Strategic Managements Lecture Notes

Strategic Management Need of Strategic Management:- 1. Due to change 2. To provide guide lines 3. Research and development 4. Probability for business performance 5. Systemized decision 6. Improves Communication 7. Allocation of resource 8. Improves Coordination 9. Helps the managers to have holistic approach Importance of Strategic Management:- 1. To the shape the Future of business 2. Effective strategic idea 3. Mangers and employer are innovative and creative 4. Its decentralized the Management 5. Its helps to increase the productivity 6. To Makes discipline 7. To Make control 8. To makes forward s thinking

The Strategic Planning Process: In today’s highly competitive business environment, budget-oriented planning or forecast-based planning methods are insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. The firm must engage in strategic planning that clearly defines objectives and assesses both the internal and external situation to formulate strategy, implement the strategy, evaluate the progress, and make adjustments as necessary to stay on track. A simplified view of the strategic planning process is shown by the following diagram: The Strategic Planning Process | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

The Strategic Planning Process |Mission & | |      Objectives       | | | |[pic] | |  Environmental   | |Scanning | | | |[pic] | |Strategy | |    Formulation      | | | |[pic] | |Strategy | | Implementation   | | | |[pic] | |      Evaluation       | & Control | | | Mission and Objectives The mission statement describes the company’s business vision, including the unchanging values and purpose of the firm and forward-looking visionary goals that guide the pursuit of future opportunities. Guided by the business vision, the firm’s leaders can define measurable financial and strategic objectives. Financial objectives involve measures such as sales targets and earnings growth. Strategic objectives are related to the firm’s business position, and may include measures such as market share and reputation. Environmental Scan

The environmental scan includes the following components: • Internal analysis of the firm • Analysis of the firm’s industry (task environment) • External microenvironment (PEST analysis) The internal analysis can identify the firm’s strengths and weaknesses and the external analysis reveals opportunities and threats. A profile of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is generated by means of a SWOT analysis An industry analysis can be performed using a framework developed by Michael Porter known as Porter’s five forces. This framework evaluates entry barriers, suppliers, customers, substitute products, and industry rivalry.

Strategy Formulation Given the information from the environmental scan, the firm should match its strengths to the opportunities that it has identified, while addressing its weaknesses and external threats. To attain superior profitability, the firm seeks to develop a competitive advantage over its rivals. A competitive advantage can be based on cost or differentiation. Michael Porter identified three industry-independent generic strategies from which the firm can choose. Strategy Implementation The selected strategy is implemented by means of programs, budgets, and procedures.

Implementation involves organization of the firm’s resources and motivation of the staff to achieve objectives. The way in which the strategy is implemented can have a significant impact on whether it will be successful. In a large company, those who implement the strategy likely will be different people from those who formulated it. For this reason, care must be taken to communicate the strategy and the reasoning behind it. Otherwise, the implementation might not succeed if the strategy is misunderstood or if lower-level managers resist its implementation because they do not understand why the particular strategy was selected.

Evaluation & Control The implementation of the strategy must be monitored and adjustments made as needed. Evaluation and control consists of the following steps: 1. Define parameters to be measured 2. Define target values for those parameters 3. Perform measurements 4. Compare measured results to the pre-defined standard 5. Make necessary changes BCG Growth-Share Matrix Companies that are large enough to be organized into strategic business units face the challenge of allocating resources among those units.

In the early 1970’s the Boston Consulting Group developed a model for managing a portfolio of different business units (or major product lines). The BCG growth-share matrix displays the various business units on a graph of the market growth rate vs. market share relative to competitors: BCG Growth-Share Matrix [pic] Resources are allocated to business units according to where they are situated on the grid as follows: • Cash Cow – a business unit that has a large market share in a mature, slow growing industry. Cash cows require little investment and generate cash that can be used to invest in other business units. Star – a business unit that has a large market share in a fast growing industry. Stars may generate cash, but because the market is growing rapidly they require investment to maintain their lead. If successful, a star will become a cash cow when its industry matures. • Question Mark (or Problem Child) – a business unit that has a small market share in a high growth market. These business units require resources to grow market share, but whether they will succeed and become stars is unknown. • Dog – a business unit that has a small market share in a mature industry.

A dog may not require substantial cash, but it ties up capital that could better be deployed elsewhere. Unless a dog has some other strategic purpose, it should be liquidated if there is little prospect for it to gain market share. The BCG matrix provides a framework for allocating resources among different business units and allows one to compare many business units at a glance. However, the approach has received some negative criticism for the following reasons: • The link between market share and profitability is questionable since increasing market share can be very expensive. The approach may overemphasize high growth, since it ignores the potential of declining markets. • The model considers market growth rate to be a given. In practice the firm may be able to grow the market. These issues are addressed by the GE / McKinsey Matrix, which considers market growth rate to be only one of many factors that make an industry attractive, and which considers relative market share to be only one of many factors describing the competitive strength of the business unit. The Business Vision and Company Mission Statement

While a business must continually adapt to its competitive environment, there are certain core ideals that remain relatively steady and provide guidance in the process of strategic decision-making. These unchanging ideals form the business vision and are expressed in the company mission statement. In their 1996 article entitled Building Your Company’s Vision, James Collins and Jerry Porras provided a framework for understanding business vision and articulating it in a mission statement. The mission statement communicates the firm’s core ideology and visionary goals, generally consisting of the following three components: 1.

