Stratergic Managment - Second Semester - exm_44568 Dr Vidya Sagar NIBM Global, SEM - II, MBA ( AI) Roll no 118509.pdf

Exam: EMBA, SEM – 2, Strategic Management
Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
Enrolment details: MBA1/AUG21N/30712162806119
1
Strategic Management
Attend any 4 questions. Each question carries 25 marks
(Each answer should be of minimum 2 pages / of 300 words)
1. What is Strategic thinking and Strategic Management? Explain.
2. Discuss the benefits of Strategic Management.
3. The essence of strategic planning is to help a company develop and sustain advantage in
the marketplace through unique resources, agility, superior products and/or superior
service. Discuss.
4. Discuss the sponsor’s role in formulating and implementing a plan.
5. How will you relate operating plan to business strategy? Explain.
6. Explain the factors that contributes to the ambiguity of measuring performance in operating
systems?
25 x 4=100 marks

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
2
QUESTION 1: WHAT IS STRATEGIC THINKING AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT?
EXPLAIN
A. Strategic thinking
1. Strategic thinking involves making a series of decisions about what actions the company
intends to take to become more successful. A company often goes through a strategic
planning process once a year, creating a document that is, in essence, a guidebook for the
management team to use in the upcoming year. Companies should strive to make strategic
thinking an ongoing, year-round process.
2. In general, the term has been interchangeably used with any concept related to Strategy,
vision, goals, and planning. Though we can’t put our finger on it, strategic thinking
sounds more like using intuition in a methodical way rather than going with your gut.
3. Lack of a proper definition shouldn’t stop you from cultivating this crucial skill in your
own life. After all, it’s a good trait to have. In fact, as you advance in your career, it
becomes more and more important. Most of us don’t even realize we need to learn it
ourselves since it’s not taught as a valuable life skill at any point in our lives.
4. Strategy is about the big-picture choices that have a broad and long-term impact. Suppose
you decide to become a cloud engineer or cloud architect because cloud computing is one
of the most sought-after hard skills at the moment. In that case, you are thinking
strategically about which career path to follow in the next few years.
5. Strategic thinking is basically the practice of selecting a long-term goal and formulating
an action plan toward reaching that goal. This forces you to think and plan several moves
ahead than you would normally.
6. It includes goals, objectives, planning, resources, and more. It can’t be reduced to just any
one of them.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
3
1. Define your vision statement
Your vision statement should be inspiring and focused on the future you desire. This is your future
goal. Make sure it’s inspiring, something you really want to do. It could be a certain amount of
money you hope to earn or a dream job, or a target related to your current job that you hope to
accomplish.
2. Come up with strategies
Strategies help you in achieving your vision or goal. Start by coming up with 1-3 strategies, each of
which we will expand to include 1-3 concrete actions that can be taken tomorrow to reach the goal.
3. Expand to include tactics
Tactics are the specific steps you take to move toward your vision. You can think of tactics as
concrete activities that move you in the right direction.
4. Measure your progress and refine

