INTRODUCTION

In a highly competitive business atmosphere and unattainable economic condition managers are

increasingly seeking for strategies, approaches to accomplish, improve and sustain organizational

performance and competitive advantage. Strategy and its formulation play a vital part in the firm’s

management process. The strategy gives the direction that a business has in mind and which way

they want to achieve their goals. Earlier research demonstrated that firms that set out a clear

strategy for example: a quality differentiation or a cost leadership strategy will outperform those

firm that engage a mixed strategy (Beckman & Rosenfield 2008). Amongst the many strategies

implemented in firms, competitive strategy has been proven as an essential tool globally for any

business to remain in the competitive market environment and become stronger (Schroeder,

Goldstein, & Rungtusanatham 2011). Barnes (2008) postulate that competitive strategies implies

the analysis of the market and its environment, customer purchase behavior, competitive activities,

needs and competencies of market intermediaries. Competitive strategy is about being unique. It

means consciously choosing to carry out activities differently or to perform different activities than

competitors to survey a unique mix of value (David, 2003). Therefore to possess the edge over

rivals firm employ innumerable competitive strategies, principally because each company strategic

style entails custom-designed actions to fit its own circumstances and industry environment

(Thompson, & Strickland, 1998). Ward, McCreery, & Anand, 2007) stressed that that to excel in

a competitive environment, a firm must determine the critical success factors which are those

things the company must get right to stay ahead of their competitors. These things that they must

get right are the weaknesses of their competitors and mostly things they get wrong or o not even

do at all. Every firm possesses certain unique capabilities and competencies that distinguish them

from other firm.

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 CHAPTER ONE
INCREASING EFFICIENCY

How an entrepreneurship can use functional level strategies to increase its efficiency?

1.1 Aspiring to Achieve Greater Effectiveness

“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder
is leaning against the right wall”

- Stephen Covey

Efficiency is the maximum level of performance that requires the fewest inputs and produces a

tremendous amount of output. Also, efficiency is the ability of a company to convert resources

like time, people, and money into actions that benefit the business. A successful business produces

a lot of activity per unit of its resources. In the simplest terms, efficiency refers to carrying out

tasks correctly. Only the right things are essential, not all kinds of things.

An entrepreneur converts inputs (labour, land, capital, management, and technological know-how)

into outputs (the goods and services produced). Efficiency outputs/inputs, also known as efficiency

outputs/inputs, is the simplest method for quantifying efficiency. A firm’s cost structure will be

lower the more efficient it is because fewer inputs are needed to produce a given output. In other

words, an efficient company outperforms its competitors in terms of productivity and,

consequently, costs.

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1.2 Efficiency and Economies of Scale

The cost advantage a company experiences

as a result of increasing its output level to an

economy of scale. The benefit results from

the quantity produced and the fixed cost per

unit are inversely related. Lower per-unit

fixed costs are associated with higher output

volumes. A decrease in average variable costs (average non-fixed prices), along with an increase

in output, is another effect of economies of scale. Due to increased production scale, operational

efficiencies and collaborations are responsible for this.

A company can achieve economies of scale at any point during production. Production in this

context refers to the economic notion of production and includes all operations involving the good,

excluding those involving the ultimate consumer. By employing a sizable number of marketing

specialists, a company can choose to apply economies of scale in its marketing division. A

company can do the same by transferring human labour to machine labour in its input sourcing

division.

“Numbers numb our feelings for what is being counted and lead to adoration of the

economies of scale. Passion is in feeling the quality of experience, not in trying to measure it.”

-Frederick Herzberg

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 The abovementioned graph

shows how a firm’s long-run

average costs compare to its

output level. The company’s

average cost decreases from

C1 to C2 as its output increases

from Q1 to Q2. As a result, the

company has scaled economies

up to output level Q2. The production process analysis yields the critical finding that a firm focused

on maximizing profits always produces at the level that generates the lowest average cost per unit

of output.

Thinking about the above

graph, we see that average

costs rise whenever output

increases past Q2. This

illustrates a diseconomy of

scale or an increase in average

prices brought on by a larger

scale of production. Firms become more complex as they expand in size. These businesses must

strike a balance between scale economies and scale disadvantages. For instance, if a company

increases output, it can apply some economies of scale in its marketing division. The company’s

management division may experience scale diseconomies due to increasing work.

