Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Level of strategies
Strategy
A strategy of a corporation forms a
comprehensive master plan that states how
the corporation will achieve its mission and
objectives. It maximizes competitive
advantage and minimizes competitive
disadvantage
Strategy
Mintzberg (1987) defines strategy in terms of 5Ps. These 5Ps are:
1P Perspective: is the main business concept or idea and the means by
which that concept or idea is put into practice or implemented.
2P Plan: is a direction, a guide or a course of action from the present (or
from the past) and into the future. However that future is defined by
whatever the time horizons associated with it.
3P Patterns: are the consistency of firm decision making.
P Position or positioning: where the firm locates itself within its 4
external and competitive environments; and by which it positions
particular products or services against the demands of the market
.segments it serves
P Ploys: are the competition strategies designed to maintain, reinforce, 5
achieve or improve the relative competitive position of the organization
.)2007within its sector and markets (Morden,
3
Strategy hierarchy
1. Corporate strategy: 1) growth strategy, 2)
stability strategy, 3) retrenchment strategy.
2. Business unit strategy: 1) cost leadership, 2)
differentiation, 3) focus, 4) mixed.
3. Functional strategy.
Types of Strategies
A Large
Company
Corp
Level
Division Level
Functional Level
Operational Level
5Ch 5 -
Types of Strategies
company
A small
Company
Functional
Level
Operational Level
6Ch 5 -
Corporate Strategy
The first level of strategy (corporate strategy) is related to determining the
corporate strategy. It is fundamentally and simply concerned with deciding
what type of business the organization should be in and how the overall
group of activities should be formed and managed .Corporate strategy
deals with issues of strategic management at the level of the firm as a
whole. Such issues involve the basic character, capability and competence
of the firm; the direction in which it should develop its activity; the nature
of its internal architecture; governors and structure; the nature of its
relationships with its sector, its competitors and the wider environment.
Corporate strategies usually fit within the three main categories of
stability, growth and retrenchment
7Ch 5 -
Business Strategy
business strategy refers to the actions and
approaches crafted by management to create
successful performance in one particular line
of business. It is also concerned with creating
competitive advantage in each of the strategic
.business units of the organization
Functional or departmental
strategy
Functional or departmental strategy concerns
the managerial game plan for running a major
functional activity or process within a business
such as research and development unit,
marketing unit, financial unit, production unit,
H R development unit and so on. A business
requires as many functional strategies as it has
strategically critical activities.
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Corporate strategies
Top level management formulate for overall
organization
The question at the corporate level we should
answer when design strategies: In what
industry should we be operating?
It depends on the outcome of SWOT analysis.
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Growth strategies
Growth strategies:
They result increase in sales, market share and profit: the types:
Internal growth: Increase internal capacity of organization
without acquiring other firms.
Conglomerate Diversification: Acquiring unrelated business.
Merger: Two roughly similar size firms combine into one. To
benefit of synergy.
Strategic alliance: Temporary partnerships
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Corporate Restructuring
The change in a broad set of actions and decisions, e.g.,
changing relationships and organization of work.
The aim of restructuring is to improve effectiveness.
Restructuring could be growth, stability or retrenchment.
This depends on why we use it.
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Retrenchment strategies
Types:
1- Turnaround:
Eliminating unprofitable outputs,
pruning/cutting assets, reducing size of work
force, rethinking firms products lines and
customer groups.
2- Divestment: sell one of business units
3- Liquidation: last resort strategy
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Strategies in Action
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Forward integration
Backward integration
Horizontal integration
Strategies in Action
Forward
Integration
Defined
Gaining
ownership or
increased control
over distributors
or retailers
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Example
General Motors is
acquiring 10% of its
dealers.
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Forward Integration
16
Strategies in Action
Backward
Integration
Defined
Example
Seeking
ownership or
increased control
of a firms
suppliers
17
Motel 8 acquired a
furniture
manufacturer.