Core values to which the firm is committed 2. Core purpose of the firm 3. Visionary goals the firm will pursue to fulfill its mission The firm’s core values and purpose constitute its core ideology and remain relatively constant. They are independent of industry structure and the product life cycle. The core ideology is not created in a mission statement; rather, the mission statement is simply an expression of what already exists. The specific phrasing of the ideology may change with the times, but the underlying ideology remains constant. The three components of the business vision can be portrayed as follows: Core | | | | | | Values  | | | | | |  | | | | | |  | | | | | |  | | | | | |Core | | | | | |Purpose | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |[pic] | | | | | |  | | | | | |[pic] | | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | | | | |  | | | | | |Business | | | | | |Vision | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | | | | |  | | | | | |[pic] | | | | | |  | | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | | | | |  | | | | | |Visionary | | | | | |Goals | | | | | |  | | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Core Values

The core values are a few values (no more than five or so) that are central to the firm. Core values reflect the deeply held values of the organization and are independent of the current industry environment and management fads. One way to determine whether a value is a core value to ask whether it would continue to be supported if circumstances changed and caused it to be seen as a liability. If the answer is that it would be kept, then it is core value. Another way to determine which values are core is to imagine the firm moving into a totally different industry. The values that would be carried with it into the new industry are the core values of the firm.

Core values will not change even if the industry in which the company operates changes. If the industry changes such that the core values are not appreciated, then the firm should seek new markets where its core values are viewed as an asset. For example, if innovation is a core value but then 10 years down the road innovation is no longer valued by the current customers, rather than change its values the firm should seek new markets where innovation is advantageous. The following are a few examples of values that some firms has chosen to be in their core: • excellent customer service • pioneering technology • creativity • integrity • social responsibility Core Purpose

The core purpose is the reason that the firm exists. This core purpose is expressed in a carefully formulated mission statement. Like the core values, the core purpose is relatively unchanging and for many firms endures for decades or even centuries. This purpose sets the firm apart from other firms in its industry and sets the direction in which the firm will proceed. The core purpose is an idealistic reason for being. While firms exist to earn a profit, the profit motive should not be highlighted in the mission statement since it provides little direction to the firm’s employees. What is more important is how the firm will earn its profit since the “how” is what defines the firm.

Initial attempts at stating a core purpose often result in too specific of a statement that focuses on a product or service. To isolate the core purpose, it is useful to ask “why” in response to first-pass, product-oriented mission statements. For example, if a market research firm initially states that its purpose is to provide market research data to its customers, asking “why” leads to the fact that the data is to help customers better understand their markets. Continuing to ask “why” may lead to the revelation that the firm’s core purpose is to assist its clients in reaching their objectives by helping them to better understand their markets.

The core purpose and values of the firm are not selected – they are discovered. The stated ideology should not be a goal or aspiration but rather, it should portray the firm as it really is. Any attempt to state a value that is not already held by the firm’s employees is likely to not be taken seriously. Visionary Goals The visionary goals are the lofty objectives that the firm’s management decides to pursue. This vision describes some milestone that the firm will reach in the future and may require a decade or more to achieve. In contrast to the core ideology that the firm discovers, visionary goals are selected. These visionary goals are longer term and more challenging than strategic or tactical goals.

There may be only a 50% chance of realizing the vision, but the firm must believe that it can do so. Collins and Porras describe these lofty objectives as “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. ” These goals should be challenging enough so that people nearly gasp when they learn of them and realize the effort that will be required to reach them. Most visionary goals fall into one of the following categories: • Target – quantitative or qualitative goals such as a sales target or Ford’s goal to “democratize the automobile. ” • Common enemy – centered on overtaking a specific firm such as the 1950’s goal of Philip-Morris to displace RJR. • Role model – to become like another firm in a different industry or market.

For example, a cycling accessories firm might strive to become “the Nike of the cycling industry. ” • Internal transformation – especially appropriate for very large corporations. For example, GE set the goal of becoming number one or number two in every market it serves. While visionary goals may require significant stretching to achieve, many visionary companies have succeeded in reaching them. Once such a goal is reached, it needs to be replaced; otherwise, it is unlikely that the organization will continue to be successful. For example, Ford succeeded in placing the automobile within the reach of everyday people, but did not replace this goal with a better one and General Motors overtook Ford in the 1930’s. Competitive Advantage

When a firm sustains profits that exceed the average for its industry, the firm is said to possess a competitive advantage over its rivals. The goal of much of business strategy is to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Michael Porter identified two basic types of competitive advantage: • Cost advantage • Differentiation advantage A competitive advantage exists when the firm is able to deliver the same benefits as competitors but at a lower cost (cost advantage), or deliver benefits that exceed those of competing products (differentiation advantage). Thus, a competitive advantage enables the firm to create superior value for its customers and superior profits for itself.