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1.3 Efficiency and Learning Effects

Learning effects are built upon learning and developed throughout cumulative production.

Economies of scale result from volume differences in any given period, whereas learning effects

come from more experience.

Figure 1: The Impact of Learning and Scale Economies on Unit Costs

The shift from X to Y denotes the effect of “Economies of Scale” on the mean cost of production.

By reducing the cost of production per unit as a company increases its output from Q to Q1,

“Economies of Scale” are causing the long-run average cost of production to drop. The price is

moving from X to Y with the same long-run average cost curve, or “LAC 1,” due to the impact of

“Economies of Scale” on the cost. Conversely, a shift from point X on “LAC 1” to point Z on

“LAC 2” denotes a “Learning Effect.” The cost per unit decreases under the influence of the

learning curve effect, moving from LAC 1 to LAC 2. This indicates that less money is spent per

unit to produce the same quantity of the good, denoted by the letter “Q."

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1.4 Efficiency and the Experience Curve

The systematic decrease in cost

per unit attained as the

cumulative volume (and

consequently experience) rises

known as the "experience curve

effect." In the business world,

the "experience curve effect"

describes the connection between the amount of experience required to produce a sound and its

efficiency, specifically, the efficiency improvements that occur after an initial investment. The

effect has significant effects on prices and market share, which may boost competitive advantage

over time.

The cost per unit of production is contrived on the Y-axis when an experience curve is depicted

graphically. On the X-axis, however, is the quantity of the cumulative output. The cost of adding

value to the product is included in the unit cost of production but not the cost of buying the raw

materials. The curve demonstrates that the company's unit costs decrease as it increases its total

cumulative production volume. The decline is unstoppable and remarkably constant, even across

different industries. The lack of experience in some drives may occasionally be seen as the result

of poor management.

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1.5 Marketing and Efficiency

“Inefficiency doesn't make it easier for all investors to beat the market”

- John Bogle

The phrase was lifted from a 1970 paper by economist Eugene Fama. Market efficiency refers to

how accurately current prices reflect all pertinent information regarding the actual value of the

underlying assets. Fundamentally, market efficiency refers to a market's capacity to account for

information that gives buyers and sellers of securities the most significant opportunity to complete

transactions while maintaining transaction costs. The amount of revenue generated over the short-

and long-term by a campaign and how successfully the company can reduce its customer

acquisition costs serve as indicators of marketing effectiveness. Investors must believe that a

market is unprofitable and inefficient to become efficient. Ironically, calls that profit from

inefficiencies are what keeps an investment strategy alive. A need must be substantial and liquid.

Identifying delinquent customers, learning why they left, and taking action to prevent future

defections for the same reasons is a crucial aspects of creating a strategy to lower defection rates.

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1.6 Materials Management, Just-In-Time, and Efficiency

A fundamental business function that

increases the value of a finished product is

material management systems, which

encompass all materials-related activities. It

may also involve buying the tools and other

equipment required for production processes

and spare parts. A key feature of supply chain management is materials management, which entails

designing and implementing supply chains to satisfy a company's or organization's need for

materials. We evaluate demand, price, availability, quality, and delivery schedules while

controlling and regulating the material flow.

JIT serves as an example of a lean management approach. JIT connects every production or service

system component, especially the human element. To achieve success, they rely on one another

and share information. The Japanese concept of Kaizen, which translates to "change for the better,"

is where this custom started. The business doctrine has its essence in Japan and aims to involve

every employee, from the CEO to the newest hires on the assembly line, in continuously improving

operations. The goal is to decrease waste while enhancing quality, much like JIT.

1.7 R&D Strategy and Efficiency

We design Research and Development (R&D) to

encourage companies to develop new services and

products through innovation and risk-taking.

Superior research and development (R&D) play a

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dual role in assisting a business in increasing efficiency and lowering costs. R&D can significantly

reduce the amount of time needed for assembly by reducing the number of parts that go into effect,

which increases worker productivity, lowers costs, and increases profitability.

1.8 Human Resource Strategy and Efficiency

Efficiency measurements in human resource planning are related to the outcomes of particular

human resource actions. The effectiveness and efficiency of the human resource function are

frequently measured in well-managed companies that implement human resource strategies to

address pressing business issues. Relevance links the accomplishment of objectives to the

outcomes of actions. Efficiency compares the output yield to the amount of energy, time, or

resources used as inputs.

