NAME: MUHAMAD RAHMAD BIN ZAKARIA

NO. MATRIX: 827023

TITLE: Overview of International Strategic Management and Leadership

Nowadays, organizations always need good strategic management and skilled leaders
to be able to achieve their goals. Both Strategic Management and leadership are two
different words that have their own meaning and are linked together but there are
differences. Skilled leaders usually follow their own rules, but strategic management
always takes care of the organization to ensures long-term organizational sustainability.
The main purpose of this writing is to understand strategic management and leadership
by focusing on understanding the leadership itself and the analysis tools of International
Strategic Management and Leadership. This writing consists of three parts; the first part
focusing one the definition of leadership, the second part covers global leadership and
the third part understanding and discuss of analytical tools of International Strategic
Management, finally the conclusion.

Leadership is a very commonly used word, and since this word is used to describe
eminent people belonging to various walks of life, people have differences about it.
According to Oxford Languages, it means the action of leading a group of people or an
organization. While Tomas, B. Allen (1988), it means the "social influence" of a person
to gain other people's support to accomplish a mutually agreed goal. There is no one
definition of leadership universally accepted because of the role of the leader’s, the
situation even complex globalization requires different definitions to explain the concept
of leadership.

Nowadays, leadership has gone beyond national borders.. According to the Global
Integration, global leadership is defined as “leading people who are based in multiple
regions of the world”. They need to engage very diverse and distributed groups of
stakeholders and colleagues to get things done. Global leaders need to lead people
across 5 additional barriers – distance, cultures, time zones, communicating  through
technology and navigating complex organization structures such as the matrix or
network organization. Based on a video on youtube by the Ilmiah Centre has conducted
a public interview in London to guess who is the most influential in world history. All the
candidates guesses either a leader, historian, or scientist from the West. However, it
turns out that many do not think that Muhammad S.A.W holds the number one in a book
"The 100 A Ranking Of The Most Influential Persons In History" by Michael H. Hart.
Muhammad S.A.W is said to have been a philosopher, debater, presenter, legislator,
warrior, peacemaker, conqueror of ideas and even the founder of 23 Empires and a
spiritual empire. What I can say here, a global leader not only able to guide or benefit
the people around him during his presence but can still benefit even after he/she is
gone. This shows that the characteristics of global leadership mentioned above are
accurate and Muhammad S.A.W is the most suitable global leader to follow.

Strategic management can help organizations review current processes and make more
careful decisions about the direction of the organization. Most organizational managers
do not fully understand the goals behind strategic management or why they are needed
and should be implemented in their organizational environment. Comprehensive
understanding of strategic management can help organizations gain competitiveness in
the industry. Here we will understanding and discuss of analytical tools of International
Strategic Management. One of the most common strategic management analysis tools
is SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) Analysis. It is also the
most widely recognized. The SWOT Analysis can be said to be a simple analytical tool
but capable of producing a more comprehensive strategy. It contain the Strengths and
Weaknesses represent the internal dimension of the business unit under consideration.
On the other hand, the Opportunities and Threats represent the business unit's external
environment. These cover factors which are typically not under management's control.
A SWOT analysis is a great way to guide business-strategy meetings. It's powerful to
have everyone in the room to discuss the company's core strengths and
weaknesses and then move from there to define the opportunities and threats, and
finally to brainstorming ideas. However, the article does not mention the weaknesses of
SWOT Analysis which can be harmful to users.

In conclusion, strategic management and leadership is broad and subject to the

situation and time. However, the two are inseparable to get the results needed by
organization. The will of the organization must overcome the will of the individual to
achieve the goal. The way to achieve the goal is not limited to one tool and the tools
needs to be adapted to the passage of time.
Reference

1) Lumen Learning. Defining Leadership.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-management/chapter/defining-
leadership/
2) Tomas, B, Allen (1988) Does Leadership Make a Difference to Organizational
Performance? ASQ,33,3,388-400
3) Ilmiah Centre. (2019, January 31). Non Muslim Terkejut Bila Tahu Nabi
Muhammad Manusia Paling Berpengaruh Dlm Dunia [Video].
YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=wp0zyl8bz0Y&ab_channel=IlmiahCentre
4) Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Definition Leadership.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/leadership?
q=leadership
5) Grant, M. (2020, February 24). Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat
(SWOT) Analysis. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp