Strategic Goal Essays (Examples)

This is challenging, as it will require Whole Foods to continue to adapt in order to make themselves stand out. Prices can have a negative impact on the firm's bottom line results. This is occurring through increasing costs on the wholesale level and tremendous amounts of discounting. Over the course of time, these factors can hurt the company's earnings and ability to maintain their competitive position. ("Global Food etailing Industry," 2013) (Burch, 2007) ("Annual Stakeholders eports," 2012)

ecommendation

Clearly, ABC should integrate with Whole Foods. This will allow the company to maintain its market share and augment the products they are selling into the firm's strategy. At the same time, the management team could help Whole Foods to more effectively address the challenges they are facing from: increased competition and pricing. This will enable both firms to take advantage of each other's cost structure and create a unique atmosphere which…

References

2011 Supermarket Trends. (2011). Seeking Alpha. Retrieved from:  http://seekingalpha.com/article/247930-2011-supermarket-trends-good-for-food-manufacturers-and-retailers-tough-for-consumers 

Annual Stakeholders Reports. (2012). Whole Foods Market. Retrieved from:  http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/sites/default/files/media/Global/Company%20Info/PDFs/2012-WFM_Annual_Report.pdf 

Company Info. (2013). Whole Foods Market. Retrieved from:  http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company-info# 

Global Food Retailing Industry. (2013). Reporter Link. Retrieved from:  http://www.reportlinker.com/ci02212/Food-Retailing.html

Strategic Management

Mission and Vision

Brocade Communications systems "provides innovative network solutions that helps the world's leading organizations transition smoothly to a virtualized world where applications and information can reside anywhere" (Brocade.com, 2013). The company notes that "these solution deliver the unique capabilities for a more flexible IT infrastructure with unmatched simplicity, non-stop networking, application optimization, and investment protection" (Ibid).

This is the company's description of its business, and is not specifically billed as a mission or vision statement, this is precisely what it is. The company is stating what it does, what its vision of its market is, and how it seeks to deliver value to its customers. There are all good elements of a mission statement, so in that sense this description of the business can be evaluated as a business statement. The company's focuses on data centers, Ethernet, storage and converged network solutions. The company competes with…

References

Brocade.com (2013). About Brocade. Retrieved November 30, 2013 from  http://www.brocade.com/company/about-brocade/index.page 

Brocade Q4 and FY 2013 Report. Retrieved November 30, 2013 from http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/BRCD/2817837717x0x707768/6cb0cbe6-e365-44b5-ad6e-76c2fa174d50/Brocade_Reports_Fourth_Quarter_and_Fiscal_2013_Results.pdf

Caplinger, D. (2013). Can Brocade kick Cisco and Juniper while they're down? Motley Fool. Retrieved November 30, 2013 from  http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/11/14/can-brocade-kick-cisco-and-juniper-while-theyre-do.aspx 

MSN Moneycentral: Brocade (2013). Retrieved November 30, 2013 from  http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-price?symbol=BRCD&ocid=qbes

Strategic Management Facebook

Strategic Management

Mission and Vision Statement against Organizational Performance

Evaluation of Strategic Goals

Financial Performance of the Organization

Competitive and Market Analysis

Corporate Strategy to Maximize eturn to Shareholders

Mergers or Acquisitions as a Viable Strategy

Employee Motivational Techniques

Organizational Existing Strategies' Support to Business Ethics

The world of commerce in the twenty fist century has changed, indeed revolutionized in terms of doing business and making money. The technological innovations and advancement has left an indelible imprint on the ways of operating business functions. Strategic management, in this regard, is one of the approaches that are put into effect by the organizations top management in order to analyze their vital initiatives and performance in the external environment (Thompson, Cram101 Textbook eviews, Strickland & Gamble, 2006).

Strategic management is an enduring phenomenon that serves as a roadmap to the organization, where it usually evaluates and controls the overall…

References

Facebook. (2012). Facebook -- About (Mission Statement). Retrieved from Facebook website:  http://www.facebook.com/facebook/info 

Facebook. (2012). Facebook -- Investor Relations (Code of Business Conduct and Ethics). Retrieved from Facebook website:  http://investor.fb.com/documentdisplay.cfm?DocumentID=10737 

Facebook. (2012). Facebook -- Investor Relations (Facebook Reports Third Quarter 2012 Results). Retrieved from Facebook website:  http://investor.fb.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=715607 

Fowler, G.A. (2012). Facebook: One Billion and Counting. Retrieved from The Wall Street Journal website:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443635404578036164027386112.html

What Sony needs to do is concentrate on creating a mobile Web-enabled series of devices, supporting services, and segmented digital content in both music-based and video content. In short, Sony needs to create an economic ecosystem that rivals the Apple ecosystem as shown in Figure 2, Apple Digital Content Ecosystem:

Figure 2: Apple Digital Content Ecosystem

Source: (Apple Investor elations, 2009)

The most critical objective for the three-year planning horizon for Sony is to emulate the model shown in Figure 2 and apply entirely new series of metrics to how they evaluate integration and cross-model compatibility of their entire product line. The strategic objective for the coming three years has to be centered on creating a scalable ecosystem that can deliver a continual stream of revenues through the licensing of digital music and video content in addition to the introduction of entirely new devices into this ecosystem that have not…

References

Apple, Investor Relations (2009). Investor Relations. Retrieved May 21, 2009, from Apple Investor Relations and Filings with the SEC Web site:  http://www.apple.com/investor/ 

Kemal Altinkemer, Wendi Shen. (2008). A Multigeneration Diffusion Model for it-Intensive Game Consoles*. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 9(8), 442-461.

Steven Cherry. (2008). Blu-ray's Empty Victory. IEEE Spectrum, 45(3), 16. ).

Lee G. Cooper. (2000). Strategic marketing planning for radically new products. Journal of Marketing, 64(1), 1-16.

The flat structure is also valued greatly by working in teams.

The SHM is supported by flexible work, structure and people and is integrated into the larger participative change business strategy.

2. The report above described the evolution of the business strategy for Macquarie Bank. By emphasizing the continuous adaptation to the environment and adjusting the internal structure to meet expected outcomes, the Bank adopts a prospective business strategy. According to Miles and Snow's model (1984) (cited in Ahmed, Ullah & Uddin, 2006), who investigated the competitive strategies of several hundred companies in widely different industries, three basic strategies exist termed as the Defender, Prospector, and Analyzer. The Defender is also called 'Type a', characterized by such product-market strategies: limited, stable product line; predictable market; growth through market penetration; and emphasis: 'deep'. The Prospector also known as 'Type B', is defined by product-market strategies that are broad, changing product line;…

References

Armstrong, M. (2006), a Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, Kogan Page, 10th edition.

Guest, D. E., Michie, J., Sheehan M. & Conway, N. (2000). Employment relations, HRM and business Performance: An analysis of the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey. London: Institute of Personnel and Development.

Ahmed F., Ullah M. S, Uddin M.K. (2006). Strategic Human Resource Management: Linking HR Practices with the Business Strategy, the Cost and Management, Vol. 34 No. 3 May-June, pp. 15-30

Wade D.M. (2006) Business strategy types and innovative practices. Journal of Managerial Issues June

Each employee takes responsibility for his or her continuous improvement in terms of the skill set, behavior and contributions needed for optimal work performance.