Hiring strategy

Employee raining

Self-managing teams

Pay for performance

1.9 Information Systems and Efficiency

Organizations use information systems to accomplish their strategies and short- and long-term

objectives. The management style, organizational environment, and overall corporate structure

influence information systems' effectiveness. Worker productivity has increased thanks to

information systems. The use of email, streaming video, and shared whiteboards has improved

departmental and organizational collaboration. The streamlined action and implementation of

numerous projects across locations and geographies are ensured by increased collaboration.

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 CHAPTER TWO
INCREASING QUALITY

How an entrepreneurship can use functional level strategies to increase its quality?

Quality control in functional level is essential to building a successful business that delivers

products that meet or exceed customers’ expectations. It also forms the basis of an efficient

business that minimizes waste and operates at high levels of productivity. Quality has two

dimensions:

Quality as reliability

Quality as excellence

People rely on high quality products. High quality products give the customers satisfaction of their

needs. Superior quality products give the company competition advantage from the rivals. It gives

two competitive advantages.

Differentiation: The higher quality of products of a company differentiate it from the products of

rivals. These attract the customers and give a chance to charge extra premium price than the rivals

for their higher quality of products.

Lower cost provider: The company eliminates defects or errors from the manufacturing process

that reduces waste, increases efficiency, lowers the cost structure and increases its profitability.

For instance, reducing the number of defects in a company’s production process will lower the

cost of goods sold increasing the company’s return on sales and return on invested capital.

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2.1 Attaining Superior Reliability

There are some tools that the managers use to increase the reliability of their products. They use

the six sigma quality improvement methodology. The Six Sigma methodology is a direct

descendant of the total quality management (TQM) philosophy.

The TQM concept was developed by a number of quality gurus, including W. Edwards Deming,

Joseph Juran, and A. V. Feigenbaum. Deming's philosophy regarding TQM is the following five-

step chain reaction:

Improved quality means that costs decrease because of less rework, fewer mistakes, fewer

delays, and better use of time and materials.

As a result, productivity improves.

Better quality leads to higher market share and allows the company to raise prices.

Higher prices increase the company’s profitability and allow it to stay in business.

Thus, the company creates more jobs.

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2.2 Quality Improvement Programme

Management should embrace the philosophy that mistakes, defects, and poor quality

materials are not acceptable and should be eliminated.

Quality of supervision should be improved by allowing more time for supervisors to work

with employees, and giving employees appropriate skills for the job.

Management should create an environment in which employees will not fear reporting

problems or recommending improvements.

Work standards should not only be defined as numbers or quotas, but should also include

some notion of quality to promote the production of defect-free output.

Management is responsible for training employees in new skills to keep pace with changes

in the workplace.

Achieving better quality requires the commitment of everyone in the company.

2.3 Roles Played by Different Functions in Implementing Reliability Improvement

Methodologies

Infrastructure (leadership)

 The superior managers agree to improve the quality and arrange quality

improvement programme and details the importance of it to the organisation.

 Quality improvement programme must create a metric that is to be used to measure

quality. In manufacturing companies quality can be measured by such criteria as

defects per lot.

 Set goals to improve the quality and a set of strategies to achieve it.

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  Give incentives such as bonus pay, promotion etc. to employees to achieve the goal.

 Encourage employees to give their best.

 And the top managers have to keep cooperation among the functions. To retain the quality

it is so much important.

Production

Identify the defects in the production process then find out the reasons that causes defects, waste

and financial loss. After identifying make correction to the problems such as-

 Material management.

 Use of statistical procedures to pinpoint variations.

 Reduces lot sizes for manufactured products.

 Just in time inventory system.

Marketing

 Focus on the customers demands and needs. Being customer focused puts you in a

better position to help your customers. Your customer will see that you are making

an extra effort to understand the situation and satisfy them at which they are and to

really understand them to be better able to help them get where they want to be.

 Offer helpful deliverables that attracts the customer.

 After delivering collect the customers feedback about the product and then add the

quality they want.

Human resources

 Institute quality-improvement training programs

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  Identify and train “black belts”. black belt” training course on the Six Sigma

methodology.

 Organize employees into quality teams, it will be easy to achieve the quality goal.

 Offer training session monthly to increase the skill of the employees.

Purchasing

 Find the best suppliers who will provide the qualitiful products in lowest price.

 First analyse the suppliers business profile. And then take decision from which the

will take supply.

