Analysis of Business Strategies - Essay Example

Organizations success depends largely on the strategy that the business has looked towards framing as based on it business looks towards differentiating themselves from the competitors. Different organizations and theories give different meaning to strategy but the basic aim of all is to develop a process through which the business will be able to deliver superior performance and stay ahead of competition. This is a continuous process and looks towards devising a methodology through which the organization is able to achieve its long term objectives. This will thereby facilitate the organization in finding out the different areas that the organization has to work on so that the resources are used in the best possible manner. This will help to ensure that the process which has been developed provides the best possible alternative. The paper thereby looks towards presenting the definition of strategy by drawing it from different theories and perceptions so that a basic understanding can be developed and based on it proper understanding about the manner in which business identify different strategy can be identified. It will have an impact on the overall objectives and will thereby determine the path that the organization looks towards following so that the long term objectives of the business can be achieved. Porter has looked towards defining strategy as a process where strategic decisions are taken so that the organization is able to stay ahead of competition and develop a sustainable advantage for the future. This has a differentiation from decisions which are taken for operational effectiveness as those decisions are taken to improve the present way in which activities are taken. Instead strategy looks towards a long term perspective and looks towards developing competitive and sustainable advantage for a long period of time. It is true that strategy looks towards improving the present condition as well but ensures that the long term perspective is considered as well (Artto & Dietrich, 2004). This will thereby help to understand strategy as a process of decision making which is aimed at improving the present working condition and developing the required sustainable advantage which the business will require over a longer period of time. This helps to claim one important substance that all decisions which are taken by the business are not strategic decisions. Strategic decisions on the other hand are those which are taken to ensure that there is differentiation from the competitors and help the business to gain a sustainable advantage for the future. This brings to an important notion that to be sustainable it is important that the decisions taken should not be easily imitated as it will otherwise result in the sustainable advantage to diminish (Dzeng & Wen, 2005). Businesses also look towards taking operational decisions as it improves the manner in which the work is carried out. The fact that strategic decisions are not imitated and develops due to the complex interaction of different activities it helps to create synergy which results in additional value for the business and looks towards gaining competitive advantage in the operational activities as well. Strategy thereby tends to bring about widespread changes and looks towards benefitting the organization in a manner through which superior performances is delivered. A further breakdown on the different perspectives of strategy will further help to understand the manner in which strategy has its importance for business. Whittington in 2000 has stated that there are four different perspectives on strategy i.e. the classical perspective, the evolutionary perspective, the processual perspective and systematic perspective. The different perspective will further help to understand strategy better and is as follows The classical perspective is one where the manager has to exercise almost if not full control over the external and internal resources of the firm. The manager has to look towards allocating the different resources and can look towards manipulating the different resources so that better strategy can be formulated and the goal of the business can be achieved (Hart & Banbury, 2004). This perspective also looks towards ensuring that the business looks towards gaining sustainable advantage but at the same time is aimed at ensuring that the manager has entire control over the manner in which the work will be carried out. The strategic behavior in this stance is thereby guided by rationality, opportunism and self-interest (Whitley, 2006). The evolutionary perspective lays emphasis on finding out the behavioral differences which exist between the firm and the market and looks towards developing a mechanism through which the organization is able to grow but results in the failure of other firms. The process ensures that the manager doesn’t act alone but looks towards the interaction of different forces like the market, feedback from the market, events and positive feedback which will help to determine the strategy through which sustainable advantage can be garnered for the future (Hart & Banbury, 2004). The processual perspective on the other hand looks towards stressing that sustainable advantage of the business is achieved when the interaction between the individual and the individual and environment takes place. This helps to find out solutions and strategies which otherwise are not intended by the business and looks towards developing a differentiating idea. The fact that the interaction ensures that the process is not guided by self interest but because of the process of collective bargaining helps to develop a strategy which is different. This leads towards an advantage and ensures that the decisions taken are better (Hart & Banbury, 2004). The systematic perspective is different from the above stated three perspectives as it looks towards presenting the fact the strategic decisions are based on different strategic behavior. The different strategic behavior includes social and cultural interaction like cultural requirements, educational requirements, background, and religion and so on. The interaction of different forces and voices helps in the development of an idea which is unique and cannot be copied (Hart & Banbury, 2004). This thereby results in an irrational behavior through which decisions which are taking are better developed and helps to gain operational as well as strategic effectiveness. Strategy has further been stated by organization differently based on the overall objectives which they look towards attaining towards it. Strategy as a result has bee determined through different strategic positions. One of the strategy position is variety based positioning which is determined on the basis of product or services rather than on customer. This thereby focuses on developing a process which is based on the manner in which the organization is able to deliver the required product or services through different activities and has a specialized advantage over it compared to other competitors in the market. For example Vanguard group which looks towards focusing on services by ensuring that the investors are provided a predictable return as the company looks towards investing in stocks, bonds and money market which thereby ensures that the cost is minimized. This positioning thereby ensures that the cost is minimum and focuses on services rather than on customers. This method of strategy is thereby beneficial for organization that focuses on services and looks towards gaining a sustainable advantage through it. The other type of strategic positioning based on which strategies are formulated is the needs based positioning which focuses on customers. Strategies through this method