Strategic Management Concepts: A

Competitive Advantage Approach,

Concepts and Cases
Seventeenth Edition, Global Edition

Chapter 7

Implementing Strategies:
Management and Marketing
Issues

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Learning Objectives (1 of 2)
7.1 Describe the transition from formulating to implementing
strategies.
7.2 Discuss reasons why annual objectives are essential for
effective strategy implementation.
7.3 Identify and discuss the nature and role of policies in
strategy implementation.
7.4 Explain the role of resource allocation and managing
conflict in strategy implementation.
7.5 Discuss the need to match a firm’s structure with its
strategy.

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Learning Objectives (2 of 2)
7.6 Identify, diagram, and discuss different types of
organizational structure.
7.7 Identify and discuss 15 dos and don’ts in constructing
organizational charts.
7.8 Discuss four strategic production/operations issues vital
for successful strategy implementation.
7.9 Discuss seven strategic human resource issues vital for
successful strategy implementation.
7.10 Describe key strategic marketing issues vital for
implementing strategies.

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Figure 7.1
The Comprehensive, Integrative Strategic-Management Model

Source: Fred R. David, “How Companies Define Their Mission,” Long Range Planning 22, no. 1 (February 1989): 91. See
also Anik Ratnaningsih, Nadjadji Anwar, Patdono Suwignjo, and Putu Artama Wiguna, “Balance Scorecard of David’s
Strategic Modeling at Industrial Business for National Construction Contractor of Indonesia,” Journal of Mathematics and
Technology, no. 4 (October 2010): 20.
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Figure 7.2
Contrasting Strategy Formulation with Strategy Implementation

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Annual Objectives
Annual Objectives:
1. Represent the basis for allocating resources
2. Are a primary mechanism for evaluating managers
3. Are the major instrument for monitoring progress toward
achieving long-term objectives
4. Establish organizational, divisional, and departmental
priorities
5. Are essential for keeping a strategic plan on track

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Figure 7.3
The Stamus Company’s Hierarchy of Aims

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Policies (1 of 3)
• Policy
– specific guidelines, methods, procedures, rules, forms,
and administrative practices established to support and
encourage work toward stated goals
– instruments for strategy implementation

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Policies (2 of 3)
• Policies
– set boundaries, constraints, and limits on the kinds of
administrative actions that can be taken to reward and
sanction behavior
– let both employees and managers know what is
expected of them, thereby increasing the likelihood that
strategies will be implemented successfully
– provide a basis for management control and allow
coordination across organizational units

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Policies (3 of 3)
• Policies
– reduce the amount of time managers spend making
decisions. Policies also clarify what work is to be done
and by whom
– promote delegation of decision making to appropriate
managerial levels where various problems usually arise
– clarify what can and cannot be done in pursuit of an
organization’s objectives

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Types of Resources
• Financial
• Physical
• Human
• Technological

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Resource Allocation
• Resource Allocation
– central management activity that allows for strategy
execution
– Strategic management enables resources to be
allocated according to priorities established by annual
objectives

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Managing Conflict
• Conflict
– Disagreement between two or more parties on one or
more issues
– Establishing annual objectives can lead to conflict
because individuals have different expectations and
perceptions, schedules create pressure, personalities
are incompatible, and misunderstandings occur
between line managers and staff managers

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Managing Conflict (1 of 2)
• Conflict is not always bad. An absence of conflict can
signal indifference and apathy.
• Approaches for managing conflict range from
– Ignoring the problem
– Physically separating the conflicting individuals
– Holding meetings to seek compromise

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Table 7.5 Some Management Trade-
Off Decisions Required in Strategy
Implementation
1. To offer extensive or limited management development workshops
and seminars
2. To recruit through employment agencies, college campuses, or
newspapers
3. To promote from within or to hire from the outside
4. To promote on the basis of merit or on the basis of seniority
5. To tie executive compensation to long-term or annual objectives
6. To allow heavy, light, or no overtime work
7. To establish a high- or low-safety stock of inventory

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Matching Structure With Strategy
• Structure largely dictates how objectives and policies will
be established
• Structure dictates how resources will be allocated

