Strategy

Definition of:

A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. The word strategy has military connotations, because it derives from the Greek word for general.

Strategy is the mean or the tool by which objectives are consciously and systematically pursued and obtained over time.

A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. Strategy is different from method. In military terms, tactic is concerned with the conduct of an engagement while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked. In other words, how a battle is fought is a matter of tactics: the terms that it is fought on and whether it should be fought at all is a matter of strategy.

Q.1 Strategic and operating causes

morita realized the importance of the american market during his trip thats where he decided the stategy for his compamny to devlope company market outside japan to capture the most important market in the world.

Objective of stretegy

objective was to capture the most important market in the world to gain more reputation in out side market,first he decided to change companys name from ttkkk to sony which became barnd name later on.

• first objective was to increse the globalisation to capture the important markets in the world and be more localised.
• sony appointed the mangement team that was well and truely capable in thier work.
• sony open their first office in 1960 to control the export and distribution of its product to get more control and hold in the target market and from the export of radios, magnetic tapes they received more then 50 % of their revenues.
• sony invested in r & d to keep the balance between production and sales that they can produce the right amount of product according to demand.
• sony opened their first manufacturing plant in 1970 which started producing colour television which gave them a significant rise in sales beacuse everything was avilable to customres lacally in america
• during 1970 soony had been able to grow and profit as a manufaturerer of small consumer electronic goods compare to other companies its invenstment was modest in areas out side of consumer products,such as semiconductor and computers. (ref: http://www.sony.net/fun/sh/1-36/h1.html)

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Q.2 Sony to Sustain in Current operational period.

• Have to increase its R&D and bring new innovation because first mover may gain advantages in building distribution channel, in typing up spesilaized suppliers or in gaining the attention of customer.
• SONY needs to have more specialized forienger management team with the hope that the outsider will assist.
• SONY should implement more efficient and effective strategies to gain more strength in the market.
• open more distribution channels in the world specailly in europe and america.
• SONY to sustain in the market should advertize its product more to the general masses.
• SONY should maintain its quality standard.
• SONY to sustain in the market should cope with new technology and start proucing the product according to the trends of the markets.

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Q.3(a)

A Company strategy and A Business strategy

A Company strategy:-

In Simple term,

It is company aims in general and the way its hopes to achive them.

The direction of an organization takes with the objective of achiving business success in the long term. The formulation of company startegy involes establishing the purpose and the scope of the organization activities and the nature of the business it is in taking the enviorment in which it operate its position in market palce and competetion it faces tion corporate palnnig and busiiness plan are use to implement company strategy.

A Business Strategy:

Long-term approach to implementing a firm’s business plans to achieve its business objectives. OR

A course of action, including the specification of resources required, to achieve a specific objective.

Business strtegy is a term used in business plannig that imples a careful selection and appilication of resource to obtain a copetative futre events or trends.

Business strategy is concern more with how a business complete successfully in a particular market it concern strategic decesion about choice of product meeting needs of customers, gaing advanteges over competetors expoliting or creating new oppourtunitiesetc.

The simplest is by developing slightly different offerings, perhaps to target slightly different markets from those it serves at the moment or to meet more precisely the needs a sub-segment of existing customers examples include:

1.Mcdonald’s introduction of the bigger Big Mac, targeted at existing customers with above average appetites in order to increase their spend at McDonald’s .

2. Sony’s induction of a range of LCD TV’s.

Q.3 (b)

Global strategy:

Global strategy as defined in business terms is an organization’s strategic guide to globalization. A sound global strategy should address these questions: what must be (versus what is) the extent of market presence in the world’s major markets? How to build the necessary global presence? What must be (versus what is) the optimal locations around the world for the various value chain activities? How to run global presence into global competitive advantage?

A global strategy may be appropriate in industries where firms are faced with strong pressures for cost reduction but with weak pressures for local responsiveness. Therefore, it allows these firms to sell a standardized product worldwide. However, fixed costs (capital equipment) are substantial. Nevertheless, these firms are able to take advantage of scale economies and experience curve effects, because it is able to mass-produce a standard product which can be exported (providing that demand is greater than the costs involved).