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
4
Come up with some indicators to measure your progress and determine if your strategic plan is
working. For example, if your goal is to jog 10 miles by the end of summer, you can plan how many
miles you intend to jog each month.
It’s also important to take deliberate action when necessary by looking at your progress. We need to
get rid of goals that no longer serve a purpose and replace them with ones that work better. You can
also change your vision if something comes up that relates in some way to the original goal. Life
happens, and none of us has absolute control over everything happening around us.
B. Strategic management
Strategic management is a detailed set of ongoing activities and procedures that organizations use
within an organization boundary to systematically organize and align resources and actions with
mission, vision, and strategy.
In response to a corporate business initiative, strategic systems are information systems that are
created. They are built to give the company a competitive advantage. They may offer a lower cost,
differentiated product or service that focuses on a specific consumer segment, or is creative.
1. Activities for Strategic Management
Strategic management activities turn the static plan into a framework that provides decision-
making with strategic performance input and allows the plan to adapt and develop as requirements
and other factors change. Strategy execution is generally synonymous with the structured execution
of a strategy with strategy management practices.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
5
2. Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is based on establishing a long-term plan to achieve a specified mission, through
the attainment of objectives set. These objectives provide empirical information that the strategy is
working. A strategic plan looks out over an extended time horizon, three to five years or more. The
plan establishes where the business is currently, where management wants to go, how they will get
there and how they will know when they have arrived.
3. Short-term Operational Planning
Within every long-term strategic plan there is a short-term operational plan. The purpose of
operations is to generate or create value. Operations management is responsible for creating value by
achieving the various objectives set forth in the strategic plan.
4. Benefits of Strategic and Short-term Planning
In some instances, companies are very good at articulating or designing a strategic plan but fail to
execute a short-term operational plan, which comprises the toolkit required to achieve the strategic
plan. Likewise, having short-term plans without a long-term strategy results in a lack of direction or
focus as to the corporate vision and values of the company.
5. Successful Business Management
Both long-term strategic and short-term operational planning are important to the future success of
any organization. Focusing and implementing a strategic plan fails to account for the operational
factors necessary in the short term to achieve the objectives of the company in the long term.
Without a tactical short-term plan, operations management is unable to identify the milestones that
are important to achieving the overall strategy set forth in the business plan.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
6
QUESTION 4: DISCUSS THE BENEFITS OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT.
ANSWER:
A. Benefits of Strategic Management
Strategic management essentially means the implementation and formulation of various strategies to
achieve the goals of the company. This is the detailed initiative that is taken by the top management;
these strategic decisions are taken based on available resources; they also take into consideration the
effects of the external and internal environment on their decisions.
 Financial Benefits;
 Non-Financial Benefits:
 Important Information
 Discharges Board Responsibility
 Forces An Objective Assessment
 Provides a Framework for Decision-Making
 Supports Understanding & Buy-In
 Enables Measurement of Progress
 Provides an Organizational Perspective
There are many benefits of strategic management and they include identification, prioritization, and
exploration of opportunities. For instance, newer products, newer markets, and newer forays into
business lines are only possible if firms indulge in strategic planning. Next, strategic management
allows firms to take an objective view of the activities being done by it; and, do a cost-benefit
analysis as to whether the firm is profitable.
Just to differentiate, by this, we do not mean the financial benefits alone (which would be discussed
below); but, also the assessment of profitability that has to do with evaluating whether the business is
strategically aligned to its goals and priorities.
The key point to note here is that strategic management allows a firm to orient itself to its market and
consumers; and, ensure that it is actualizing the right strategy.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
7
1] Financial Benefits;
It has been shown in many studies that firms that engage in strategic management are more
profitable; and, successful than those that do not have the benefit of strategic planning and strategic
management.
When firms engage in forwarding looking planning and careful evaluation of their priorities, they
have control over the future; which is necessary for the fast-changing business landscape of the 21st
century.
It has been estimated that more than 100,000 businesses fail in the US every year and most of these
failures are to do with a lack of strategic focus and strategic direction. Further, high performing firms
tend to make more informed decisions; because they have considered both the short-term and long-
term consequences and hence, have oriented their strategies accordingly. In contrast, firms that do
not engage themselves in meaningful strategic planning are often bogged down by internal problems
and lack of focus that leads to failure.
2] Non-Financial Benefits:
The section above discussed some of the tangible benefits of strategic management. Apart from these
benefits, firms that engage in strategic management are more aware of external threats; an improved
understanding of competitor strengths and weaknesses and increased employee productivity. They
also have a lesser resistance to change and a clear understanding of the link between performance
and rewards.
The key aspect of strategic management is that the problem solving and problem preventing
capabilities of the firms enhance through strategic management. Strategic management is essential as
it helps firms to rationalize change and actualize change; and, communicate the need to change better
to their employees. Finally, strategic management helps in bringing order and discipline to the
activities of the firm in both internal processes and external activities.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
8
3] Important Information
In recent years, virtually all firms have realized the importance of strategic management. However,
the key difference between those who succeed and those who fail is how strategic management is
done and strategic planning is carried out makes the difference between success and failure. Of
course, there are still firms that do not engage in strategic planning or where the planners do not
receive support from management. As well as, These firms ought to realize the benefits of strategic
management and ensure their longer-term viability and success in the marketplace.
The Advantages of Strategic Management;
The following advantages below are
1] Discharges Board Responsibility;
The first reason that most organizations state for having a strategic management process is that it
discharges the responsibility of the Board of Directors.
2] Forces an Objective Assessment;
Strategic management provides a discipline that enables the board; and, senior management to take a
step back from the day-to-day business to think about the future of the organization. Without this
discipline, the organization can become solely consumed with working through the next issue or
problem without consideration of the larger picture.
3] Provides a Framework For Decision-Making;
The strategy provides a framework within which all staff can make day-to-day operational decisions;
and, understand that those decisions are all moving the organization in a single direction. It is not
possible (nor realistic or appropriate) for the board to know all the decisions the executive director
will have to make, nor is it possible (nor realistic or practical) for the executive director to know all
the decisions the staff will make
The strategy provides a vision of the future, confirms the purpose and values of an organization, sets
objectives, clarifies threats and opportunities, determines methods to leverage strengths, and mitigate
weaknesses (at a minimum). As such, it sets a framework and clear boundaries within which

