of%2520Key%2520Lean%2520Concepts%2520B.doc+Toyota+Motor+Corporation+value+creation+&hl=en." Accessed on 20 May 2005

Toyota Announces Final Report on New Global Business Plan" Retrieved at  http://www.autointell.com/asian_companies/toyota_motor/toyota-main/toyota213.htm . Accessed on 19 May, 2005

Toyota History." Retrieved at  http://www.toyoland.com/history.html . Accessed on 19 May, 2005

Strategic Management

3900 Words on Strategic Management

Why are you taking this course?

I am undertaking this course in strategic management because not only is it a field that I am greatly interested in, but it is also largely for the reason that strategic management is a course that is important and applicable in different fields and aspects. To begin with, strategic management is greatly applicable to globalization which can be deemed to be imperative for the existence of business. Any global aspect has an influence practically on all strategic decisions that are made. In the present day society, the borders of nations do not have any restrictions to the ingenuities that we have and organizations can only continue to exist and flourish if they used the different perspectives of the world. Through the knowledge and understanding of strategic management, managers are able to have clear apprehension of markets, prices,…

References

Boulton W.R. (2007). Strategic Analysis Model. Retrieved from  http://www.auburn.edu/~boultwr/html/strategic_analysis_model.htm 

Boundless. (2015, march, 2). Strategic Management. Boundless Management. Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/management/textbooks/boundless-management-textbook/strategic-management-12/creating-strategy-common-approaches-89/strategic-management-430-882/.

Carey A. (2009). How to audit your business strategy. Triarchy Press.

Maliti B. (2012). Lecture notes; strategic management.

In addition to that, it also has strong exploration and technological capabilities. (Jonker & Zanden et al., 2007)

Shell PLC is known to have a highly capable workforce, starting from its CEO to CFO and other major and minor employees of the organization. (Jonker & Zanden et al., 2007)

Weaknesses

Lack of control or control weaknesses may occur due to large scale operations. (Jonker & Zanden et al., 2007)

The presence of the organization in a number of global markets lead to issues in relation to the applicability of various laws in those regimes. In other words, the organization may be required to too many laws due to global operations. (Jonker & Zanden et al., 2007)

The formulation uniform policies and procedures due to the performance of operations in various global culture is a very difficult task. (Jonker & Zanden et al., 2007)

The existence of high degree of variation…

References

Jonker, J., Zanden, J.L.V., Howarth, S. & Sluyterman, K.E. (2007). A history of Royal Dutch Shell. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Livesey, S.M. & Kearins, K. (2002). Transparent and caring corporations? A study of sustainability reports by the Body Shop and Royal Dutch/Shell. Organization & Environment, 15 (3), pp. 233 -- 258.

May, P.H., Davinha, V. & Zaidenweber, N. (1999). Royal Dutch/Shell. Corporate Incentives and Environmental Decision Making. Texas: HARC, pp. 79 -- 117.

Mcintosh, M. & Thomas, R. (2001). Royal Dutch Shell. London [u.a.]: Routledge.

Partnership or Alliance

At a recent conference, Acxiom Corporation Company Leader Charles D. Morgan said that constantly changing technology and the growing global landscape means successful companies must select the right partners and alliances to help achieve a true customer-centric enterprise.

In today's global marketplace, partnerships are becoming a major strategic move for many businesses. This paper discusses the elements of an effective partnership or business alliance in an effort to lay out the best business practices for forming one.

The pace of innovation today is too fast for any one company (especially technology company) to be all things to all customers. Last year alone, for example, the U.S. patent office awarded more than 16,000 patents to the top ten global high-tech companies for their innovations. Even a brief look at the industry's history reveals a graveyard of once successful companies that failed to adapt fast enough to industry changes.…

Bibliography

Acxiom. (February 26, 2001). Successful Companies Must Forge Smart Alliances, Acxiom Leader Tells Connections 2001 Executive Symposium. Acxiom White Paper. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.acxiom.com/images/horiz_dots_full2.gif

Arian, N. (January 1, 2003). Successful Public-Private Partnership. World Economic Forum.

