Growth Strategies, Innovation, Alliances, and Execution
Capella University
Introduction
Thompson & Strickland (2013) believes that a successful organization’s strategy depends on people, capabilities, structure, and execution. Important as well are growth and innovation (P.. 286), which allows an organization to remain competitive.
Growth strategies arise from an organization’s SWOT where clear guidelines identify areas of focus. Achieving this requires innovation and alliances on products and services that will create a competitive advantage. Successfully execution requires a strategic manager who can effectively and successfully drive strategic objectives, then report its performance to the leadership team (Thompson &
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Pfizer’s SWOT Analysis (Pfizer, 2013) Innovation theory define when new or existing, large or small companies, individuals or groups identify, create and market new or existing products or services to consumers ultimately disrupting an existing business or create value. Some ideas are born out of a need that ultimately satisfies consumers and some are the next steps that dominate the market. Pfizer’ innovative strategies provide new products such as Lipitor, Viagra, and Celebrex. When two or more organizations create a formal agreement to work together for a specific purpose, they form an alliance. Alliances offer organizations competitiveness in new business industries and shared responsibility in experience and cost. Execution of a strategy allows an organization to identify a strategic manager or management team who will be responsible for five key components: people, resources, structure, systems and culture. The role of the strategic manager or management team is to implement and monitor performance and report to company stakeholders on the status. Because strategy drives an organization’s success, the team should select managers who can aggressively drive the objectives to achieve desired results through three actions:
1. Monitor the progress and performance of the strategic objectives by applying the
There are 10 basic tasks for “The action agenda for executing a strategy”. These 10 tasks are: Build the organizational capabilities required for successful strategy execution, establish a strategy supportive of organizational structure, and allocate sufficient resources to the strategy execution effort, Institute policies and procedures that facilitate strategy execution, adopt best practices and business processes that drive continuous improvement, install information and operating systems that support strategy execution activities, tie rewards and incentives directly to the achievement of strategic and financial targets, instill a corporate culture that promotes good strategy execution, exercise strong leadership to propel strategy execution forward, and staff the organization with the right people for executing this strategy. If managers execute these 10 tasks well, the company has a higher success rate.
Strategy concerns to plan formulation and actions taken to empower an organization to carry out its intended objective effectively. To effectively determine a strategic plan for growth in such a explosive business environment, the company must understand how the various strategy like cost differentiation, cost leadership, stability & growth strategy, etc. function in the industry and regard the specific situation of the company.
It is the execution of strategies and policies through programs, budgets and procedures to reach its goals. In this process plans are assigned, costs are allocated to tasks for better measurement of return on investment. The firm’s resources are used and a detailed system is given on how to perform specific jobs. This strategy turns strategies into concrete results and helps implement changes that are documented for future references. It also provides good measurements of projects with a time frame. It gives employees a clear step by step on how to perform their day-to-day tasks that will improve overall efficiency and sets the tone for quality work in all levels of management.
Innovations can create a huge opportunity for success, as they enable a company to create a competitive advantage by having differentiated products, services or business models. Hence an innovative strategy is highly recommended in order to achieve high business growth, in case you are willing to expose you to a higher degree of risk. Being successful with an innovative strategy requires a multidimensional approach and an integrative strategic management.
Strategy formulation has been acknowledged as one of the most crucial factors of ensuring the long-term growth of the business. However, the manner in which strategy is formulated, and most importantly, the nature of the strategy chosen for the company determines its future position in the marketplace (Grant, 2005).
Nowadays, businesses endeavor to achieve a competitive advantage and so an outstanding performance by applying different strategies and examining various strategic analyses. Key role for this strategy is the manager’s contribution, as he is the one to defy the company’s objectives. The manager is responsible in order to exploit the firm’s available resources and strengthen its competencies in order to produce competitive goods and services. The resources and capabilities are among the fundamental sources a manager can use, when he structures the strategic management.
In order for a business or corporation to grow and expand at a calculated pace, they must be able to strategize the proper business plan to get there. A strategy is a set of analytic techniques for understanding and influencing the firm 's position in the marketplace (Raimundo, 2001). Having a business
According to Google, alliances are “a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations.” The bigger the problem, the better it is to have alliances. An example of a daily life alliance is two different groups of friends. Each one of these groups have other friends that would help if a problem were to happen. An extreme example of alliances is when countries are fighting against each other.
(Look at Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines, FedEx, Apple and Intel) Strategy is about making the decision to stand for something that differentiates you from the competition, “deliberately choosing to be different” AND making decisions, trade-offs and choices that supports this organizations choice. “A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique.” This reinforces the aspect that a business cannot be all things to all people. “Sound strategy starts with the right goal” and it must have “continuity”. Enter Leadership – The CEO, the Chief Strategist. He must know what his company stands for and he must communicate this to every person. Successful Leaders own the fact that they must make the tough decisions and define the trade-offs the organization is bombarded with on a daily basis. Leaders in an organization “need to provide the discipline and the glue that keeps such a unique position sustained over time. The guardian of trade-offs”. Then they must constantly evangelize the chosen position. This will result with a workforce that is inspired, empowered and productive because everyone will be able to make decisions in
For an organization to be successful, it must employ good strategies in the running of its business. Strategies are needed to achieve the company’s objectives and give it a competitive advantage against its competitors. It determines the direction in which the organization is going in relation to its environment and how the business develops. Strategies are further segregated into corporate or business strategies where the focus is the formulation of plans and ideas to improve and increase its market share, and internal management strategies which
Roughly one company in every ten is able to sustain the kind of growth that translates into an above-average increase in shareholder returns over more than a few years. Once a company’s core business has matured, the pursuit of new platforms for growth entails daunting risk — to put it simply, most companies just don’t know how to grow, and pursuing growth the wrong way can be worse than no growth at all. In The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen showed how companies that
Successful implementation of a new organizational strategy can turn a good organization into a great one. Conversely, strategies that fail or generate poor results can quickly damage the organization’s reputation and brand, internally and externally. Effective strategy execution is the
Strategic management can be defined as a bundle of decisions and acts which a manager need to do to achieve better performance and a competitive advantage for their organization. Also, strategic management is a continuous process that evaluates and controls the business and the industries in which an organization is involved. First need to evaluates its competitors and sets goals and strategies to meet all existing and potential competitors; and then reevaluates strategies on a regular basis to determine how it has been implemented and whether it was successful or does it needs replacement. Moreover, strategic Management gives a broader perspective to the employees of an organization and they can better understand how their job
Firstly, alliances provide sustainable competitive advantage. In order to grow in global market, companies might have to face a lot of pressures from their existing competitors in terms of price, quality, and service. It is impossible for business to be good at everything. Alliance is a good business tool that helps firms to meet its objectives by combining resources with the partners and gain access to certain sets of resources, while at the same time; it gives flexibility to adapt quickly and allows switching partners. Alliance enables business to access
The definition makes it easy to understand the predicaments of Strategy. We as individuals, grow up with an aim in life. We strive hard, we strategize, plan looking at all the areas and aspects of elements required to move ahead and climb the ladders of success. Similarly, every organization strives to achieve success and put forth the best ideas, strategies, and analysis before reaching towards a common point, a prodigious target. The questions here that arise are: HOW DOES AN ORGANIZATION REALIZE ITS STRATEGY ? The advancements for success of either an individual or an organization relies upon two fundaments: What do you want to achieve and How will you go about achieving your desired results? The answers to this question are Objectives and Strategy respectively.