MAN 4720 florida state univesity Notes2023

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Florida State University**We aren't endorsed by this school
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MAN 4720
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Management
Date
Jan 1, 2025
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52
Uploaded by BrigadierFreedomReindeer33
MAN 4720: Strategic Management and Business PolicyChapter 1: Strategic Management and Strategic CompetitivenessOverviewAlibaba, AsiaStrategy: an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions designed to exploit the core competencies in the company and gain a competitive advantage.Competitive Advantage: something that you can do in your company that other people can't do, sets you apart, hard time to imitateGoal of companies is to have above average returns of profitCompetitive Landscape: fundamental nature of competition is changing in a number of the worlds industries, boundaries of industries are becoming blurred and difficult to define (telecommunications industry is leaving the competitive landscape adjustments that are occuring)Global Economy: goods, services, people, skills, and ideas move rapidly across all the geographic boundaries, everyone is involved in one way or another As a result competition becomes more intenseThis pressures companies to shorten product development Must be strategically competitive in domestic market firstTechnological trends about altering competition:The increasing rate of technological change and diffusion, information agePerpetual Innovation: rapid and consistent replacement of current technologies by new technologiesStrategic Flexibility: set if capabilities that firms use to respond to various demands and opportunities that are found in uncertain environments (Starbucks)Industrial Organization Model: explains that forces outside of your organization represent the dominant influences on the firms strategic actions, characteristics of and conditions present in the external environment determine appropriateness of strategies formulated and implemented in order for the firm to earn above average returns Choice of industries in which to compete has more influence that the decisions made by the first managers working at the firm, competitors tell what to do (Sams and Costco)Based on:External environment: general industry competitive advantage, imposed pressures and constraints on firmsResources used are highly mobilOrganization decision makers assumed to be rational, profit maximizing behaviorsResources Based Model: above average returns, internal perspective to explain that the firm's unique bundle/collection of internal resources and capabilities represent the foundation on which strategies should be built
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Resources: inputs into the firm's production process (capital equipment, employee skills, patents, brand names, finance, managers), can be tangible or intangible (Nike)To improve above average returns:Firms should identify internal resources and asses strengths and weaknesses, SWOT AnalysisFirms should identify the set of resources that provide the firm withthe capabilities that are unique to the firm and relative to competitorsShould determine the potential for their unique resources, determine how their capabilities and resources can be used to gain competitive advantageAttain sustainable Vision Statement: picture of what the firm wants to be, want to achieve in the coming years, big picture, reflect companies values and aspiration, enduring, short, concise, input from stakeholdersMission Statement: externally focused application of its vision, states firms unique purpose and scope of operation in product and market terms, never over 50 words, shouldn't mention profit, to be ethicalStakeholders: individuals and groups who can affect and are affected by the strategic outcomes and who have an enforceable claim on a firm's performanceCapital market stakeholdersProduct market stakeholdersOrganizational stakeholdersStrategic Leaders: CEO or the person on the top is the primary organizational strategist in every organizationIntroductionFirms achieve strategic competitiveness by implementing value-creating strategy Strategy: integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions designed toexploit the core competencies in the company and gain a competitive advantage Make choices among competing alternatives A firm has a competitive advantage when by implementing chosen strategy, it creates superior value for customers, competitors not able to imitate value, what sets you apart, not permanentAbove-average returns: returns in excess of what an investor expects to earn from other investments with similar amount of risk Risk: an investors uncertainty about the economic gains or losses that willresult from particular investment, reduce risk and reduce investor uncertainty Average returns: returns equal to those an investor expects to earn from other investments with similar amount of risk, inability to earn average returns results indecline and failure Strategic Management Process: full set of commitments, decision, and actions
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firms take to achieve strategic competitiveness and earn above-average returns, involves analysis, strategy and performance (ASP model)Competitive Landscape: fundamental nature of competition is changing in a number of the worlds industries, boundaries of industries are becoming blurred and difficult to define (telecommunications industry is leaving the competitive landscape adjustments that are occuring)Firms must integrate digitalization: the process of converting something todigital formManagers must adopt a new mind-set that values: flexibility, speed, innovation, integration, and the challenges from changing conditionsHypercompetition: competitors engage in intensive rivalry, markets change quickly/often, entry arrears are lowMakes it difficult to maintain competitive advantageRapidly escalating competition based on: price-quality positioning,creating new know-how and establish first-mover advantage, competition to protect/invade established product and/or geographic marketsPrimary drivers of hypercompetition: the emergence of a global economy and rapid technological change The Global Economy: goods, services, people, skills, and ideas move freely across geographic borders, expands and complicates a forms competitive environment Globalization: increasing economic interdependence among countries and their organizations as reflected in the flow of products, financial capital, and knowledge across country borders,has led to higher performance standards with respect to: Quality, cost, productivity, product introduction time, operational efficiency Risks: “Liability of foreignness”, time required to learn, entering too many too quicklyTechnology and Technological Changes Technology related trends and conditions that affect today's firms:Technology diffusion (speed at which new technologies become available to firms when firms choose to adopt them) and disruptive technologies (destroy value of an existing technology and create new markets)The information age: data and information are vital to firmsefforts to: understand customer needs, implement strategies that satisfy needs, strategies to satisfy interests of all other stakeholders, information technology-derived innovations as opportunity rather than threatIncreasing knowledge intensity, knowledge consists of information, intelligence and expertise, basis of technology,acquired through experience, observation and inference,
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necessary to create innovations Strategic Flexibility: set of capabilities that firms use to respond to various demands and opportunities that are found in dynamic and uncertain competitive environments (Starbucks), not easy to build,inertia, continuous learningIndustrial Organization (I/O) Model of Above Average Returns: explains that forces outside of your organization represent the dominant influences on the firms strategic actions, characteristics of and conditions present in the external environment determine appropriateness of strategies formulated and implemented in order for the firm to earn above average returns, profitability potentialDetermined by: economies of scale, barriers to market entry, diversification, product differentiation, degree of concentration of firms on the industry, market frictionsAssumptions:External environment imposes pressures and constraints that determine strategiesControl similar strategically relevant resources and pursue similar strategies High mobile, resource differences will be short-lived Organizational decision makers are rational individuals, firms best interest, profit maximizingFive forces model of competition is an analytical tool used to find the industry that is most attractive, suggests that:An industry's profitability is a function of interactions among: suppliers, buyers, competitive rivalry among firms currently in industry, product substitutes and potential entrants to industryFirms can earn above average returns by producing: standardizedproducts at costs below those of competitors (cost leadership strategy) or differentiated products for which customers are willing to pay a price premium (differentiation strategy)Resources Based Model of Above Average Returns: internal perspective to explain that the firm's unique bundle/collection of internal resources and capabilities represent the foundation on which strategies should be built, uniquenessResources: inputs into the firm's production process (capital equipment, employee skills, patents, brand names, finance, managers), can be tangible or intangible (Nike), classified into three categories: Physical capitalHuman capitalOrganizational capitalCapability: capacity for a set of resources to perform a task or activity in an integrative mannerCore competencies: capabilities that serve as a source of competitive
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advantage for a firm over its rivals Assumptions: Firm performance based on unique resources and capabilities rather than structural characterisResources and capabilities are not highly mobile across firmsOn basis of competitive advantage Resources and capabilities potential to be foundation for a competitive advantage when they are: valuable, rare, costly to imitate, non-substitutableTo improve above average returns:Firms should identify internal resources and asses strengths and weaknesses, SWOT AnalysisFirms should identify the set of resources that provide the firm withthe capabilities that are unique to the firm and relative to competitorsShould determine the potential for their unique resources, determine how their capabilities and resources can be used to gain competitive advantageAttain sustainable Vision and Mission statements inform stakeholders of: what the firm is, what it seeks to accomplish, who it seeks to serve, provide foundation to choose and implement strategies Vision: a picture of what the firm wants to be and what it wants to achieveVision statement: ideal description of an organization, intended future, short and conciseAn effective vision challenges people, developed by CEO, employees, suppliers and customers, and is consistent with decision/actions Mission: specifies the businesses in which the firm intends to coete and the customers it intended to serve, more concrete than vision, establish individuality, inspiring and relevant, more directly with product markets and customers, effective with string sense of ethics Stakeholders: individuals, groups and organizations that can affect the firm's vision and mission, affected by the strategic outcomes achieved, enforceable claims on firms performance, different degrees of ability to influence Classifications: Capital market stakeholders: expect firm to preserve and enhancetheir wealth, return correlated with degree of risk: low-risk = lower return, high-risk = higher returns Product market stakeholders: customer seek reliable product at lowest price, suppliers seek loyal customers willing to pay highest sustainable price, host communities (government laws and regulations), unionsPolycentric: multiple levels of powerOrganizational stakeholders: employees, leaders
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Strategic Leaders: located in different areas and levels of the firm using strategic management process to select actions that help firm achieve vision and fulfill mission, are decisive, committed to nurturing those around them, committed to helping firm create value for all stakeholder groupsOrganizational Culture: complex set of ideologies, symbols, and core values shared and influence how the firm conducts business, social energy drives/fails to drive the organizationEffective strategic leaders, prerequisites: hard work, thorough analyses, willingness to be brutally honest, wanted to achieve success, tenacity They must: have strong strategic orientation while embracing change, be innovative, promote innovation, global mind-setChapter 2: The External Environment: Opportunities, Threats, Industry Competition, and Competitor Analysis OverviewMcDonalds, uses information from the general environment to determine strategyExternal environment is constantly changing, by understanding it helps build knowledge and information to use to:Help build capabilities and core competencies Buffer the firm from negative environmental impactsPursue opportunities to better serve their stakeholders needsThree Components to External Environment:General environment: demographics, political/legal, economic, technological, sociocultural, global, sustainable physical environmentSegments of the General Environment:Demographic Segment: population size, age (rapidly aging, availability of labor), structure, geographic distribution, ethnix mix (consumer needs and labor force composition), income distribution (purchasing power), look at other nations (India, China, US Indonesia, Pakistan)Economic Segment: nature and direction of the economyPolitical/Legal Segment: organizations compete for attention, resources, a voiceSociocultural Segment: attitudes and values form the cornerstone of a society, drive demographic, economic, and tech conditions