Armaghanian, H. (2001). Successful Alliances. Haig Barrett, Inc.

Bamford, J. (2002). Mastering Alliance Strategy: A Comprehensive Guide to Design, Management, and Organization. Jossey-Bass.

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Making Strategic Choices SLP-Module 4 [Pick the date]

Strategic choices are the core of every business. ecently, General Motors have decided to enter into strategic alliance with PSA Peugeot Citroen, the much talk about topic in automotive sector these days. In the past, we have observed that the in order to make maximum benefits of economies of scale, companies would have entered into mergers however the changing global trend entails strategic alliances with reference to individual projects.

Even Peugot has entered into various alliances with other competitors of GM. This alliance has two main areas:

the sharing of vehicle platforms, components and modules and the creation of a global purchasing joint venture for the sourcing of commodities, components and other goods and services from suppliers, with combined annual purchasing volumes of approximately $125bn. (bbc.co.uk, February 2012)

The agenda of this alliance is to focus on products and projects…

References:

Madslien. J. (22 February 2012), Does the Peugeot GM alliance make sense?

Retrieved from  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17120631 

Datamonitor Inc. (14 June, 2011), General Motors, Company Profile,

Retrieved from www.datamonitor.com

Their sole purpose is conducting medical and science research. These include providing funding as well as facilities to: individual scientists, universities and in some cases private corporations. If Abbott Labs can form some kind of partnership with them, this could help to address the issues that they are facing as far as the reduction in funding that they are receiving from their projects. ("Howard Hughes Medical Institute," 2011) (Drefius, 2006)

The company can then seek out other private foundations, where could they form similar alliances with. Once this takes place, they can create a host of different partnerships with these organizations that will address these challenges. This would directly deal with the problems that they are facing in the areas of: barriers to entering certain fields, limited control over proprietary compounds, varying expectations and a decrease in funding to some of the different programs. At the same time, they can…

Bibliography

Howard Hughes Medical Institute. (2011). HHMI. Retrieved from:  http://www.hhmi.org/ 

Drefius, C. (2006). At Harvard's Stem Cell Center. New York Times. Retrieved from:  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24conv.html?ref=howardhughesmedicalinstitute

business will face is strategic planning. This is because of shifts to the operating environment will have an impact on the profit margins. In the case of esearch in Motion, the company has been experiencing a loss of market share to competitors (i.e. Google and Apple). At the same time, they have been trying to reach out to customers' through new mobile devices and applications. This has resulted in the company realizing a loss of its dominance inside the industry. To fully understand what is happening requires focusing on a number of areas to include: potential strategies for taking advantage of external opportunities and possible approaches for addressing future threats. Together, these different elements will show how these issues can be addressed over the long-term.

Identify the firm's existing objectives and strategies.

The current challenges impacting esearch in Motion, is that competing firms have introduced alternative products. This is having…

References

Kao, R. (2010). Black Berry Storm for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

McQueen, R. (2012). Black Berry. New York, NY: Key Porter Books.

Sweeny, A. (2009). Black Berry Planet. Toronto: Wiley.

Corporate alliances are mostly a 50/50 bet since only about half of these ventures give returns to partners above the cost of capital. This is very worrying since alliances and partnerships are what many business models are based on. The article points out the reason as to why these alliances fail is the fact that they are traditionally managed and organized. Most alliances are normally defined by service level agreements which mainly identify what is committed to be delivered by each side rather than what they hope to attain from this partnerships. The SLAs put emphasis on the operational performance metrics and not the strategic objectives .the managers of the alliances are not sure whether they stick to the agreement made initially or renegotiate afresh.

The article focusses on Solvay which is ranked among top 40 pharmaceutical companies that develops neuroscience, influenza vaccine, cardio-metabolic and pancreatic enzyme products. Since the…

References

Kaplan, R.S, Norton, P.D & Rugelsojen, B., (2013). Managing Alliances with the balanced scorecard.