Cost and differentiation advantages are known as positional advantages since they describe the firm’s position in the industry as a leader in either cost or differentiation. A resource-based view emphasizes that a firm utilizes its resources and capabilities to create a competitive advantage that ultimately results in superior value creation. The following diagram combines the resource-based and positioning views to illustrate the concept of competitive advantage: A Model of Competitive Advantage | |  |  |  |  | |Resources | | | | | | | | | | | |[pic] [pic] | |[pic] | | |Distinctive | |Cost Advantage | |Value | |Competencies | |or | |Creation | | | |Differentiation Advantage | | | |[pic] | | | | | | |  |  |  |  | |Capabilities | | | | | | | | | | | Resources and Capabilities According to the resource-based view, in order to develop a competitive advantage the firm must have resources and capabilities that are superior to those of its competitors. Without this superiority, the competitors simply could replicate what the firm was doing and any advantage quickly would disappear. Resources are the firm-specific assets useful for creating a cost or differentiation advantage and that few competitors can acquire easily. The following are some examples of such resources: • Patents and trademarks • Proprietary know-how • Installed customer base • Reputation of the firm Brand equity Capabilities refer to the firm’s ability to utilize its resources effectively. An example of a capability is the ability to bring a product to market faster than competitors. Such capabilities are embedded in the routines of the organization and are not easily documented as procedures and thus are difficult for competitors to replicate. The firm’s resources and capabilities together form its distinctive competencies. These competencies enable innovation, efficiency, quality, and customer responsiveness, all of which can be leveraged to create a cost advantage or a differentiation advantage. Cost Advantage and Differentiation Advantage

Competitive advantage is created by using resources and capabilities to achieve either a lower cost structure or a differentiated product. A firm positions itself in its industry through its choice of low cost or differentiation. This decision is a central component of the firm’s competitive strategy. Another important decision is how broad or narrow a market segment to target. Porter formed a matrix using cost advantage, differentiation advantage, and a broad or narrow focus to identify a set of generic strategies that the firm can pursue to create and sustain a competitive advantage. Value Creation The firm creates value by performing a series of activities that Porter identified as the value chain.

In addition to the firm’s own value-creating activities, the firm operates in a value system of vertical activities including those of upstream suppliers and downstream channel members. To achieve a competitive advantage, the firm must perform one or more value creating activities in a way that creates more overall value than do competitors. Superior value is created through lower costs or superior benefits to the consumer (differentiation). Core Competencies In their 1990 article entitled, The Core Competence of the Corporation, C. K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel coined the term core competencies, or the collective learning and coordination skills behind the firm’s product lines.

They made the case that core competencies are the source of competitive advantage and enable the firm to introduce an array of new products and services. According to Prahalad and Hamel, core competencies lead to the development of core products. Core products are not directly sold to end users; rather, they are used to build a larger number of end-user products. For example, motors are a core product that can be used in wide array of end products. The business units of the corporation each tap into the relatively few core products to develop a larger number of end user products based on the core product technology. This flow from core competencies to end products is shown in the following diagram: Core Competencies to End Products End Products | | 1  | 4  | 7  |10 | | 2  | 5  | 8  |11 | | 3  | 6  | 9  |12 | | | | | | |Business |Business |Business |Business | |1 |2 |3 |4 | | | | | | |[pic]  |  | [pic] | | |        Core Product  1         | | | | | | |  | |[pic]  |        Core Product  2         | [pic] | | | | | | |  | | |Competence |Competence |Competence |Competence | |1 |2 |3 |4 | | | | | | The intersection of market opportunities with core competencies forms the basis for launching new businesses. By combining a set of core competencies in different ways and matching them to market opportunities, a corporation can launch a vast array of businesses.

Without core competencies, a large corporation is just a collection of discrete businesses. Core competencies serve as the glue that bonds the business units together into a coherent portfolio. Developing Core Competencies According to Prahalad and Hamel, core competencies arise from the integration of multiple technologies and the coordination of diverse production skills. Some examples include Philip’s expertise in optical media and Sony’s ability to miniaturize electronics. There are three tests useful for identifying a core competence. A core competence should: 1. provide access to a wide variety of markets, and 2. contribute significantly to the end-product benefits, and 3. e difficult for competitors to imitate. Core competencies tend to be rooted in the ability to integrate and coordinate various groups in the organization. While a company may be able to hire a team of brilliant scientists in a particular technology, in doing so it does not automatically gain a core competence in that technology. It is the effective coordination among all the groups involved in bringing a product to market that results in a core competence. It is not necessarily an expensive undertaking to develop core competencies. The missing pieces of a core competency often can be acquired at a low cost through alliances and licensing agreements.

In many cases an organizational design that facilitates sharing of competencies can result in much more effective utilization of those competencies for little or no additional cost. To better understand how to develop core competencies, it is worthwhile to understand what they do not entail. According to Prahalad and Hamel, core competencies are not necessarily about: • outspending rivals on R • sharing costs among business units • integrating vertically While the building of core competencies may be facilitated by some of these actions, by themselves they are insufficient. The Loss of Core Competencies Cost-cutting moves sometimes destroy the ability to build core competencies.

