Mr. Reyes

Strategic Management

Zeivier Reyes

University of Phoenix

MGT 578

Dr. Stuart Gold

May 17, 2007

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning plays a big role in today's market. What this mean is the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organization's goals and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities. It involves defining a clear company mission, setting supporting objectives, designing a sound business portfolio, and coordinating functional strategies (Armstrong, Gary, Kotler, Philip, 2003).

Lessons learned

Environmental Scanning

Identifying the factors that characterize a company's strategic situation is the basis for the strategy process. These factors can be classified as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Analyzing these factors using various tools enables a manager to formulate strategies more effectively (University of Phoenix, 2007).

In this simulation, one determines a long-term objective for a bicycle manufacturing company on the basis of internal and external information. Using the long-term objective as a framework, one isolates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company. Then one performs strategic analysis using a tool known as the Matched Pair Analysis to identify strategies that enables a company achieve its long-term objective.

According to the University of Phoenix Week Three overview (2007), SWOT is one outcome of doing an environmental assessment. It thus becomes a central tool a manager should use when developing plans for the future. A company that is aware of its weaknesses and threats can either hire people who are better in those areas and train its staff to overcome the weaknesses or bring in the new equipment that is needed to do the job. If a company doesn't know what the threats are, it will not know how to defend or conquer them.

Strategy Formulation & Choice

A Grand Strategy can be defined as a comprehensive general approach that guides a company's key actions. The Grand Strategy Clusters matrix is a 2 X 2 cluster of 15 Grand Strategies based on the growth rate of the general market and the company's competitive situation in that market (University of Phoenix, 2007). In this simulation, one analyzes the strategic situation of a toy manufacturing company and identifies the correct position of the company in the Grand Strategy Clusters matrix. One guides a company's strategic choices through three phases in the company's growth path. Each of these phases situates the company in different quadrants of the Grand Strategy Clusters matrix, and therefore requires different strategic responses.

In addition, one is introduced to the concept of core competencies (strengths), which are those capabilities that are critical to a business achieving competitive advantage. Core competencies are not fixed, but should be modified in response to changes in the company's environment. They are flexible and evolve over time. A firm's core competencies consist of all the resources necessary to develop and implement a successful and appropriate strategy at all level maintaining all functions. These resources include human (our employees), financial, external and internal resources such as equipment necessary to function, marketing, advertising, and global resources such as suppliers or information available to everyone online in today's business world (Pearce & Robinson, 2005).

Devising Strategies in response to the dynamic internal and external conditions of a business is a systematic process. Strategy is creating and sustaining competitive advantage. Simple enough, but a definition that many businesses fail to comprehend (University of Phoenix, 2007). The best of companies suffer setbacks due to their inability to devise strategies that build on their strengths, offsets weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities, or counter threats.

The better planners consider all the constants and variables and make the best of the situation at hand. It is a fine balancing act, requiring tremendous judgment, and clarity of thought (University of Phoenix, 2007).

Formulation of Action Plans & Goals

Creating a successful and powerful strategic road map that will lead an organization to its desired milestones is a process that combines insight with analysis, perception, and vision. A good strategy will take a company to its modest short-term goals, while a brilliant one would set the organization on a course designed to capture the future (University of Phoenix, 2007). This simulation allows one to set the strategy for a growing construction firm, aiming to be a global leader in its industry. Based on this long-term objective, one defines the strategies and the corresponding goals that would enable the firm to achieve leadership status.

In the University of Phoenix simulation (2007), I went through a process of building a strategic roadmap that led a company successfully to global leadership. The first step in building a roadmap is to have a clear long-term objective. Based on one's long-term objective, one is to decide one's strategic alternative. One utilizes the SWOT chart of one's company to do this. The SWOT gives a snapshot of the company in relation to the marketplace. Based on one's strategic alternatives, one also needs to define the goals that would enable one to succeed in one's strategic alternatives. A goal is something specific and tangible--it enables a concrete measure of hew well one is progressing in one's strategic alternative (University of Phoenix, 2007).

What is more, in the simulation the marketplace and the business kept changing. Therefore! I had to revisit the strategies to keep in tune with the changes. This flexibility is important when one is devising a strategic roadmap. Part of this flexibility is also the ability to differentiate between whether it is one's strategic alternative that needs to change or one's goals. While creating a blueprint for marketplace success, one also needs to ensure that one's internal structures and