Strategic Alignment - Business Plan Example

Company XY: Providing a Holistic and In-depth Strategic Business Alignment Plan Section and Submitted I. This report aims to provide a holistic and in-depth strategic business alignment plan for Company XY, an agency that has been created from the merging of Agency X and Agency Y. Specifically, this report intends to focus on the role of leadership in the formation of the Company’s vision and mission, which are both crucial in the establishment of a distinct company culture. From an operational perspective, I wish to point out that a well-established culture can deeply influence the agency in its day-to-day business endeavors. In the end, this report illustrates the importance of leadership before, during, and after the merging of two agencies. II. Content Analysis A. Content Analysis Approach As tackled in great detail by Braun and Clark (2006), content analysis is the “method for identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns (themes) within data” (p. 79). The determination and examination of thematic patterns, however, must be done through the guidance of a specific research approach to ensure that such data help in reinforcing the primary thesis of the study. Going back to the study of Company XY, I would like to divide my discussion into two: first, a description of the primary research thesis in connection to interrelated research questions; and second, an explanation of the research approach. 1. Research Thesis and Research Questions My entire study is hinged on the thesis that strategic leadership in branding and advertising agencies is essential not only in the crafting of the company’s short-term and long-term goals, but also in the shaping of the company’s overall culture. Such thesis presupposes two major arguments (which I shall discuss in detail later on): Strategic leadership emanates from the agency’s senior management team, as headed by the CEO; and Strategic leadership is needed to guarantee the effectiveness of business alignment plans after the merging of two companies In this light, I want to reveal the three research questions which will serve as my outline for this study: a) How vital is leadership in a branding and advertising agency from an industrial perspective? b) What kind of leadership does the Company XY have and how does this guide the company’s business operations? c) What role did certain leadership styles play before, during, and after the merging of the agencies X and Y? 2. Research Approach At this point, I want to underscore that the aforementioned research questions strongly shaped the research approach used in this study. As regards the overall methodology, an inductive approach was used in order to verify the study’s main thesis. This means that I have already come up with a viewpoint or an outlook on the role of leadership before, during, and after the merging of agencies X and Y. To reinforce this perspective, six one-on-one interviews were conducted in order to glean pertinent insights on the said topic. The flow of questioning was patterned after the research questions to keep the discussion focused. B. Coding Process Details As stated by Braun and Clark (2006), codes have an important part to play in content analysis as they “identify a feature of the data (semantic content or latent) that appears interesting to the analyst, and refer to ‘the most basic segment, or element, of the raw data or information that can be assessed in a meaningful way regarding the phenomenon” (p.88). Thus, after the interview results have been gathered, I grouped the data in accordance with these codes: (a) ideal role of leaders in an advertising or branding company; (b) positive and negative leadership styles in company X & Y and their effects on the employees; and (c) significance of leadership before, during, and after the merging process. Therefore, the codes used could be summarized as follows: Thesis: Strategic leadership in branding and advertising agencies is essential not only in the crafting of the company’s short-term and long-term goals, but also in the shaping of the company’s overall culture. Methodology: Six one-on-one interviews on employees of Company XY. Themes Codes Ideal role of leaders in an advertising or branding company - Develops strategic goals for the company. - Aligns the overall business process in relation to the companys mission and vision, - Inspires the employees in developing extra mile performance through caring service Leadership styles in company X & Y - Effects of positive and negative leadership styles to the formation of the companys mission and vision - Effects of positive and negative leadership styles to employee performance Role of Leadership in Merger Situation -Characteristics of good leadership Exhibit A: Coding Process Details. C. Analysis and Interpretation Summary To ensure succinctness in the presentation and analysis of my data, I have divided this part according to the three themes previously stated. 1. Ideal Role of Leaders in Advertising or Branding Company Most of the interviewees reckon that strong and effective leadership styles are crucial in the development and attainment of strategic goals for any company. Great leaders, as posited by interviewee 1, are those who lead by example. Indeed, plans can only be regarded as successful one they get translated into actual business practices. This characteristic, therefore, requires leaders to be visionary. They must, in this regard, be able to look at the company’s present and future endeavors. As interviewee 1 described a great leader, he is “somebody who sets the direction of the agency and communicates that.” Such ability to set directions for the company can only be attained through an in-depth understanding of the advertising and branding industry. Indeed, a great CEO of an advertising or branding company must always have a good grasp of the current and upcoming trends in technology, social media, and cultural evolutions. Since the goal of any branding or advertising agency is to develop brand campaigns that are creative, strategic, and effective to the target market, knowledge of social media trends, technological innovations, changes in purchase behaviors and consumer preferences, and technological breakthroughs are very much needed. In addition to these two attributes, good leaders are also results-driven and very structured as regards the agency’s main business operations and division of tasks. They are often good communicators, and are able to find ways to always keep the mid-level employees updated on the happenings in the company. In this regard, as Interviewee 4 discussed it, “I think it would be better if the top down communicated a bit better to everyone, so in terms of like, just daft things like new business pitches making the floor aware that they are going on.” Through this part, it could be concluded that a great leader is someone who is a visible and accessible character to employees. Such qualities are important for they reinforce the leaders’ commitment to realizing the goals of the company. In effect, a visible and accessible character assures the employees that they are in the right track. 