 Implement JIT system.

 Help suppliers implement quality-improvement methodologies.

 Trace defects back to suppliers.

Operations

 Improve the quality of the production process.

 If there find any defect make corrections.

 Adapt sophisticated technologies.

 Skilled employees.

Accounting

 Keeping the information stored.

 Providing the information to other departments.

Research and Development

 Design products that integrate customer demands and production capabilities and

that are easy to manufacture.

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 Information system

 To monitor defect rates use information systems.

 Provide necessary information to the other departments.

2.4 Improving Quality as Excellence

A product is composition of different attributes. Reliability is one of these attributes. Products can

also be differentiated by attributes that collectively define product excellence. A company can

improve quality as excellence by emphasizing attributes of the service and product associated with

the product offering. These attributes includes –

Product attributes

 Form

 Features

 Performance

 Durability

 Reliability

 Style

Service attributes

 Ordering ease

 Prompt delivery

 Easy installation

 Customer training

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 Personnel attributes

 Competence.

 Courtesy.

 Credibility.

 Responsiveness.

 Reliability.

 Communication.

Achieving a perception of high quality on any of these attributes requires specific actions must be

taken by managers.

First manager will collect the marketing intelligence. These will help the manager to

identify the most important attributes to customer.

After identifying the attributes the manager will design their product according to those

attributes. The manager also keep focusing that they have the skilled workers who will be

able to embody the attributes into the product.

Select the most significant attribute and work for it. Try to give the best features relating

to that attributes. And give a marketing message that will inspire the customers to buy the

product.

Finally the managers will focus on the continuous improvement of the attributes or adapt

the new attributes that the customers like most. Without continuous improvement no

company can sustain in the market.

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 CHAPTER THREE
INCREASING INNOVATION

How an entrepreneurship can use functional level strategies to increase its innovation?

The most significant source of a competitive

advantage is innovation. This is so because

innovation can lead to new products that more

effectively meet consumer needs, can enhance the

quality (or attributes) of already-existing products,

or can lower the price of producing goods that

consumers want. A company has a significant competitive advantage when it can create new

innovative products or processes which enables it to:

o Set its products apart from the competitors and charge a premium price and

o Cut costs to below those of competitors.

However, rivals frequently succeed in their attempts to replicate successful innovations. As a

result, innovation must be prioritized

constantly in order to maintain a competitive

advantage. A large number of companies

have a record of innovative success. Among

them are-

 Sony, whose achievements include the Walkman, Compact Disc, and Play Stations

 Nokia, which has been a leader in the development of wireless phones

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  Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company that produced 8 new blockbuster drugs during the 1990s

and early 2000s

 3M, which has applied its core competency in tapes and adhesives to developing a wide

range of new products

 Intel, which has consistently managed to lead in the development of innovative new

microprocessors to run personal computers.

3.1 High Failure Rate of Innovation

Although encouraging innovation can

provide a competitive advantage, innovative

products fail at a high rate. According to

research, only 10% to 20% of major R&D

projects result in commercial products.

Product failures that have received

widespread attention include:

Apple's Newton, an early handheld computer that flopped in the market

Sony's Betamax format in the videocassette recorder segment: Sega's Dreamcast

videogame console and

Windows Mobile, an early smart phone operating system created by Microsoft that was

rendered obsolete in the eyes of consumers by the arrival of Apple's iPhone.

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Despite the fact that many explanations have been advanced to explain why so many new products

fail to generate an economic return, five explanations for failure appear to be consistent which are

enlisted below:

Uncertainty: Due to the inherent uncertainty of the demand for innovation, many new products

fail. It is impossible to predict whether a new product will meet an unmet consumer need and

whether there will be enough demand on the market to support its production before it is introduced

to consumers. Even though the uncertainty regarding the likely future demand for a new

technology can be decreased with good market research, that uncertainty cannot be completely

eliminated, and a certain failure rate is to be expected.

Poor commercialization: Due to poor commercialization, new products frequently fail. This

happens when there is a clear demand from customers for a new product, but the product is not

well suited to meet those needs due to things like poor design and poor quality. For instance,

despite the fact that smart phones running on the Windows Mobile operating system were

introduced in 2003, or four years before Apple's iPhone hit the market, Microsoft was unable to

establish a long-lasting, dominant position in this market. This failure can be attributed to the

Windows Mobile operating system's pretty poor design. In addition to having a physical keyboard,

Windows Mobile phones had a small, cluttered screen that was challenging to use, which turned

off many customers. In contrast, many consumers were drawn to the iPhone's large touch screen

and accompanying keyboard and rushed out to purchase it in large numbers.