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Backward Integration
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Strategies in Action
Horizontal
Integration
Defined
Example
Seeking
ownership or
increased control
over competitors
19
Palestinian Islamic
Bank acquired CairoAmman Bank Islamic
transaction branch.
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Horizontal Integration
Firm can gain monopolistic characteristics without being
challenged by federal government
Competes in growing industry
Increased economies of scale provide major competitive
advantages
Faltering/losing due to lack of managerial expertise or need for
particular resources
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Strategies in Action
Intensive Strategies
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Market penetration
Market development
Product development
Strategies in Action
Market
Penetration
Defined
Seeking increased
market share for
present products
or services in
present markets
through greater
marketing efforts
22
Example
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Market Penetration
Current markets not saturated
Usage rate of present customers can be increased significantly
Market shares of competitors declining while total industry
sales increasing
Increased economies of scale provide major competitive
advantages
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Strategies in Action
Market
Development
Defined
Example
24
Introducing
present products
or services into
new geographic
area
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Market Development
25
Strategies in Action
Product
Development
Example
Defined
Seeking increased
sales by improving
present products
or services or
developing new
ones
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Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Product Development
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Strategies in Action
Diversification Strategies
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Concentric diversification
Conglomerate diversification
Horizontal diversification
Strategies in Action
Concentric
Diversification
Example
Defined
29
National Westminister
Bank PLC in Britain
bought the leading
British insurance
company, Legal &
General Group PLC.
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Concentric Diversification
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Strategies in Action
Conglomerate
Diversification
Example
Defined
Adding new,
unrelated products
or services
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Consultant
Construction
Engineering acquired
Bisects factory.
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Conglomerate Diversification
Declining annual sales and profits
Capital and managerial talent to compete successfully in a new
industry
Financial synergy between the acquired and acquiring firms
Exiting markets for present products are saturated
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Strategies in Action
Horizontal
Diversification
Defined
Adding new,
unrelated products
or services for
present customers
33
Example
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Horizontal Diversification
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Strategies in Action
Defensive Strategies
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Joint venture
Retrenchment
Divestiture
Liquidation
Strategies in Action
Joint Venture
Defined
Example
Two or more
sponsoring firms
forming a separate
organization for
cooperative
purposes
36
Lucent Technologies
and Philips Electronic
NV formed Philips
Consumer
Communications to
make and sell
telephones.
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Joint Venture
37
Strategies in Action
Retrenchment
(turnaround)
Defined
Regrouping through
cost and asset
reduction to reverse
declining sales and
profit. Sometimes it is
called turnaround or
reorganizational
strategy.
38
Example
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Retrenchment
39
Firm has failed to meet its objectives and goals consistently over
time but has distinctive competencies
Firm is one of the weaker competitors
Inefficiency, low profitability, poor employee morale, and
pressure from stockholders to improve performance.
When an organizations strategic managers have failed
Very quick growth to large organization where a major internal
reorganization is needed.
Strategies in Action
Divestiture
Defined
Example
Selling a division
or part of an
organization
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Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Divestiture
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Strategies in Action
Liquidation
Defined
Selling all of a
companys assets,
in parts, for their
tangible worth
42
Example
Strategies in Action
Guidelines for Liquidation
When both retrenchment and divestiture have been pursued
unsuccessfully
If the only alternative is bankruptcy, liquidation is an orderly
alternative
When stockholders can minimize their losses by selling the
firms assets
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Differentiation Strategies
Focus Strategies
(Low-Cost Focus &
Best-Value Focus)
44Ch 5 -
45
Business Strategy
466-
Differentiation strategy
476-
486-
496-
50Ch 5 -
516-
52Ch 5 -
Cost leadership
Striving to be the low-cost producer in an industry
can be especially effective when the market is
composed of many price-sensitive buyers, when
there are few ways to achieve product
differentiation, when buyers do not care much about
differences from brand to brand, or when there are a
large number of buyers with significant bargaining
power.