Zaman, M. & Mavondo, F.(2010). Measuring strategic alliance success: A Conceptual Framework. Retrieved August 4,2013 from  http://www.anzmac.org/conference/2001/anzmac/AUTHORS/pdfs/Zaman.pdf 

Segil, L., (20O2).5 Key to creating successful strategic alliances. Retrieved August 4, 2013 from  http://www.forbes.com/2002/07/18/0719alliance.html

"In the last year, for example, the online auctioneer made roughly $1 in ad revenue per visitor, compared with Yahoo's estimated $7 in ad revenue per person" (Olsen, 2006). However, eBay has found a solution -- its new alliance with its one-time online commerce rival Google. Rather than continue their bitter rivalry, the two have negotiated a deal "that allows the two companies to share revenue on search-related text advertisements delivered on eBay's sites outside of the United States" (Olsen, 2006). As part of the deal, "Google will deliver sponsored links to eBay's search results pages only when there are insufficient results from eBay for a particular query" (Olsen, 2006).

However, Google is not the only major Internet force that eBay has allied with, in its effort to remain competitive and to remain the premier Internet auction site. In 2005, according to a May, 25 press release, Yahoo! And eBay…

Works Cited

Olsen, Stefanie. (2006). "Google, eBay: Strategic bedfellows." CNET News.com. Retrieved 6 Sept 2007 at  http://news.com.com/eBay,+Google+strategic+bedfellows/2100-1024_3-6110304.html 

Yahoo! And eBay Form Strategic Partnership to Further Expand Their Businesses in U.S." (25 May 2006). Yahoo! Press Release. Retrieved 6 Sept 2007 at http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=198500

Strategic Planning for usiness

The objective of this study is to examine the importance of strategic planning for business. Toward this end, this study will conduct a review of the literature in this area of inquiry.

Zuckerman (nd) writes that the concept of strategy 'has roots in both political and military history, from Sun Tzu to Homer and Euripides. The word 'strategy' comes from the Greek 'stratego', which means to 'plan the destruction of one's enemies through effective use of resources'." (p.5) Many of the terms that are associated with strategic planning including "objective, mission strength and weakness' are reported as having been developed by or used in the military." (Zuckerman, nd, p.5)

The work of Swayne, Duncan, and Ginter (2008) state that "strategic planning defines where the organization is going, sometimes where it is not going, and provide focus. The plan sets direction for the organization and -- through…

Bibliography

Lawler, JE (nd) The Importance of Strategic Planning. Practical Decisions. Retrieved from:  http://www.practicaldecisions.com/strategic-planning.pdf 

Business Planning Papers: Developing a Strategic Plan (2012) Planware.org. Retrieved from:  http://www.planware.org/strategicplan.htm 

Zuckerman (nd) Is Strategic Planning Still Relevant? Chapter 1. Retrieved from:  http://www.ache.org/pubs/Zuckerman_Ch1.pdf

The company conducts research and development on several programs such as on-site warfare testing, and laboratory research for the next generation aircrafts. The company also conducts &D on the application of new technologies to build aircraft and submarines as well as implementing effective &D on mechanical and electrical system for the new equipment.

Despite the competitive strategic advantages that the company is enjoying, there are external environment affecting the business operations of Huntington Ingalls.

External Environment affecting the Operations of Huntington Ingalls

This section uses STEEPL model to analyze the external environments that the company is operating. STEEPL abbreviation refers to Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental Factors, Economical, Political and Legal. Major operation of Huntington Ingalls is conducted in the United States and the Economical, Political and Legal and the Socio-cultural aspects of the country affect the operation of the company.

Socio-cultural:

Socio-cultural of the United States is one of external factors…

References

AMSEC, (2012). About Us. AMSEC is a subsidiary of Huntington Ingalls Industries.

Datamonitor (2011). United States: Country Analysis Report -- in-depth PESTLE Insights. Datamonitor Plc.

Huntington Ingalls Annual Report (2011). 2011 Annual Report. Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. United States.

Hynson, G. (2011). Huntington Ingalls Industries (NASDAQ: HII) Memo. University of Virginia. College of Arts and Sciences/PreComm.

