MANAGEMENT POLICY AND STRATEGY

Management Policy & Strategy

Management Policy and Strategy

Introduction

Strategy formulation includes developing a vision and mission, identifying an organization's external opportunities and threats, determining internal strengths and weaknesses, establishing long-term objectives, generating alternative strategies, and choosing particular strategies to pursue. Strategy formulation issues include deciding what new businesses to enter, what businesses to abandon, how to allocate resources, whether to expand operations or diversify, whether to enter international markets, whether to merge or form a joint venture, and how to avoid a hostile takeover. Strategy implementation often is called the action stage of strategic management. Implementing strategy means mobilizing employees and managers to put formulated strategies into action

(Plas and Susan, 2000, 52-96). Often considered to be the most difficult stage in strategic management, strategy implementation requires personal discipline, commitment, and sacrifice.

"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations".

In other words, strategy is about:

Strategy at Different Levels of a Business

Where is the business trying to get to in the long-term (direction)

Which markets should a business compete in and what kind of activities are involved in such markets? (markets; scope)

How can the business perform better than the competition in those markets? (advantage) (Slattery and Gary, 2000, 78-210)?

What resources (skills, assets, finance, relationships, technical competence, facilities) are required in order to be able to compete? (resources)?

What external, environmental factors affect the businesses' ability to compete? (environment) (Robbins and Michael, 2000, 63-102)?

What are the values and expectations of those who have power in and around the business? (stakeholders)

Strategies exist at several levels in any organisation - ranging from the overall business (or group of businesses)

(Plas and Susan, 2000, 52-96)through to individuals ...