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and changes, relatively stableTechnological Segment: new knowledge, potential substitutes in current use and new technology Global Segments: new global markets, globalfocusing: focus on niche markets Sustainable Physical Environment Segment: sustainable development Industry environment: directly influence a firm and its competitive actions, indusy:group of firms producing products that are close substitutes, industry analysis, Porter’s 5 Forces of Competition Model: (stronger the forces, lower profit potential)Threat of new entrance into the industry: barriers to entry and retaliation expected from current industry participantsEconomies of scale, differentiation, switching costs, capital requirements, gov policy, accessIntensity to rivalry: based on price, service, innovation Power of buyers: to reduce costs buyers bargain for: higher quality, greater levels of service, lower prices Power of the suppliers: can increase prices or reduce the quality of their productsThreat of product substitutesCompetitor environment: an analysis of general environment forces on environmental trends and their implications, competitor analysis: looks at factors and conditions influencing industry's profitability potential: objectives, current strategy, assumptions, strengths and weaknesses Influence firms vision, mission, choice of strategies, competitive actions and responses it takes to implement strategies Competitor Intelligence: data/information firms gather to understand and anticipate competitors objectives, strategies, assumptions and capabilitiesComplementors: sell complementary goods/services that are compatible with focal firms good/service (Intel and Microsoft)Ethical Considerations:Legal and ethical practices include obtaining publicly available information, unethical include blackmail, trespassing, eavesdropping, stealingExternal Environmental Analysis: Scanning: identify early signals of environmental changes and trends, internet Monitoring: detecting meaning through ongoing observations of changes and trends, understand reputationForecasting: develop feasible projections of anticipated outcomes based on monitored changes and trends, challengingAssessing: utilize above in determining timing and importance of changes and trends for firms strategies and management Identifying opportunities (condition in general environment that if exploited helps
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company reach strategic competitiveness) and threats (condition in general environmentmay hinder companies efforts to have strategic competitiveness)Strategic groups: firms emphasizing similar strategic dimensions and using similar strategy, competitive rivalry is greeted within a strategic group then between groupsPricing decisionsProduct qualityDistribution channels Opportunity and Threats (external), Strengths and Weaknesses (internal) Chapter 3: The Internal Organization: Resources, Capabilities, Core Competencies, and Competitive AdvantagesIntroduction:Firms achieve strategic competitiveness and above-average returns by acquiring,bundling and leveraging resources to take opportunities in external environment to create value for customersCompetitors eventually duplicate benefits of any firm’s value-creating strategy, allcompetitive advantages have limited lifeCompetitive advantage’s sustainability, function of:Rate of core competence obsolescence because of environment changesAvailability of substitutes for the core competenceLiability of the core competenceChallenge is managing current core competencies while developing new ones Only when firms do this can they: achieve strategic competitiveness, earnabove-average returns, and remain ahead of competitors in both short and long termAnalyzing the Internal Organization Matching what a firm can do (resources, capabilities, core competencies) to whatit might do (opportunities, threats, in external env) yields insights for the firm to choose its strategiesThe Context of Internal AnalysisGlobal mind-set: ability to analyze, understand, and manage an internal organization in ways not dependant on assumptions of a single country, culture, or contextCreating ValueValue: measured by a products performance characteristics and it attributes for which customers are willing to payCreate value by innovatively building and leveraging resources to form capabilities and core competenciesAffects its choice of business-level strategy and organizational structure Most important sources of competitive advantage: core competencies andproduct-market positionsThe Challenge of Analyzing the Internal OrganizationStrategic decisions about internal organization: are nonroutine, have
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ethical implications, and significantly influence ability to earn above-average returnsDecisions about assets: involves identifying, developing, deploying, and protecting resources, capabilities and core competencies Firm can improve by studying its mistakes Three Conditions affect managers as they analyze the internal organization and make decisions about Resources:Uncertainty: about the characteristics of a firm's general and industry environments and customer needs Complexity: from the interrelationships among conditions shaping a firmIntraorganizational Conflict: may exist among managers making decisions and those affected by the decisionsJudgment: capability of making successful decisions when no obvious correct model/rul is available or when relevant data are unreliable or incompleteWhen exercising judgment, decision makers: mut be aware of cognitive biases (overconfidence) and often take intelligent risksStrategic Leaders: ability to examine firms resources, capabilities, and core competencies and make effective choices about use Resources, Capabilities, and Core CompetenciesFoundation of competitive advantageResources bundled to create organizational capabilitiesCapabilities are the source of firms core competenciesResourcesBroad in scope, cover spectrum of individual, social and organizational phenomena, by themselves do not allow firm to create valueTangible Resources: assets that can be observed and quantified, hard to leverage (derive additional business/value from), primary categories: Financial: capacity to borrow, ability to generate funds through internal operationsOrganization: formal reporting structuresPhysical: plant and equipment, attractiveness of location, distribution facilities, product inventoryTechnological: availability of technology-related resources (copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets)Intangible Resources: assets that are rooted deeply in firms history, accumulate over time and are relatively difficult for competitors to analyzeand imitate, less visible, difficult for competitors to understand, purchase imitate or substitute, foundational for capabilities, Can be leveraged, primary categories:Human: knowledge, trust, skills, abilities to collaborate with othersInnovation: idea, scientific capabilities, capacity to innovateReputational: brand name, perceptions of product quality,
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durability and reliability, positive reputation with stakeholders (suppliers and customer)CapabilitiesCreated by combining individual tangible and intangible resources Based on developing, carrying, and exchanging information and knowledge through firms human capitalDeveloped in specific functional areas: Distribution: effective use of logistics management techniques (Walmart)Human Resources: motivating, empowering and retaining employees (Microsoft)Management Information Systems: effective and efficient control of inventories, point-of-purchase data collection methods (Walmart)Marketing: effective promotion of brand-name products, effective customer service, innovative merchandising (Procter & Gamble, Ralph Lauren, Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel) Management: ability to envision the future of clothing (Zara)Manufacturing: design and production skills yielding reliable products, product and design quality, miniaturization of components and products (Sony)Research and Development: innovative technology, elevator control solutions, rapid transformation of technology into new products and process, digital technologyCore Competencies Capabilities that serve as a source of competitive advantage for a firm over its rivals Emerge over time through an organizational process of accumulating andlearning how to deploy different resources and capabilitiesActivities performed especially well compared to competitors, adds unique value to goods/services Tools to help firm identify core competencies:Four Criteria of Sustainable Competitive Advantage: (every core competence is a capability, but not every capability is a core competence) Capabilities that are: Valuable: allow firm to exploit opportunities or neutralize threats in external environment Rare: few, if any, competitors possessCostly to Imitate: other firms cannot easily developHistorical: unique and valuable organizational culture or brand nameAmbiguous cause: causes and uses are unclearSocial complexity: interpersonal relationships, trust and friendship among managers, suppliers and
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customersNonsubstitutable: do not have strategic equivalents Value Chain Analysis: allows firms to understand the parts of its operations that create value and those that don't The value chain is a template that firms use to analyze their cost position and identify multiple means that can be used to facilitate implementation of a chosen strategyValue Chain Activities: activities or tasks the firm completesin order to produce products and sell, distribute, and service in a way that creates value for customersSupport Functions: activities or tasks firm completes in order to support the work being done to produce, sell, distribute, and service products firm is producing Outsourcing: the purchase of a value-creating activity or a support function activity from an external supplierFirms engaging in effective outsourcing: increases flexibility, mitigate risk, reduce capital investments Firms should use outsourcing only for activities where they: cannot create value, are at substantial disadvantage compared to competitors Concerns Associated with Outsourcing:Potential loss in firms ability to innovateLoss of jobs within the focal firm Offshoring: outsourcing to a foreign supplierCompetencies, Strengths, Weaknesses, and Strategic DecisionsBy analyzing the internal organization, firms identify strengths and weaknesses as reflected by resources, capabilities, and core competenciesThe “right” resources are those with potential to be formed into core competenciesThe ability of a core competence to be permanent competitive advantage can’t be assumed, all have potential to become core rigidities that generate inertia andstifle innovationChapter 4: Business-Level StrategyIntroduction:By selecting an implement one or more strategies, firms seek to: gain strategic competitiveness and earn above-average returns Business-Level Strategy: an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions firm uses to gain competitive advantage by exploiting core competencies in specific product market (core strategy: day to day basis in chosen market, every firm must develop and implement)Customers are the foundation of successful business-level strategy, firm determines: will be served, needs those target customers have that it whowhatwill satisfy, and those needs will be satisfiedhow
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Customers: Their Relationship with Business-Level StrategiesStrategic competitiveness is achieved when firm satisfies a group of customers by using its competitive advantage as the basis for competing in individual product marketsMost successful companies find new ways to satisfy current customers and meetneeds of new customers Effectively Managing Relationships with Customers: Firm strengthen relationships with customers by delivering superior value to them, results in increased customer satisfaction, customer satisfaction has positive relationship with profitabilityReach, Richness, and AffiliationReach: firms access and connection to customersRichness: depth and detail of the two-way flow of information between firm and customerAffiliation: facilitating useful interactions with customers Who: Determining the Customers to ServeWho their target customer is by dividing customers into groups based on difference in customer needsMarket Segmentation: process of dividing customers into groups based on their needs, cluster customers with similar needs into individual and identifiable groupsCustomer markets:Demographic factors (age, income, sex)Socioeconomic factors (social class, stage in the family lifecycle)Geographic factors (cultural, regional, national differences)Psychological factors (lifestyle, personality traits)Consumption patterns (heavy, moderate, light users)Perceptual factors (benefit segmentation, perceptual mapping)Industrial markets:End-use segments (identified by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code)Product segments (defined by boundaries between countries or by regional differences within them)Geographic buying factor segments (cut across product market and geography segments)Customer size segmentsWhat: Determining Which Customer Needs to Satisfy:Having clos interactions with current and potential customers helps a firm identify the target customer group’s current and future needsA product's benefits and features Successful forms learn how to deliver customers what they ant, when they want it, and recognize that customers needs change (Amazon)