look towards encompassing the requirements of the customers by including different activities so that the customers can be satisfied. The fact that this type of groups has different section of customers with different needs and requirements and money has an important role as they are price sensitive thereby looks towards providing a range of activities through which better information is provided in relation to information, support and services. This strategy thereby focuses on satisfying the customers by providing their requirements and developing strategies which will ensure that it is achieved in the best possible manner. An example in this direction is Idea which looks towards providing its customers different requirements based on the needs of the customers and ensures that all segment of the customer including the price sensitive customers are attracted as well. The other type of strategic positioning is access based positioning which focuses on the needs of the customers but based on location and accessibility. This aspect thereby looks towards formulating strategy through which the needs and requirements of the customers are met for a specific location. Foe example Carmike Cinemas looks towards catering the local customer base on 200,000 by developing theatres in areas which has population lower than 200,000. The fact that the organization has a sustainable advantage in it has made the organization focus on that segment of the customer through which better efficiency can be achieved. The strategies developed in this form of positioning is thereby of relative strength and looks towards achieving the required dimension through which long term sustainable advantage can be achieved. This brings to an important notion that every strategy which has been developed by the organization based on different objectives and requirements looks towards ensuring that the required trade off is maintained. This will help to facilitate the sustainable advantage that the business will require as otherwise the competitors will look towards copying the strategy of other. For example it will be easy for others to work like airlines by purchasing the required planes, license to fly in the same destination and so on. This strategy won’t give any player the required sustainable advantage and will thereby require generating the required tradeoff which can help to improve the sustainable advantage (Milosevic & Srivannaboon, 2006). To gain the required advantage the organization or in our case the airline can look towards reducing the inefficiencies by developing better services through variety based positioning which will help to gain the required advantage. This will thereby help to ensure that the business is able to gain the required sustainable advantage which will ensure that the organization is able to stay ahead of competition and will thereby be able to ensure better developments for the future. Organizations while looking towards achieving the required the sustainable advantage has to ensure that the strategy which has been adopted by them based on the different requirements fits the requirements. The correct fit will help to create the required pressure and incentive through which the organization is able to garner better confidence and develop a process through which the business is able to gain the required sustainable advantage (Lam, Chan & Chan 2004). This makes it important that the strategy which has been developed based on different factors looks towards ensuring that the different factors compliment each other as it will help to find out the most effective manner through which imitation will become difficult for the competitors. This will thereby help to formulate a new strategic position and will help to bring about a transformation through which better efficiency is achieved. This shows that strategy looks towards a long term perspective and looks towards developing competitive and sustainable advantage for a long period of time. It is true that strategy looks towards improving the present condition as well but ensures that the long term perspective is considered as well. This will thereby help to understand strategy as a process of decision making which is aimed at improving the present working condition and developing the required sustainable advantage which the business will require over a longer period of time (Bryson & Delbecq, 2009). This thereby focuses on establishing a sustainable advantage and can be achieved only when the required fit is identified which will help to gain long term competitive advantage. Despite the different meanings and propagation that has been given to strategy it is found that it is aimed at achieving efficiency and has to deal with different threats which arise due to external sources, changes in technology and change in the behavior of the competitors. This makes the process to be a continuous process which has to undergo the required changes as the environment changes and requires development on all fronts so that developments can be made. This brings to an important notion that to be sustainable it is important that the decisions taken should not be easily imitated as it will otherwise result in the sustainable advantage to diminish (Williams, 2002). Businesses also look towards taking operational decisions as it improves the manner in which the work is carried out. The fact that strategic decisions are not imitated and develops due to the complex interaction of different activities it helps to create synergy which results in additional value for the business and looks towards gaining competitive advantage in the operational activities as well (Anderson & Merna, 2003). These results in different factors and areas based on which the business looks towards attaining the required sustainable advantage which will help the business to be able to gain the required effectiveness in the process of doing things. Strategy has thereby been identified differently by different section of the people and organization and looks towards ensuring that the business through the process is able to gain the required sustainable advantage. This is a continuous process and looks towards devising a methodology through which the organization is able to achieve its long term objectives. This will thereby facilitate the organization in finding out the different areas that the organization has to work on so that the resources are used in the best possible manner. This will help to ensure that the process which has been developed provides the best possible alternative. This thereby highlights that the overall process of strategy development is aimed at improving the process through which the organization is able to take better decisions and thereby ensure that they stay ahead of competition. The process thereby facilitates in the development of a process through which the business is able to perform differently from the competitors and create a different market for their products and services. References Anderson, K., Merna, A. 2003. Project Management Strategy—project management represented as a process based set of management domains and the consequences for project management strategy. International Journal of Project Management, 21: 387– 393 Artto, A. & Dietrich, H., 2004. Strategic Business Management through Multiple Projects. In: Morris P. W. G. and Pinto J. K. (eds.): The Wiley Guide to Managing Projects, John Wiley & Sons Inc, London Artto, A., Wikström, K. 2005. What is project business? International Journal of Project Management, 23(5), 343−353 Bryson, J. & Delbecq, A. 2009. A Contingent Approach to Strategy and Tactics in Project Planning. American Planning Association Journal, 45, 167-179 Dzeng, R. & Wen, K. 2005. 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