Strategic Management ASSIGNMENT
BRIEF TASK :-Develop a Strategic Business Plan for a New VentureStart-up companies are more important in bringing products and services to market. Inresponse to new technology, new and innovative businesses are taking over themarkets of those older companies too slow to move with changing customer demands.Following this line of thought, for this task you are an administrative officer at thecorporate level of an offshore organization and, you are assigned to develop astrategic business plan for a new venture in a sector of your choice.
This StrategicManagement Process should contain whatever is necessary to start-up a companyfrom scratch, including the new company's philosophy, mission, objectives, strategiesand tactics, CSR, an analysis of the firm's internal and external environment,organizational structure, leadership and, an one-page financial report justifying thefirm's survival for at least a year. You should justify your choices in terms of thechosen industry/sector on the grounds of innovation, competitive advantage and,company's sustained growth and survival. Your budged is £150,000 (BP).
Assignment Specifics:THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL PIECE OF WORKFor the assignment's requirements, if necessary contact local authorities forlicensing and/ or legal issues.Your report should be grounded in relevant theory - use the core andrecommended reading - at the same time you should consider exploring anew/ innovative idea/venture.1Reference all sources appropriately, using the Harvard ReferencingSystem.The word count of your report is 5000 words (-/+10%).The assignment counts 50% against your final grade.DIRECTIONS AND HELP FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENTYou are expected to discuss a number of components that appear in the ‘StrategicManagement Process' in relation to an innovative idea/ new venture.
However, in thesame way that businesses vary in the processes they use to formulate and direct theirstrategic management activities, you may include different components in yourstrategic process.
In other words, although the basic components of the models usedto analyze strategic management operations are very similar, you may develop aneclectic strategic analysis. Despite the differences, nevertheless, your strategicanalysis should be representative of the foremost thought in the strategic managementarea. Your strategic management process may include all, or most of the followingkey components (source: Pearce and Robinson, 2010):Company MissionForm a company mission for your new venture. The mission of a company is theunique purpose that sets it apart from other companies of its type and identifies thescope of its operations.
In short, the company mission describes the company'sproduct, market, and technological areas of emphasis in a way that reflects the valuesand priorities of the strategic decision makers.Internal AnalysisThe company analyzes the quantity and quality of the company's financial, human,and physical resources. It also assesses the strengths and weaknesses of thecompany's management and organizational structure. You are expected to proceed to asimilar analysis, using appropriate tools such as SWOT analysis.
External Environment A firm's external environment consists of all the conditions and forces that affect itsstrategic options and define its competitive situation. The strategic managementmodel shows the external environment as three interactive segments: the remote,industry, and operating environments. You should present and discuss a similaranalysis about the external environment of their new venture.Strategic Analysis and Choice2Simultaneous assessment of the external environment and the company profileenables a firm to identify a range of possibly attractive opportunities. Theseopportunities are possible avenues for investment.
However, you must be screenedthrough the criterion of the company mission to generate a set of possible and desiredopportunities. This screening process results in the selection of options from which astrategic choice is made. The process is meant to provide the combination of longtermobjectives and generic and grand strategies that optimally position the firm in itsexternal environment to achieve the company mission.Long-Term ObjectivesIn your analysis, you are expected to emphasize the importance of long-termobjectives. The results that an organization seeks over a multiyear period are its longtermobjectives.
Such objectives typically involve some or all of the following areas:profitability, return on investment, competitive position, technological leadership,productivity, employee relations, public responsibility, and employee management.Generic and Grand StrategiesMany businesses explicitly and all implicitly adopt one or more generic strategiescharacterizing their competitive orientation in the marketplace. Low cost,differentiation, or focus strategies define the three fundamental options.
Although every grand strategy is a unique package of long-term strategies, 15 basic approachescan be identified. You are expected to present and discuss the generic and grandstrategy/ies that are suitable for their new venture, how are to be achieved, and theirroles towards achieving the organization's long-term objectives.Short-term objectivesShort-term objectives are the desired results that a company seeks over a period of oneyear or less. They are logically consistent with the firm's long-term objectives.Companies typically have many short-term objectives to provide guidance for theirfunctional and operational activities. Thus there are, among others, short-termmarketing activity, raw material usage, employee turnover, and sales objectives. You should discuss their short-term objectives, and their role in supporting generic andgrand strategies.
Functional tactics:- You are expected to suggest a number of functional tactics and how these short-termactivities are used to achieve short-term objectives and establish competitiveadvantage. Within the general framework created by the business's generic and grandstrategies, each business function needs to undertake activities that help build asustainable competitive advantage. These short term, limited scope plans are calledtactics. A radio ad campaign, an inventory reduction, and an introductory loan rate arexamples of tactics. Functional tactics are detailed statements of the ‘means' oractivities that will be used to achieve short-term objectives.3Policies that empower actionSpeed is a critical necessity for success is today's competitive, global marketplace.
One way to enhance speed and responsiveness is to force/allow decisions to be madewhenever possible at the lower level in organizations. Policies are broad, precedentsettingdecisions that guide or substitute for repetitive or time-sensitive managerialdecision-making. Creating policies that guide and ‘preauthorize' the thinking,decisions and actions of operating managers and their subordinates in implementingthe business's strategy is essential for establishing and controlling the ongoingoperating process of the firm in a manner consistent with the firm's strategicobjective.Strategic Control and Continuous ImprovementStrategic control is concerned with tracking a strategy as it is being implemented,detecting problems or changes it its underlying premises, and making necessaryadjustments.
In contrast to post-action control, strategic control seeks to guide actionon behalf of the generic and grand strategies as they are taking place and when theend results are still several years away. The rapid, accelerating change of the globalmarketplace of the last 10 years has made continuous improvement another aspect ofstrategic control.ConclusionAs it has been mentioned earlier, you are expected to use all or a number ofcomponents towards synthesizing a Strategic Management Process for their newventure. Each component is a central theme in different chapters of their coretextbook. At the same time, students are expected to present a one-page analysis oftheir financial highlights, illustrating expected money inflow/outflow for a year.