Week 25

Week 25 (1/12/2014)

1.In your own words and using referenced quotes explain why strategy theories developed in the last 10 years tend to be quite different from those developed in the 1960’s.

In 1960’s strategy were developed by the leaders who where believer of autocratic and centralized management style. As a result the strategy made by them was not able to meet the long term goal of organization. The employees were given less authority with high responsibilities, but these days, the authority and responsibilities are equally balanced with the employees. The decisions were deliberately implemented without analyzing the environmental factors. But in recent time, the deliberate or intended strategy seems to be less effective as the environment is unpredictable. Rather, emergent strategy seems to be more effective at times. The strategies of past times were hard to adapt in the changing environment, but today, the development of technologies and effective use of resources it is easy to cope up with the changing environment to meet the customers demand. Previously, the threats of competitors were not high due to the monopoly of few companies in the market. But in the last 10 years the flexibility and the expansion of the market has maximized the level of competition between the competitors.

In 1960 market was small with fewer players. It made easy to companies to remain competitive in market and their sales figure was always maintained with good pace. But now market is huge and there are many players creating extreme competition. So, now out of the box strategy is very important for the organization to maintain the profit level. (Strategic Management)

 2. You attend a job interview for an entry level managerial position and mention that you completed a 30 week strategy module. Your interviewer seems interested and explains that this job role would enable you to become involved in the strategy making process. In 200 to 300 words explain to your interviewer how the module has helped to prepare you for a strategy role.

This module has played a very significant role to increase my analyzing power. I learned many tools and methods to analyze the internal and external factors of the organization which I think definitely make me to remain competitive in corporate world.

I pursued a extensive learning of different internal and external analytical tools like SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces Model, and 7s Model, PESTEL Analysis, TOWS Analysis, Ansoff Matrix and change kaleidoscope were useful in analyzing the opportunities and threats of the entire environment related to the company. Similarly, the strategic planning, processing and implementing were easy to understand and evaluate because of this module. It also helped to understand the global market and the competition to the organization. The type of leadership style for different type of organization were also easy to recognize. Similarly, this module also helped to manage the employees in the organization. Further, the module was useful in effectively, managing the resources of the organization. Moreover, this module taught many effective ways to rapidly adapt in the changing environment. It helped in planning the long term goals for the organization and the ways to implement it efficiently. (Fundamentals of Strategy)

The case study and many field works done in this module has given a practical knowledge. This also helped to be creative and multidimensional thinker.

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Lady Gaga Case Study 

Lady Gaga was born March 28, 1986, in New York, New York. She is a singer and songwriter with hit songs such as “Poker Face” and “Bad Romance.” Lady Gaga has been playing music from a very young age and is classically trained in piano. She began studying at NYU when she was only 17 and released her first CD, The Fame, in 2008. It sold millions of copies and was still on the charts two years later. Some of her most popular songs include “Just Dance,” “Alejandro” and “Paparazzi.” She is seen as a visionary and has very elaborate videos on YouTube, which have received hundreds of millions of views. At the 2010 VMAs, she won eight awards, including Video of the Year. She is also is known for her unconventional sense of fashion.( www.ladygaga.com)

FIG: Lady Gaga

1. Why has Lady Gaga been so successful? What strategy has she followed?

Ø Her creative music and presentation skills

Ø     Her outstanding personality and its best use to gain public attention.

Ø     Her ability to tackle a change in productive way.

Ø       Professional use of social media.

2. If you were advising her on her future strategy–what analysis would you undertake?

What models or theories would you use?

I would use following strategic theories:

Rapid Adaptation Theory:

This theory advice that a competitive advantage no longer rises from positioning or resources however realized through adapting the changing environment. The four capabilities that foster rapid adaptation are:

Ø  The aptitude to inspire employees and partners to get effective output.

Ø  The aptitude to experiment rapidly and frequently – not only with products and services but also with business process, models as well as strategies

Ø  The aptitude to read and acts on indicator of change

Ø  The aptitude to manage multifaceted and interrelated systems of several stakeholders

Creative and Strategic Thinking Theory:

The main two elements of this theory are:

Ø  To amplify and expand a culture and customs which promote creativity and

Ø  CREATIVITY

Managerial practices affecting creativity:

Ø  Challenge

Ø  Liberty

Ø  Possessions

Ø  Work group features

Ø  Supervisory encouragement

Ø  Organizational support

3. What advice would you give her?

As the music industry is changing with rapid pace she also should come up with some solutions to tackle the change. And most important thing is that she should always be in the news as it creates a good vibe in glamour world.

References:

JohnsonG,ScholesKandWhittingtonR(2009),FundamentalsofStrategy,PrenticeHall.
LynchR(2008)StrategicManagement,5thEdition,PrenticeHall.

(n.d.). Retrieved from www.ladygaga.com: http://www.ladygaga.com/biography