BS Important Models
BS Important Models
Business Strategy
Application Level
Important Model
Sl. No. Chapter Name of Model Page Manual
Page
1 1 Rational Approach 2 9
2 1 Mintzberg identified strategies 3 15
3 2 Stakeholder mapping: power and interest (Mendelow) 4 51
4 3 PESTEL analysis and underlying assumptions 5 83
5 3 Porter: The Competitive Advantage of 7 95
Nations/(Diamond)
6 4 The basic model/(Porter’s 5 factors) 9 120
7 5 Core competences –Kay's three sources 11 156
8 5 A checklist of resources/(9Ms) 11 159
9 5 Benchmarking Competent 12 161
10 5 Porter’s Value Chain 12 164
11 5 Product life cycle (PLC) revisited 14 180
12 5 Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix 15 181
13 6 SWOT Analysis 16 209
14 6 Weirich's TOWS matrix 18 210
15 6 Porter's three generic strategies 18 215
16 6 Product-market growth matrix (Ansoff Matrix) 21 221
17 7 Marketing Mix 7ps 23 264
18 8 Models on structure 24 333
19 9 Overall Risk 27 406
20 11 Balance Scorecard 28 497
21 14 The Gemini 4Rs framework for planned strategic change 29 638
22 14 Force field analysis 29 643
23 14 The Lewin/Schein 3 step (iceberg) approach 30 647
24 14 The project life cycle (4D Model) 31 648
25 6 Bringing them together –the cruciform chart 33 209
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1 Rational Approach:
PESTEL OT SW
8 Ms
1 Ms Value Chain
Ansoff Matrix
Porter’s 5 SWOT
Factors Balance Scorecard
a) Key players are found in segment D: strategy must be acceptable to them, at least. An example
would be a major customer.
b) Stakeholders in segment C must be treated with care. While often passive, they are capable of
moving to segment D. They should, therefore be kept satisfied. Large institutional shareholders
might fall into segment C.
c) Stakeholders in segment B do not have great ability to influence strategy, but their views can be
important in influencing more powerful stakeholders, perhaps by lobbying. They should therefore be
kept informed. Community representatives and charities might fall into segment B.
d) Minimal effort is expended on segment A.
A single stakeholder map is unlikely to be appropriate for all circumstances. In particular, stakeholders
may move from quadrant to quadrant when different potential future strategies are considered. This
aspect will be returned to in Chapter 11 where we deal with the evaluation of strategic options.
Stakeholder mapping is used to assess the significance of stakeholder groups. This in turn has
implications for the organisation.
a) The framework of corporate governance should recognise stakeholders' levels of interest and power.
b) It may be appropriate to seek to reposition certain stakeholders and discourage others from
repositioning themselves, depending on their attitudes.
c) Key blockers and backers of change must be identified.
Stakeholder mapping can also be used to establish political priorities. A map of the current position can
be compared with a map of a desired future state. This will indicate critical shifts that must be pursued.
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Political
Social welfare policy
Taxation policy
Regulation
Government stability
Ownership risk
Legal
Competitor legislation
Employee legislation
Consumer protection
Health & safety
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Competitive architecture
This is the network of relationships within and around a business. There are three divisions as described
below.
Internal architecture –relationships with employees
External architecture –relationships with suppliers, intermediaries and customers
Network architecture –relationships between collaborating businesses.
The knowledge, routines and information exchanges created by these relationships (particularly those
which are long term) can produce core competences which other businesses cannot replicate.
Reputation
This is the reason why customers come back, investors invest, potential employees apply for jobs and
suppliers supply. Reputations (at least good ones) are not developed overnight –they can take years.
Once a business has a good reputation it provides a core competence that rivals cannot match. Examples
(may) include BMW and Virgin Atlantic (reputation for quality and service).
Innovative ability
This is the ability to develop new products and services and maintain a competitive advantage.