Poor positioning strategy: A poor positioning strategy could lead to the failure of new products.

Pricing, distribution, promotion and advertising, as well as product features, are the four main

marketing dimensions that influence a company's choice of positioning strategy for a product. Poor

positioning strategy was a contributing factor in the failure of Windows Mobile phones in addition

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to poor design. They were intended for business users, whereas Apple created a mass market with

the iPhone by making it available to retail customers.

Technological Myopia: Companies

frequently introduce new products that

are a failure because there is insufficient

market demand for the technology they

are marketing. The brilliance of a new

technology can blind a company,

preventing it from assessing whether there is enough consumer demand for it. The Segway

personal transporter, which has two wheels, is a prime illustration. Sales were far below

expectations when it turned out that most consumers had no need for such a vehicle, despite the

fact that its gyroscopic controls were extremely sophisticated and the product introduction was

accompanied by intense media hype.

Being Slow to Market: Slow product marketing causes companies to fail. When there is a longer

"cycle time" between initial development and final marketing, a competitor is more likely to launch

a product before the company and gain a competitive advantage.

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3.2 Building Competencies in Innovation

One of the best ways to achieve cross-functional integration is to develop cross-functional product

development teams made up of representatives from R&D, marketing, and production. A team's

goal should be to manage a product development project

from the early stages of concept development to launch.

The ability of a product development team to work

efficiently and achieve all of its development milestones

appears to depend on a number of factors. Tight cross-

functional integration can assist a company in ensuring

that-

Developing capabilities in basic and applied research: The team should be led by a heavyweight

project manager who is primarily, if not entirely, focused on the project and has high status within

the organization as well as the power and authority necessary to secure the financial and human

resources that the team needs to succeed. The leader must

be a strong believer in the project (a champion), adept at

fusing the viewpoints of various functions, and capable of

bringing people from various functions together to work

toward a common objective. The team's advocate with

senior management should be the leader as well.

Project selection and management: At least one representative from each key position or function

should be on the team. Each team member should possess a variety of qualities, including the

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capacity to offer functional expertise.

High standing within their function, a

readiness to shoulder some of the load

for team accomplishments, and the

capacity to set aside functional advocacy

Having the core team members commit

fully to the project for its entire duration is generally preferred. This makes sure that the project is

the focus, rather than their ongoing individual work.

Cross-functional Integration: In order to foster a sense of community and improve

communication, the team members should be situated close together.

Product development teams: The team should have a clear plan and goals, especially with regard

to important development milestones and development budgets. The team should receive rewards

for achieving those objectives, such as bonuses for reaching significant development milestones.

Develop a standard of communication and dispute resolution procedures: Every team needs to

establish its own communication and dispute-resolution procedures. For instance, one product

development team at the California-based Quantum Corporation, which makes disk drives for

personal computers, mandated that all significant decisions be made and disputes be settled during

meetings that were held every Monday afternoon. This straightforward rule enabled the team to

achieve its growth objectives.

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Partly parallel development process: There is adequate information to support the claim that

managers who want to develop their innovation skills must actively draw lessons from their

product development experience and apply those lessons to new product development processes

going forward.

However, the customers of a company can serve as a major source of new product ideas. The

context for successful product innovation can be established by identifying customer needs,

especially unmet needs. The marketing department can offer helpful information since it serves as

the main customer contact. Furthermore, if a new product is to be successfully commercialized,

R&D and marketing must be integrated; otherwise, a company runs the risk of developing products

for which there is little to no demand.

3.3 Functional Roles for Achieving Superior Innovation

A product development team needs to have a number of characteristics in order to work efficiently

and reach all of its development milestones. It's simpler to say than to do. After a product

development project is complete, managers must conduct an objective assessment process to

identify key success factors, the causes of failures, and allocate resources for failure repair. If

leaders want to inspire other team members to honestly admit their own mistakes, they must first

acknowledge their own. In Strategy in the following table, Corning discusses how it used lessons

from a prior error to create a potentially successful new product.