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How: Determining Core Competencies Necessary to Satisfy Customer NeedsHow to use core competencies in order to implement value-creating strategies and develop products that can satisfy its target customers needsCore Competencies: resources and capabilities that serve as a source of competitive advantage for the firm over its rivalsCustomers expectations can be met and exceeded across time byfirms with the capacity to:Improve consistentlyInnovateUpgrade the competenciesThe Purpose of a Business-Level StrategyTo create differences between the firms position and those of its competitors, decide if it intends to perform or performactivities differentlydifferent activitiesBusiness Models and Their Relationship with Business-Level Strategies A business model: describes what a firm does to create, deliver, and capture value for stakeholders, “framework” Business-level strategy is the “path” the firm will follow to gain a competitive advantage by exploiting its core competencies in specific product market Types of business models:Franchise model: licenses it trademarks and the processes it follow to create and deliver a product to franchises (McDonald’s)Freemium model: provides basic product to customer for free and earns revenues and profits by selling a premium version of the service (Dropbox)Advertising model: for a fee, firm provides advertisers with high-quality access to its target customers (Google)Subscription model: firm offers a product to customers on a regular basis such as once-per-month, once-per-year, upon demand (Netflix)Peer-to-Peer model: business matches those wanting a particular service with those providing that service (Airbnb)Types of Business-Level Strategy: exploit a competitive advantage (either lowest cost or distinctiveness) as a basis for how it will create value with a particular competitive scope (broad market or narrow market), neither is superiorEffectiveness of each is contingent on the and in external opportunitiesthreatsenvironment and and derived from resource portfoliostrengthsweaknesses
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Cost Leadership Strategy: integrated set of actions taken to produce products with features that are acceptable to customers at the lowest cost relative to that of competitors (Walmart)Firms commonly sell standardized goods/services but with competitive levels of differentiation to most typical customers Process innovations: newly designed production and distribution methodsand techniques, allow to operate more efficiently, critical to efforts to use cost leadership strategy Forces of CompetitionRivalry with Existing Competitors: rivals hesitate to compete on price variable, factors that influence the degree of rivalry when implementing cost leadership strategy: Organizational sizeResources possessed by rivalsFirms dependance on particular marketLocationPrior competitive interactions between firmsFirms reach, richness, and affiliation with customersBargaining Power of Buyers (Customers): although customers canforce a cost leader to reduce prices, prices will not be reduced below the level at which the next-most-efficient industry competitorcan earn average returns Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Cost leader operates with marginsgreater than margins earned by competitors, impossible for cost leader to absorb suppliers price increases, to reduce costs, firms may outsource an entire functions to a single/small number of suppliers Potential Entrants: enhanced profit margins creates an entry barrier to potential competitors, new entrants must be willing to accept less than average returns until they gain the experience required to approach the cost leaders efficiency Product Substitutes: when faced with substitutes, cost leader has
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more flexibility that its competitors, to retain customer reduce products priceCompetitive Risk of the Cost Leadership Strategy: A loss of competitive advantage to newer technologiesFailure to detect changes in customer needsAbility to imitate the cost leaders competitive advantage through own distinct strategic actions Differentiation Strategy: integrated set of actions taken to produce products (at acceptable cost) that customers perceive as being different in ways that are important to them (Mercedes mass producing luxury vehicles)Product innovations: new product/service development that solves the customers problem and benefits customer and company, critical to successor differentiation strategy Firms can produce distinctive products for customers who value differentiated features more than low cost, firms are able to charge premium prices Firms must consistently upgrade differentiated features that customers value and create new valuable features without significant cost increases The less similarity to competitors offering, the more buffered from competition with rivals Use value chain to determine if they are able to link activities required to create value using differentiation strategy Competitive forces:Rivalry with Existing Competitors: customers tend to be loyal and less sensitive to price increases, relationship between brand loyalty and price sensitivity insulates a firm from competitive rivalryBargaining Power of Buyers (Customers): purchasers accept priceincreases as long as they continue to perceive the products satisfytheir distinctive needs at acceptable cost Bargaining Power of Suppliers: higher costs from suppliers can be: absorbed by high margins earned, and passed on to customers through price increasesPotential Entrants: substantial barriers to potential entrants are created by: customer loyalty and the need to overcome the uniqueness of a differentiated productProduct Substitutes: companies selling brand-name products to loyal customers face a lower probability of customers switching to substitutes Competitive Risk of Differentiation Strategy: Customer groups decision that a differentiated products unique features are no longer worth a premium priceThe inability of a differentiated product to create the type of value for customers willing to pay premium priceAbility of competitors to provide similar features at a lower cost
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Failure to meet customers expectations through its efforts to implement differentiation strategy Focus Strategies: integrated set of actions taken to produce products that serve the needs of a particular segment of customersSegments a firm may choose to serve:Particular buyer group (senior citizens)Different segment of a product line (products for professional painters)Different geographic market (northern or southern Italy)Focus strategy is successful when firm serves a segment well whose unique needs are so specialized that broad-based competitors choose not to serve that segment, and create value for a segment that exceeds the value created by industry-wide competitors Focused cost leadership strategy and Focused differentiation strategyCompetitive Risk of Focus Strategies:Competitors ability to use its core competencies to “out-focus” the focuser by serving an even more narrowly defined market segmentIndustry-wide companies decision that the market segment servedis attractive and worthy of competitive pursuitReduction in differences of the needs between customers in a narrow market segment and the industry-wide market over time Integrated Cost Leadership/Differentiation Strategy: firm engaging simultaneously in primary value chain activities and support functions to achieve low cost position with some product differentiation Adapt quickly to new technologies and rapid changes in external environment Developing two sources of competitive advantage (cost and differentiation) increases the number of primary value chain activities and support functions in which a firm becomes competent. Flexibility is required, sources of flexibility used to implement strategy:Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS): computer controlled process to produce variety of products in moderate, flexible quantities with minimum manual intervention, eliminate the “low cost vs product variety” trade-offChange quickly and easily from making one product to making another Increased effectiveness in respond=ding to changes in customer needs while retaining low-cost advantages and consistent product qualityReduce lot size needed to manufacture productHave greater capacity to serve the unique needs of a narrow competitive scopeInformation Networks: link companies with their: suppliers,
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distributors, and customers (Customer relationship management (CRM) is an information-network process that firms use Information networks help firm satisfy customer expectations in terms of: product quality and delivery speedTotal Quality Management Systems: implementation of appropriate tools/techniques to provide products/services to customer with best quality Firms develop and use TQM systems to: increase customer satisfaction, cut costs, and reduce the amount of time required to introduce innovative products to the marketplace An effective TQM system help firm develop flexibility to identify opportunities to increase its products differentiated features and reduce costsCompetitive Risks of the Integrated Cost Leadership/Differentiation Strategy: Firm might produce products that do not offer sufficient value in terms of low cost or differentiation, company becomes “stuck in the middle” and compete at a disadvantage and are unable to earn more than average returnsChapter 5: Competitive Rivalry and Competitive DynamicsIntroduction:Competitors: firms operating in the same market, offering similar products, and targeting similar customersCompetitive rivalry: ongoing set of competitive actions and competitive responses among firms as they maneuver for an advantageous market position, the outcomes of competitive rivalry influence the firms:Ability to develop and then sustain competitive advantages, Level (average, below average, above average) of financial returnsCompetitive behavior: competitive actions and responses to build or defend its competitive advantages and improve its market positionMultimarket competition: firms compete against each other in several product or geographic marketsCompetitive dynamics: total set of competitive actions and responses taken by firms competing within a market A strategies success is a function of firms initial competitive actions, how well firmanticipates competitors response to them, and how well firm anticipates and responds to its competitors initial actions Competitive rivalry has a dominant influence on business-level strategy A Model of Competitive Rivalry Competitive rivalry evolves from the pattern of actions and responses as ones
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firns competitive actions have noticeable effects on competitors, eliciting competitive response from them Pattern suggests that firms are mutually exclusive, competitors action andresponses affect them, marketplace success is a function of both individual strategies and the consequences of their use Competitor Analysis: first step taken to be able to predict competitors actions and response, firms can use competitor analysis to predict behavior, helps avoid competitive blind spots (unaware of competitors objectives, strategies, assumptions, capabilities)Used to understand the competitive environment by studying competitors:Future objectivesCurrent strategiesAssumptionsCapabilitiesFirms study: market commonality and resource similarity, the greater commonality and similarity the more firms acknowledge that they are direct competitorsMarket Commonality: number of markets with which the firm and a competitor are jointly involved and the dree of importance of individual markets to each Resource Similarity: extent to which firms tangible and intangible resources compare favorably to competitors in terms of type and amountTend to have similar strengths and weaknessesUse similar strategies in light of strengths to pursue similar opportunities in external environment Drivers of Competitive Behavior:Market commonality and resource similarity shapes a firms:Awareness: extent to which competitors recognize the degree of their mutual interdependence, greatest when highly similar resources Motivation: incentive to take action or to respond to a competitor's attackAbility: quality of the resources available to firm to attack and respondResource Dissimilarity also influences the competitive actions and response firms choose to take Competitive Rivalry: ongoing competitive actions and responses between a firm and competitor as they maneuver for an advantageous market position, affects the performance of both companies Strategic and Tactical ActionsStrategic action or response: market-based move that involves a significant commitment of organization resources, difficult to implement andrevers Tactical action or response: market-based move to fine-tune a strategy, involve fewer resources, relatively easy to implement and reverseCompetitive action: strategic or tactical action to build or defend its competitive advantage or improve its market positionCompetitive response: strategic or tactical action to counter the effects of competitors competitive action