2. Leadership styles in Company XY When asked about their opinions on the leadership styles being employed in Company XY, interviewees 4, 5, and 6 gave positive feedbacks while the rest gave negative ones. As for the positive responses, most interviewees believed that flat structure allows for a more open and more dynamic flow of ideas within the company. This means that the members of the top management team are accessible to middle- and low-level employees. As interviewee 4 further commented, “I personally feel that I can e-mail the CEO guy just literally really informally. And it’s really nice, I think sometimes the middle level senior people, I think, sometimes think they are a bit bigger than they are but generally its quite a good flat structure that works very well I think compared to other agencies.” In this regard, such type of structure could be linked to the kind of leadership in an advertising agency. Indeed, if the top management team is visible and accessible to the company, it means that the members have adopted a flat structure of business operations. And this has an effect on the type of culture that an advertising agency will have. Apart from its effect on the strategic alignment of business goals, a leadership style that is personal and open could prove to be beneficial in attaining good working environment for the employees, which can heavily affect their performance. As interviewee 5 stated, “I think it is very much everyday these people wants to hear your opinion, your thoughts, anything that they can try and do better. They obviously have a challenge with a quite large department and try to keep everybody happy but it is made very clear that the work they do kind of internally with the management team is to try and create the best career experience for everybody.” In this context, a good working environment helps in not only attaining the business targets set for the company, but also ensuring that the employees are professionally and socially fulfilled with their jobs. This is crucial especially in an industry that has high turnovers. 3. Role of Leadership during a Merger Situation Almost all of the interviewees shared common views on the role of leaders during a merger situation, as based on their personal experience with Company XY. As interviewee 5 stated, before the merging happened, members of the top management maintained transparency on the strategic movements in the company: “they try to make it clear that the people involved in making that decision and kind of starting to implement the merger. Got the chance to speak to all the employees was kind of relevant to make sure that you know the average employee understood the impact understood what this was going to mean from a positive point of view.” Thus, while decision-making process is usually done by the top management people, it is still vital to recognize the opinions and thoughts of middle management people for they could also provide insights from an operational perspective (since they are the ones who usually carry out the big changes in the company”. Furthermore, it can be claimed that transparency can only be attained by truthful, succinct, and simple communication to all employees involved. This entails the clear setting of the following details: Alignment on changes in terms of the company’s mission, vision, and business operations (i.e. how the company’s newly-formed culture could impact on day-to-day agency operations); Alignment on the changes in the roles in the company (i.e. job shifts and lay-offs) Alignment on the professional and technical support that will be provided during and after the big merge D. Content Analysis Experience With the main themes laid down, it is necessary to emphasize three key learning points that I have realized during the data gathering and analysis phase of this study. Firstly, the choice of the inductive approach helped me in maintaining clarity in terms of analyzing the obtained data in relation to my overall thesis. Secondly, the codes that I have created helped in arriving at deeper insights on the role of leadership in merger situations. Lastly, interpretation of data must always be done in connection to a bigger context (in my study, knowledge of the advertising industry and the nature of business operations of an advertising agency are important). III. Business Proposal: Strategic Alignment of Company XY At this point, it is obligatory to underscore that leaders truly have a bsignificant role to fill in not only assessing the business implications of a merger decision, but also in effectively communicating and getting the support of the mid- and low-level employees with regard to this direction. With this, there is a diagram which will capture all the relevant points that I wish to underline: Exhibit B: Strategic Leadership as the Core of Strategic Business Alignment A. Strategic Leadership: Creating Strategic Decisions to Realize the Strategic Goals The above statement encapsulates the vitality of strategic leadership in the creation of decisions that are necessary to keep the business of Company XY up and running. In actuality, strategic decisions are usually done by the members of the company’s top management for they have a wider and much deeper understanding of the company’s business operations, as well as the trends in the industry where the company participates in. In this regard, a merger decision can be deemed as a function of strategic leadership if it is aligned to the overall goals and directions for the company. As for the merging of Agency X and Agency Y, the possible reasons behind this could be: (1) attaining better business operations; (2) capturing bigger market share (in