Human esources

Strategic HM

Strategic ole of H

In most companies today, the H function provides vital services to such stakeholders as job applicants, workers, supervisors, middle managers, and executives. Yet, the H function tends to be located at the end of the business chain, on the reactive side, and too frequently centers on carrying out actions rather than achieving outcomes. The role of the H function is frequently one of providing people, training, and secluded H efforts after others have formulated organizational strategy and have initiated operational accomplishment. Since the 1990's, H practitioners have been motivated by events in their organizations to direct concentration to such issues as downsizing, outplacement, retraining, diversity, worker rights, technological effects on people, and recruitment of skilled talent in a time of labor deficiencies and record employment. Cost centered management of worker benefits programs such as health insurance, workers' compensation, and pension plans have…

References

Brockway, S. (2007). The art of business partnering. Strategic HR

Review, 6(6), 32-35.

Boudreau, J., & Ramstad, P. (2005). Talentship and the new paradigm for human resource

management: From professional practices to strategic talent decision science. People and Strategy, 28(2), 17-26.

Value creation

Wilson had the built-in sales structure to increase demand amongst physicians and established knowledge of how to reach competitors. Crawford-Beckman had the drug that Wilson desired. Crawford-Beckman, as a small company, wished to develop more pharmaceutical products, and the agreement also specified the two companies would co-develop a ne drug in the future. The companies would remain separate in structure, but a new structure would be created to support their partnership with specific delegation of responsibilities within the team. The joint divisions were, in general, partnerships of equals.

However, problems arose regarding the idea that both companies were supposed to equally support and share in the costs of marketing the drug. Wilson resented the greater investment it had made in terms of its pre-established resources into marketing the drug and Crawford-Beckman resented the burden it felt it was being forced to shoulder by a larger competitor. Each company…

Furthermore, those experts who will be successful in directing their organizations into the future are the ones who comprehend corporate culture, tactics and policies, distinguish future difficulties and work solutions. Additionally, they should be able to deal handle all kinds of people, can communicate excellently orally and in writing and can identify, employ and train future managers. Those human resource executives with an organizational growth orientation have acquired power as organizations tries to change workforce associations from individual to mutual (Beer and Walton, 2002).

As organizations persist to move close to joint systems and collective monetary resources for managing human capital, more and more organizations are liable to merge both Human esource and Organizational Development. A time has reached to relinquish discussing Organizational Development participation in human resource systems and look for the current chances of displaying the skills of Organizational Development in constructing organizational capacity and having in place…

References

Beer, M., & Walton, a. (2002). Strategic Staffing: A Practical Toolkit for Workforce Planning.

New York: American Management Association.

Dunn, J. (1987). Organizational Change and Development. Annual Review of Psychology, 38(1),

339-367.

Human esources

Strategic HM

Strategic human resource management is intended to aid companies to best meet the needs of their workers while supporting company goals. Human resource management deals with any part of a business that has to do with staff. Strategic human resource management is the hands-on management of people. It necessitates thinking ahead, and planning ways for a company to better meet the needs of its workers, and for the workers to better meet the needs of the company. This can affect the manner in which things are done at a business site, improving everything from hiring practices and worker training programs to evaluation techniques and discipline (Trahant, Steckler & Sonnesyn, 2007).

Discussion

The HM department at Humana does not really play a strategic role in the organization. Presently they spend the majority of their time doing the day-to-day things like hiring people, training, and other H efforts…

References

Dunn, J. (2006). Strategic human resources and strategic organization development: An alliance for the future? Organization Development Journal, 24(4), 69-76.

Kiger, P.J. (2007). Knowing it all. Workforce Management, 86(12),1,30-32,34-39.

Trahant, B., Steckler, F., & Sonnesyn, C. (2007). Elements of successful strategic human capital planning. Public Manager, 36(2), 45-50.