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
9
decisions can be made. Also, the cumulative effect of these decisions (which can add up to thousands
over the year) can have a significant impact on the success of the organization. Providing a
framework within which the executive director and staff can make these decisions helps them better
focus their efforts on those things that will best support the organization’s success.
4] Supports Understanding & Buy-In
Allowing the board and staff participation in the strategic discussion enables them to better
understand the direction; why that direction was chosen, and the associated benefits. For some
people simply knowing is enough; for many people, to gain their full support requires them to
understand.
5] Enables Measurement of Progress
A strategic management process forces an organization to set objectives and measures of success.
Also, the set of measures of success requires that the organization first determine; what is critical to
its ongoing success and then force the establishment of objectives and keeps; these critical measures
in front of the board and senior management.
6] Provides an Organizational Perspective
Addressing operational issues rarely looks at the whole organization and the interrelatedness of its
varying components. Strategic management takes an organizational perspective and looks at all the
components and the interrelationship between those components to develop a strategy that is optimal
for the whole organization and not a single component.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
10
QUESTION 5: HOW WILL YOU RELATE OPERATING PLAN TO BUSINESS
STRATEGY? EXPLAIN.
ANSWER:
Conventional wisdom has it that first, you build the strategic plan including the Vision, the Mission,
and the Focus Areas of the company, and then comes the operational plan.The latter connects the
front-line projects with the long-term vision of the business. These are the two distinct steps to create
a practical map of the company’s destination. However, this doesn’t work really well in a world that
changes at an accelerating pace. Organizations need a better process to keep up with the market
changes. There is a better way.
A. Operational Planning
Operational planning is the company-wide design of the projects and activities that align with the
strategic priorities, these should be completed within a specified time constraint. In other words, an
operational plan outlines the execution of your strategic plan.
B. The 3 key traits of an effective operational plan
1. Company-wide
Your operational plan must include the activities of every team or department that contributes to the
implementation of your strategy.
Although delegating to them the outline of their own operational plans and budgets is a good idea,
you must incorporate every single one of those individual plans into the overall business plan.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
11
This isn’t easy in large organizations with dozens of regions, departments and teams. Tools like
excel are stretched to their limits to try and meet that demand. And even then, the job is like a
medium-rare steak, not well done.
2. Transparent
Operational plans are detailed. They break down goals and objectives into projects and daily
activities. They include all the metrics and KPIs that you need to track with the values they need to
reach.
An effective operational plan is easy to navigate and provides a clear overview of the overall
progress. That’s because it serves two main functions at the same time.
1. It keeps the workforce accountable to its commitments and assigned goals. Management can
easily keep track of the progress and prevent slip-ups from becoming pitfalls.
2. It informs people’s decisions. It’s clear to read, easy to find the requested information and
provides consistent priorities and context on the things that matter most.
These two functions separate the effective operational plans from the badly executed ones.
3. Aligned
The sole purpose of an operational plan is to make the strategic objectives a reality. Creating a
regional or departmental operational plan that doesn’t align with the long-term goals and objectives
of the organization’s strategic objectives costs time and money.
It takes up resources and splits the company’s efforts towards two distinct destinations. Aligning
daily operations with the company’s long-term vision and strategic goals is the toughest challenge
large corporations face for two main reasons.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
12
First, the tools that most companies use are ineffective. Sheets and slides lack the dynamic properties
to align actions and metrics with objectives and goals.
C. Business Strategy Vs Operational Planning
1. The problem with the conventional way of planning is that strategy and operations happen
separately and then, somehow, they have to be combined and in total sync.
2. The problem, they rarely blend together well, especially in large organizations. For example, the
operational plan doesn’t change fast enough to reflect a shift in strategic priorities.
3. On the other hand, you might be unable to overview your operations quickly and easily to
determine whether your strategy is actually performing or not.
a. They are one and the same
1. Don’t view your strategic and operational plans as two separate entities. It’s that specific
assumption that creates the gap between strategy planning and executing.
2. And that gap disrupts the connection both ways. Your daily operations don’t align with your
high-level strategic objectives and the insights from the front line don’t inform the strategic
process.
3. This wasn’t a serious problem when senior management had access to the front line and its
workforce. But now, things are different. Organizations operate in multiple time zones and
leadership rarely interacts with the consumer.
4. How can sheets and slides coordinate 1,000, 5,000 or 100,000 employees around the globe?
How can leadership develop transparency and accountability when they don’t have an up-to-date
view of the situation?