Expectations are shared in a clear and concise manner, rather than being obscured in business language that does little more than inflate the ego of the manager. In this way, managers and individuals enter into a sharing relationship rather than a strictly autocratic employee/employer relationship. In addition to managers who clarify their expectations to individuals and teams, the latter also clarify to managers how they expect to be managed and helped towards optimal performance so that collective company goals can be reached.

The focus of strategic human resource management is therefore the complexity of interrelationships between management and employees in order to optimize performance. These interrelationships refer not only to the one between management and employees, but also between members of groups and teams, as well…

Relationship management is then integrated with performance management. While this makes the process much more complicated than the traditional business model, where the autocratic manager would give orders and expect to be obeyed without question, it is also a more effective way of managing performance. Effective relationship management results in a more pleasant work environment, which in turn is conducive to a higher level of performance. Such an integration of strategic human resource management with performance management systems, if handled correctly, can therefore be highly profitable for a business and result in goals being reached within the optimal time frame.

Source

CIPD. "Performance Management: an overview." August, 2004.  http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/perfmanagement/general/perfman.htm

Strategic isk and Exposure

Strategic exposure refers to the risk that makes the foreign exchange rate movements unfavorable and will influence the present value of firm's future cash flows. This is also known as long-term transaction exposures in terms of financial jargon. (Operating / Strategic Exposure) A close watch on the financial statement i.e. The main source of financial information of a firm reveals a picture of the exposure of the company to the strategic risks. The magnitude to which the value of the company is responsive to the changes in the interest, exchange and commodity prices indicates its exposure to the financial risk. The variation in its profit and loss account; the expansion or erosion of the core business in terms of annual variation in net sales, stock turnover, variation in costs comparatively to the income in terms of gross profit margin, selling and administrative costs, general costs depict…

References

An Overview of risk Management-Lecture 2 Treasury Management. Retrieved from http://accfinweb.account.strath.ac.uk/am/tml2.html Accessed 1 November, 2005

Enterprise Risk Management -- Integrated Framework. September, 2004. Retrieved from  http://www.coso.org/Publications/ERM/COSO_ERM_ExecutiveSummary.pdf  Accessed 1 November, 2005

Operating / Strategic Exposure. Retrieved from  http://www.lse.co.uk/financeglossary.asp?searchTerm=& ; iArticleID=1753& definition=operating_/_strategic_exposure Accessed 1 November, 2005

Strategic eview

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis formed Skype in 2003. The two produced VoIP software based on P2P architecture that revolutionized the field of communication. The software provided its users with high quality and free voice calls, as firewalls did not affect this software. The company rapidly grew due to the free quality voice calls reaching its critical user mass in a short time. The company later started premium Skype products to corporate users, which increased the revenue generated. VoIP technology used by Skype means that the company relies on the internet or IP-based networks to transmit the signal. The information transferred through the software requires protection from hackers and for privacy thus encrypted.

Microsoft acquired the company in 2011 for a record 8.5 billion U.S. dollars. This is considers one of Microsoft's most expensive acquisitions as the company grows to become the number one software company in the…

References

Capon, N., & Hulbert, J.M. (2007). Managing marketing in the 21st century: Developing and implementing the market strategy. Bronxville, N.Y: Wessex Inc.

Cronin, M.J. (2010). Smart products, smarter services: Strategies for embedded control. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Hill, C.W.L., & Jones, G.R. (2012). Strategic management theory. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.

Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., & Hoskisson, R.E. (2012). Strategic management: Competitiveness & globalization. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Summary of ecommendations

1. Goals of the recommendations to the Board of Directors for AM esearch:

a. Seek to stabilize the firm during turbulent economic conditions

b. Capitalize on the growth potential of Web 2.0 technologies and social networking.

2. Starting with competitiveness

a. AM needs to create greater levels of process-based expertise that is relevant to enterprise accounts

b. Transform this expertise and use it in the context of assessing and evaluating vendor clients' strategies.

3. Learning and Knowledge Management Strategic Initiatives

a. Need for creating the role of a Chief Learning Officer

i. Duties include concentrating on unifying all the disparate sources of knowledge in the company into a single version of the truth, a single repository of knowledge that could easily be queried for unstructured content.

4. Managing employees to greater levels of creativity and innovation.

a. Creating more opportunities for individual growth

i. Use personal growth…

References:

David R. Firth, E Burton Swanson. (2005). How useful are IT research and analysis services? Business Horizons, 48(2), 151-159.

Robert P. Garrett, Jeffrey G. Covin, Dennis P. Slevin. (2009). Market responsiveness, top management risk taking, and the role of strategic learning as determinants of market pioneering. Journal of Business Research, 62(8), 782.

Larry Greenemeier, Paul McDougall. (2006, February). Credibility Of Analysts. InformationWeek,(1075), 32-36,38-39.

Maryfran Johnson. (2003, October). Ethics and influence. Computerworld,

In this sense, large companies operating in different sectors would fit this description. An example in this sense would be Vivendi, the French company who went from being a simple water company to having businesses in cinema and movies, the music sector, etc.

4. Michael Milken was an ambitious financial tycoon who was CEO at one of the best investment banks on Wall Street, Drexler. His ambition drove him into deals with junk bonds and inside trading affairs, which led to a $200 million fine and 22 months in jail due to fraud on 1989.

Jake Welch, CEO at General Electrics, revolutionized management by introducing a series of innovatory ideas at his company. Among them, the best known is the Six Sigma methodology, which was subsequently successfully implemented by Motorola as well.

ill Gates was indeed a man with vision, having the chance to foresee the success that the information…

Bibliography

1. Strategy Notes. On the Internet at  http://www.tutor2u.net/business/strategy/what_is_strategy.htm 

2. Entrepreneurial Leadership. On the Internet at  http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/leadership_entrepreneurial.html 

Strategy Notes. On the Internet at

Strategic Linkage

Strategic management

Why do you think it is important for H to be a strategic partner to the business?

In the new, knowledge-based economy, the human resources department of the firm is increasingly important to leverage as a strategic advantage. This can be seen in the actions of corporations such as Google, which offer extensive perks and benefits to employees, after a long vetting process (Benefits, 2012, Google). The philosophy of such organizations is that the companies that can attract the best people can translate this into financial gain. Companies like Apple generate ideas just as much as they generate products, and without knowing how to recruit and above all retain top talent, a company will be left behind.

etention requires competitive and often unique perks and bonuses, spanning from workout facilities to healthcare benefits and beyond. It also requires a fair system of promotions and pay. There…

References

Benefits. (2012). Google. Retrieved:  http://www.google.com/about/jobs/lifeatgoogle/benefits/ 

Frederick Taylor and scientific management. (2012). Net MBA. Retrieved:

 http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/scientific/ 

Wei, L. (2006). Strategic Human Resource Management: Determinants of fit. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 14(2), 49-60.