Organisation structure, culture, routines, etc. and collaboration between employees, customers and
suppliers (i.e. the architectures discussed above) influence the ability of a business to innovate. Sony has
consistently been innovative.
8. A checklist of resources/(9Ms)
The 9Ms model summarises the resources and sources of competences to be evaluated. The audit should
be comprehensive, but it is useful to identify the unique resources which underlie the firm's sustainable
competitive advantage (i.e. what sets it apart from other organisations) as opposed to those that are
necessary (i.e. threshold) but do not form the basis of sustainable competitive advantage.
1. Men and women: Assessment of the number of men, skills (production, marketing e-commerce, etc),
motivation, adaptability, etc.
2. Machines: Number, productive capacity, age, condition, location, etc. Appropriate technological and
applications infrastructure for e-commerce, etc.
3. Money: Sources, uses, cash flow forecasts, relationship with shareholders, bankers, etc.
4. Materials: Supplier reliability, flexibility, costs, distribution systems, etc.
5. Markets: Market status, position and market share, brand image, customer loyalty, customer
goodwill, distribution systems, etc.
6. Management: Quality, skills, ability of senior management. One key management skill is that of good
Corporate Governance and managing risk. (See Chapter 8 for further discussion.)
7. Methods: Activities and processes used, outsourcing, capital or labour intensive production methods,
etc.
8. Management information systems: Quality, timeliness, etc (see Chapter 13 for further discussion).
9. Make up: Structure, culture, etc.
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9. Benchmarking Competent
Cost drivers
A cost driver is the unit of an activity that drives the change of cost in production or servicing. It refers to
any activity that causes a cost to be incurred. In traditional costing, the cost driver used to allocate
overhead costs to cost objects relates to quantity of output.
Value Drivers
Value drivers are anything that can be added to a product or service that will increase its value to
consumers. These differentiate a product or service from those of a competitor and make them more
appealing to consumers. The greatest benefit of a value driver is that it provides a competitive advantage
to a business, giving that business an upper hand in its industry. Value drivers can come in many forms,
such as superior brand awareness or revolutionary technology.
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13.SWOT Analysis:
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Note that this is therefore an inherently positioning approach to strategy. A further important element of
Weirich's discussion was his categorisation of strategic options:
SO strategies employ strengths to seize opportunities.
ST strategies employ strengths to counter or avoid threats.
WO strategies address weaknesses so as to be able to exploit opportunities.
WT strategies are defensive, aiming to avoid threats and the impact of weaknesses.
Cost leadership
A cost leadership strategy seeks to achieve the position of lowest-cost producer in the industry as a
whole. By producing at the lowest cost, the manufacturer can compete on price with every other
producer in the industry, and earn the higher unit profits, if the manufacturer so chooses.
How to achieve overall cost leadership
a) Set up production facilities to obtain economies of scale.
b) Use the latest technology to reduce costs and/or enhance productivity (or use cheap labour if
available).
c) In high technology industries, and in industries depending on labour skills for product design and
production methods, exploit the learning curve effect. By producing more items than any other
competitor, a firm can benefit more from the learning curve, and achieve lower average costs.
d) Concentrate on improving productivity.
e) Minimise overhead costs.
f) Get favourable access to sources of supply.
g) Use value chain to streamline activities and reduce non-value adding activities (see Chapter 5).
Classic examples of companies pursuing cost leadership are Black and Decker and South West Airlines.
Large out-of-town stores specialising in one particular category of product are able to secure cost
leadership by economies of scale over other retailers. Such shops have been called category killers; an
example is Toys R Us.
Differentiation
A differentiation strategy assumes that competitive advantage can be gained through particular
characteristics of a firm's products.
How to differentiate
a) Build up a brand image (e.g. Pepsi's blue cans are supposed to offer different 'psychic benefits' to
Coke's red ones).
b) Give the product special features to make it stand out (e.g. Russell Hobbs' Millennium kettle
incorporated a new kind of element, which boils water faster).
c) Exploit other activities of the value chain (see Chapter 5).