For example, decentralization makes it more difficult to build core competencies because autonomous groups rely on outsourcing of critical tasks, and this outsourcing prevents the firm from developing core competencies in those tasks since it no longer consolidates the know-how that is spread throughout the company. Failure to recognize core competencies may lead to decisions that result in their loss. For example, in the 1970’s many U. S. manufacturers divested themselves of their television manufacturing businesses, reasoning that the industry was mature and that high quality, low cost models were available from Far East manufacturers. In the process, they lost their core competence in video, and this loss resulted in a handicap in the newer digital television industry.

Similarly, Motorola divested itself of its semiconductor DRAM business at 256Kb level, and then was unable to enter the 1Mb market on its own. By recognizing its core competencies and understanding the time required to build them or regain them, a company can make better divestment decisions. Core Products Core competencies manifest themselves in core products that serve as a link between the competencies and end products. Core products enable value creation in the end products. Examples of firms and some of their core products include: • 3M – substrates, coatings, and adhesives • Black & Decker – small electric motors • Canon – laser printer subsystems • Matsushita – VCR subsystems, compressors • NEC – semiconductors Honda – gasoline powered engines The core products are used to launch a variety of end products. For example, Honda uses its engines in automobiles, motorcycles, lawn mowers, and portable generators. Because firms may sell their core products to other firms that use them as the basis for end user products, traditional measures of brand market share are insufficient for evaluating the success of core competencies. Prahalad and Hamel suggest that core product share is the appropriate metric. While a company may have a low brand share, it may have high core product share and it is this share that is important from a core competency standpoint.

Once a firm has successful core products, it can expand the number of uses in order to gain a cost advantage via economies of scale and economies of scope. Implications for Corporate Management Prahalad and Hamel suggest that a corporation should be organized into a portfolio of core competencies rather than a portfolio of independent business units. Business unit managers tend to focus on getting immediate end-products to market rapidly and usually do not feel responsible for developing company-wide core competencies. Consequently, without the incentive and direction from corporate management to do otherwise, strategic business units are inclined to underinvest in the building of core competencies.

If a business unit does manage to develop its own core competencies over time, due to its autonomy it may not share them with other business units. As a solution to this problem, Prahalad and Hamel suggest that corporate managers should have the ability to allocate not only cash but also core competencies among business units. Business units that lose key employees for the sake of a corporate core competency should be recognized for their contribution. Corporate Strategy: [pic] [pic] Types of Corporate Strategy: [pic] [pic] Strategic Management Concepts Although the term “strategic management” is bantered around a lot in the businesses world, it is not understood very well by most people.

Essentially strategic management answers the questions of “where do you want your business to go” (goals), “how is your business going to get there” (strategy) and “how will you know when you get there” (evaluation). A strategic management analogy is taking a trip during your vacation. First you decide where you want to go – the natural beauty of Yellowstone or the bright lights of Las Vegas. Then you develop a strategy of how to get there – take an airplane (which flights), drive your car (which highways), etc. This will be influenced by the amount of money, time and Other resources you have available. Then you monitor your trip to see if your strategy takes you to your destination and how your strategy worked (missed Flights, poor road conditions, etc. ).

Below are concepts to help expand your understand of strategic management for a business. These will help sharpen your focus for using Strategic Management for a Value-added Farm Business. 1) Strategic management involves deciding what is important for the long-range success of your business and focusing on it. 2) Strategic management asks, “How should I position my business to meet management and business goals? ” 3) A business strategy is a series of business decisions that lead to achieving a business goal. 4) Strategic management involves the “big picture” of your business. 5) Strategic management involves planning, analyzing and implementing a business strategy. ) Strategic management is most effective if you can step back far enough and say “all things are possible. ” 7) The essence of strategic management is matching business resources to market opportunities. 8) Strategic management involves seeking and identifying opportunities and threats in the market and industry and the outside world in general. 9) Strategic management is based on the premise that “all businesses are not the same. ” 10) Strategic management involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your business. 11) When assessing strengths and weaknesses, personal skills and abilities are likely to be more important than business assets. 12) Strategic management involves looking into the future rather than dwelling on the past. 3) Strategic management is proactive rather than reactive. 14) Strategic management involves anticipating change and taking advantage of it. 15) Strategic thinking involves assessing how decisions made today will affect my business in the future. 16) Strategic management is more of a state-of mind than a rigid process. 17) A military connotation of strategic management is “it hasn’t won every war, but it has avoided a lot of ambushes. ” 18) Strategic management is most useful for businesses with unique or differentiated products for niche, specialty or differentiated product Markets. 19) Strategic planning comes before business planning. Strategic planning is sed to identify and assess alternative business strategies. Business planning is used to implement a business strategy. 20) Strategic planning is more words and less numbers than business planning. 21) A strategic plan is a “living” document that changes as your goals and resources evolve. Strategic management [pic] [pic] Global Strategic Management During the last half of the twentieth century, many barriers to international trade fell and a wave of firms began pursuing global strategies to gain a competitive advantage. However, some industries benefit more from globalization than do others, and some nations have a comparative advantage over other nations in certain industries.