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Likelihood of Attack:First-mover benefits: First mover: firm that takes an initial competitive action to build or defend competitive advantages or improve position, emphasize research and development for innovation and valueTend to be aggressive, willing to experiment with innovation, and take higher yet reasonable levels of riskSlack: the buffer provided by actual or obtainable resources not in use currently and that exceed the minimum resources needed to produce a given level of organizational output Second-mover: firm that responds to the first movers action, typically through imitationLate mover: firms that responds to action a significant amount of time after the first movers action and second movers response, achieve less success, require considerable time to understand how to create value Organization size:Small firms: more likely to launch competitive actions, tend to launch more quickly, have capacity to be nimble and flexible competitors, rely on speed and surprise to defend, variety of competitive actions Large firms: greater amount of slack resources that allow them to initiate a larger number of competitive actions and strategic actionsQuality: exists when firms products meet or exceed customers expectationsA base denominator for: competing successfully in the global economy and achieving competitive parity at a minimum Necessary but insufficient condition for achieving advantage Product Quality Dimensions: Performance: operating characteristicsFeatures: special characteristicsFlexibility: meeting specificationsDurability: amount of use before performance deteriorates Conformance: match with standardsServiceability: easy and speed of repairAesthetics: looks and feelsPerceived quality: subjective assessment of characteristics (image)Service Quality Dimensions:Timelessness: promised period of timeCourtesy: performed cheerfullyConsistency: similar experience each timeConvenience: accessibility to customersCompleteness: fully services as requiredAccuracy: performed correctly each timeLikelihood of Response:Firms likely to respond to competitor action when: action leads to better use of
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capabilities to develop stronger advantage or improvement, action damages ability to use core competencies, market position becomes harder to defendFirms evaluate factors to predict how competitor is likely to respond to actions:Type of competitive action: tactical responses exceed strategic responsesthey take, response is difficult to implement and reverse, time needed candelay response to actionActors reputation: actor (firm taking action or a response), reputation (positive or negative attribute ascribed by one rival to another based on past behaviorMarket dependance: extent to which firm derives its revenues or profits from a particular market, competitors with high dependence are likely to reposed strongly to attacks threatening position Competitive Dynamics: ongoing actions and responses among all firms competing withina market for advantageous positions, differ in slow-, fast-, ans standard- cycle markets Slow-cycle markets: competitors lack ability to imitate firms advantages that commonly last for long periods of time, imitation would be costly, advantages gradually erodes over time (lawsuits over patents/copyright infringement are more common and intense)Fast-cycle market: competitors can imitate capabilities that contribute to advantage and imitation is often rapid and inexpensive, advantages not sustainable, reverse engineering used to gain access to knowledgeStandard-cycle markets: some competitors may be able to imitate advantages and imitation is moderately costly, competition share is intense because:Large volumes, the size of mass markets, and the need to develop scale economies Chapter 6: Corporate-Level StrategyCorporate-level Strategy: actions a firm takes to gain competitive advantage by selectingand managing a group of different businesses competing in different product marketsMeans to grow revenues and profits, focused on diversification, expected to help earn above-average returns by creating value, concerned with what markets and businesses firm should compete and how corporate headquarters should
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manage those businesses Product diversification: how managers buy, create and sell different businesses to match skills and strengths with opportunities presented to the firm, successful when reduces variability in forms profitability as earnings are generated from different businesses, flexibility to shift investments to markets where greatest return is possible Levels of Diversification:Single-business diversification strategy: low levels, 95% or more of sales revenue from core business area Dominant-business: low levels, 70-95% of total revenue generated within a singlebusiness areaRelated diversification strategy: generates more than 30% of revenue outside a dominant business, moderate levelsRelated constrained: shares resources and activities across ot businesses, links use similar sourcing, throughput and outbound processesRelated linked: transferring knowledge and core competencies between its businesses, portfolio has few linksUnrelated: high levels, no relationship between businesses, make no effort to share activities or transfer core competencies between or among their businesses, firms using this are conglomeratesReasons for Diversification: increase firms value and overall performance (value createdwhen increase revenue or reduce cost), have neutral effects, and reduce a firm's value Value-Creating Diversification: Economies of scope (related): cost savingsSharing activities: sharing a primary activity (inventory delivery systems) or a support activity (purchasing practices), costly, may create unequal benefits and can lead to fewer managerial risk-taking behaviors (operational relatedness)Transferring core competencies: through managerial and technological knowledge, experience and expertise (corporate relatedness)Market power (related): when firm can sell above existing competitive level or reduce costs of activitiesBlocking competitors through multipoint competition: two or more
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diversified firms compete in same areas/geographical marketsVertical integration: company produced its own inputs (backward integration) or its own source of output distribution (forward integration), has limitations Financial economies (unrelated): cost savingsEfficient internal capital allocation: investors take equity positions with high expected future cash-flow valuesBusiness/asset restructuring: buying assets at low costs, restructuring, and selling at price that exceeds costs in external market Value-Neutral Diversification: different incentives to diversify, quality of resources,incentives: Antitrust regulation, tax laws (external)Low performance, uncertain future cash flows (diversification as defensive strategy), risk reduction for firm, synergy (internal)Tangible resource and intangible resources: degree of valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, non-substitutable Value-Reducing Diversification: as firms size increases, so does executive compensation and social statusDiversifying managerial employment riskIncreasing managerial compensation Chapter 7: Merger and Acquisition StrategiesThe Popularity of Merger and Acquisition Strategies: central role in restructuring of US businesses during 80s and 90s, create value, challenging to effectively implement Determining the target worth of a firm is difficult, difficulty increases likelihood a firm will pay a premium to acquire targetMerger: strategy where two firms agree to integrate their operations on a relatively coequal basisAcquisition: strategy where one firm buys a controlling, or 100% interest in another firm with intent of making acquired firm a subsidiary business within its portfolio (are more common than mergers and takeovers)Management of acquired firm reports to management of acquiring firm Reasons for Acquisitions:Increase Market Power:Market power exists when firm can sell goods/services above competitive levels and costs of primary support activities are lowerthan competitors’, Derived from the size of firm, quality of resources, and share of the marketBuying a competitor, a supplier, a distributor, or a business in related industry so that core competence can be used to gain competitive advantage in the acquiring firms primary market To increase market power firms use: (all subject to regulatory
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review by the government)Horizontal acquisitions: acquisition of a company competing in the same industry, exploit cost-bases and revenue-based synergies, result in higher performance when firms have similar characteristicsVertical acquisitions: firm acquiring a supplier or distributor of one or more of its products, firm controls additional partsof the value chain, increases market power Related acquisitions: acquiring a firm in a highly related industry, create value through synergy that can be generated by integrating resources and capabilities Overcome Entry Barriers to new markets/regions: Barriers to entry are factors associated with a market/firms in it that increase the expense and difficulty of new firms trying to entera particular marketCross-Border Acquisitions: between companies with headquartersin different countries, difficult to implement because of obstacles and differences in cultures Avoid Costs of Developing New Products and increase Speed of new market entries:Internal product development perceived as a high-risk activityAllows firms to gain access to new products and current products that are new to itAcquisitions provide more predictable returns and faster market entryReduce Risk of entering new businessBecome more DiversifiedReshape Competitive Scope by developing different portfolio of businesses:Lessen their product and/or market dependencies on specific products or markets shapes competitive scope Enhance Learning as the foundation for developing New Capabilities: Firms can broaden their knowledge base and reduce inertiaAcquire diverse talent through cross-border acquisitionsSeek to acquire companies with different but related and complementary capabilities to build knowledge base Problems in Achieving Acquisition Success:Difficulty of effectively integrating firms: integration process considered strongest determinant of whether a merger or an acquisition is successful,is difficult, generate uncertainty and resistance because of cultural clashes and organizational politics Need to meld two or more unique corporate cultures, link different financial and information control systems, build effective working relationships, determine leadership structure and those who will fill
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it for the integrated firmIncorrectly evaluating value of target:Due Diligence: process where a potential acquirer evaluates a target firm for acquisition, work with intermediaries (large investment banks) to facilitate efforts, shouldEvaluate accuracy of financial position of targetEvaluate accounting standards used by targetExamine quality of strategic fit between companiesExamine ability of acquiring firm to integrate target to realize potential gains from deal Financing for intended transaction, differences in cultures, tax consequences of transaction, actions that would be necessary to meld two workforces Creating debt loads that preclude adequate long-term investments:Large or extraordinary debt can result fromBidding warsPaying a large premium: influenced by: Hubris, Escalation of commitment to complete a particular transaction, and self-interestJunk bonds: financing options where risky acquisitions are financed with money (debt) that provides a larger potential return to lender (bondholders)Used less frequently, commonly called high-yield bonds, unsecured obligations not tied to specific asset for collateral, contain high and volatile interest rates, potentially expose companies to greater financial riskOverestimating potential for synergySynergy: exists when the value created by units working together exceed the value that those could create independentlySynergy created by:Efficiencies derived from economies of scaleEfficiencies derived from economies of scopeSharing resources (human capital and knowledge) across businesses in newly created firms portfolioPrivate Synergy: created when combining and integrating the acquiring and acquired firms assets yield capabilities and core competencies that couldn't be developed with another companyPossible when firms assets are compel=mentary in unique waysDifficult to createDifficult for competitors to understand and imitateAffected by direct transaction costs (legal fees, charges to conduct due diligence) and indirect transaction costs (time spend evaluating target and negotiating the acquisition)
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Creating a firm that is too diversifiedOverdiversification can negatively affect firm's overall performanceCreating internal environment where managers devote increasing amounts of their time and energy to analyzing and completing the acquisitionFind appropriate degree of involvement Developing a combined firm that is too large, extensive use of bureaucratic rather than strategic controlsLarger firm size can increase complexity of managerial challenge and create diseconomies of scopeBureaucratic controls are formalized supervisory and behavioral rules and policies designed to ensure consistency of decisions and actions across units Effective Acquisitions: Complementary resources, foundation for developing new capabilities Friendly, facilitating integration of resourcesThorough due-diligence processConsiderable slack in the form of cash or debt capacity Low level of debt, selling off portions or some poorly performing unitsExperience in terms of adapting to changeR&D and innovation are emphasized in new firm Takeover: special type of acquisition where target firm does not solicit the acquiring firmsbid, unfriendly acquisitions Restructuring: firm changes its set of businesses or its financial structure, focus on fewerproduct and marketsStrategies: Downsizing: reduction in number of employees and sometimes number ofoperating units, adjust firm size, not necessarily a sign of decline (unintentional), intentional strategyDownscoping: divestiture, spin-off, or some other means of eliminating businesses that are unrelated to core businesses, more positive effect than downsizing, refocusLeveraged buyouts (LBO): party (private equity firm) buys all of firms assets in order to take the firm private, correct mistakes, types:Management buyouts (MBOs) most successful, clear incentivesEmployee buyouts (EBOs)Whole-firm buyoutsChapter 8: International StrategyIdentifying International OpportunitiesInternational Strategy: firm sells its goods/services outside its domestic market Incentives to Use: opportunities to extend products life cycle, gain access to critical raw materials, integrate firm’s operations on global scale or better serve