Beyond that, there is little evidence of clusterization either domestically or in the global market

The sugar industry is in decline. However, there remain a few opportunities. The first major opportunity is the growth in China. One of the true growth markets in the sugar world, China is increasing in affluence and increasing its consumption of sugar-laden estern foods. The Chinese market increased by two-thirds in just six years, from 2000 to 2006, and still lags estern sugar consumption levels. Another opportunity, albeit farther out in terms of time frame, is the U.S. market. To enter this market will involve the Australian government breaking down the trade barriers that U.S. sugar producers have erected. There are more threats. The first major threat is the growth of India and other producers. India is poised to become the world's largest sugar producer, and will have a significant impact on prices worldwide. Another…

Works Cited

CSR Profile and Information from Australian Stock Exchange, available online at  http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/CompanyInfoSearchResults.jsp?searchBy=asxCode&allinfo=on&asxCode=CSR#details 

CSR Profile and Information also sourced from CSR, available online at  http://www.csr.com.au 

CSR Information and Ratios from FinAnalysis, available online at  http://www.aspecthuntley.com.au.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/af/company/mainview?ASXCode=CSR 

Industry profile from IBISWorld, January 2008. [Online] Available at: Deakin Library.

Then they can transfer them to all the business units and follow through. A best practice of an organization provides it with unique and distinctive competence and cost/benefit impact. Therefore the transfer and sharing of the best practice organization wide becomes necessary for attaining a competitive edge.

enchmarking attempts to improve business processes by analyzing the top-notch approaches of others and adapting it to one's own organization to achieve a competitive lead. est practices and benchmarking can give an organization strategic, operational, and financial advantage. ench marking is an attempt by an organization to look for continuous improvement. Japanese concept of "Kaizen" or continuous improvement also considers benchmarking an important part of its philosophy. enchmarking can also require management to think out of the box. For example, if someone wants to see the standards for team management in the steel industry they might look for the best practice in the…

Bibliography

Choy, C., Suk, C. 2005, 'Critical Factors In The Successful Implementation Of Knowledge Management', Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, Available at;

 http://www.tlainc.com/articl90.htm 

David, Fred R. 1991, Strategic Management. 3rd Ed. McMillan

Dehoff K., Neilson, G. et al. 2001, 'Best practices transfer: Unleashing the value within', Available at;

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

Goal Translation at STM

The concept of "goal translation" in the context of the STM case is critical to the success of the entire TQM initiative and strategy. The single most critical success factor for any TQM initiative is change management (Svensson, 2005). The goal translation component or concept of the STM methodology concentrates on combining as many of the diverse, existing initiatives in place and leaving only a single set of key or strategic goals that have been defined by internal and external needs. STM wanted to do this to enable more effective change management strategies while also being able to set the foundation for real-time analytics reporting. This aggregation of internal and external needs for process improvement ensured that STM would invest their limited time and resources only in those activities that would deliver the greatest value. TQM projects must be managed to a specific series of measurable…

References

Ahire, S.L., Waller, M.A. & Golhar, D.Y. 1996, "Quality management in TQM vs. non-TQM firms: an empirical investigation," The International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. 8-27.

Ooi, K.B., Arumugam, V. & Teo, S.H. 2005, "Does soft TQM predict employees attitudes?," TQM Journal, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 279-289.

Sharma, M. & Kodali, R. 2008, "TQM implementation elements for manufacturing excellence," TQM Journal, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 599-621.

Sila, I. 2007, "Examining the effects of contextual factors on TQM and performance through the lens of organizational theories: An empirical study," Journal of Operations Management, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 83-83.

If a startup is being planned, the strengths and weaknesses are related mainly to the promoter(s) - their experience, expertise and management abilities - rather than to the project. The objective is to build up a picture of the outstanding good and bad points, achievements and failures and other critical features within the company.

Threats & Opportunities

The external threats and opportunities confronting a company, can exist or develop in the following areas:

The company's own industry where structural changes may be occurring

(Size and segmentation; growth patterns and maturity; established patterns and relationships, emergence/contraction of niches; international dimensions; relative attractiveness of segments)

The marketplace which may be altering due to economic or social factors (Customers; distribution channels; economic factors, social/demographic issues; political & environmental factors)

Competition which may be creating new threats or opportunities

(Identities, performances, market shares, likely plans, aggressiveness, strengths & weaknesses)

New technologies which may be…

Periodic evaluations of strategies, tactics, and action programs are essential to assessing success of the strategic planning process. It is important to measure performance at least annually (but preferably more often), to evaluate the effect of specific actions on long-term results and on the organization's vision and mission (Rowley, Lujan, & Dolence, 1997). The organization should measure current performance against previously set expectations, and consider any changes or events that may have impacted the desired course of actions.

G) Competitive strategies

Unpredicted and unintended events frequently occur that differ from the organization's intended strategies, and the organization must

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

RATIONALE for the ELEMENTS

The rationale for the elements stated within the mission, vision and values statement is that through educating and assisting patients in signing up for and choosing their provider under the Medicare Advantage plan that the patients will be enabled to receive the best possible benefits for their individual health maintenance needs.

E. PROPOSED STRATEGIC GOALS

Strategic goals of this program includes those as follows:

1) Enrollment of all patients in the Medicare Advantage program who are eligible for this coverage.

2) Assisting all Medicare Advantage enrolled patients in utilizing this coverage to the best possible level enabling them to receive the best care possible.

F. IDENTIFICATION of CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Critical success factors are identified as being those as follows:

Adoption of the necessary technology applications to assist patients;

Efficiency and effectiveness in getting information out of patients concerning the assistance offered by the HMO; and…

Bibliography

Medicare Advantage: How Does it Relate? (nd) Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage. AARP. Online available at  http://www.aarp.org/health/medicare/drug_coverage/a2004-03-29-medicareadvantage.html 

Hoadley, Jack (2006) Medicare's New Adventure: the Part D Drug Benefit. Commission on a High Performance Health System. The Common wealth Fund Online available at  http://www.cmwf.org/usr_doc/Hoadley_medicaresnewadventure_911.pdf 

Rosenfeld, Sheera; Bernasek, Cathy; and Mendelson, Dan (2005) Medicare's Next Voyage: Encouraging Physicians to Adopt Health Information Technology. Health Affairs 24. No. 5, 2005. Abstract online available at http://healthaff.highwire.org/cgi/content/abstract/24/5/1138

Medicare Prescription Drug Program (2006) Chapter 5: Covering Health Issues 2006. Online available at http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cd57/covering/cap5.pdf

Strategic ecommendations

Started in 1973 as an addition, General Electric Capital (hereinafter alternatively "GE Capital" or "the company") is currently one of the largest divisions of General Electric. The company competes in the commercial lending and leasing sector, and provides a wide range of financial services for healthcare, media, communications, entertainment, consumers, real estate, and aviation. The company has more than 50,000 employees working in 55 countries. Following the Great ecession of 2008, the company revised its primary strategy of vertical expansion through a series of fairly unrelated major acquisitions to an approach that focuses on forging strategic partnerships and joint ventures to achieve its dual corporate goals of diversification and expansion as described further below, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

eview and Analysis

Evaluation of strategy recommendations and business case for implementing recommendations

Given the company's current diversification into disparate components,…

References

Beinhocker, E.D. & Kaplan, S. (2009, August 6). Tired of strategic planning? Many companies get little value from their annual strategic-planning process. The McKinsey Quarterly,

119-121.

Edmonds, T.N. & Stevenson, L.J. (2011, July). Forgive us our debts: The Great Recession of

2008. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, 14(2), 37-41.

