BBPS4103 Strategic Management – Stakeholder Value Analysis

Requirement:

According to William F Glueck (2022), the development in business policy arose from the evolution in the use of planning techniques by managers. Starting from day-to-day planning in earlier times, managers tried to anticipate the future through preparation of budgets and using control systems such as capital budgeting and management by objectives. With the inability of these techniques to adequately emphasize the role of future, long-range planning came to be used. Soon, long-range planning was replaced by strategic planning, and later by strategic management, a term that is currently used to describe the process of strategic decision making. In business policy responsibilities of senior management, the crucial problems that affect success in the total enterprise, and the decisions that determine the direction of the organization and shape its future.

Answer the following:

a. Explain the limitations of business policy and why it evolved into strategic management as a more comprehensive discipline.

b. Critically evaluate the characteristics and strategic focus of each phase in the four phases of development in strategic management, highlighting how increasing organisational complexity influenced this evolution.

c. Analyse the strategic roles of top management in each phase and explain how their responsibilities have evolved over time.

d. Discuss the value created through effective strategic management from different stakeholder perspectives (e.g., shareholders, employees, customers, and society). Support your discussion with theoretical arguments, practical organisational examples, and critical evaluation of strategic management as a dynamic discipline.

Part II (10%)

Online Class Participation

Discuss the following topic(s) in the forum and submit proof of your participation in the online discussions:

1. Briefly discuss the key activities in the strategic management process.

2. “To be a leading, competitive company, recognised as a preferred corporate citizen, employer, and supplier”.

Discuss this vision statement. Does it fulfil the characteristics, principles, and guidelines for developing an effective vision? If you believe improvements are necessary, propose a revised vision statement.

3. Explain the role of stakeholders to influence operational success, reputation, and long-term sustainability of a

4. How does leadership affect strategy formulation in a business organisation? Discuss.

Experts Answer on Above Questions on Strategic Management

Limitation of business policy and evolution into strategic management

The business policy of an organisation is related to internal matters and mainly focus on organisation policies and senior decision making process. The external factors affecting the business such as competition, technological changes, globalisation and customer expectations have limited implication on the business policy.

The evolution of strategic management can be identified from the fact that businesses require a broader approach that takes into consideration the external environment affecting its business performance while framing up business policies. Malaysian companies such as AirAsia, Petronas take into consideration the impact of external market changes while framing their strategies, and they do not completely rely on traditional business policy approaches.

Food phases of strategic management development

The four phases are basic financial planning which include preparation of budget and financial control, forecast based planning phase aimed at using sales focus and growth projections, strategic planning phase that includes analysis of competitors and external environment followed by development of objectives, and finally strategic management phase that includes integration of planning, implementation and evaluation.

Evolution of top management roles

In Phase 1, the top managers are responsible for preparing budget and operational control strategies while in Phase 2, top managers are busy with forecasting future opportunities and resource requirements. In phase 3, the focus of top managers is on formulating strategies and analysing the external environment while in the final phase 4, the managers become strategic leaders responsible for vision, innovation and organisational transformation. In the case of organisations like MayBank, the leaders are responsible for digital transformation initiatives while maintaining long term competitiveness.

Value created through effective strategic management

Effective strategic management contributes significantly in creating value for all major stakeholders including shareholders by way of increasing profitability for them, creating development opportunities along with better working conditions for employees, introducing high quality products and services for customers, and creating jobs along with economic development for the benefit of the society. For example, Petronas creates value for different stakeholders by way of energy investments, employee development, and community programmes.

Online discussion questions

Key activities in the strategic management process

The key activities included in the strategic management process are environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and performance evaluation and control.

Vision statement evaluation

The vision statement is to become a leading competitive company that is recognised as a preferred corporate citizen, employer and supplier. The main strengths are future oriented, focus on competitiveness, while the weakness is generic and lacks uniqueness.

Role of stakeholders

Stakeholders play an important role in leading the organisations to success as customers purchase products and services, while employees innovate to deliver quality and something new, investors provide capital while the suppliers ensure operational continuity.

How leadership affects strategy formulation

The role of leaders is crucial in setting the strategic direction as they are responsible for setting organisational vision and goals, making strategic decisions, allocating resources, driving Innovation and change and building organisational culture.

Want Detailed Answers with References?

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