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Market penetration
The firm seeks to do four things:
Maintain or to increase its share of current markets with current products, e.g. through competitive pricing,
advertising, sales promotion
Secure dominance of growth markets
Restructure a mature market by driving out competitors
Increase usage by existing customers (e.g. airmiles, loyalty cards)
The ease with which a company can pursue this strategy depends on its market and its competitors. If the market is
growing it may be relatively easy to gain share. However if markets are static (mature) it is not.
Types of diversification
Ansoff identifies two classes of diversification:
1. Related diversification: Integrating activities in the supply chain or leveraging technologies or competences.
2. Conglomerate diversification: The development of a portfolio of businesses with no commercial similarity or
links between them.
Related diversification
Horizontal integration is development into activities which are competitive with or directly complementary
to a company's present activities.
Competitive products: Taking over a competitor can have obvious benefits, leading eventually towards
achieving a monopoly. Apart from active competition, a competitor may offer advantages such as completing
geographical coverage.
Complementary products: For example, a manufacturer of household vacuum cleaners moving into
commercial cleaners. A full product range can be presented to the market and there may well be benefits
from having many of the components common between the different ranges.
By-products: For example, a butter manufacturer discovering increased demand for skimmed milk. Generally,
income from by-products is a windfall to be counted, at least initially, as a bonus.
Vertical integration occurs when a company becomes its own supplier (backward) or distributor forward).
Conglomerate diversification
Not very unfashionable in the USA and Europe where its financial returns have been disappointing, however, it
has been a key strategy for companies in Asia, particularly South Korea.
Conglomerates
The characteristic of conglomerate (or unrelated) diversification is that there is no common thread, and the
only synergy lies with the management skills. Outstanding management seems to be the key to success as a
conglomerate, and in the case of large conglomerates they are indeed able, because of their size and
diversity, to attract high-calibre managers with wide experience.
Two major types of conglomerate can be identified. The financial conglomerate provides a flow of funds to
each segment of its operation, exercises control and is the ultimate risk taker. In theory it undertakes
strategic planning but does not participate in operating decisions. The managerial conglomerate extends
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this approach by providing managerial counsel and interaction on operating decisions, on the assumption
that general management skills can be transferred to almost any environment.
Advantages of conglomerate diversification
Risk-spreading: Entering new products into new markets offers protection against the failure of current
products and markets.
High profit opportunities: An improvement of the overall profitability and flexibility of the firm through
acquisition in industries which have better economic characteristics than those of the acquiring firms.
Escape from the present business.
Better access to capital markets.
No other way to grow.
Use surplus cash.
Exploit under-utilised resources.
Obtain cash, or other financial advantages (such as accumulated tax losses).
Use a company's image and reputation in one market to develop into another where corporate image and
reputation could be vital ingredients for success.
The example of Virgin Group above may be an example of conglomerate diversification.
Disadvantages of conglomerate diversification
The dilution of shareholders' earnings if diversification is into growth industries with high P/E ratios.
Lack of a common identity and purpose in a conglomerate organisation. A conglomerate will only be successful
if it has a high quality of management and financial ability at central headquarters, where the diverse
operations are brought together.
Failure in one of the businesses will drag down the rest, as it will eat up resources.
Lack of management experience: Japanese steel companies have diversified into areas completely unrelated to
steel such as personal computers, with limited success.
Poor for shareholders: Shareholders can spread risk quite easily, simply by buying a diverse portfolio of shares.
They do not need management to do it for them.
18.Models on structure:
Functional structure
Geographic structure
Product/brand divisionalisation
Hybrid structures
Functional structure
Functional structure leads to departments that are defined by their functions, that is, the work that they do.
Advantages
It is based on work specialism and staff and managers can be technical experts.
The firm can benefit from economies of scale and division of labour.
It offers a career structure within the specialism.
Specialised resources and equipment are used efficiently.
It can enhance quality by deploying expertise.
It can promote the acquisition of technical skills.