Today, the extent to which a company's processes and it systems are integrated is the extent to which their strategic plans can be attained and the focus on long-range goals can be kept consistent (Hassan, 2010). This integration of systems is now critical for businesses to attain the level of process, department and division synchronization necessary to attain their strategic plans. From the context of tight coordination within a company to attain strategic goals and objectives, it planning and strategic planning continue to converge.

Another factor that illustrates how the general principles and strategies of strategic planning apply to it planning is from the customer orientation mindset. The focus on who exactly the customer is for a given series of it systems must always stay in focus for the projects and programs to stay on track and meet or exceed expectations, and deliver value. The same holds true with the…

References

Hassan, H.. (2010). The Relationship between Firms' Strategic Orientations and Strategic Planning Process. International Journal of Business and Management, 5(11), 35-49.

Rosalia Aldraci Barbosa Lavarda, Maria Teresa Canet Giner, & Fernando Juan Peris Bonet. (2011). Understanding how the strategy formation process interacts with the management of complex work. European Business Review, 23(1), 71-86.

Titus, V., Covin, J., & Slevin, D.. (2011). Aligning strategic processes in pursuit of firm growth. Journal of Business Research, 64(5), 446.

The technology market is one of the most competitive landscapes. Without constant innovation and introduction of new products, it may be quite difficult for technology firms to thrive in the long run. Nevertheless, introducing a new product presents a significant moment for an organization as shifts in strategy, organizational structure, business units, and processes are often involved (Hill & Jones, 2012). Accordingly, the process must be carefully managed to ensure the desired outcomes are achieved, especially in terms of stakeholder involvement and communication (Thompson & Martin, 2010). These two aspects will be particularly important as Tex Technologies Limited (Tex) introduces a new product in the increasingly promising consumer drones market. This paper provides a plan for the introduction of the new product, specifically focusing on the strategy for the new product launch, key internal stakeholders to be involved, and communication strategy.

Company Background: Name, Mission, and Vision

Established in 2000,…

hich is more important to the success of an organization, strategy or execution and why?

The instinctive response to this question is, of course, 'the execution' -- obviously, to do what works in the real world is more important than to have an ideal strategy that cannot be put into operation. However, it is also important to remember that merely going with one's gut instincts without a strategic plan for the long and short-term may result in an ineffective course of action and a disappointing result.

Still, according to the popular website Business Balls: "Most companies have strategies, but according to recent studies, between 70% and 90% of organizations that have formulated strategies fail to execute them. A Fortune Magazine study has shown that 7 out of 10 CEOs who fail, do so not because of bad strategy, but because of bad execution. In another study of Times 1000 companies,…

Works Cited

Chapman, Allen. (2004) "Strategy Implementation and Realization." Business Balls. Retrieved 16 Aug 2006 at  http://www.businessballs.com/businessstrategyimplementation.htm 

The Ideal

Organizational Structure

Bon Secours Organizational Structure

I n 1824, in Paris, amidst the devastation following the French Revolution, a group of 12 women came together to form the congregation of the Sisters of Bon Secours, French for "Good Help" and the Sisters' purpose was to nurse the sick and dying in their homes (Bon Secours, N.d.). The group later arrived in the United States towards the end of the nineteenth century and has been operating there ever since. The organization has grown to include many locations in several states on the East Coast. The organization still operates with their Catholic heritage in mind and much of the cares provided in these organizations are charity cases. The organization consists of a staff of over 21,000 and well over 60 facilities in six states

Figure 1 - Bon Secours Locations (Bon Secours, 2013)

Figure 2 - Community Benefit (Bon Secours, 2013)

Mission…

Works Cited

Bon Secours. (2012). 2011 Annual Report. Retrieved from Bon Secours:  http://www.bshsi.com/assets/hso/BSHSI_Annual_Report-2011FINAL.pdf 

Bon Secours. (2013). Community Benefit. Retrieved from Annual Report:  http://richmond.bonsecours.com/assets/pdfs/BSGN-1579_BSR_Annual_Report_2012_final4_OL_FOR_WEB.pdf 

Bon Secours. (2013). Locations. Retrieved from Careers at Bon Secours:  http://careers.bonsecours.com/locations.html 

Bon Secours. (N.d.). About us. Retrieved from Bon Secours Health Systems:  http://richmond.bonsecours.com/about-us-about-bon-secours.html

H Compensation

Compensation strategy is a useful tool that many, if not all, human resources managers can and should use in order to maximize their efficiency and effectiveness within the scope of a larger institution. Compensation strategy allows for the principles and character of the organization to show and demonstrates ability to negotiate the challenging aspects of maintaining a competitive advantage within a given industry.

The purpose of this essay is to explain and highlight the importance of strategic compensation as a component of a the larger corporate strategy within an organization. This essay will examine how pay and different forms of pay can be instrumental in finding new ways to motivate, sustain and increase participatory levels within company organizations and provide a footwork for future successes. This essay will also discuss some of the approaches that may be deemed useful by human resources managers in creating and designing a…

References

Greene, R. (2010). Effectively Managing Base Pay: Strategies for Success. Society for Human Resource Management, 21 Jan 2010. Retrieved from  http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/compensation/Articles/Pages/CMS_005592.aspx 

Milkovich, G. & Broderick, R. (1989). Developing a Compensation Strategy. Cornell ILR School 1 Dec 1989. Retrieved from  http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1416&context=cahrswp 

Schuster, J. & Zingheim, P. (2012). Compensation and Human Resource Practices During Crisis. World at Work Journal, 1st quarter 2012. Retrieved from  http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimLink?id=59577

Bon Secours Project

I n 1824, in Paris, amidst the devastation following the French Revolution, a group of 12 women came together to form the congregation of the Sisters of Bon Secours, French for "Good Help" and the Sisters' purpose was to nurse the sick and dying in their homes (Bon Secours, N.d.). The group later arrived in the United States towards the end of the nineteenth century and has been operating there ever since. The organization has grown to include many locations in several states on the East Coast. The organization still operates with their Catholic heritage in mind and much of the cares provided in these organizations are charity cases. The organization consists of a staff of over 21,000 and well over 60 facilities in six states. The current business model is a regional model. The organization has significant access to resources and there should be no issues…

Works Cited

Bon Secours. (2012). 2011 Annual Report. Retrieved from Bon Secours:  http://www.bshsi.com/assets/hso/BSHSI_Annual_Report-2011FINAL.pdf 

Bon Secours. (2013). Locations. Retrieved from Careers at Bon Secours:  http://careers.bonsecours.com/locations.html 

Bon Secours. (N.d.). About us. Retrieved from Bon Secours Health Systems:  http://richmond.bonsecours.com/about-us-about-bon-secours.html 

Eoyang, O. (2001). Facilitating Organizational Change: Lessons from Complexity Science. Jossey-Bass.

He also held weekly cookouts and he stood in line with all the crew to show he was on equal footing for that day.

Peter Drucker

One of Abrashoff's heroes was Peter Drucker, often referred to as the "father" of the modern management theory. Drucker predicted the emergence of the innovative knowledge worker -- the kind of talented employee that electronics firms hire as often as they can -- and he developed a management style that sought to "…embrace team members' creativity and intellectual contributions," according to M.E. Oss, writing in Behavioral Healthcare. Drucker developed the idea of decentralizing the workplace, and viewing the workplace as a "human community" that should be built on full trust and deep respect for the worker, not just a place where profit is the sole motive (Byrne, et al., 2005). Drucker treated the workers as "assets" rather than "liabilities" and long before other management…

Works Cited

Abrashoff, Michael D. (2002). it's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn

Ship in the Navy. New York: Warner Books.

