Strategic Management - business environment - success - Case Study Example

The second section will take a look at the internal and external situation of the company through the employment of a SWOT analysis. The strategies employed by a business organisation are strongly influenced by its leaders. The strategic direction and path taken by the company is always dependent on the leadership style, personality, and experience of its decision makers. This fact is highly exemplified in the operation of Stakis Plc. Since its inception to its course of operation, the company has been run by four distinct leaders which pursued different strategies in order to take the company forward.

These leaders are Reo Stakis, Andors Stakis, Sir Lewis Robertson and David Michels. Roe Stakis laid the foundation of Stakis Plc by the opening of a restaurant in Glasgow in 1947. This move during a period of "severe and continuing austerity" in an "industrial city which carried over an unattractive image from the interwar period" seems to be irrational at the moment. However, it showed the leader's Reo Stakis' optimism and the determination to offer his products in spite of the external challenges and difficulties.

Reo's distinct optimism and determination fuel the growth of the company and its venture to other types of businesses. It can be seen that during his reign as the chairman of the Stakis Plc, the company has gone beyond the restaurant business into other sectors such as hotels, casinos, property and finance. The growth strategy employed by Reo can be further anlysed through the use of the Ansoff Matrix. The Ansoff's Matrix is a tool in strategic management which is utilised in order to aid in deciding the product and market growth strategy of a company.

According to this tool, the strategies employed by a business organisation can be categorised according to the products offered and markets targeted. Strategies are classified as market penetration, market development, product development and diversification (Thomson and Strickland 2002). Analysing the growth strategy employed by Reo Stakis in the light of the Ansoff Matrix, it can be noted that the founder has ventured both into product development and diversification strategies. Unsatisfied as a restaurateur, he also offered lodging and recreation services to his tourists and business clients by opening hotels and casinos.

This move can be described as a product development and related diversification strategy. By venturing into the leisure and hotel industries, the company is offers new products to its current market and also hopes to attract new ones. This is also evidenced by the company's rapid expansion into new geographical regions in the United Kingdom. The decision of Stakis Plc to venture into the property and financial sector is an unrelated diversification strategy. With this decision, the company moves beyond its previous business scope.

It is also notable that the company's expansion strategy is often furthered through the acquisition of other firms. With the leadership Reo, Stakis Plc has acquired D&A Haddow and St. Ermin's Hotel. When deciding to operate in an unrelated industry, the company does not establish its own brand but seems to be more