Disadvantages
It does not reflect the actual business processes by which value is created. This means that a mechanism for co-
ordinating the departments will be needed, such as a corporate board.
It is hard to identify where profits and losses are made on individual products.
It can lead to mutual suspicion and conflict between specialisms which may be dysfunctional (e.g. between
production and sales)
It hampers cross-functional innovation and creativity.
Geographic structure
Some authority is retained at Head Office (organised, perhaps, on a functional basis) but day-to-day service
operations are handled on a territorial basis. Within many sales departments, the sales staff are organized on
this basis.
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Product/brand divisionalisation
Product divisionalisation: The elements of an organisation are grouped by products or product lines. Some
functional divisionalisation remains (e.g. manufacturing, distribution, marketing and sales) but a divisional
manager is given responsibility for the product or product line, with authority over personnel of different
functions.
Advantages
Individual managers can be held accountable for the profitability of individual products.
Specialisation can be developed. For example, some salesmen will be trained to sell a specific product in which
they may develop technical expertise and thereby offer a better sales service to customers. Service engineers
who specialise in a single product should also provide a better after sales service.
The different functional activities and efforts required to make and sell each product can be co-ordinated and
integrated by the divisional/product manager.
It should be focused on how a business makes its profits.
The disadvantage of product divisionalisation is that it increases the overhead costs and managerial
complexity of the organisation.
Brand: A brand is the name or design which identifies the products or services of a manufacturer or provider and
distinguishes them from those of competitors. Brands may denote different products or, often, similar products
made by the same firm.
Branding implies a unique marketing position. It becomes necessary to have brand divisionalisation. As with
product divisionalisation, some functional divisionalisation remains (especially on the manufacturing side) but
brand managers have responsibility for the brand's marketing and this can affect every function.
Brand divisionalisation has similar advantages and disadvantages to product divisionalisation. In particular,
overhead costs and complexity of the management structure are increased, the relationships of a number of
different brand departments with the manufacturing department, if there is only one, being particularly
difficult.
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Hybrid structures
Very few organisations divisionalise on one basis alone. This was clear in the NHS example above. Many
organisation hierarchies in practice combine elements of a number of these approaches. In the example below,
research and development is centrally organised, but the operating activities of the firm are geographically
arranged. This is an example of a hybrid structure.
Financial risk is the risk arising as a result of how the business is financed –its level of gearing or leverage, its
exposure to credit, interest rates and exchange rates, liquidity risks. Financial risk tends to amplify the inherent
business risk at low levels of gearing, and at higher levels may directly contribute to the risk of business failure.
Compliance risk is the risk arising from non compliance with laws or regulations. This includes breach of
laws/regulations by the company, or breaches by a stakeholder (e.g. customer or supplier) which may have
consequences for the company. It may relate to financial laws/regulations (e.g. contracts, tax, financial reporting,
pensions and social security, company law etc) or to non-financial laws/regulations (e.g. health and safety,
employment law etc).
Unsystematic risk arises from factors specific to the company leading to variability of returns such as the clients
and contracts a business has or the business exposure to a foreign currency due to the nature of its trading or
finance, factors that are internal to the company.
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19.Overall Risk:
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20.Balance Scorecard
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Reframing involves fundamental questions about what the organisation is and what it is for:
Achieve mobilisation: Create the will and desire to change.
Create the vision of where the organisation is going.
Build a measurement system that will set targets and measure progress.
Restructuring is about the organisation's structure, but is also likely to involve cultural changes:
Construct an economic model to show in detail how value is created and where resources should
be deployed.
Align the physical infrastructure with the overall plan.
Redesign the work architecture so that processes interact to create value.
Revitalising is the process of securing a good fit with the environment:
Achieve market focus.
Invent new businesses.
Change the rules of competition by exploiting technology.
Renewal ensures that the people in the organisation support the change process and acquire the
necessary skills to contribute to it:
Create a reward system in order to motivate.
Build individual learning.
Develop the organisation and its adaptive capability.