Further increases are planned in the UK, wherein a 50% of 17 to 30-year-olds would enter higher education by the year 2010, and the fact that the acceptance rates to universities has increased to more than 14% in recent years shows that it would be infinitely easier for the UK to achieve its target for increases in the number of students enrolling for higher education. (Search View, Education, Higher)

Furthermore, since it is a fact that dropout rates remain significantly lower in the UK than in any other European country, and four out of five students complete their graduation courses successfully, Britain produces the largest number of graduates in Europe. The number of universities in the UK has also increased after the binary division between traditional universities and higher education institutions was abandoned in the year 1992, and today, all British institutions come as a part of a single system,…

References

Baker, Mike. 2004. The University Market is here. 3 April. Retrieved 11 August, 2005, from the World Wide Web:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3595049.stm 

Chapter 6, Future Demands for Higher Education. Retrieved 10 August, 2005, from the World Wide Web:  http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/ncihe/nr_087.htm 

Coughlan, Sean. 2004. UK must sell education to the world. 8 December. Retrieved 10 August, 2005, from the World Wide Web:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4080219.stm 

David Blunkett's Speech on Higher Education at Maritime Greenwich University. 2000.

President/CEO of a company should concern him or herself with the following strategic goals:

Create a working culture that embraces diversity.

Improve external and internal customer satisfaction.

Developing a mission statement and business strategy.

Prepare employees and the organization as a whole to meet increasing global challenges.

Create strategic partnerships or alliances between competitors, vendors and suppliers.

Deliver the highest quality product or service to customers.

Tactical Goals For Other members of an organization include:

VP Operations

Ensure the organization is operational.

Make sure knowledge is shared between business units and departments.

VP Marketing

Perform internal and external analysis of current marketing presence and techniques.

Adopt marketing strategies to propel the organization to the forefront o the market.

VP Finance

Streamline business processes to manage financial transactions.

Establish reporting mechanisms that correlate with business units needs.

Ensure the organization maintains a profit and establishes a reasonable budget for conducting day-to-day…

Reference:

"Developing a strategic business plan." 23, Sept. 2005:

Strategic Business Plan

Strategic management

Business concept

Competitive advantages

Market analysis

Marketing

Inglot Cosmetics has created a new innovative way for consumers to mix different make-up colors to suit their preferences. The company realized that there is potential in offering consumers the option to mix colors, instead of developing all color ranges. Consumers being health conscious has led to many restrictions within the different markets the company operates. Leveraging on its production facilitates the company has met the European Union regulations. There is potential for the company to expand in markets that it had earlier restricted itself. The South American market especially Brazil is considered to be a high consumer of cosmetic products, and opening a store in that location would be beneficial for the company. However, the market there is highly competitive, as other companies have already setup their stores. Within the next one year, Inglot will have opened…

References

AFANASYEV, M. & MENDELSON, H. 2010. Service provider competition: Delay cost structure, segmentation, and cost advantage. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 12, 213-235.

BHATTACHARYYA, S. & NAIN, A. 2011. Horizontal acquisitions and buying power: A product market analysis. Journal of Financial Economics, 99, 97-115.

FOSFURI, A., GIARRATANA, M.S. & ROCA, E. 2013. Building and Sustaining a Product Differentiation Advantage Through a Community-Focused Strategy. Industry and Innovation, 20, 114-132.

KOTLER, P. 2011. Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. Journal of Marketing, 75, 132-135.

esearch also helps in planning marketing programs through helping to identify new opportunities and thus to evaluate the potential for a new idea and also to identify the areas where the marketing efforts will be concentrated KnowThis LLC, 2012()

esearch also helps to minimize risks. By the marketing managers being able to plan the marketing efforts effectively and they can then identify what is required and to ensure that the development of the programs is highly focused towards the demand in the market. Market research also helps to create benchmarks and to measure progress. Early research helps to highlight any major gaps in the marketing plan which need to be bridged and regular market research helps to show if there are any improvements in sales being brought about by the marketing efforts.

Segmentation and the marketing mix

Segmentation helps greatly in customer retention and acquisition of new clientele. This is…

References

Cherian, M., Flores, M., & Srinivasan, G. (2008). Critical Success Factors to Collaborate in Cross Border Alliances: Experiences of Indian Manufacturing Enterprises. Paper presented at the SMF conference, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

Horn, L.P. (2011). Online Marketing Strategies for Reaching Today's Teens. [Article]. Young Adult Library Services, 9(2), 24-27.