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
13
5. It’s impossible with static tools. Your strategy and operational plan must exist together in a
dynamic digital environment like Cascade to bridge that gap.
Strategy informs and guides daily operations and, in turn, day-to-day activities ground the strategic
plan to reality.
D. Operational Business Plan
Many things go into developing an effective operational plan, from choosing the right KPIs to track
to assigning clear responsibilities and realistic but challenging deadlines. Here we will focus on the
two things that enable you to build a transparent operational plan that aligns with your business
goals.
1. Build regular, instant reporting
1. The purpose of creating a strategic plan is to predict, detect, initiate and lead changes in the
market. Executing that plan leverages those changes by aligning the efforts across your
organization.
2. It’s impossible to achieve alignment without a commitment to regular reviewing. That’s one of
the benefits of merging your strategic and operational plan in a dynamic digital environment.
You get to assess their performance much more easily.
3. Build a recurring reviewing habit on every organizational level. Schedule weekly meetings to
assess the progress of your KPIs and projects in the front line and monthly meetings to address
higher-level metrics and priorities.
That’s how you’ll see actual results like improved accountability and focused execution.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
14
To make that habit stick, though, you’ll need to make it frictionless. For example, minimize the time
it takes to build reports. Determine beforehand the metrics and measures you’ll be discussing and
automate reporting using KPI report templates.
3. Make it executable = accountable + focused
1. An effective operational plan is aligned with the strategic initiatives, but most importantly, it is
executable.
2. Improve the effectiveness of your operational plan by increasing your people’s accountability
and focus. Here are two specific tactics you can implement:
3. Define one specific owner for every project, KPI, goal or objective in your plan. That person
will be responsible for the timely completion of the item. They might have contributors and a
team working to achieve it, but they’ll be the ones responsible for its progress.
4. Expose your plan to everyone. Enable your people to access it whenever they need it to inform
their decisions and work on what matters most. This goes beyond doing some strategy
presentations and provides the context of the plan as well.
E. Operational Plan Example
1. In this example, each strategic focus is populated with a set of objectives and each objective
cascades into more goals, projects and KPIs.
2. Notice how every objective has a specific end date and every metric has a specific value to reach
and an owner. This is the amount of detail you want in your operational plan.
3. However, you can’t fit all the regional and departmental plans into that view. You can (and
should), though, connect them with your top-level objectives and Focus Areas of your strategic
plan.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
15
4. So, what does a merged strategic and operational plan look like? Like this:
5. For example, create a tree-like representation that visualizes the connections between the plans
and their progress in simple status updates. Here is an example of how you can achieve this in
the Cascade Tree:
6. The purpose of having a dynamic digital environment for your strategy and operations is to
facilitate overviewing and reduce the number of tools that go into the process.
7. A static graph that outlines how the departmental plans align but doesn’t display in real-time
their progress brings little to no value.
8. What is the point of having three projects and their respective KPIs contributing to one parent
KPI if updating the children doesn’t automatically update the parent KPI?
9. Digitizing your operational plan deals with these time-consuming activities and brings all the
information into one place.
F. Important Points
To adapt to this rapidly changing world, you need to build an operational plan with two qualities.
The first is responsiveness to changes in the organization’s strategic priorities. The second is to
inform senior leadership about opportunities or setbacks at the front line.
 Strategic and operational planning must align
 They shouldn’t happen separately. They are different sides of the same coin.
 You need automated and regular reporting to assess its performance
 Make it executable by defining ownership and exposing it to your peop