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Table 7.6 Symptoms of an Ineffective
Organizational Structure
1. Too many levels of management
2. Too many meetings attended by too many people
3. Too much attention being directed toward solving interdepartmental
conflicts
4. Too large a span of control
5. Too many unachieved objectives
6. Declining corporate or business performance
7. Losing ground to rival firms
8. Revenue or earnings divided by number of employees or number of
managers is low compared to rival firms

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The Functional Structure
• Functional Structure
– groups tasks and activities by business function, such
as production/operations, marketing,
finance/accounting, research and development, and
management information systems

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Table 7.7 Advantages and
Disadvantages of a Functional
Organizational Structure
Advantages
1. Simple and inexpensive
2. Capitalizes on specialization of
business activities such as
marketing and finance
3. Minimizes need for elaborate
control system
4. Allows for rapid decision making
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Disadvantages
1. Accountability forced to the top
2. Delegation of authority and
responsibility not encouraged
3. Minimizes career development
4. Low employee and manager morale
5. Inadequate planning for products and
markets
6. Leads to short-term, narrow thinking
7. Leads to communication problems
Divisional Structure
• Functional activities are performed both centrally and in
each separate division
• Organized by geographic area, product or service,
customer, or process

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Table 7.8 Advantages and
Disadvantages of a Divisional
Organizational Structure
Advantages
1. Clear accountability
2. Allows local control of local situations
3. Creates career development chances
4. Promotes delegation of authority
5. Leads to competitive climate internally
6. Allows easy adding of new products or
regions
7. Allows strict control and attention to
products, customers, or regions
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Disadvantages
1. Can be costly
2. Duplication of functional activities
3. Requires a skilled management force
4. Requires an elaborate control system
5. Competition among divisions can
become so intense as to be
dysfunctional
6. Can lead to limited sharing of ideas
and resources
7. Some regions, products, or
customers may receive special
treatment
The Strategic Business Unit (SBU)
Structure
• SBU Structure
– groups similar divisions into strategic business units
and delegates authority and responsibility for each unit
to a senior executive who reports directly to the chief
executive officer
– can facilitate strategy implementation by improving
coordination between similar divisions and channeling
accountability to distinct business units

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The Matrix Structure (1 of 2)
• Matrix Structure
– most complex of all designs because it depends upon
both vertical and horizontal flows of authority and
communication

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The Matrix Structure (2 of 2)
• For a matrix structure to be effective, organizations need
participative planning, training, clear mutual understanding
of roles and responsibilities, excellent internal
communication, and mutual trust and confidence

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Figure 7.4
A Typical Matrix Structure with Typical Executive Titles in a
Large Firm

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Table 7.9 Advantages and
Disadvantages of a Matrix Structure
Advantages
1. Clear project objectives
2. Employees clearly see results of their
work
3. Easy to shut down a project
4. Facilitates uses of special equipment,
personnel, and facilities
5. Shared functional resources instead of
duplicated resources, as in a divisional
structure
Blank
Blank
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Disadvantages
1. Requires excellent vertical and
horizontal flows of communication
2. Costly because creates more
manager positions
3. Violates unity of command principle
4. Creates dual lines of budget
authority
5. Creates dual sources of reward and
punishment
6. Creates shared authority and
reporting
7. Requires mutual trust and
understanding
Table 7.10 15 Guidelines for
Developing an Organizational Chart
1. Instead of chairman of the board, make it chairperson of the board.
2. Make sure the board of directors reveals diversity in race, ethnicity, gender, and age.
3. Make sure the chair of the board is not also the CE O or president of the company.
4. Make sure the CE O of the firm does not also carry the title president.
5. Reserve the title president for the division heads of the firm.
6. Include a CO O if divisions are large or geographically dispersed.
7. Make sure only presidents of divisions report to the CO O.
8. Make sure functional executives such as C F O, CI O, C M O, CS O, R &D, CLO, CTO, and HRM report to the CE O, not
the CO O.
9. Make sure every executive has one boss, so lines in the chart should be drawn accordingly, assuring unity of
command.
10. Make sure span of control is reasonable, probably no more than 10 persons reporting to any other person.
11. Make sure diversity in race, ethnicity, gender, and age is well represented among corporate executives.
12. Avoid a functional type structure for all but the smallest firms.
13. Decentralize, using some form of divisional structure, whenever possible.
14. Use a SB U type structure for large firms with more than 10 divisions.
15. Make sure executive titles match product names as best possible in division-by-product and S BU-designated firms.