Alic, John a., and Harris, Martha Caldwell. (1986). Employment lessons from the electronics

Industry. Monthly Labor Review, 27-31.

usiness Systems Development

The Strategic enefits of Adopting an Enterprise Cloud Computing Platform

Cloud computing platforms are enabling enterprises to attain faster time-to-market of new products, in addition to enabling higher levels of collaboration and communication with suppliers, stakeholders and partners externally. Enabling cost reductions through consolidation of legacy IT systems while increasing process efficiencies is delivering a positive Return on Investment (ROI) while also increasing customer responsiveness. The strategic benefits of adopting a cloud computing platform emanate from having a single system of record that quickly accelerates information and knowledge sharing throughout an enterprise. One of the most visible processes external to an enterprise is how new product introductions are executed. A unified cloud computing platform can accelerate this process, delivering gains in time-to-market and competitiveness of an enterprise quickly. Ultimately the shift from a legacy IT system platform and architecture that lacks scalability to a cloud platform that…

Bibliography

Aleem, A. & Christopher, R.S. 2013, "Let me in the cloud: analysis of the benefit andrisk assessment of cloud platform," Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 6-24.

Beimborn, D., Miletzki, T. & Wenzel, S. 2011, "Platform as a Service (PaaS)," Business & Information Systems Engineering, vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 1-384.

Berman, S.J., Kesterson-Townes, L., Marshall, A. & Srivathsa, R. 2012, "How cloud computing enables process and business model innovation," Strategy & Leadership, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 27-35.

Cowen, T. & Gawer, A. 2012, "Competition in the Cloud: Unleashing Investment and Innovation Within and Across Platforms," Communications & Strategies,, no. 85, pp. 45-62,219-220.

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:

The researchers argue that the closer this proximity, the greater we may be able to predict the success of a transformational process. Accordingly, the researchers tells that "a key role of all business leaders is defining strategic goals for their organizations and aligning the efforts of all organization members with these goals (e.g., Messick, 2005). Strategic leadership theory suggests that the values, experiences, and knowledge of leaders in the upper echelons of organizations impact the strategic decisions made by these leaders, ultimately influencing organizational performance." (Colbert et al., 82)

In many ways, this strikes the reader as a direct counterpoint to that which is intended by trait-based leadership assessments. Colbert et al. do not make specific reference to a set of preferred traits nor do they attempt to put forth the argument that any specific sets of leadership qualities may be used to predict organizational success. The more operative issue,…

Works Cited:

Colbert, A.E.; Kristof-Brown, A.L.; Bradley, B.H. & Barrick, M.R. (2008). CEO Transformational Leadership: The Role of Goal Importance Congruence in Top Management Teams. Academy of Management Journal, 81(1), 81-96.

Zaccaro, S.J. (2007). Trait-Based Perspectives on Leadership. American Psychologist, 62(1), 6-16.

change at Western Union

Case summary

Christian Gold faces opposition in her attempt to define Western Union's global placement. The single entity that was responsible for Western Union's international operations was deemed insufficient to meet and satisfy their global clientele. Having a background in different cultures and geography, Gold understood that each region should be treated uniquely. She noted that each region had its own culture and needs. Therefore, treating all the regions in the same manner would spell doom for the company. Gold proposes that Western Union be divided into three divisions in order for each region to have a separate division head (Konrad & Mitchell, 2009). Having individual division heads would ensure that a person who understands the individual and cultural needs of the region manages each region. This would allow Western Union to target its products and services better to the consumers. There is a fear of…

References

Bryant, J.H. (2010). Leading with love in a fear-based world. Leader to Leader, 2010(56), 32-38.

Konrad, A., & Mitchell, J. (2009). Christina Gold Leading Change at Western Union. Harvard Business Publishing, Product #906M07-PDF-ENG.

Kouzes, J.M., & Posner, B.Z. (2014). The Student Leadership Challenge: Five Practices for Becoming an Exemplary Leader. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Strategic Management Case

Over the last 20 years, the Balance Scorecard has been used as an approach by corporations to improve their competitiveness and ability to adapt to changes inside the industry. This is based on several fundamental principles to include: financial, the internal business process, learning / growth and the customer. Financial is when the firm is looking at tactics that will measure the monetary impact of the strategy on the organization. The basic idea is to be able to understand shareholders views of management and the company. The internal business process is when executives are examining various strategies inside the firm that will help them to become better in delivering products to customers and achieving the goals of shareholders. Learning & growth is when there is a focus on improving and creating value for different stakeholders. The customer is when management is concentrating on consumer perceptions and how…

References

Balance Scorecard Basics. (2011). Balance Scorecard. Retrieved from:  http://www.balancedscorecard.org/BSCResources/AbouttheBalancedScorecard/tabid/55/Default.aspx 

Carpenter, M. (2009). Strategic Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

" (Chennameni, 2006) it is reported that this "incessant interaction and conversion in turn results in joint creation of knowledge by individuals and organizations." (Chennameni, 2006) Organizations are reported to play a key role in activating the "explicit and tacit dimensions of knowledge and in providing a forum for the knowledge spiral through four modes of knowledge creation" (Chennameni, 2006) Those four modes are stated to include: (1) socialization; (2) externalization; (3) combination; and (4) internalization. (Chennameni, 2006)

Socialization speaks of the exchanging of "tacit knowledge among members through the social interactions and shared experiences." (Chennameni, 2006) Externalization refers to the translation of tacit knowledge into from explicit knowledge." (Chennameni, 2006) it is reported that each of the modes of conversion are both "interdependent and tangled." (Chennameni, 2006)

B. Diffusion of Innovation

ogers Diffusion of Innovations explains change via Social Networks. The Diffusion of innovations theory explains the process of…

References

Chennamaneni, a. (2006) Determinants of Knowledge Sharing Behaviors: Developing and Testing an Integrated Theoretical Model. The University of Texas at Arlington. Dec 2006. Retrieved from:  http://dspace.uta.edu/bitstream/handle/10106/305/uta-etd-1428.pdf?sequence=1 

Darnton, a. (2008) Reference Report: An overview of behavior change models and their uses. GSR Behavior Change Knowledge Review. Jul 2008. Retrieved from: http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Behaviour_change_reference_report_tcm6-9697.pdf

O'Malley, P. (2006) Strategic Communications Planning. A Presentation to IABC Ottawa. Retrieved from: http://www.omalco.com/iabc.htm

Planned Behaviour: A Meta-Analysis," (22:3),2003.

Strategic planning is a systemic and elaborate plan of action expressing the future move or plans a company plans to take. It is a long-term plan that a company puts down in an attempt to shape or build the future. It gives an organization the direction and a goal. This plan can be laid down to cover the near future, but it can run longer depending on the organization's plans. For most organizations, the strategic plan usually focuses on the entire organization. However, a strategic plan can focus on a department or on one product only. This is referred to as a business plan. Strategic planning involves different models, perspectives and approaches, and this depends on the organization leadership, its culture, the planners and also its size, Boyd & euning-Elliott, 1998()

The Sweet Peas Catering services company has the objective of not only delivering their products to the customers but…

References

Boyd, B.K., & Reuning-Elliott, E. (1998). A Measurement Model of Strategic Planning. Strategic Management Journal, 19(2), 181-192.