the context of acquiring more clients); and (3) enhancing the reputation of the companies to be merged. B. Role of the Leader of Company XY As observed throughout my content analysis, effective leadership styles are vital during and after merge situations. For the next part of this report, I shall provide specific ways on how strategic leadership could be carried out in the newly merged Company XY. 1. The Needed Attributes of the CEO of Company XY The success of the newly-merged Company XY will always be hinged on the kind of leadership style of its CEO. For this matter, I recommend the use of value-based leadership in order to drive positive change to the company. As Stahl (2004) described the role of the leader in a merging situation, “the CEO must espouse visionary, or value-based, leadership. In this kind of leadership the leader reinforces the values inherent in the organization’s vision and exhibits characteristics such as articulating a clear and appealing vision; using strong, expressive forms of communication to do so; displaying strong self confidence and confidence in the attainment of the vision; communicating high expectations for followers and confidence in their abilities; role-modeling behaviors that emphasize and reinforce the values inherent in the vision; and empowering people to achieve the vision (p. 5)”. Value-based leadership, furthermore, needs transformational leaders in order to work. As Hussain, Amir and Rehman (2011) explained, a transformational leader focuses on his commitment to nurture lasting relationships with the employees while at the same time maintain the proper integration of the two agencies to be merged. Thus, a transformational leader must take the lead in “building bonds with employees of both the officer’s own company and the merging counterpart in order to demonstrate clear intentions of partnership and cooperation” (Shambon, 2009, p.89). Gadlesh, Buchanan, Daniell and Ormiston (2002) also shared the same belief when they defined a transformational leader as visionary, cheerleader, closer, captain, and crusader. 2. Alignment of the Company XY’s Vision, Mission and Culture At this point, it can be stated that the success of the merging of Agency X and Agency Y is highly dependent on the clear integration of their cultures. The CEO, in this light, can exhibit value-based leadership by ensuring that the culture of the newly merged Company XY remains intact. A company culture, as Hammer and Falik (2004) defined, is a “…pattern of shared basic assumptions that a group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (p.3). Indeed, the success of Company XY will be determined by the proper alignment between the companies’ cultures. As Able (2007) further commented, “a highly productive business invariably has a high-performing organizational culture that aligns well both internally and externally to support the overall objectives of the business” (p.3). 3. Enhanced Business Operations Aside from determining the new culture of Company XY, the leader must also spearhead the drafting of new business operations. As Able (2007) further explained, “successful post-merger integration demands significant change on the part of both the acquiring and the acquired organization. The acquirer creates boundary disruptions — changes in stated goals, strategies, ways of doing things and customs. The acquirer also must deploy control mechanisms to manage transformational change and achieve the strategic goals that drove the M&A in the first place” (p.2). Indeed, the exacerbation of disruptions in the newly merged Company XY must be viewed in relation to its effects on the employees (for they determine the services to be offered). Thus, Archer (2007) rightfully claimed, “the impact of an intensive change program is directly proportional to the effect that it has on individuals, teams, divisions and the organizations involved” (p.22). 4. Employee Empowerment through Strategic Plans In all of these decisions, top management of Company XY must embark on mentoring programs in order to communicate the nature of the merging process, as well as its relevant effects on the employees’ roles in the company. As Triple Cheek Associates (2007) added, “organizations should plan to launch a combination of high-profile, broad-based, self-directed mentoring programs that target often ignored middle leadership and management personnel, as well as some smaller, well-targeted mentoring initiatives focused on senior leaders or core knowledge transfer needs. Such a method could be a central part of an overall approach to addressing the need to unify culture, build relationships, and transfer knowledge without falling to the extremes of the power-based or passive approaches” ( p. 10). Such plan could be carried more effectively by the HR department of Company XY (Corporate Executive Board, 2006). Reference List Able, R., (2007). The Importance of Leadership and Culture to M&A Success. [Online]. Human Capital Institute. Available at: [Accessed 1 January 2012]. Archer, D., 2007. Mergers and Acquisitions: Change, Culture and the “Leaderful” Organization. [Online]. Leadership Trust. Available at: [Accessed 1 January 2012]. Braun, V. and Clarke, V., 2006. Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3 (2), pp.77-101. Corporate Executive Board (2006). HR’s Role in Mergers and Acquisitions Tools and Mandates for the Chief Human Resources Officer. [Online]. Corporate Leadership Council. Available at: [Accessed 1 January 2012]. Gadlesh, O., Buchanan, R., Daniell, M. and Ormiston, C., 2002. The CEO’s Guide to the New Challenges of M&A Leadership. [Online]. Available at: [Accessed 1 January 2012]. Hammer, B. and Falik, S., 2004. Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions: A Guide to Leading through Transition. [Online]. Hammer Associates LLC. Available at: [Accessed 1 January 2012]. Hussain, C., Amir, M. and Rehman, K., 2011. The Role of Transformational Leaders in Mergers/Acquisitions: A Case Study of Faysal Bank Ltd. [Online]. Available at: [Accessed 1 January 2012]. Shambon, M., 2009. The Neglected Importance of Leadership in Mergers and Acquisitions. [Online]. Available at: [Accessed 1 January 2012]. Stahl, G., 2004. The Leadership Challenge of Mergers and Acquisitions. [Online]. Available at: [Accessed 1 January 2012]. Triple Cheek Associates, 2007. Mentoring, Mergers, and Acquisitions. [Online]. Available at: [Accessed 1 January 2012]. Read More