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customers in other countries, meet increasing demand3 Basic Benefits of International Strategy:Increased Market Size: establish stronger positions outside domestic market, larger international markets: offer high potential returns, pose lessrisk, and have strong science baseEconomies of Scale and Learning: expanding number of markets in whichthey compete, exploit core competencies through resource and knowledge sharingLocation Advantages: can help reduce costs, easier access to: lower labor costs, enbergy, natural resources critical supplies, and customers The degree of benefit a firm can capture through location advantage is affected by: manufacturing and distribution costs, thenature of international customers needs, and cultural and formal institutions (law and regulation)International StrategiesFirms choose to use one or both basic types of strategy:Business-level International Strategy, firms select from among the genericstrategies of: Cost leadership, Differentiation, Focused cost leadership, Focused differentiation, Integrated cost leadership/differentiation Firms must first develop domestic-market strategies, research suggest there are 4 determinants of national advantage:Factors of Production: inputs necessary for firm to competein any industry (land, labor, natural resources, capital, infrastructure(transportation, delivery, communication systems))Related and Supporting Industries:Demand Conditions: characterized by the nature and size of customers needs in home market for the products of firms competing in the industry Patterns of firm strategy, structure, adn rivalry Corporate-level International Strategy:Based partially in firms business-level strategy, focuses on scope of operations through geographic diversification, required when firm operates in multiple industries, guided by headquarters unit3 strategies: vary in the need for global integration, and the need for local responsiveness:Multidomestic: strategic and operating decisions are decentralized to strategic business unit in individual countries or regions, each unit opportunity to tailor products to local marketFocuses on competition within each country in which firm competesMost appropriate when differences between markets they serve and customers in them is
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significant Expands firms local market share, bc firm focuses attention on local clienteles needs Results in less knowledge sharing for corporation as a whole, decentralizationDoes not allow economies of scale to develop and thus can be more costly Global: firms home office determines the strategies business units are to use in each country or region, firms seeks to develop economies of scale and assume customers throughout world have similar needsAssumes more standardization of products across country boundariesOffers greater opportunities to take innovations developed at corporate level and apply them to other markets Most effective when differences between markets and customers firm serves are insignificant Requires efficient operations in order to be implemented successfullyTransnational: firm seeks to achieve global efficiency and local responsivenessIntegrates multidomestic and global strategies Requires “flexible coordination”: building a shared vision and individual commitment through integrated network in order to be implementedIs difficult to use because of conflicting goalsCan produce higher performance than multidomestic or global strategies Is becoming increasingly necessary to successfully compete in international marketsEnvironmental Trends2 important trends influencing a firm choice of international strategies (particularlyinternational corporate strategies):Liability of Foreignness: set of costs associated with various issues firms face when entering foreign markets including: Unfamiliar operating environmentsEconomic, administrative and cultural differencesThe challenges of coordination over distances, 4 types of distances:CulturalAdministrativeGeographicEconomic
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Regionalization: concentrate strategie on regions (European Union, Asia, Latin America) rather than on individual country markets, Benefits: Allows firms to marshal its resources to compete effectively rather than spread limited resources across multiple country-specific marketsFocuses on particular region allies form to better understand cultures, leal and social norms, and other factorsMarkets may be more ismlar, allow coordination and sharing of resources Choice of International Entry ModeFirms can use one or more of the 5 entry modes to enter international markets: (choice of entry can affect degree of success form achieves)Exporting: (high cost, low control) firm send products it produces, initial mode used for many firms, popular for small businesses, requires no foregin manufacturing expertise, avoid expenses, can have significant cots, made easier due to internet Licensing: (low cost, low risk, little control, low returns) agreement formedallows foregin company to purchase the right to manufacture and sell product within host country's market. Licenced paid royalty, licensee takesrisk and make monetary investments in manufacturing, marketing and distributing products, least costly diversification, attractive to new smaller firms, obtain larger market and faster returnsStrategic Alliances: (shared costs, shared resources, shared risk, problemof interaction) firm collaborating with another company in a different setting in order to enter one or more international markets, popular, allowsa firm to connect with an experienced partner already in market,Failure caused by: Incompatible partners, conflict between partners, and difficulty in managingEstablishing trust affected by: initial condition of relationship, negotiation process, interactions, external events, cultures, relationship between governmentsAcquisitions (cross-border): (quick access to new markets, high costs, complex negotiations, problems merging with domestic operations) firm from one country acquired a stake in or purchases all of a firm located in another country, quickest means of entering market, require debt financing to competeNew Wholly Owned Subsidiaries: (complex to create, often costly, time consuming, high risk, maximum control, potential above-average returns) Greenfield Venture: firms invests directly in another country or market by establishing a new wholly owned subsidiary, greatest potential to contribute to strategic competitiveness, usse more when firm relies significantly on quality of capital-intensive manufacturing facilities, may require hiring host-country national or consultantDynamics of Mode Entry: to enter global market, firm selects entry mode that is
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best suited to its situationDecision regarding which entry mode to use is primarily the result ofIndustries competitive conditionCountries situation and government policiesFirms unique set of resources, capabilities, and core competencies Risk in an International Environment2 major Categories of Risk firms need to understand and address when diversifying geographically through international strategies are:Political Risks: denote the probability of disruption of operations of multinational enterprises by political forces/events, whether they occur in host countries, home countries, or result from changes in the internationalenvironment Possible disruptions include: Uncertainty created by government regulationThe existence of many possibly conflicting legal authoritiesCorruptionThe potential nationalization of private sectorsPolitical analysis examines potential sources and factors of non-commercial disruptions of foregin investments and operationsEconomic Risks: fundamental weaknesses in country or regions economywith potential to cause adverse effects on firm efforts to successfully implement strategies Risks include:Perceived security risk of a foregin firm acquiring companies that have key natural resources or firms that may be considered strategic with regard to intellectual propertyTerrorismDifferences and fluctuations in value of currencies Strategic Competitiveness OutcomesDegree to which forms achieve strategic competitiveness through international strategies is expanded or increased when they successfully implement an international diversification strategyInternational Diversification Strategy: firm expands the sales of its goods or service across borders of global regions and countries into potentially large number of geographic locations or marketsDiversification and Returns
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Factors that contribute to the positive effects of international diversification:Private versus government ownershipPotential economies of scale and experienceLocation advantagesIncreased market sizeThe opportunity to stabilize returns Enhanced InnovationInternational diversification facilitates innovation in a firm because it: Provides a larger market to gain greater and faster returns from investments in innovationExposes firm to new products and processes, integrate knowledgeinto operations, allow further innovation to be developedCan generate the resources necessary to sustain a large-scale R&D program The Challenges of Internal StrategiesComplexity of Managing International Strategies, strategy may become more difficult to manage due to:The growth in the firms sizeGreater operational complexityDifferent cultures and institutional practices (those associated with governmental agencies) that are part of the countries in which the firm competes Limits to International Expansions, some constrain ability to manage internationalexpansion effectivelyManagement problems are exacerbated by:Trade barriersLogistical costsCultural diversityAccess to raw materialsDifferences in employee skill levelDifferences in host countries governmental policies and practicesChapter 9: Cooperative StrategyCooperative Strategy: firms collaborate to achieve a shared objective, to create value forcustomer that it likely could not create by itself, create competitive advantages, outperform rivals, and earn above-average returnsStrategic Alliances as a Primary Type of Cooperative StrategyStrategic Alliance: cooperative strategy where firms combine some of their resources to create CA, firms jointly develop, sell and service goods/services, leverage existing resources, alliance success:Actively solving problemsBeing trustworthy
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Consistently pursuing ways to combine partners resources to create value 3 Types of Major Strategic Alliances:Joint Venture: strategic alliance where 2 or more firms create legally independent company to share resources to create CAPartners who own equal percentages and contribute equally to ventures operationsFormed to improve ability to compete in uncertain competitive environments Can be affecting in establishing long-term relationships and transferring tacit knowledge between partners (can't be codified)Equity Strategic Alliance: 2 more more firms own different percentages of a company that they have formed by combining some resources to createCA Ensure they have control over assets that they can commit to the alliance, intellectual capitalNonequity Strategic Alliance: 2 or more firms develop a contractual relationship to share some resources to create CA Less formal, demand fewer partner commitments than joint ventures and equity, do not foster intimate relationship between partnersUnsuitable for complex projects when success depends on transfer of tacit knowledge between partners Outsourcing commonly through nonequity strategic alliances Reasons Firms Develop Strategic Alliances: Create value they couldn't generate by acting independently and entering markets more rapidlyMost companies lack the full set of resources needed to pursue all identified opportunities and reach objectives on their own Vary based on market condition:Slow-cycle: gain access to restricted market, establish franchise innew market, maintain stability (standards)Fast-cycle: speed up development of new goods/services, speed up new market entry, maintain market leadership, form industry technology standard, share risky research and development expenses, overcome uncertainty Standard-cycle: gain market power (reduce industry overcapacity),gain access to complementary resources, establish better economies of scale, overcome trade barriers, meet competitive challenges from other competitors, pool resources for very large capital projects, learn new business techniques Business-Level Cooperative StrategyBusiness-Level Cooperative Strategy: firms combine some resources to create CA by competing in 1 or more product markets