53Ch 5 -
Cost leadership
The basic idea behind a cost leadership strategy is to
underprice competitors or offer a better value and
thereby gain market share and sales, driving some
competitors out of the market entirely.
5. To successfully employ a cost leadership strategy,
firms must ensure that total costs across the value chain
are lower than that of the competition. This can be
accomplished by:
Differentiation
Broad mass market
Unique product/service
Premiums charged
Less price sensitivity
556-
Differentiation
56Ch 5 -
Differentiation
57Ch 5 -
Differentiation
58Ch 5 -
Focus
1. Focus means producing products and services that fulfill
the needs of small groups of consumers.
2. There are two types of focus strategies.
a. A low-cost focus strategy offers products or services to a
small range (niche) of customers at the lowest price available
on the market.
b. A best-value focus strategy offers products to a small range
of customers at the best price-value available on the market.
This is sometimes called focused differentiation.
59Ch 5 -
Focus
Focus strategies are most effective when the
niche is profitable and growing, when industry
leaders are uninterested in the niche, when industry
leaders feel pursuing the niche is too costly or
difficult, when the industry offers several niches, and
when there is little competition in the niche
segment.
60Ch 5 -
Cost-Focus
Low-cost competitive strategy
Focus on market segment
Niche focused
Cost advantage in market segment
616-
Differentiation Focus
Specific group or geographic market
focus
Differentiation in target market
Special needs of narrow target market
626-
636-
Risks of Cost
Risks of Cost
Leadership
Leadership
Cost
leadership
is not
Cost
leadership
is not
sustained:
sustained:
Competitors
Competitorsimitate.
imitate.
Technology
Technologychanges.
changes.
Other
bases
Other bases for
for cost
cost
leadership
erode.
leadership
erode.
Proximity in Proximity in
differentiation
is lost.
differentiation
is lost.
Cost
focusers
achieve
Cost focusers achieve
even lower
cost incost in
even lower
segments.
segments.
646-
Risks
RisksofofDifferentiation
Differentiation
Differentiation
is not
Differentiation is not
sustained:
sustained:
Competitorsimitate.
imitate.
Competitors
Bases
forfor
differentiation
Bases
differentiation
Risks of Focus
Risks
Focus
The of
focus
strategy is
The focus strategy
is
imitated:
imitated:
The target segment
Thebecomes
target segment
structurally
becomes structurally
unattractive:
unattractive:
Structure erodes.
Structure
erodes.
Demand disappears.
Demand
disappears.
Broadly
targeted
Broadly
targeted
competitors
overwhelm
competitors
overwhelm
the segment:
the segment:
The segments
differences
The segments
from other
differences
from
other
segments
narrow.
narrow.
segments
The advantages
of a
The
advantages
of a
broad
line increase.
broad line
increase.
New focusers
subsegment
New focusers
thesubsegment
industry.
the industry.
Level of Strategy
Functional/operational Strategies:
Concern with org. internal resources and
processes which effectively deliver the
corporate and business strategic direction.
Functional strategies are interrelated.
Functional strategies e.g.: purchasing &
materials management, production, finance,
R&D, HR, IT, and marketing.
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66
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The most important factors can be brought out by going through each functional
area. For example, under marketing, a strong market research group may be able
to identify the kinds of niches available to the products or services under
consideration.
In terms of finance, the production of a large number of low-priced products
suggests a large capital intensive manufacturing facility.
To produce a few high quality goods with a small amount of capital because the
needed manufacturing facilities may be small, utilizing craft labor. R&D may be an
important consideration also.
In order to produce high-quality products, a fairly sophisticated applied R&D effort
may be needed. An expensive engineering staff may be needed,
In terms of human resource management, a fairly unskilled and low paid
workforce cannot normally be expected to produce a high quality product on old
assembly line machinery. Either the workforce would need to be replaced or an
extensive job training and job enrichment program would need to be established.
Either approach costs both time and money.
Prof. Dr. Majed El-Farra 2009