Powell, J.H. (2001). Generating Networks for Strategic Planning by Successive Key Factor Modification. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 52(4), 369-382.

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.

Strategic Alternatives Addresses an External issue? Draws on a competitive advantage or fixes a competitive disadvantage? Fits with Mission, Values? Moves the organization toward the vision? Achieves one or more goals? Partner with a travel company to offer vacations that include dental surgery, plastic surgery, and vascular surgery.

Supports the strategy of increasing global reach of the company and strengthening the ability to recruit physicians in key specialties.

Draws on a competitive advantage of specialist expertise and high performance of ashid and markets this strength to bring in more German and British clients

Supports the pursuit of international standards as defined within the Strategic Plan.

Yes; also increases the stature of the facility and enhances the ability to recruit world-class physicians.

Invest heavily in medical research in cardiology and vascular research

This investment is focused on making ashid Hospital a center of excellence in cardiology and vascular surgery, attracting the…

References

Boston Consulting Group (2006) - Definition of Growth/Share Matrix from Boston Consulting Group; Accessed from the Internet on December 2,2006:

 http://www.bcg.com/this_is_bcg/mission/growth_share_matrix.html 

Porter (1990) - The Competitive Advantage of Nations. New York: Free Press, 1990. (Republished with a new introduction, 1998.)

Porter (1985)- The Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. N.Y.: Free Press, 1985. (Republished with a new introduction, 1998.)

Strategic Development

Supporting Strategic Development

One of the biggest development issues any company ahs is if they are at a stage where growth into new markets is possible. At some point the market place is going to get so crowded that a company has to decide whether it is going to try and survive in the present market or forge into new ones. Or, the company can simply create a new market through a niche product. Whatever the solution, the company first has to tak a close look at itself to determine if it is a good idea for them or not. The process by which companies do this is by determining a strategic plan whereby it is possible. To implement this strategic plan a company will have use different approaches that take into account how the company is doing at all levels of the process. Considering that a certain…

References

Buzzell, R.D., & Gale, B.T., (1987). The PIMS (profit impact of market strategy) principles: Linking strategy to performance. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Dias, L.M.C. (2001). A definition of robustness analysis in decision aiding. Retrieved March 15, 2012 from http://www4.fe.uc.pt/lmcdias/english/defroba.htm

Manktelow, J., & Carson, A. (2010). Risk analysis: Evaluating and managing the risks that you face. Retrieved March 19, 2012 from  http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_07.htm 

Osborn, A.F. (1963). Applied imagination: Principles and procedures for creative problem solving. New York: Scribner & Sons.

Strategic Plan

Mr Myers:

I am writing today to impress upon you the value of conducting an analysis of the industry environment when developing a strategic plan, and offering a recommendation for a methodology that can make the strategic planning process simpler.

Environmental scanning is the second step of the strategic planning process (QuickMBA, 2010). The first step, as you know, is setting the organization's mission and objectives. Before the company can proceed from there with formulating and implementing a strategy, the organization will benefit from having a sense of the industry and macroenvironment in which the company operates. This is what is known as environmental scanning. This scanning includes an analysis of areas such as the political environment, technology, the economy, and other broad frameworks such as international trade. The competitive environment is also subject to considerable analysis during this process. It is important, if we are to outperform…

Works Cited:

Business Link. (2012). Strategic planning. Business Link.gov.uk. Retrieved October 14, 2012 from  http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1079687477 

Porter, M. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved October 14, 2012 from  http://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy/ar/1 

QuickMBA. (2010). The strategic planning process. QuickMBA.com. Retrieved October 14, 2012 from  http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/strategic-planning/

Strategic Management Process

Strategic management entails the steps taken and combination of managerial decisions which sums up the future performance of a particular company. It entails the four pillars of management. The strategic plans give a framework for the entire company to not only use but also apply. The strategic management consists of steps that shape up the implementation, strategic planning as well as evaluation (Wheelen and Hunger, 2004).

First step: The initial step is to decide the mission of the company and its aims and objectives. Each company requires a mission. When the aims and objectives of an organization are crystal clear, then the managers can work with identifying the viability of its services and products. The managers also need to recognize the goals put in effect at present and strategies being worked upon. The aims and objectives of a company can decide the criteria for performance that employees…

References

Wheelen, T. And Hunger, D. (2004).Strategic Management and Business Policy.Prentice & Hall, New Jersey.

Knight, B. (2008).Strategic management of British Airways Company. Retrieved on November 10, 2013: from http://bizcovering.com/business/strategic-management-of-british-airways-company/

Wheelen, T. And Hunger, J.(2007). Concepts in strategic management and business policy: Achieving sustainability. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Strategic Planning

The business that I want to start is a small barbeque and soul food restaurant. This business will have one location to begin with. The business will be defined by the quality of the food and the fun, comfortable atmosphere of the restaurant. This paper will first explain the benefits of strategic planning, and then outline some of the strategic plan for my new restaurant.

Strategic planning is "an organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working towards common goals and ensure that the organization is setting its direction in relation to the external environment (BSI, 2013). Thus, strategic planning begins with a mission and vision for the company and what it wants to accomplish. These things underpin the actions and directions that the company wants to take.

There are several different elements…

References

BSI. (2013). What is strategic planning? Balanced Scorecard Institute. Retrieved December 4, 2013 from https://balancedscorecard.org/Resources/StrategicPlanningBasics/tabid/459/Default.aspx

Ashkenas, R. (2013). Four tips for better strategic planning. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved December 4, 2013 from  http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/four-tips-for-better-strategic-planning/ 

Conerly, B. (2013). 3 strategic planning pitfalls. Forbes. Retrieved December 4, 2013 from  http://www.forbes.com/sites/billconerly/2013/08/15/3-strategic-planning-pitfalls/ 

Norman, L. (2013). What are the four basic functions that make up the management process? Houston Chronicle. Retrieved December 4, 2013 from  http://smallbusiness.chron.com/four-basic-functions-make-up-management-process-23852.html

Strategic National isk Assessment

Compare and contrast the deductions about the national-level threats and hazards as listed by the DHS in the SNA against the findings you made in Week 5's analysis of the WTAs. As always, assume what is listed first is the greatest risk [also called "most dangerous"] and probability [also called "most likely"] and the last is least

The Strategic National isk Assessment (SNA) is designed to provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the tools it needs to effectively deal with various challenges. The threats and hazards are illustrating the overall scope of the problems and the probability that they will occur at some point in the future. They are classified into different categories called most dangerous and likely.

The most dangerous threats are areas where there is an immediate risk to the U.S. homeland and different national interests. A few of the most notable…

References

"Strategic National Assessment." DHS. (2011): 1 -- 7.

US DHS. National Infrastructure Plan. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2006.

Turabian Format  http://www.libs.uga.edu/ref/turabian2009.pdf 

"Strategic National Assessment," DHS, 2011, 1 -- 7.