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Figure 7.5
ABC Company’s Existing (Not Good) Organizational Chart

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Figure 7.6
ABC Company’s Improved (Excellent) Organizational Chart

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Figure 7.7
Winnebago’s Actual (Not Good) Organizational Chart

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Figure 7.8
Winnebago’s Improved (Excellent) Organizational Chart

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Restructuring
• Restructuring
– involves reducing the size of the firm in terms of
number of employees, number of divisions or units,
and number of hierarchical levels in the firm's
organizational structure
– primary benefit sought from restructuring is cost
reduction

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Reengineering
• Reengineering
– involves reconfiguring or redesigning work, jobs, and
processes for the purpose of improving cost, quality,
service, and speed
– does not usually affect the organizational structure or
chart, nor does it imply job loss or employee layoffs

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Managing Resistance to Change
• Resistance to change
– May be the single greatest threat to successful strategy
implementation.
– Successful strategy implementation hinges on
managers’ ability to develop an organizational climate
conducive to change.

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Strategic Human Resource Issues
Seven human resource issues:
1. Linking performance and pay to strategy
2. Balancing work life with home life
3. Developing a diverse work force
4. Using caution in hiring a rival’s employees
5. Creating a strategy-supportive culture
6. Using caution in monitoring employees’ social media
7. Developing a corporate wellness program

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Linking Performance and Pay to
Strategies
• Decisions on salary increases, promotions, merit pay, and
bonuses need to support the long-term and annual
objectives of the firm
• Gain sharing and bonus systems can be used

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Balance Work and Home Life
• Work and family strategies now represent a competitive
advantage for those firms that offer such benefits as:
– elder care assistance
– flexible scheduling
– job sharing
– adoption benefits
– onsite summer camp
– employee help line
– pet care
– lawn service referrals

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Develop a Diverse Workforce (1 of 2)
Six benefits of having a diverse workforce are:
1. Women and minorities have different insights, opinions,
and perspectives that should be considered.
2. A diverse workforce portrays a firm committed to
nondiscrimination.
3. A workforce that mirrors a customer base can help attract
customers, build customer loyalty, and design/offer
products/services that meet customer needs/wants.
4. A diverse workforce helps protect the firm against
discrimination lawsuits.

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Develop a Diverse Workforce (2 of 2)
5. Women and minorities represent a huge additional pool
of qualified applicants.
6. A diverse workforce strengthens a firm’s social
responsibility and ethical position

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Table 7.13 Ways and Means for
Altering an Organization’s Culture
• Recruitment
• Training
• Transfer
• Promotion
• Restructuring
• Reengineering
• Role modeling
• Positive reinforcement
• Mentoring
• Revising vision or mission
• Redesigning physical spaces or facades
• Altering reward system
• Altering organizational policies, procedures, and practices

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Monitoring Social Media
• Proponents of companies monitoring employees’ social-
media activities emphasize that
– a company’s reputation in the marketplace can easily
be damaged by disgruntled employees venting on
social media sites
– social media records can be subpoenaed, like email,
and used as evidence against the company

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Corporate Wellness Program
• The Affordable Care Act increased the maximum
incentives and penalties employers may use to encourage
employee well-being
• Most companies have both
– “carrots,” such as giving employee discounts on
insurance premiums or even extra cash,
– “sticks,” such as imposing surcharges on premiums for
those who do not make progress toward getting
healthy.

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Strategic Marketing Issues (1 of 2)
1. How to make advertisements more interactive to be more
effective
2. How to take advantage of social-media conversations
about the company and industry
3. To use exclusive dealerships or multiple channels of
distribution
4. To use heavy, light, or no TV advertising versus online
advertising

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Strategic Marketing Issues (2 of 2)
5. To limit (or not) the share of business done with a single
supplier or business customer
6. To be a price leader or a price follower
7. To offer a complete or limited warranty
8. To extend an existing product line or create a new line of
products

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Figure 7.9
Segment, Target, and Position: The Key to Marketing
Strategy

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Figure 7.10
Positioning Products to Meet Target Market Needs

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Figure 7.11
A Perceptual Map for Auto-Insurance Providers

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Figure 7.12
A Perceptual Map for Marriott’s Brand of Hotels

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Figure 7.13
How to Gain and Sustain Competitive Advantages

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