Global strategies require firms to tightly coordinate their product and pricing strategies across international markets and locations, and therefore firms that pursue a global strategy are typically highly centralized

Characteristics of sony global stratege

Morita co-founder of sony wants to make his copmany successful all around the global for that.he use a global strategy and its charecteics are as follows.

when he went to usa he found that the american market is the better target market than the japanes market for electronic conusemers.so he decided to implement the strategy than can give him a significant.

sony not only target american market but also keep note of the importance of the other markets in the world.

sony status making it item locally so that it can achieve a balance in sales and production. sony makes item that are local to that market.sony starts his R&D local so that sony can achive a better result in that part of local market,because differnet part of world got different consumeres and got different needs and satisfaction point.

sony has given such innovation and quality in their product that customers can be satisfied.this strategy was adopted all over the world by sony.

Q.4:

Corporate planning and strategic planning

Corporate Panning

Is concerned with an organization’s basic direction for the future: its purpose,its ambitions, its resources and how it interacts with the world in which it operates’

1. Involves decisions about the organization as whole.
2. defines the activities of the organization and structure.

The process of drawing up detailed action plans to achieve an organization’s goals and objectives, taking into account the resources of the organization and the environment within which it operates. Corporate planning represents a formal, structured approach to achieving objectives and to implementing the corporate strategy of an organization. It has traditionally been seen as the responsibility of senior management. The use of the term became predominant during the 1960s but has now been largely superseded by the concept of strategic management.

Strategic Planning.

A fundamental pattern of present and planned objectives, resource deployments and interactions of an organization with markets, competitors, and other environmental factors.

• Strategic Planning process.
• Mission & Objectives.
• Environment Scanning.
• Strategy Formulation.
• Strategy Implementation.
• Evaluation & Control.

Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ) and PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis (Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors) and EPISTEL (Environment, Political, Informatic, Social, Technological, Economic and Legal).

Corporate planing consist of objectives, aims and strategies of any organization on the other hand Strategic planning will give us direction how to take the right decisions at the right time to achieve these aims, objectives and strategies.

Example of Corporate planning.

Corporate Planning of IBM.

For decades IBM’s corporate, bussiness, and marketing strategies were all very successful. By the mid – 1990s, however, several of IBM’s traditional businesses were in trouble.The company’s share of the worldwide PC market fell to about 8 percent in 1990, third behind Dell and Compaq. Worse, the firm’s Pc business was projected to lose $400 million, on top of a $1 billion loss in 1998.

A New Corproate Strategy.

when Lou Gerstner took over as IBM’s chief executive in 1994, he and a task force of other executives, including many from the marketing and sales ranks, reexamined all the firms businesses, customer segments, competitors, and potential competitors. Thier Conclusion : the internet would change everything. They foresaw that ‘ The real leadership in the [ information technolgy] industry was moving away from the creartion of technology to the application of the technology,’ says Gerstner. ‘The explosive growth is in service.’ Further ‘ We concluded that this[the internet] was not an information superhighway. This was all about business, doing transaction, not looking up information’.

consequenty, IBM’s top excutives began to refocus the corporate mission,de-emphasising the development and manufacture of high-tech hardware while increasing the emphasis on providing customers with e-business engineering,software, and outsourcing services.to leverage the firm’s existing competencies and its long-term relationships with its traditional customers, many of the new services the firm developed concentrate on helping large, brick- and – mortar firms (1) hook old corporate databases (often on mainframes)into new online systems, (2) integrate web technology into their internal business processes to improve efficiency, and (3) develop and run company websites.for instance, lego, the danish toy manufacturer, pays IBM to run its entire Web operation, including contracting with the danish post office to handle shipping.

but the corporation has also expanded the scope of both its new service and old hard-ware businesses to embrace smaller customers. for example, in 2002 the firm released scaled-down version of its database,email, and network management software that are easier to maintain and up to 80 per cent cheaper than its standard versions. IBM also announced a partnership with J.D edwards & co. in which the provider of tech services to midsized companies will base its entire software menu on IBM programs.