To create a successful global strategy, managers first must understand the nature of global industries and the dynamics of global competition. Sources of Competitive Advantage from a Global Strategy A well-designed global strategy can help a firm to gain a competitive advantage. This advantage can arise from the following sources: • Efficiency o Economies of scale from access to more customers and markets o Exploit another country’s resources – labor, raw materials o Extend the product life cycle – older products can be sold in lesser developed countries o Operational flexibility – shift production as costs, exchange rates, etc. change over time • Strategic First mover advantage and only provider of a product to a market o Cross subsidization between countries o Transfer price • Risk o Diversify macroeconomic risks (business cycles not perfectly correlated among countries) o Diversify operational risks (labor problems, earthquakes, wars) • Learning o Broaden learning opportunities due to diversity of operating environments • Reputation o Crossover customers between markets – reputation and brand identification Sumantra Ghoshal of INSEAD proposed a framework comprising three categories of strategic objectives and three sources of advantage that can be used to achieve them. Assembling these into a matrix results in the following framework: Strategic Objectives |Sources of Competitive Advantage | | |National Differences |Scale Economies |Scope Economies | |Efficiency in Operations |Exploit factor cost differences |Scale in each activity |Sharing investments and costs | |Flexibility |Market or policy-induced changes |Balancing scale with strategic & |Portfolio diversification | | | |operational risks | | |Innovation and Learning |Societal differences in management and |Experience – cost reduction and |Shared learning across | | |organization |innovation |activities |

The Nature of Competitive Advantage in Global Industries A global industry can be defined as: • An industry in which firms must compete in all world markets of that product in order to survive. • An industry in which a firm’s competitive advantage depends on economies of scale and economies of scope gained across markets. Some industries are more suited for globalization than are others. The following drivers determine an industry’s globalization potential. 1. Cost Drivers o Location of strategic resources o Differences in country costs o Potential for economies of scale (production, R, etc. ) Flat experience curves in an industry inhibits globalization.

One reason that the facsimile industry had more global potential than the furniture industry is that for fax machines, the production costs drop 30%-40% with each doubling of volume; the curve is much flatter for the furniture industry and many service industries. Industries for which the larger expenses are in R, such as the aircraft industry, exhibit more economies of scale than those industries for which the larger expenses are rent and labor, such as the dry cleaning industry. Industries in which costs drop by at least 20% for each doubling of volume tend to be good candidates for globalization. o Transportation costs (value/bulk or value/weight ratio) =; Diamonds and semiconductors are more global than ice. 2. Customer Drivers o Common customer needs favor globalization.

For example, the facsimile industry’s customers have more homogeneous needs than those of the furniture industry, whose needs are defined by local tastes, culture, etc. o Global customers: if a firm’s customers are other global businesses, globalization may be required to reach these customers in all their markets. Furthermore, global customers often require globally standardized products. o Global channels require a globally coordinated marketing program. Strong established local distribution channels inhibits globalization. o Transferable marketing: whether marketing elements such as brand names and advertising require little local adaptation. World brands with non-dictionary names may be developed in order to benefit from a single global advertising campaign. 3. Competitive Drivers Global competitors: The existence of many global competitors indicates that an industry is ripe for globalization. Global competitors will have a cost advantage over local competitors. o When competitors begin leveraging their global positions through cross-subsidization, an industry is ripe for globalization. 4. Government Drivers o Trade policies o Technical standards o Regulations The furniture industry is an example of an industry that did not lend itself to globalization before the 1960’s. Because furniture has a high bulk compared to its value, and because furniture is easily damaged in shipping, transport costs traditionally were high. Government trade barriers also were unfavorable.

The Swedish furniture company IKEA pioneered a move towards globalization in the furniture industry. IKEA’s furniture was unassembled and therefore could be shipped more economically. IKEA also lowered costs by involving the customer in the value chain; the customer carried the furniture home and assembled it himself. IKEA also had a frugal culture that gave it cost advantages. IKEA successfully expanded in Europe since customers in different countries were willing to purchase similar designs. However, after successfully expanding to several countries, IKEA ran into difficulties in the U. S. market for several reasons: • Different tastes in furniture and a requirement for more customized furniture. Difficult to transfer IKEA’s frugal culture to the U. S. • The Swedish Krona increased in value, increasing the cost of furniture made in Sweden and sold in the U. S. • Stock-outs due to the one to two month shipping time from Europe • More competition in the U. S. than in Europe Country Comparative Advantages Competitive advantage is a firm’s ability to transform inputs into goods and services at a maximum profit on a sustained basis, better than competitors. Comparative advantage resides in the factor endowments and created endowments of particular regions. Factor endowments include land, natural resources, labor, and the size of the local population.

In the 1920’s, Swedish economists Eli Hecksher and Bertil Ohlin developed the factor-proportions theory, according to which a country enjoys a comparative advantage in those goods that make intensive use of factors that the country has in relative abundance. Michael E. Porter argued that a nation can create its own endowments to gain a comparative advantage. Created endowments include skilled labor, the technology and knowledge base, government support, and culture. Porter’s Diamond of National Advantage is a framework that illustrates the determinants of national advantage. This diamond represents the national playing field that countries establish for their industries. Types of International Strategy: Multi-domestic vs. Global Multi-domestic Strategy • Product customized for each market • Decentralized control – local decision making Effective when large differences exist between countries • Advantages: product differentiation, local responsiveness, minimized political risk, minimized exchange rate risk Global Strategy • Product is the same in all countries. • Centralized control – little decision-making authority on the local level • Effective when differences between countries are small • Advantages: cost, coordinated activities, faster product development A fully multi-local value chain will have every function from R to distribution and service performed entirely at the local level in each country. At the other extreme, a fully global value chain will source each activity in a different country. Philips is a good example of a company that followed a multidomestic strategy.