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In order to achieve superior innovation, the various functions' primary roles are outlined in the

table. Two things are clear from the table. The primary responsibility for directing the entire

development process must first fall to top management. To achieve this, it is necessary to

coordinate the various functions' efforts while also managing the development process. Second,

R&D's capacity for collaboration with marketing and production is a determining factor in how

successfully it develops novel products and procedures.

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 CHAPTER FOUR
INCREASING CUSTOMER RESPONSIVENESS

How an entrepreneurship can use functional level strategies to increase its customer

responsiveness?

Customer responsiveness refers to a company’s ability to react to and respond to its customer’s

needs and expectations. It is a key factor for the success and survival of a company. Proper

customer responsiveness can create competitive advantage.

In this time of rapidly growing businesses and capabilities of companies, and customers being

more and more aware of their needs, it is essential that companies devise a comprehensive

functional level strategy to cater to the customers’ expectations. Customers nowadays are very

well informed and ‘educated’ when it comes to understanding products, services and the strategies

businesses use to keep them as loyal, paying customers.

The various strategies that can be used for this purpose by the departments are shown below:

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Infrastructure (Leadership)
Production
Marketing
Materials management
R&D
Information systems
Human resources
 Through leadership by example,
build a company-wide commitment
to customer responsiveness
 Achieve customization through
implementation of flexible
manufacturing
 Achieve rapid response through
flexible manufacturing
 Know the customer
 Communicate customer feedback to
appropriate functions
 Develop logistics systems capable of
responding quickly to unanticipated
customer demands
 Bring customers into the product
development process
 Use Web-based information systems
to increase responsiveness to
customers
 Develop training programs that get
employees to think like customers
themselves
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 CONCLUSION

As having a competitive advantage in a company can lead them to create a greater profit margin.

Certain strengths have been generated when the company take the initiative to create their own

competitive advantage compared to its competition. It can help companies to be the market leaders

in their industries. The purpose of having a competitive advantage is to distinguish a company

from its competitors by offering something different and of superior value to its customers.

Competitive advantage also means the business can outperform its competition in the market and

make a higher profit. Its factors allowing a company to produce goods and services better or for

less expense than the competition, which may generate more sales or higher profit margins. To be

successful, a company's competitive advantage must generate value for its stakeholders and be

difficult for others to reproduce.

Enterprises operating in developing markets often tend to have simpler organizational structures

and focus on a finite set of products and services, at least at the very beginning. In this situation,

functional-level strategy is particular important to management for achieving competitive

advantage and this report provides methodologies for achieving competitive advantage through

functional level strategies.

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 RECOMMENDATIONS

The first thing that functional managers need to do is identify the specific functional resources and

coordination abilities that serve as the foundation for an actual or potential core competency of the

function. Once that step is completed the manager should develop and implement plans to improve

or strengthen these resources and abilities. All plans should be accompanied by specific

performance metrics that can be tracked in order to ensure that satisfactory progress is being made

toward elevating the functional core competencies to the level at which they become a true

competitive advantage for the company as a whole. Functional managers should also look outside

of their own companies to benchmark their performance against competitors and identify industry-

wide best practices that can be applied to management of their own departments or units.

Functional managers should also be prepared to develop and implement detailed action plans for

their strategies, a process which should include the following:

Describe the specific strategy to be followed and make sure that it supports the overall

strategy and vision for the organization.

Define the anticipated outcomes expected from following the strategy, such as

improvement in the efficiency of workflow and/or increased market share or profitability.

Outcomes should be defined as specifically as possible and, of course, should support the

chosen strategy for the function (i.e., “low-cost” or “differentiation” advantage).

Define your time schedule for implementing and completing execution of the strategy

including the beginning and ending dates for the project and all key milestones.

Describe the resources necessary to implement the plan (e.g., staffing, capital, information,

raw materials and equipment) and how these resources will be provided.

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 Outline the specific steps be followed to execute the strategy and assign the person

responsible for overseeing the action plan.

Develop a feedback system that includes reports from the responsible person on a timely

basis regarding the progress of the project and makes that person accountable for the

success of the project. Reports should cover actions taken, resources used, milestones

achieved and, most importantly, surprises and problems that might dictate a change in

direction

Many organizations develop their strategic and operational plans using inputs from the various key

functions; however, no function should be allowed to follow a plan that has not been vetted by

senior management to ensure that it is properly aligned with the overall strategic plan for the

organization and the goals and objectives of other units.

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