Week 1 Discussion
Strategic management is nothing but planning for both predictable as well as unfeasible contingencies. It is applicable to large organizations as they face significant competition and by unexpected or non-foreseen conditions occurrences by formulating and implementing appropriate strategies.
In rapidly changing markets, strategy tells us that we should not build plans or take decisions “written in stone.” After all, the right decision made yesterday might no longer be the right decision today. The world will have changed.
Good strategic decision-making practice would also suggest that we develop three feasible, practical alternatives before we select a path to take.
1.The Balanced Scorecard
The Balanced Scorecard literally seeks to provide some balance in our management and decision-making so that we are not just taking one factor into account (traditionally, the finance/profit dimension) but also take into account our customers/stakeholders, our internal processes/operations and our people/HR. The scorecard model suggests that although we might need to temporarily place more weight on one of these dimensions, we should not put the others “out of mind”
2.Scenario Planning:
Scenarios are an essential part of strategic planning and help us identify (and challenge) our strategic assumptions.
3.Strategic Assumptions
Strategic assumptions are the assumptions that are held by decision-makers when building a strategic plan. All strategic plans should be built upon a grounded, validated and accepted set of strategic assumptions. Any strategic plan or decision is only as good as the strategic assumptions upon which it is based. Strategic assumptions surface and are usually identified when scenario planning is undertaken during a strategic planning process.
Required- Identify a company from the Fortune 100 that was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Each student is to choose one company from the following industries:
1.Technology
2.Travel- e.g., Hotels or Airlines
3.Manufacturing
4.Pharmaceutical
5.Entertainment- e.g., Amusement Parks or Theaters
6.Automotive
7.Financial Services
8.National Retailer
a.What were the various strategies that needed to be quickly implemented at the onset of experiencing COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020 when the pandemic was not on anyone’s radar?
b.What changes of strategies needed to take place throughout 2020 as the pandemic continued into 2021?
c.What strategies and assumptions should the company consider now as America attempts to open up with vaccines becoming more available?
d.Incorporate in your analysis the effects that strategic implementation would have on the various stakeholders- i.e., employees stockholders, customers, suppliers (supply chain), etc. knowing that there was and continues to be efforts to keep people from socializing, needing to earn money, not to go to sports or theatre shows will never work 100% and will probably break down completely sometime over the Summer Months; that a vaccine is now first being developed and rolling out, and that a more “balanced” set of factors need to be taken into account than just the avoidance of a “emergency care disaster”, what decisions would they make differently?
e.Create a detailed SWOT Analysis matrix reflecting your proposed strategies.
Your work is to be approximately 750-1,000 words in length and needs to be complete in scope and presented clearly and concisely.