This strategy resulted in: • Innovation from local R • Entrepreneurial spirit • Products tailored to individual countries • High quality due to backward integration The multi-domestic strategy also presented Philips with many challenges: • High costs due to tailored products and duplication across countries • The innovation from the local R groups resulted in products that were R driven instead of market driven. • Decentralized control meant that national buy-in was required before introducing a product – time to market was slow. Matsushita is a good example of a company that followed a global strategy. This strategy resulted in: • Strong global distribution network Company-wide mission statement that was followed closely • Financial control • More applied R • Ability to get to market quickly and force standards since individual country buy-in was not necessary. The global strategy presented Matsushita with the following challenges: • Problem of strong yen • Too much dependency on one product – the VCR • Loss of non-Asian employees because of glass ceilings A third strategy, which was appropriate to Whirlpool is one of mass customization, discussed below. Global Cost Structure Analysis In 1986, Whirlpool Corporation was considering expanding into Europe by acquiring Philips’ Major Domestic Appliance Division.

From the framework of customers, costs, competitors, and government, there were several pros and cons to this proposed strategy. Pros • Internal components of the appliances could be the same, offering economies of scale. • The cost to customize the outer structure of the appliances was relatively low. • The appliance industry was mature with low growth. The acquisition would offer an avenue to continue growing. Cons • Fragmented distribution network in Europe. • Different consumer needs and preferences. For example, in Europe refrigerators tend to be smaller than in the U. S. , have only one outside door, and have standard sizes so they can be built into the kitchen cabinet.

In Japan, refrigerators tend to have several doors in order to keep different compartments at different temperatures and to isolate odors. Also, because houses are smaller in Japan, consumers desire quieter appliances. • Whirlpool already was the dominant player in a fragmented industry. Since Philip’s had a relatively small market share in the European appliance market, one must analyze the cost structure to determine if the acquisition would offer Whirlpool a competitive advantage. With the acquisition, Whirlpool would be able to cut costs on raw materials, depreciation and maintenance, R, and general and administrative costs. These costs represented 53% of Whirlpool’s cost structure.

Compared to most other industries, this percentage of costs that could benefit from economies of scale is quite large. It would be reasonable to expect a 10% reduction in these costs, an amount that would decrease overall cost by 5. 3%, doubling profits. Such potential justifies the risk of increasing the complexity of the organization. Because of the different preferences of consumers in different markets, a purely global strategy with standard products was not appropriate. Whirlpool would have to adapt its products to local markets, but maintain some global integration in order to realize cost benefits. This strategy is known as “mass customization. Whirlpool acquired Philips’ Major Domestic Appliance Division, 47% in 1989 and the remainder in 1991. Initially, margins doubled as predicted. However, local competitors responded by better tailoring their products and cutting costs; Whirlpool’s profits then began to decline. Whirlpool applied the same strategy to Asia, but GE was outperforming Whirlpool there by tailoring its products as part of its multi-domestic strategy. Globalizing Service Businesses Service industries tend to have a flat experience curve and lower economies of scale. However, some economy of scale may be gained through knowledge sharing, which enables the cost of developing the knowledge over a larger base.

Also, in some industries such as professional services, capacity utilization can better be managed as the scope of operations increases. On the customer side, because a service firm’s customers may themselves be operating internationally, global expansion may be a necessity. Knowledge gained in foreign markets can used to better service customers. Finally, being global also enhances a firm’s reputation, which is critical in service businesses. High quality service products often depend on the service firm’s culture, and maintaining a consistent culture when expanding globally is a challenge. A good example of a service firm that experienced global expansion challenges is the management consulting firm Bain & Company, Inc.

In consulting, a firm’s most important strategic asset is its reputation, so a consistent firm culture is very important. Bain faced the following challenges, which depend on the firm’s strategy and which affect the ability to maintain a consistent culture: • Coordinating across offices and sharing knowledge • Whether to hire locals or international staff • How to compensate Modes of Foreign Market Entry An important part of a global strategy is the method that the firm will use to enter the foreign market. There are four possible modes of foreign market entry: • Exporting • Licensing (includes franchising) • Joint Venture • Foreign Direct Investment

These options vary in their degree of speed, control, and risk, as well as the required level of investment and market knowledge. The entry mode selection can have a significant impact on the firm’s foreign market success. Issues in Emerging Economies In emerging economies, capital markets are relatively inefficient. There is a lack of information, the cost of capital is high, and venture capital is virtually nonexistent. Because of the scarcity of high-quality educational institutions, the labor markets lack well trained people and companies often must fill the void. Because of lacking communications infrastructure, building a brand name is difficult but good brands are highly valued because of lower product quality of the alternatives.