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4 strategies used to improve performance in individual product markets:Complementary Strategic Alliance: firms share some resources in complementary ways to create CA, 2 dominant types:Vertical: firms share some resources from different stages of the value chain to create CA (greatest probability of creating sustainable CA)Horizontal: firms share some resources from the same stage/stages of the value chain to create CA (difficult to maintain)Competition Response Strategy: formed to respond to competitors actions, especially strategic actionsUncertainty-Reducing Strategy: used to hedge against the risks created by the conditions of uncertain competitive environment (new product markets) (lowest probability of creating sustainable CA)Competition-Reducing Strategy: used to avoid excessive competition while firm marshals its resources to improve strategic competitivenessCollusion often used to reduce competition, often an illegal cooperative strategy, 2 types of collusive strategies:Explicit Collusion: 2 or more firms negotiate directly to jointly agree about amount to produce and prices of what is produced, illegal unless sections by gov policies, increasing globalization led to fewer gov sanctionedTacit Collusion: several firms in industry indirectly coordinate production and pricing decision by observing each others competitive actions and responsesMutual Forbearance: tacit collusion firms do not take competitive actions against rivals they meet in multiple marketsCorporate-Level Cooperative StrategyCorporate-Level Cooperative Strategy: firm collaborates with 1 or more companies to expand its operationsAttractive when firms seek to diversify into markets in which host nations gov prevents mergers and acquisitions and because they can be used as a “test” to determine if partners benefit from a future merger or acquisitionbetween themCompared to mergers/acquisitions corporate-level strategic alliance require fewer resource commitments and permit greater flexibility in termsof efforts to diversify partners operations Most Commonly Used Corporate-Level Strategy are:Diversifying Alliances: firms share some resources to engage in product and/or geographic diversification, managing diversity gained through alliances has fewer financial costs, often require managerial expertise Synergistic Alliances: firms share some resources to create economies of scope, (similar to horizontal complementary) create synergy across multiple functions or multiple businesses between partner firms
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Franchising: a firm (franchisor) use a franchise as a contractual relationship to describe and control the sharing of resources with its partners (franchisee), alternative to mergers/acquisitions, attractiveFirm that already has successful product/service (franchisor) licenses its trademark and methods of doing business to other businesses (franchisee) in exchange for an initial franchise fee and ongoing royalty rate Used in fragmented industries (hotels/motels and retailing), no firms has dominant market share Partners work closely together Core companies brand name Compared with business-level cooperative strategies, corporate-level: broader in scope, more complex, more challenging, more costly to use Successful alliance experiences are internalizedManage in ways that are valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and non substitutable International Cooperative StrategyCross-Border Strategic Alliance: firms with headquarters in different countries decide to combine some resources to create CA, in one or more areas (development, production) partly with intent to create value in markets throughoutthe world that neither from could create operating independently Increasing in number, not as risky as mergers/acquisitions, can be complex, can be difficult to mangeKey reason: performance superiority of firms competing in markets outside their domestic market, and gov restrictions on firms efforts to growthrough mergers/acquisitionsRiskier than domestic because: differences in companies and cultures and frequent difficulty in building trust Network Cooperative Strategy: several firms agree to form multiple partnerships to achieve shared objectives, primary benefit to gain access to its partners other partnershipsAlliance Network: set of strategic alliance partnerships that firms develop, stable or dynamic, vary by industry characteristics In mature industries: stable alliance networks used to extend CA into new areasIn rapidly changing environments: dynamic alliance network used as tool of innovationCompetitive Risks with Cooperative Strategies: Firm may act in a way that its partner thinks is opportunistic, when formal contracts fail to prevent them or an alliance is based on false perception of partner trustworthinessFirm misrepresents the resources it can bring to the partnership, when partners contribution is based on some of its intangible assets Firm may fail to make available to its partners the resources that it committed,
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when firm form an international cooperative strategy, different cultures/languagesmay cause misrepresentations of contractual terms or trust-based expectations Firms may make investments that are specific to the alliance while its partner does not, puts firm making investments at relative disadvantage Managing Cooperative Strategies Those responsible to managing forms cooperative strategies should take the actions to: coordinate activities, categorize knowledge learned from previous experiences, make certain in the hands of the right people at the right time, and learn how to manage both tangible and intangible assets 2 primary approaches use to manage cooperative strategies;Cost Minimization: firm develops formal contracts with partners that specify: how strategy is monitored and how partner behavior is to be controlled Opportunity Maximization: firm develops less formal contracts with fewer constraints on partners behaviors, partners explore how their resources can be shred in multiple value-creating ways Trust is an increasingly important aspect of successful cooperative strategies Trust: belief that a firm will not do anything to exploit its partners vulnerability when of it has the opportunity Collaborative/Relational Advantage Chapter 10: Corporate GovernanceCorporate Governance: set of mechanisms used to manage the relationships among stakeholders and to determine and control the strategic direction and performance of organizationIs an increasingly important part of the strategic management process, concerned with identifying ways to ensure that decisions: are made effectively and facilitate a firm's efforts to achieve SCMeans to establish and maintain harmony between firms owners and its top-level managersEffective governance that aligns managers’ decisions with shareholders’ interests can help producea CA for the firm, 3 internal mechanisms are used in modern corporation:Ownership concentration (represented by types of shareholder and their different incentives to monitor managers)The board of directorsExecutive compensation Separation of Ownership and Managerial ControlOwnership is separated from control in the modern corporation (except in a number of small firms and family-owned firms)primary objective of firms activities is to increase profit and thereby the owners’ (shareholders’)
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financial gainsAllows shareholder to purchase stock which entitles them to income (residual returns) from the firm's operations after paying expenses, this right requires shareholders to take a risk that expenses may exceed revenues Agency Relationships: when one party delegates decision-making responsibility to a second party for compensationOwners (principals) hire managers (agents) to make decisions that maximize firm’s valueProblems: they can have different interest and goals, may lead to Managerial Opportunism: seeking of self-interest with guile (cunning or deceit), prevent maximization of wealthProduct Diversification as an Example of an Agency Problem: could result in principals incurring costs to control their agents’ behavior, can create 2 benefitsTop-level managers can increase their compensation: increased size of firm, positively related to executive compensation Managerial Employment Risk: risk of job loss, loss of compensation, and loss of managerialreputation, can be reduced, increased diversification reduces managerial employment risk,less vulnerable to reduction in demandFree Cash-Flow: cash remaining after firm has invested in all projects that have potential net present value within current business, source of another potential agency problemStockholders may prefer that free cash flow be distributed to them as dividends or stock buybacksPrincipals and managers seek different optimal levels of diversification, managers prefer higher level of diversificationAgency Costs and Governance MechanismsAgency Costs: sum of incentive costs, monitoring costs, enforcement costs, and individual financial losses incurred by principals because governance mechanisms cannot guarantee total compliance by agent The effects of governance mechanisms are influenced by how weak or strong they are Corporate governance mechanisms have received greater scrutiny due to:The Sarbane-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) of 2010Ownership Concentration: defined by the number of large-block shareholders and the total percentage of thefirm’s shares they own
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Large-Block Shareholders: own at least 5 percent of a company’s issued shares, increasingly active in their demands, the number of them has declined in recent years (institutional owners have replaced)Ownership concentration influences decisions made about the strategies a firm will use and the value created by their use, diffuse ownership produces weak monitoring and control of managerial decisionsInstitutional Owners: financial institutions (mutual funds, pension funds) that control large-block shareholders positions, powerful force in corporate America, can significantly influence firm’s choice of strategies and strategic decisions Board of Directors: group of elected individuals whose primary responsibility is to act in the owner’s best interests by formally monitoring and controlling firm’s top-level managersgenerally fit into one of these 3 groups:Insiders: firm’s CEO and other top-level managers, dominate board of directors Related Outsiders: not involved with the firm’s day-to-day operations but has relationship with the companyOutsiders: independent of the firm in terms of day-to-day operations and other relationships, having large number can create problems Enhancing the Effectiveness of the BoardExecutive Compensation: governance mechanism that seeks to align the interests of managers and owners through salaries, bonuses, and long-term incentives (stock awards and options), challengingfor firms implementing international strategies The Effectiveness of Executive Compensation, it’s complicated, number of potential drawbacksMarket for Corporate Control: external governance mechanism that is active when a firm’s internal governance mechanisms failEnsures that ineffective and/or opportunistic top-level managers are disciplined Investors sometimes use the market for corporate control to take ownership position in firms that are performing wellimperfect governance mechanismManagerial Defense Tactics: used generally self-serving in nature Hostile Takeover: acquisition of target company by a firm that is accomplished not by coming to an agreement but by going directly to company’s shareholders or fighting to replace management in order get acquisition approved Defense Strategy:
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Capital Structure ChangeCorporate Charter AmendmentGolden ParachuteGreenmail: the repurchase of the target firm's shares of stock that were obtainedby the acquiring firm at a premium in exchange for an agreement that the acquirer will no longer target the company for takeoverLitigationPoison PillStandstillInternational Corporate GovernanceGlobalization in trade, investments, and equity markets is stimulating an increase in the intensity of efforts to: improve corporate governance and potentially reduce variation in regions’ and nations’governance systemsGermany and JapanConcentration of ownership is an important means to corporate governance in Germany, banks occupied center of the German corporate governance system Significant amount of cross-shareholdings, make takeovers more difficult German two-tiered system has supported and critics Attitude toward governance in Japan are affected by the concepts of:ObligationFamily: company considered family, families command the attention and allegiance of parties throughout corporationsA Keiretsu (groups of firms tied together by cross-shareholdings) is more than an economic concept, it is family too
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Consensus: calls for the expenditure of significant amounts of energy to win the hearts and minds of people whenever possible as opposed to issuing edicts, valued even when it results in a slow and cumbersome decision-making process Banks have an important role as corporate governance mechanisms in large public firmsIncreased privatization of businesses and the development of equity markets, government has done much to improve corporate governance Governance Mechanisms and Ethical BehaviorEffective governance mechanisms ensure that the interests of all stakeholders are served, strategiccompetitiveness results when firms are governed in ways that permit at least minimal satisfaction of :Capital Market Stakeholders (shareholders)Product Market Stakeholders (customers and suppliers)Organizational Stakeholders (managerial and non-managerial employees)The most effective board of directors set boundaries for their firms business ethics and values Chapter 11: Organizational Structure and ControlsOrganizational Structure and ControlsPerformance decline when firm strategy is not matched with appropriate structure and controls Organizational Structure: specifies the firm’s formal reporting relationships, procedures, controls, and authority and decision-making process (specifies the functions to be completed for firm to implement strategy)Structure determines and specifies: The decisions that are to be madeThe work that is to be completed by everyone within an organization as a result of those decisions Help firm cope with environmental uncertainty, implement strategy as means of outperforming competitorsProvide stability to implement strategies and maintain current CA while providing flexibility to develop advantages in the future Structural Stability: provides capacity firm requires to consistently and predictably manage daily routines Structural Flexibility: make possible identifying opportunities and allocate resources to pursue them as way of being prepared to succeed in the future