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 Process/Vision, Goals, Objectives

This document examines the mission, vision, values, and goals of Kraft Foods Group. It does so primarily to denote the fact that these components are indicators of this company's strategy. The document also aligns these components with the interest of stakeholders.

It is exceedingly important for organizations within today's climate of rapid-fire technology and constantly changing marketplaces to adhere to strategy. Due to the celeritous pace of both of these factors, there has been a tendency of many competitive organizations to assume that they can only remain competitive by refining operations processes, which involves cutting costs and increasing time to market of its products (Hammond, 2001). Nonetheless, an evaluation of one of the most successful enterprises within the food and beverage industry, Kraft Foods Group, reveals that an adherence to strategic positioning is a critical prerequisite for not only short-term success, but that which continues…

References

Hammonds, K. (2001). Michael Porter's big ideas. www.fastcompany.com Retrieved from  http://www.fastcompany.com/42485/michael-porters-big-ideas 

Welch, J., Welch, S. (2008). State your business. Bloomberg Business Week. Retrieved from  http://www.businessweek.com /stories/2008-01-02/state-your-business

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

Strategic Vision: A section describing company's strategic vision. Performance target forecasting: A section shows performance targets EPS, OE, credit rating, image rating year-end stock price -managers set years (assuming simulation continue).

Strategic vision and performance target forecasting

Our organization focuses on the distribution of our products and services within the utmost highest quality of standards. We not only employ the required standards, but we take one step ahead and fully satisfy the needs and wants of our customers. We envision ourselves as the leaders of the industry and the first choice of the customer base. In other words, the strategic vision can be enunciated as follows:

The company seeks to become the leader of the industry and the first choice of the customers. We aim to attain this organizational objective through the full satisfaction of the needs and wants of our stakeholders.

The strategic vision of the firm has a…

References:

Bose, D.C., 2006, Fundamentals of financial management, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.

Cowley, M., Domb, E., 1997, Beyond strategic vision: effective corporate action with Hoshin planning, Butterworth-Heinemann

Mintzberg, H., 2000, The rise and fall of strategic planning, Pearson Education

Moyer, McGuigan, J.R., Kretlow, W.J., 2008, Contemporary financial management, 11th edition, Cengage Learning

Walmart essentially has a foul image to most consumers, and that thus creates a negative stigma regarding working there.

ecommended Corporate Strategy

Based on all the intelligence gathered on Walmart the most vital corporate strategy it needs to engage in would be one which works hard to change its image. As already established, Walmart is essentially neck and neck with its major competitors on a price-based aspect; one could argue that the element which really deters people from shopping there is knowing that it doesn't treat its employees well. Many people view Walmart as a cold, unfeeling corporation that would rather line the pockets of its executives than give the people who do the really back-breaking work, a livable wage. In this era of the Internet, when information is readily at people's fingertips, and more and more shoppers are becoming educated, Walmart cannot afford to engage in such unpalatable business…

References

Banjo, S. (May, 17 2012). Can Wal-Mart Think Small? Retrieved from Online.wsj.com:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303879604577408540682212740.html 

Jalan, P. (2005). Encyclopaedia of Economic Development, Volume 3. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons.

Kavilanz, P. (2011, March 8). Low, low prices: Target beats Wal-Mart. Retrieved from Cnn.com:  http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/07/news/companies/walmart_target_better_price/index.htm 

RapidBI, & Morrison, M. (n.d.). Michael Porter's Five Forces. Retrieved from Rapidbi.com:  http://rapidbi.com/porterfiveforces/

Strategic Management

Company Overview

Me Gusta Marketing is a boutique advertising agency that specializes in social media promotions. The company was founded in late 2010 and currently has three employees. The firm is in the advertising industry, and competes with a niche strategy. The firm specializes in social media promotions, an area where many traditional advertising agencies are relatively weak. The company was founded after its principle started an online promotions campaign for a friend's DJ night at a local pub. The response was far better than expected, so the principle decided to professionalize the service and seek new customers. From there, two other friends were hired into the firm and a number of clients have been signed up thus far. The business is in the process of becoming organized and needs to determine what the business will look like going forward now that the venture looks as though it…

Works Cited:

Adams, N. & Myers, J. (2009). Ad industry hit by economic crisis. NPR. Retrieved May 1, 2011 from  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99120537 

Greenwald, D. (2010). Social media: Changing the world of business communication. Bowling Green University. Retrieved May 1, 2011  http://www.businesscommunication.org/conventionsNew/proceedingsNew/2010New/ABC-2010-08.pdf 

Reinhard, K. (2005). Advertising industry's commitment to social responsibility. Advertising Educational Foundation. Retrieved May 1, 2011 from  http://www.aef.com/on_campus/classroom/speaker_pres/data/3010

Strategic Management: Internal Analysis and SWOT

Brief Introduction of McDonald Company

McDonalds is a foodservice retailer giant across the world with more than 33,000 locations and serving almost 68 million people every day. It's a global company but with a local presence in 119 countries operated by the local people. (McDonalds, 2012)

Main strengths of the McDonald

Customer elations: McDonalds have mastered the art of deepening their connection with all classes of customers by providing a great service and experience. This connection with the customers has continued to improve and grow positively. McDonalds places customer experience in all they do. They recognized the fact that customers are the reason for their existence.

Hygienic Food Processing Methods: Customers who attend McDonalds for a meal are allowing them to check the standards of the food they eat by inspecting the places where the food is being prepared from. This gives them confidence…

References

Marketing Teacher. (2012). SWOT Analysis McDonald's. Retrieved on June 13, 2012 from  http://www.marketingteacher.com/SWOT/mcdonalds-SWOT.html# 

CK Prahalad & G. Hamel (1990). Business Analysis. Retrieved on June 13, 2012 from  http://ezinearticles.com/?McDonalds-Business-Analysis&id=687438 

Scribd (2012). SWOT Analysis on McDonald's. Retrieved on June 13, 2012 from  http://www.scribd.com/doc/43910055/SWOT-Analysis-on-McDonald 

McDonalds.(2012).

Strategic Management in Business Development

The term "strategic planning" is generally used in the narrow sense, namely the application of management tools to address areas such as, profitability, efficiency, growth and competitive advantage. Ultimately, to address concerns of stakeholders for increase shareholder value and long-term competitiveness.

Business development is at the heart of strategic thinking and needs imagination and innovation. It should be proactive and anticipatory. It involves the creation of a unique configuration of the company's key features, which will match the challenges of its environment and provides strategic advantage. There are two distinct phases:

The option generation phase, where creativity must be allowed to flourish and diverse ideas emerge.

The option selection phase, where the options are narrowed down through a systematic filtering process.

The process is often iterative with multiple cycles occurring through the two phases.

In the first phase the strategic management team works with the…

Works Cited

Aguilar, F. (1967). Scanning the business environment. New York: Macmillan.

Brown, A., & Weiner, E. (1985). Super managing: How to harness change for personal and organizational success. New York: Mentor.

Brown, L.R., Slavin, C., & Postel, S. (1991). Saving the planet: How to shape an environmentally sustainable global economy. New York W.W. Norton and Co.

Coates, J.F., Inc. (1985, July). Issues identification and management: The state of the art of methods and techniques. Research project 2345-28. Palo Alto, CA: Electric Power Research Group.

If the question is left unaddressed, this would result in increasing dissatisfaction among customers and staff, and a possible loss of library patrons.