Relationships with government officials often are necessary to succeed, and contracts may not be well enforced by the legal system. When a large government monopoly (e. g. a state-owned oil company) is privatized, there often is political pressure in the country against allowing the firm to be acquired by a foreign entity. Whereas a very large U. S. oil company may prefer acquisitions, because of the anti-foreign sentiment joint ventures often are more appropriate for outside companies interested in newly privatized emerging economy firms. Knowledge Management in Global Firms There is much value in transferring knowledge and best practices between parts of a global firm.

However, many barriers prevent knowledge from being transferred: • Barriers attributable to the knowledge source o lack of motivation o lack of credibility • Barriers attributable to the knowledge itself – ambiguity and complexity • Barriers attributable to the knowledge recipient o lack of motivation (not invented here syndrome) o lack of absorptive capacity – need prerequisite knowledge to advance to next level • Barriers attributable to the recipient’s existing process – process rigidity • Barriers attributable to the recipient’s external environment and constraints Furthermore, even when the transfer is successful, there often is a temporary drop in performance before the improvements are seen.

During this period, there is danger of losing faith in the new way of doing things. To facilitate knowledge transfer a firm can: • Implement processes to systematically identify valuable knowledge and best practices. • Create incentives to motivate both the knowledge source and recipient. • Develop absorptive capacity in the recipient – cumulative knowledge • Develop strong technical and social networks between parts of the firm that can share knowledge. Country Management Country managers must have the following knowledge: • Knowledge of strategic management • Firm-specific knowledge • Country-specific knowledge • Knowledge of the global environment

Country organizations can assume the role of implementor, contributor, strategic leader, or black hole, depending on the combination of importance of the local market and local resources. |Strategic Importance |Level of Local Resources & Capabilities | |of Local Market | | | |Low |High | |Low |Implementor |Contributor | |High |Black Hole |Strategic Leader | The least favorable of these roles is the black hole, which is a subsidiary in a strategically important market that has few capabilities.

A firm can find itself in this situation because of company traditions, ignorance of local conditions, unfavorable entry conditions, misreading the market, excessive reliance on expatriates, and poor external relations. To get out of a black hole a firm can form alliances, focus its investments, implement a local R&D organization, or when all else fails, exit the country. Country managers assume different roles (The New Country Managers, John A. Quelch, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School). • International Structure: Country manager is a trader who implements policy. • Multinational Structure: Country manager plays the role of a functional manager with profit and loss responsibilities. •

Transnational Structure: Country manager acts as a cabinet member (team player) since management control systems are standardized and decision-making power is shifted to the region manager. The country manager develops the lead market in his country and transfers the knowledge gained to other similar markets. • Global Structure: Country manager acts as an ambassador and administrator. In a global firm there usually are business directors who oversee marketing and sales. The role of the country manager becomes one of a statesman. This person usually is a local with good government contacts. Hierarchical Levels of Strategy Strategy can be formulated on three different levels: • corporate level • business unit level functional or departmental level. While strategy may be about competing and surviving as a firm, one can argue that products, not corporations compete, and products are developed by business units. The role of the corporation then is to manage its business units and products so that each is competitive and so that each contributes to corporate purposes. Consider Textron, Inc. , a successful conglomerate corporation that pursues profits through a range of businesses in unrelated industries. Textron has four core business segments: • Aircraft – 32% of revenues • Automotive – 25% of revenues • Industrial – 39% of revenues • Finance – 4% of revenues.

While the corporation must manage its portfolio of businesses to grow and survive, the success of a diversified firm depends upon its ability to manage each of its product lines. While there is no single competitor to Textron, we can talk about the competitors and strategy of each of its business units. In the finance business segment, for example, the chief rivals are major banks providing commercial financing. Many managers consider the business level to be the proper focus for strategic planning. Corporate Level Strategy Corporate level strategy fundamentally is concerned with the selection of businesses in which the company should compete and with the development and coordination of that portfolio of businesses. Corporate level strategy is concerned with: Reach – defining the issues that are corporate responsibilities; these might include identifying the overall goals of the corporation, the types of businesses in which the corporation should be involved, and the way in which businesses will be integrated and managed. • Competitive Contact – defining where in the corporation competition is to be localized. Take the case of insurance: In the mid-1990’s, Aetna as a corporation was clearly identified with its commercial and property casualty insurance products. The conglomerate Textron was not. For Textron, competition in the insurance markets took place specifically at the business unit level, through its subsidiary, Paul Revere. (Textron divested itself of The Paul Revere Corporation in 1997. • Managing Activities and Business Interrelationships  –  Corporate strategy seeks to develop synergies by sharing and coordinating staff and other resources across business units, investing financial resources across business units, and using business units to complement other corporate business activities. Igor Ansoff introduced the concept of synergy to corporate strategy. • Management Practices – Corporations decide how business units are to be governed: through direct corporate intervention (centralization) or through more or less autonomous government (decentralization) that relies on persuasion and rewards. Corporations are responsible for creating value through their businesses. They do so by managing their portfolio of businesses, ensuring that the businesses are successful over the long-term, developing business units, and sometimes ensuring that each business is compatible with others in the portfolio. Business Unit Level Strategy

A strategic business unit may be a division, product line, or other profit center that can be planned independently from the other business units of the firm. At the business unit level, the strategic issues are less about the coordination of operating units and more about developing and sustaining a competitive advantage for the goods and services that are produced. At the business level, the strategy formulation phase deals with: • positioning the business against rivals • anticipating changes in demand and technologies and adjusting the strategy to accommodate them • influencing the nature of competition through strategic actions such as vertical integration and through political actions such as lobbying.