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
16
1. QUESTION 5: THE ESSENCE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING IS TO HELP A
COMPANY DEVELOP AND SUSTAIN ADVANTAGE IN THE MARKETPLACE
THROUGH UNIQUE RESOURCES, AGILITY, SUPERIOR PRODUCTS AND/OR
SUPERIOR SERVICE. DISCUSS.
ANSWER
Every business needs to goal-oriented having a certain and specific set of aims and objectives. It is
quite vital to have goals, aims, and objectives as it helps the organization to keep the cash registers
ringing and attain the pinnacle of growth and success. And with all the attributes and ethics to the
formulated and followed, it is quite crucial for the management of the firm to embrace the facet of
strategic planning.
It helps the firm accomplish all its long term and short term goals keeping the
work environment positive and elevate the levels of profits and sales.
1) It gives a sense of direction to the entire team of the organization:
It is very significant for the management and the key employees of the firm to realize and follow the
Importance of Strategic Planning as many a time with the increased work pressures and the rage of
satisfying the customer demands and meeting the stringent deadlines, the company loses its way
from the actual aims and objectives.
And it also results in the employees working on the futile tasks and there is no proper utilization of
the resources. And with embracing the aspect of strategic planning, each and every member of the
team gets a sense of direction and knows where to head with a properly framed plan in mind and
hand. It is quite imperative to have a long term vision for the organization to grow at the
marketplace.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
17
2) Competitive edge in the market:
An organization with a plan in hand and a strategy in mind and place accomplishes its goals and
objectives before its contemporaries in the market gaining a competitive edge and advantage.
Strategic planning involves studying the market conditions, researching about the next moves of the
competitors, coming up with the innovative product ideas, and keeping the customers happy and
satisfied with the various means and measures.
And all of it results in the firm marching ahead amidst the tough and ever growing competition from
the existing as well as new players in the market.
3) Innovation:
As discussed in the earlier point, understanding the Importance of Strategic Planning and following
it, the firm comes up with the products and services that are high on the aspects of innovation and
novelty. As with the strategic planning and inputs from the internal team, external parties, and
experts; the firm plans and strategizes its next line of offerings that are unique and exclusive in the
market and is sure to elevate the sales, profit margins, and brand value.
4) It makes the organization proactive in nature:
Realizing the Importance of Strategic Planning helps the organization to be more proactive rather
than being reactive to the forthcoming issues and problems in attaining the goals and objectives.
Whilst accomplishing all the short term and long term objectives, problems and issues are bound to
arise and when the firm follows the fundamentals of strategic planning, it becomes more proactive as
it envisions and foresees the problems arriving. Hence, the management along with the key members
of the team take corrective measures well before time ironing out the issues much before they
hamper the brand value and profits of the firm.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
18
5) Elevates productivity and operational efficiency:
With the proper strategy and plan in hand and mind, there is an increase in the levels of productivity
and operational efficiency of the entire firm. The team knows and understands all the tasks in hand
and how to attain them in the most efficient and effective manner. A properly and aptly formulated
strategic plan works like a blueprint or a roadmap for the firm to attain its objectives. It also helps to
maintain harmony with the members of the department and inter-departments along with the positive
and healthy working atmosphere.
6) Higher sales and profits:
When the firm follows the Importance of Strategic Planning in each of its business facets
and operations, it is swiftly moving towards accomplishing the aim of higher sales and profits.
As it is a universal fact that all the strategic planning and measures are undertaken by the firm to not
only enhance its brand value in the market but also give a push to sales and profits to keep the cash
registers ringing and stay relevant in the market amidst tough competition carving a niche for itself.
7) Keeps the employees motivated:
As mentioned above, following the route of strategic planning helps the firm get a sense of direction
and the employees are well aware and apprised on how to attain the assigned short term and long
term objectives. And when they are given the tasks and responsibilities as per their expertise and
professional qualification along with the proper rewards, they feel highly motivated and strive their
level best to accomplish the same in the most efficient manner.
8) Attracts financial investors:
The firm keeps on requiring the financial investments and funds from the outside parties such as
banks, private equities, and financial investors in order to expand its business by offering the new
and novel range of products and services for the customers. And it can attract good investors and
banks only if it has a proper strategic plan and map in hand.

Dr Vidya Sagar J
Roll no: 118509
19
As outside parties will only instil their trust and faith in the organization if it has a strong legacy of
strategic planning plus has the future plan ready as well. They are solely interested in their return on
investment and profit generation.
9) Minimizes risk:
Each and every business and industry domain has to work with the factor of risk in hand. But if the
firm realizes and follows the Importance of Strategic Planning and makes every move understanding
the nuances and intricacies, the factor of risk is minimal. It helps the firm to envision and foresee the
bottlenecks and problems that may arise in the near future and take corrective measures beforehand.
CONCLUSION:
For the firm to grow and expand its business operations, it is very crucial to understand and follow
the Importance of Strategic Planning
COMPLETED

Stratergic Managment - Second Semester - exm_44568 Dr Vidya Sagar NIBM Global, SEM - II, MBA ( AI) Roll no 118509.pdf

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Stratergic Managment - Second Semester - exm_44568 Dr Vidya Sagar NIBM Global, SEM - II, MBA ( AI) Roll no 118509.pdf

Similar to Stratergic Managment - Second Semester - exm_44568 Dr Vidya Sagar NIBM Global, SEM - II, MBA ( AI) Roll no 118509.pdf (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Stratergic Managment - Second Semester - exm_44568 Dr Vidya Sagar NIBM Global, SEM - II, MBA ( AI) Roll no 118509.pdf