Aligning an organisations structure with its strategy - Essay Example

Aligning an organization structure with its strategy Question a In the last two years, Walmart has faced intense competition from other multinational retailers in the market. The company has a divisional structure. This enables the firm to have different subsidiaries across the world. In order to maintain its grip on the market, the company came up with a new strategy of opening numerous small stores near the customers’ homesteads. This is to get closer to its clients and reduce the influence of its competitors in the market.

Starbucks has a divisional structure. This structure enables the company to operate a large geographical area within an umbrella group that enabled it to cover different types of products and market areas (Sanders, & Wood, 2015). All the subsidiaries have different management that is answerable to the company’s headquarter. In the past six months, the company has executed the strategy successfully. The impact of this strategy can already be ascertained by the overall sales of the company. The company’s organizational structure aligns with the firms strategy of opening various divisions which operate independently.

The compatibility of the structure and the strategy has shown a sign of salvaging the company which was almost collapsing after different negative media reports about the company. Question b Innovation has become a critical aspect towards the success of the organization. In the past one decade, Apple Inc has faced intensive competition from global electrical giants such as Samsung, Microsoft, Google, and Sony. In order for the company to remain competitive, it developed a strategy of nurturing the young talents in the local institutions.

This is through supporting innovative ideas by the students and incubating them. The leadership of the company had a role of providing the managers with the necessary guidelines to be followed in order to identify raw talents that can improve the operations of the company in the market (Sanders, & Wood, 2015). In addition, the leadership of Apple Inc was very critical in ensuring that the organization cooperates with institutions of higher learning in order for the strategy to become a success.

Leadership in the organization is very critical in ensuring that the actions of the managers are geared towards achieving the set goals and objectives of the company. For instance, the leadership by Apple Inc played an oversight role in overseeing that the managers follow the set guidelines. This is to prevent them from losing focus, an aspect that would affect the overall success of the strategy. The strategy was executed effectively. At the moment, Apple Inc sponsors students who have innovative ideas.

They fund the students and offer guidance on how to improve the whole project. Some of these ideas have enabled the company to compete effectively with the rest of the competitors in the market. Consequently, the company has recorded high sales in the market despite the increasing levels of competition in the market and toughening economic times. This is because innovative products have enabled the company to segment the market, attract the loyalty of the customers towards the products, and position the products strategically in the market.

In order for the strategy to achieve better results, the company should have created a competition among young innovators who are in the society to run parallel to that in the institutions of higher learning in order to identify the best ideas both in the schools and the society at large. References Sanders, N. R., & Wood, J. D. (2015). Foundations of sustainable business: Theory, function, and strategy.