Michael Porter identified three generic strategies (cost leadership, differentiation, and focus) that can be implemented at the business unit level to create a competitive advantage and defend against the adverse effects of the five forces. Functional Level Strategy The functional level of the organization is the level of the operating divisions and departments. The strategic issues at the functional level are related to business processes and the value chain. Functional level strategies in marketing, finance, operations, human resources, and R involve the development and coordination of resources through which business unit level strategies can be executed efficiently and effectively.

Functional units of an organization are involved in higher level strategies by providing input into the business unit level and corporate level strategy, such as providing information on resources and capabilities on which the higher level strategies can be based. Once the higher-level strategy is developed, the functional units translate it into discrete action-plans that each department or division must accomplish for the strategy to succeed. Horizontal Integration The acquisition of additional business activities at the same level of the value chain is referred to as horizontal integration. This form of expansion contrasts with vertical integration by which the firm expands into upstream or downstream activities. Horizontal growth can be achieved by internal expansion or by external expansion through mergers and acquisitions of firms offering similar products and services.

A firm may diversify by growing horizontally into unrelated businesses. Some examples of horizontal integration include: • The Standard Oil Company’s acquisition of 40 refineries. • An automobile manufacturer’s acquisition of a sport utility vehicle manufacturer. • A media company’s ownership of radio, television, newspapers, books, and magazines. Advantages of Horizontal Integration The following are some benefits sought by firms that horizontally integrate: • Economies of scale – acheived by selling more of the same product, for example, by geographic expansion. • Economies of scope – achieved by sharing resources common to different products.

Commonly referred to as “synergies. ” • Increased market power (over suppliers and downstream channel members) • Reduction in the cost of international trade by operating factories in foreign markets. Sometimes benefits can be gained through customer perceptions of linkages between products. For example, in some cases synergy can be achieved by using the same brand name to promote multiple products. However, such extensions can have drawbacks, as pointed out by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their marketing classic, Positioning. Pitfalls of Horizontal Integration Horizontal integration by acquisition of a competitor will increase a firm’s market share.

However, if the industry concentration increases significantly then anti-trust issues may arise. Aside from legal issues, another concern is whether the anticipated economic gains will materialize. Before expanding the scope of the firm through horizontal integration, management should be sure that the imagined benefits are real. Many blunders have been made by firms that broadened their horizontal scope to achieve synergies that did not exist, for example, computer hardware manufacturers who entered the software business on the premise that there were synergies between hardware and software. However, a connection between two products does not necessarily imply realizable economies of scope.

Finally, even when the potential benefits of horizontal integration exist, they do not materialize spontaneously. There must be an explicit horizontal strategy in place. Such strategies generally do not arise from the bottom-up, but rather, must be formulated by corporate management. PEST Analysis A scan of the external macro-environment in which the firm operates can be expressed in terms of the following factors: • Political • Economic • Social • Technological The acronym PEST (or sometimes rearranged as “STEP”) is used to describe a framework for the analysis of these macro environmental factors. A PEST analysis fits into an overall environmental scan as shown in the following diagram:     Environmental Scan | | | |          / | |   | | | |External Analysis | |    Internal Analysis     | | | |/                        | |  | | | |Macro environment  | |Microenvironment  | |  | | | | | || | |  P. E. S. T. |  | |  | |  | | | Political Factors Political factors include government regulations and legal issues and define both formal and informal rules under which the firm must operate. Some examples include: • tax policy • employment laws • environmental regulations • trade restrictions and tariffs • political stability Economic Factors Economic factors affect the purchasing power of potential customers and the firm’s cost of capital.

The following are examples of factors in the macroeconomy: • economic growth • interest rates • exchange rates • inflation rate Social Factors Social factors include the demographic and cultural aspects of the external macro environment. These factors affect customer needs and the size of potential markets. Some social factors include: • health consciousness • population growth rate • age distribution • career attitudes • emphasis on safety Technological Factors Technological factors can lower barriers to entry, reduce minimum efficient production levels, and influence outsourcing decisions. Some technological factors include: • R&D activity • automation • technology incentives rate of technological change Porter’s Five Forces A MODEL FOR INDUSTRY ANALYSIS The model of pure competition implies that risk-adjusted rates of return should be constant across firms and industries. However, numerous economic studies have affirmed that different industries can sustain different levels of profitability; part of this difference is explained by industry structure. Michael Porter provided a framework that models an industry as being influenced by five forces. The strategic business manager seeking to develop an edge over rival firms can use this model to better understand the industry context in which the firm operates. Diagram of Porter’s 5 Forces   |SUPPLIER POWER |  | | |Supplier concentration | | | |Importance of volume to supplier | | | |Differentiation of inputs | | | |Impact of inputs on cost or differentiation | | | |Switching costs of firms in the industry | | |Presence of substitute inputs | | | |Threat of forward integration | | | |Cost r