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Modifications of current strategy or selection of new strategy call for changes to its organizational structure Organizational inertia inhibits efforts to change structure, structural change often induced by actions from stakeholders who are no longer willing to tolerate firms performance Organizational Controls: guide the use of strategy, indicate how to compare actual results with expected results, and suggest corrective actions to take when the difference is unacceptable Difficult to successfully exploit CA without effective organizational controls 2 types of organizational controls:Strategic Controls: subjective criteria intended to verify use of appropriate strategies for the condition in external environment and companies CAs, examinefit between what firm might do (external: opportunities) with what it can do (internal: resources, capabilities core competencies)Financial Controls: objective criteria used to measure firms performance against previously established quantitative standards (previous outcomes, competitors performance, industry average), examples include: ROI (return on investment), ROA (return on assets), economic value addedRelative use of controls varies by type of strategyFinancial controls emphasized by companies using: cost leadership diversificationstrategy (activities or capabilities are not shared), or an unrelated diversification strategy (activities or capabilities are not shared)Strategic controls emphasized by companies using: the differentiation strategy ora related diversification strategyEffectiveness determined using a “balanced” combination of strategic and financial controlsRelationships between Strategy and Structure Strategy and structure have a reciprocal relationship, structure flows from or follows selection of firm’s strategy, structure can influence current strategic actions as well as choices about future strategies, the effect of strategy on structure is stronger than the effect of structure on strategy Matching each strategy with a structure that provides:Stability needed to use current CAsFlexibility required to develop future advantages Evolutionary Patterns of Strategy and Organizational Structure Sales growth creates coordination and control problems existing structure cannot efficiently
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handle, firms choose among 3 major types of organizational structures: Simple Structure: owner-manager makes all major decisions and monitors all activities, staff serve as extension of managers supervisory authority, characteristics: Informal relationshipsFew rulesLimited task specialization Unsophisticated information systemsFunctional Structure: chief executive officer and limited corporate staff, functional line managers in dominant organizational areas (production, accounting, marketing, R&D, engineering, HR)Allows functional specialization, active sharing of knowledge Can negatively affect communication and coordination among those representingdifferent functions Supports implementing business-level strategies and some corporate-level strategies (single or dominant business with low levels of diversification)Multidivisional (M-form) Structure: corporate office and operating division each division representing a separate business or profit center in which top corporate officer delegates responsibilities for day-to-day operations and business-unit strategy to division managers3 major benefits:Enables officers to more accurately monitor performance of each business, simplified the problem of controlFacilitates comparisons between divisions, improve resource allocationStimulated angers of poorly performing divisions to improve performance Increases likelihood that decisions made by managers heading individual units will be in stakeholders best interestsWidely adopted structureMatches between Business-Level Strategies and Functional StructureDifferent uses of 3 important structural characteristics:Specialization: concerned with the type and number of jobs required to complete workCentralization: degree to which decision-making authority is retained at higher managerial levelsFormalization: degree to which formal rules and procedures govern work
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Cost leadership form of functional structure characterized by:Simple reporting relationshipsFew layers in decision-making and authority structure Centralized corporate staffStrong focus on process improvements through manufacturing rather than development of new products, emphasize product R&DLow-cost cultureCentralized decision makingHighly specialized jobsDivision of work into homogeneous subgroupsHighly formalized rules and proceduresDifferentiation form of functional structure characterized by:Complex and flexible reporting relationshipsFrequent cross-functional product development teamsStrong focus on marketing and product R&D rather than manufacturing and process R&DDevelopment-oriented culture and flatter structureDecentralized decision-making responsibility and authority Low specialization of jobsFew formal rules and procedures Cost leadership/differentiation form of functional structure characterized by: (Integrated cost leadership/differentiation strategy: products create value because of relatively low cost and reasonable sources of differentiation, used frequently in global economy, challenging because of different value chain and support activities)Decision making patterns partially centralized and partially decentralized Semi-specialized jobsRules and procedures that call for some formal and some informal job behavior Measure of flexibility to emphasize one or the other set of functions at any given timeMatches between Corporate-Level Strategies and Multidivisional Structure:A firm's continuing success leads to product or market diversification or both, corporate-level strategies have different degrees of product and market diversification Cooperative form: M-form, horizontal integration used to bring about interdivisional cooperation, sharing resources and activities across businesses to develop economies of
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scopeCentralization, standardization and formalization Matrix Organization: dual structure combining functional specialization and business product or project specialization, may evolve in forms implementing related constrained strategyStrategic Business Unit form: (M-form), 3 levels:Corporate HeadquartersStrategic Business Units (SBUs)SBU DivisionsCompetitive form: (M-form), complete independence among the firms divisions that compete for corporate resourcesCharacterized by lack of:Sharing common corporate strengthsIntegrating mechanisms 3 Benefits from internal competition:Creates flexibilityChallenges status quo and inertiaMotivates effort in that the challenge of competing against internal peers can be as great as competing against rivals Matches between International Strategies and Worldwide StructureImportant for long-term success in today's virtually borderless global economy Worldwide geographic area structure: emphasizes national interests and facilitates firms efforts to satisfy local differences Key challenge associated with using multidomestic strategy/worldwide geographic area structure is the inability to create global efficiencies Disadvantages: difficulties coordinating decisions and actions across country borders, and inability to quickly respond to local needs and preferences Global Strategy: firm offers standardized products across country marketsCombination Structure: drawing characteristics and mechanisms from both the worldwidegeographic area structure and the worldwide product divisional structure Implemented through 2 possible combination structures:Global matrix structure: brings together local market and product expertise into teams that develop and respond to global marketplace, flexibility in designing products in response to customer needs
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Hybrid global design: has limitations, employee in position of being accountable to more than one manager, loyalty issues, complex and vague corporate reporting relationships, difficult and time-consuming toreceive approval for major decisionsMust be simultaneously:Centralized and decentralizedIntegrated and non-integratedFormalized and non-formalized Matching between Cooperative Strategies and Network Structures:Network Strategy: exists when partners from strategic alliances to improve performance of alliance network itself through cooperative endeavors Strategic Network: group of firms that has been formed to create value by participating in multiple cooperative arrangements, source of CA for its membersStrategic Center Firm: at the core of the strategic network, one around which networks cooperative relationships revolve, engages in 4 primary tasks:Strategic OutsourcingCompetenciesTechnologyRace to LeanImplementing Business-Level Cooperative Strategies2 types of business-level complementary alliances:Vertical: competencies in different stages of value chain, cooperatively integrate their different but complementary skillsHorizontal: formed to combine competencies to create value in same stage of value chain, used less often and less successful than vertical alliances Strategic center firm is obvious in vertical complementary strategic alliance, not always obvious in horizontal complementary alliance Implementing Corporate-Level Cooperative Strategies Used to reduce costs and facilitate product and market diversification, potential to create synergy Implementing International Cooperative StrategiesDifferences among countries’ regulatory environments increase challenge of: managing international network and verifying that at a minimum a network operations comply with all legal requirements Distributed Strategic Networks: used to manage international cooperative strategies
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Chapter 12: Strategic LeadershipEffective strategic leadership is a prerequisite to using the strategic management process successfullyStrategic Leadership and StyleStrategic Leadership: ability to anticipate, envision, mantin flexibility, and empower others to create strategic change as necessaryStrategic Change: change resulting from selecting and implementing a firm's strategies Multifunctional in nature, strategic leadership involves:Managing through othersManaging an entire organization rather than a functional sumunitCoping with rapid and intense changes associated with the global economyAbility to attract and then mange human capital is the most critical of the strategic leader’s skillsPrimary responsibility rests at the top in particular with the CEOOther strategic leaders include:Members of the board of directorsThe top management teamDivisional general managersAny individual with responsibility for the performance of human capital and/or a part of the firm is a strategic leaderPersonal ideology and experience influence a leader’s styleTransformational Leadership:Entails motivating followers to:Exceed the expectations others have of themStrengthen their capabilities through continuous trainingPlace the interest of the organization above their ownTransformational leaders: Develop and communicate an organizational visionWork with others to formulate and execute a strategy to achieve the visionHave a high degree of integrity and recognize its importance Respect their employeesHave emotional intelligence which involves: Understanding themselves wellHaving string motivation
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Empathizing with othersHaving effective interpersonal skillsPromote and nurture innovation The Role of Top-Level ManagerTop-level make multiple decisions regarding the strategies their firms will choose and the implementationManagers often use their discretion (latitude for action), factors that determine the amount of decision-making discretion a manager has are:External environmental sourcesOrganizational characteristicsManagerial characteristics Top Management Team: composed of individuals responsible for making certain the form uses the strategic management processHelp CEOs: avoid managerial hubris (overconfidence), and make better decisionsHeterogeneous top management team: individuals with different functional backgrounds, experience, and educationPositive relationship with innovation and strategic changeThe CEO and Top Management Team PowerCEOs increase their power by:Appointing a number of sympathetic outside members to the boardHaving inside board members who are also on the top management team and report to the CEOSimultaneously serving as CEO and chair of the board (CEO Duality)Managerial SuccessionSelecting the CEO has been one of the most important responsibilities for a board of directorsOrganizations select managers and strategic leaders from 2 types of managerial labor markets:Internal managerial labor market: consists of a firm's opportunities for managerial positions and the qualifies employees within in (most instances)External managerial labor market: collection of managerial career opportunities and the qualified people who are external to the organization in which the opportunities existConditions suggesting a potentially appropriate preference to hire from outside include:Firms need to enhance its ability to innovateFirms need to reverse ots recent poor performanceThe fact that the industry in which the firm competed is experiencing rapid growth