Another strategic issues is the shift to the central purchasing of books. This policy entailed the decision to move the book buying capability to the Service Center in order to implement the goal of a more in-depth and sophisticated level of collections. This was implemented without consulting with the branch managers, who were directly affected by the decision. From the viewpoint of patrons, this new policy would indeed create a better selection of materials to better serve their needs by means of greater diversity and avoiding duplication. However, this created a large amount of resentment among librarians, who regarded this duty as one of their favorite responsibilities that directly utilized their skills as librarians.

If left unaddressed, this issue could severely impact the job satisfaction of librarians,…

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;

At Google, areas of interest include their intensive sustainability commitment to promote eco-friendly buildings and energy efficiency, the company's approach to managing the Chinese government relationship and messaging, and the torrent of new applications they produce. In conclusion, the organizations I'd seek out to work for after graduation would have brands that were global and could use my skill set of globally-based coordination and intercultural collaboration while also being highly creative with a pace that made programs challenging yet attainable.

Upload a 300-500-word persuasive essay that describes what you understand to be the fundamental role of public relations in society. Illustrate your commentary by citing a recent example (good or bad) of strategic public relations at work from an area of the field that is of particular interest to you.

At its most strategic, public relations seeks to unify the messaging and communications across a company while ensuring accuracy, authenticity…

References

Hamilton, J., Knouse, S., & Hill, V. (2009). Google in China: A Manager-Friendly Heuristic Model for Resolving Cross-Cultural Ethical Conflicts. Journal of Business Ethics, 86(2), 143-157.

James S. O'Rourke IV, Brynn Harris, & Allison Ogilvy. (2007). Google in China: government censorship and corporate reputation. The Journal of Business Strategy, 28(3), 12-22.

Considering they are purchased by a larger corporation which wishes to invest in newer and qualitatively superior technologies to manufacture better products, as the value of the product increases, so will its retail price. In a nutshell, there generally exists a direct connection between value and retail price, meaning that increased value generates increased price and vice versa, reduced value sells at reduced price.

3. Decisions and Actions Affecting the Marketing Manager

In order to ensure its overall success, each organization has to increase its efforts of integrating all features into the corporate culture and ways as to all lead to the achievement of the same formulated corporate goals. The marketing manager plays a vital role in aligning the strategies within his department to the overall objectives of the organization. The list of actions and decision that influence and challenge his actions is endless, including everything from market research to…

References

Maurice Fitzgerals Scott, 1991, New View of Economic Growth, Oxford University Press

Sushash C. Jain, 2005, Marketing Planning and Strategy, 7th Edition, Southwestern Publishing

It offered a value proposition to consumers who cut back on high-end coffee purchases at the likes of Starbucks in favor of cheaper coffee at home. Consumers of Folgers benefited from the strength and increased visibility afforded the brand by Smuckers.

Employees have not necessarily benefited from the company's mission and objectives in recent years. Smuckers is the process of restructuring Folgers. This benefits workers in New Orleans, where a $70 million expansion is underway and it Orrville (Plain Dealer, 2010). However, workers in four other plants are losing their jobs in the restructuring (Associated Press, 2010). The strategy therefore benefits some of these stakeholders but only at the expense of others as the company is forced to rationalize some plants in order to contain costs and maintain its price competitiveness.

The company can improve its mission by lending it clarity. The company's strategy may be relatively clear, but it…

Works Cited:

Smuckers website, various pages. (2010). Retrieved April 19, 2010 from  http://www.smuckers.com 

Smuckers 2009 Annual Report. Retrieved April 19, 2010 from http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MzQyODkzfENoaWxkSUQ9MzI5MzkwfFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1

MSN Moneycentral: JM Smucker Company. (2010). Retrieved April 19, 2010 from  http://moneycentral.msn.com/detail/stock_quote?Symbol=sjm&getquote=Get+Quote 

Associated Press. (2009). Smucker's profit surges after acquiring Folgers. MSNBC. Retrieved April 19, 2010 from  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34060210/

cipd.co.uk/subjects/corpstrtgy/general/strathrm.htm?IsSrchRes=1).

Secondly, when designing the reward strategy, the HR manager must pay high attention to the stages earlier described for the HRM strategy. This will give him a clue about the 'light at the end of the tunnel', that is the main goal that the organization strives to achieve. According to such findings, he will establish the behaviors he wants to encourage and the types of rewards that are needed for stimulating the respective conducts.

One of the most recommended and in fashion approaches is the total reward strategy. Unlike earlier times which used to lay exclusive stress on pecuniary advantages, contemporary specialists have found that employees are motivated by both financial rewards encompassing base pay, variable pay, share ownership, benefits, and non-financial rewards, comprising recognition, quality of working life, career opportunities and opportunity to develop skills.

According to Thompson, some of the most important features that such strategy boasts…

Bibliography

De Silva, S.R. (1998). Trends in human resource management and management objectives. On the Internet at: www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/actemp/papers/1998/srshrm.htm. Retrieved March 31.

Developing a HRM strategy (2007). On the Internet at: www.accel-team.com/human_resources/hrm_08.html. Retrieved March 31.

More flexibility in reward strategies could assist public sector efficiency drives (2006). On the Internet at  http://www.cipd.co.uk/pressoffice/_articles/pr_09022006.htm?IsSrchRes=1.Retrieved  March 31, 2007.

Reward strategy (2007). On the Internet at  http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/corpstrtgy/general/strathrm.htm?IsSrchRes=1.Retrieved  March 31, 2007.

Strategic Human Resource Management

Human resource management has always been an important part of the organizational planning and strategy but over the past few years, its role has shifted from purely traditionalist to more strategic and hence the sudden surge in the use of the term "Strategic HRM." Strategic management of human resource is not just hogwash because the change has been important as focus shifted from laws and regulations to people. raditionally Human resource managers like myself were mostly involved with the job of making sure that organization was complying with various rules, regulations and laws. But when the strategic alignment was introduced, we moved to more important and critical component of organization i.e. its people. By aligning people's needs with goals of the company, it was believed that we could get better results at lower costs and hence the need for integration of needs with goals was stressed.…

The document chronicles the improvement in turnover situation since 2007. In 2007, we had a reasonably high turnover rate of 15% annually. Though some would say that 15% was not something to worry about, it must be noted that we are a small organization and 15% for us means thousands of wasted dollars in recruitment and training. We need to control this turnover rate in order to able to become more cost efficient and also improve employee morale and productivity. We first identified the most common reasons for an employee to leave the organization within first two years of joining. We identified the problem areas and worked on them by paying closer attention to what employees needed and how it all could be changed so employees' grievances were effectively addressed and all necessary steps were taken to make them feel important and to give them a sense of ownership in the organization. These measures worked and last year we had only a 4% turnover rate which was a major improvement and we are consistently working to maintain and even lower the existing turnover rate.

Financial Gains:

The organization was doing well in 2007 as well but lately the financial health has improved significantly due to cost effectiveness that we have achieved through lower turnover and higher employee productivity. In the third quarter of 2007, the company reported profits amounting to $1.5 million and last year, we reported profits in the neighborhood of $2.2 million. The company attributes this success to effective strategic alignment of employee needs and company goals and we are very proud of our achievements since adorning this new role.