KnowThis LLC. (2012). Marketing Research Retrieved May 20th, 2012, from  http://www.knowthis.com/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/marketing-research/examples-of-research-in-marketing/ 

Kotler, P., & Keller, K.L. (2012). Marketing Management, Thirteenth Edition. New York, NY: Prentice Hall.

Given the scale and global penetration of the Bacardi brand and its product line, it is appropriate that Bacardi should possess a visible and meaningful presence in the discussion on underage drinking and alcohol abuse. Certainly, this would be considered an appropriate measure for an organization boasting Bacardi's proliferation. According to Yahoo! Finance (2010), "the company's portfolio consists of more than 200 brands and labels, including Bombay Sapphire Gin, Martini Vermouth, Dewar's Scotch hisky, B&B and Benedictine liqueurs, and Grey Goose Vodka. Other types of spirits in its portfolio include tequila, vermouth, cognac, and sparkling wine. Serving more than 100 countries, the company operates 27 production sites around the world." (Yahoo! Finance, 1)

This accounts for the company's greatest strength, which is its enormity of scale. Though Bacardi has been in operation for well over a century, the growth potential at this scale has only really been realized in the…

Works Cited:

Bacardi & Company Limited. (2010). Bacardi Limited. Bacardilimited.com.

Gjelten, T. (2008). Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause. Viking Adult.

Hambrick, D.C. & Fredrickson, J.W. (2001). Are you sure you have a strategy? The Academy of Management Executive, 15(4), 48-59.

Mizrahi, A. (2009). Historic Bacardi Building. Urban City Architecture.

Strategic Opportunities

Abell's business definition framework suggests that a business can be defined using three dimensions namely; the customer groups which is who the business intends to serve through its goods and services. The second dimension is customer needs which refers to the needs of the customers that the business aims to attempt. The third dimension is technology or distinctive competencies which refer to how the business is going to meet the needs of its customers. Within the framework of the competencies of any business and its available technologies, it is the management decisions to strike an optimum between the amount of functions a business wants to fulfil and the costs it is going to incur. This approach puts emphasis on the understanding of the customers as opposed to the particular industry or the products or services the business is offering. On the basis of these three dimensions, Abell's competitive…

References

Gomes, S. (2011). Strategic Management. Retrieved October 1, 2014 from  https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDEQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cpaireland.ie%2Fdocs%2Fdefault-source%2FStudents%2FStudy-Support%2FStrategy-Leadership%2Fstrategic-options-approaches-to-sustainable-competitive-advantage.pdf%3Fsfvrsn%3D0&ei=p8crVLbaK6HC7gamo4CwCw&usg=AFQjCNF2G72Nw9_K80LZkVn7aNet3WKaqw&sig2=vH8nJWz0TXL-p9nzjvJm7A 

My Strategic Plan. (n.d.). Vision Statements. Retrieved October 1, 2014 from  http://mystrategicplan.com/resources/vision-statements/#Criteria .

S. Airways and United have been stifled twice before, but renewed interest in the merger possibility has been created as a result of economic re-stabilization. But the two companies are currently in merger talks that would make U.S. Airways the second largest airline. The industry reported a $60 billion dollar loss since 2000 which has spurred interest in consolidation. Even with the dramatic declines in capacity by airlines collectively, in recent years, experts believe that there are too many airlines and a shortage in travelers. A merger could help both increase the earnings per share in a smaller timeframe than either company can accomplish alone.

But mergers in the airline industry have been difficult to pull off, in part because complex labor contracts can offset the promised cost savings. Delta and Northwestern recently merged, creating the nation's largest carrier after two years of implementation. William S. Swelbar, (research engineer at…

References

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Bureau of Labor Statistics Graph: "The cost of airline fares and lodging away from home"  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ugWk-rnkqXM/SYMF82UCWcI/AAAAAAAAD6U/eRlBYBU4j7s/s400/IATA+Performance+Month+Dec+2008.png  (Accessed May 14, 2011).

Reed, Ted. "U.S. Airways Pilots to Seek New Union." TheStreet.com.  http://www.thestreet.com/s/us-airways-pilots-to-seek-new-union/newsanalysis/transportation/10382899.html . (accessed May 14, 2011).