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The need for strategic change Retaining executives after an acquisition is important Key Strategic Leadership ActionsEffective strategic leadership has 5 key leadership actions:Determining the firm's strategic directionEffectively managing the firm's resource portfolioExploiting and maintaining core competenciesManaging human capital and social capitalSustaining an effective organization cultureEmphasizing ethical practicesEstablishing balanced organizational controls Determining Strategic Direction: involves specifying the vision and the strategy to achieve the vision, evaluate conditions they expect their firm will face over the next 3-5 yearsIdeal long-term strategic direction has 2 parts:A core ideologyAn envisioned futureSometimes strategic leaders fail to select a strategy that helps a firm achieve its strategic direction, this can happen when: Top management team and CEO are too committed to the status quoCEOs have an aversion to risky actionsCEOs are erratic or ambivalent Effectively Managing the Firm’s Resource PortfolioManage resource portfolio in ways that increase likelihood of string performance, to do this, they:Organize available resources into capabilitiesStructure the firms to facilitate using those capabilitiesChoose strategies to leverage the capabilities to create value for customers Human Capital: knowledge and skills of a firm's entire workforce Effective training and development programs increase the probability that some human capital will become effective strategic leaders Social Capital: relationships inside and outside the firm that help in efforts to accomplish tasks that create value for stakeholdersInternal social capital: promotes cooperation and coordination within and across firms units
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External social capital: provides access to resources from external parties that form needs to compete effectively Sustaining an effective Organizational Culture:Organizational Culture: complex set of ideologies, symbols, and core values that individuals and groups share throughout the firm and influence how firm conducts businessEntrepreneurial Mind-Set characterized by:Autonomy: allows employees to take actions that are free of organizational constraints and encourages them to do so Innovativeness: a firm's tendency to engage in and support new idas, novelty, experimentations, and creative processes that may result in new products, services, or technological processes Risk Taking: willingness by employees and their form to accept measured levels of risk when pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities Proactiveness: a firm's ability to be a market leader rather than a follower Competitive Aggressiveness: a firm's propensity to take actions through which it is able to outperform rivals consistently and sustainability Shaping and reinforcing a new culture requires:Effective problem solvingEffective communication practicesSelecting the right peopleEngaging in effective performance appraisalsUsing appropriate reward systemsEmphasizing Ethical PracticesEthical practices must be an integral part of organizational culture Actions to develop and support an ethical organizational culture:Establish and communicate goals to describe ethical standardRevising and updating ethics code, based on inputs from people throughout firmDisseminating code to all stakeholdersDevelop and implement methods and procedures to use in achieving the firm's ethical standardsCreate and use explicit reward systems that recognize acts of courageCreate work environment in which all people are treated with dignity Establishing Balanced Organizational Controls:
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Help strategic leaders:Build credibilityDemonstrate the value of strategies to stakeholderPromote and support strategic change2 types of organization controls:Financial: focus on ST financial outcomes, produces more ST and risk-averse decisionsStrategic: focuses on the content of strategic actions rather than their outcomes Balanced Scorecard: tool used to determine of firm is achieving an appropriate balance when using strategic and financial controls as means to positively influence performance, 4 perspectives:Financial (growth, profitability, risk from shareholders perspective)Customer (amount of value customer perceive)Internal Business Processes (priorities for various business processes that createcustomer and shareholder satisfaction)Learning and Growth (efforts to create a climate that supports change, innovation, and growth)Chapter 13: Strategic EntrepreneurshipStrategic Entrepreneurship: involves taking entrepreneurial actions using a strategic perspective, firms engage in opportunity-seeking and advantage-seeking behaviors, create value through the product the firm sells currently Corporate Entrepreneurship: use or application of entrepreneurship within an established firmEntrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Opportunities:Entrepreneurship: the process by which individuals, teams, or organizations identify and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities without being immediately constrained by the resources they currently control Entrepreneurial Opportunities: conditions in which new goods or services can satisfy a need in the market The essence of entrepreneurship is to: Identify and exploit entrepreneurial opportunitiesManage risks appropriately as they arise“Creative destruction” of existing products or methods of producing them and replaces them
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Entrepreneurship positively contributes to performance and stimulates growth in economies InnovationFirms engage in 3 types of innovative activities:Invention: the act of creating or developing a new product or process, brings something new to being, firms use technical criteria to determine the success Innovation: process used to create a commercial product from an invention, brings something new into use, commercial criteria is used to determine success, source of competitive success, (most critical)Imitation: the adoption of a similar innovation by different firms, commonly imitative products have fewer features and lower priceEntrepreneurship is critical to innovative activity because it acts as the linchpin between invention and innovationEntrepreneurs: individuals acting independently or as part of an organization who perceive an entrepreneurial opportunity and take risks to develop an innovation and exploit it Entrepreneurs: Are highly motivatedAre willing to take responsibility for their projectsAre self-confidentAre often optimisticTend to be passionate and emotions about their innovation-based ideasAre able to deal with uncertaintyAre more alert to opportunities than are othersThey need to have good social skills and be able to plan exceptionally wellEntrepreneurial Mind-Set: values uncertainty in markets and continuously seeks to identify opportunities in those markets to pursue through innovationThose without an entrepreneurial mind-set view opportunities as threats Includes recognition of the importance of competing internationally as well as domestically, and has the potential to lead to continuous innovation and can be a source of competitive advantageInternational Entrepreneurship: firms creatively discover and exploit opportunities that are outside of their domestic marketsInvolves risks of: Unstable foregin currenciesMarket inefficiencies
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Insufficient infrastructures to support businessesLimitations on market size Positive relationship between entrepreneurship and economic productivityFor firms to be entrepreneurial they must simultaneously:Provide appropriate autonomy and incentives for individuals incentive to surfacePromote cooperation and group ownership of an innovation as foundation for successfully exploiting it Firms engaging in international entrepreneurship must concentrate more than companies only in domestic entrepreneurship on: Building the capabilities needed to innovateAcquiring the resources needed to make straoc decisions through which innovations can be exploited successfullyInternationally diversified firms often are stronger competitors in their domestic markets because the learning and economies of scale and scope afforded by operating in international markets, and are generally more innovative Internal InnovationOne primary source of internal innovation is efforts in research and development (R&D)Through R&D firms are able to generate patentable processes and product that are innovative The outcomes of R&D investments are uncertain and often not achieved in the ST, patience is requiredSuccessful R&D programs must have high-quality human capital Incremental and Novel InnovationFirms invest in R&D to produce 2 primary types of innovations (both create value):Incremental Innovation: build on existing knowledge bases and provide small improvements in current products (adding different kind of whitening agent to soap detergent), yield lower profit margins compared to radical innovationsLarger number of incremental innovations because they: are cheaper, are easier to produce, and involve less riskRadical Innovations: usually provide significant technological changes and create new knowledge (development of driverless cars), revolutionary and nonlinear, rare, require creativity and imagination, require strong and supportive leadership,potential to contribute more significantly then incremental innovations to earn above-average returns
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Internal Corporate Venturing: set of deliberate activities that firms use to develop internalinventions and particularly internal innovations2 types of internal corporate venturing:Autonomous Strategic Behavior: bottom-up process, product champion pursues a new idea often through political process by means of which he/she develops and coordinates the actions required to convert and invention into an innovative product and to introduce it into the market Induced Strategic Behavior: top-down process, firms current strategy and structure foster innovations that are associated closely with that strategy and structure, determine type and amount of innovation neededImplementing Internal InnovationsEntrepreneurial mind-setis critical to innovate internallyFirms provide incentives to individuals to be more entrepreneurial as a foundation for successfully developing internal innovation Have processes and structures in place through which firm can exploit its innovationTo implement incremental and radical innovations resulting from internal corporate ventures firms integrate the functions in internal innovation efforts (engineering, manufacturing, distribution)Cross-Functional Product Development Teams: facilitate efforts to integrate activities associated with different organization functions (design, manufacturing, marketing)Contain individuals representing a wide swath of the organization and ay also include individuals form external organizations such as suppliers Make it possible to: Complete new product development process more quicklyCommercialize product resulting from the processes more easily Horizontalorganizational structures support cross-functional teams efforts to iterate innovation-based activities across organizational functions 2 barriers with potential to generate conflict and prevent effective use of cross-functionalteams:Team members’ independent frames of reference: different orientation on issuesOrganizational politics: how to allocate resources to different functionsFacilitating Integration and InnovationShared valuesand effective strategic leadership are important for achieving cross-functional integration and implementing internal innovations
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As part of culture shared values: Are consistent with the firm's vision statement Become the glue that promotes integration between functional unitsEffective strategic leaders:Work with others to set goals and allocate resources needed to chive themEnsure a high-quality communication system that enables the sharing of knowledge among team members who are them able to communicate an innovations existence and importance to othersInnovations through Cooperative Strategies Cooperative relationships such as strategic alliancesBoth entrepreneurial ventures and established firms use cooperative strategies to innovate Alliances formed to foster innovation carry riskThe ideal partnership is one in which firms have complementary skills as well as compatible strategic goals Innovation through Acquisitions2 reasons a firm may choose to innovate through acquisitions are:To rapidly extend one or more product lines and increase its revenuesTo gain ownership of an acquired company’s innovations and access to its innovative capabilities Not risk free, fewer allocations may flow to the R&D functionEfforts to innovate through acquiring another company are more successful when:Strategic purposes drive the acquisitionsThe process to integrate the acquired firm into the focal firm proceeds without difficulty Creating Value through Strategic Entrepreneurship Youngerentrepreneurial ventures generally excel in the opportunity-seeking part of strategic entrepreneurship, while larger more established firms generally excel in the advantage-seeking part2 skills that are vital for organizational success are:The ability to innovateThe ability to be strategic in marketplace competitions
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