Discussion Board Key Topic JIT (Just in time) in services

Chamisi Pastor

Key Topic-Strategy

Liberty University

DB Forum 1

Key Concept Explanation

Strategy is a set of goal-oriented actions a firm takes to gain and sustain superior performance relative to competitors (Rothaermel, 2017, p6.). It’s a basic plan of action for reaching goals or objectives. Firms should focus on their strengths and keep the weaknesses in check, while trying to best its competitors. A successful business strategy essentially guarantees that there will be little to no conflict amongst the different departments that work interdependently.

Comparison

The research that I have done on strategy (specifically business strategy), seems to emphasize that companies have to implement a winning business strategy if they wish to become or stay competitive in the business market. This long range (3-5 years), plan is important, and not having a well-executed strategy is where many businesses fail (Meredith & Shafer, 2017, p. 21). Blackburn, Hart, and Wainwright (2013), conducted a study and their results suggested that size and age of enterprise dominate performance and are more important than strategy and the entrepreneurial characteristics of the owner. However, they did agree that having a business plan was also important. Alternatively, there have been studies that focus more on organizational learning over. One such study was conducted by Fakhraddin Maroofi (2013), and the conclusion was that organizational learning contributes not only to strategy design as a key organizational capability, but also to the effective performing of competitive strategies. That leads us to the question of, what does a good strategy entail? A good strategy consists of three main elements:

1. Diagnosis of the competitive challenge, accomplished through external and internal environments.

2. Guiding policy to address the competitive challenge, accomplished through strategy formulation, resulting in corporate, business, and functional strategies.

3. A set of coherent actions that will be used to implement the firm’s guiding policy, accomplished through strategy implementation. (Rothaermel, 2017, pp. 6-7).

Richard T. Rumelt (2012), also has similar ideas about a good business strategy. In his “Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters,” Rumelt explains that a good strategy is “a plan for action backed up by a cogent argument – an effective mixture of thought and implementation with a basic underlying structure Rumelt calls the “kernel,” the bare bones center of a strategy – the “hard nut at the core of the concept.” This article has a lot of information on the importance of a well thought strategy.

Article Summary

Rumelt, R. (2012). Good strategy/bad strategy: The difference and why it matters. Strategic Direction, 28(8). doi:10.1108/sd.2012.05628haa.002

This article details the differences between good and bad strategies and the importance of knowing the difference between the two. Even if a firm has developed a strategy, it is of no use to them if it is not a good one. As stated before, a good strategy contains three important elements: a diagnosis of the nature of the issue, a guiding policy for dealing with the issue, and a set of coherent actions to carry enforce the guiding policy. A bad strategy is the quite the opposite in that it is essentially all talk and no action. A bad strategy consists of: fluff or unnecessary slogans and language, failure to face the challenge, or ignoring the issues in the firm, and mistaking goals for strategy, which is making somewhat unattainable goals with no real plan on how to achieve them. A good strategy is not an easy thing to manage and obtain. Firm’s must work hard to create a successful strategy, which requires planning and focusing on one goal at a time; as to not exhaust or thin its resources. Critical thinking is also imperative when creating a strategy. Firms must not rush to judgement or fall into the social herding mentality. Thus, they should pay attention to their data and learn from other’s experiences and their previous mistakes.

Biblical Integration

The Bible always comes in handy in all matters of life, even business strategy. If we are to be successful at anything we pursue, we must have the Lord in our hearts. Isaiah 8:10 tells us to, “Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.” This means that we cannot do anything and be successful unless we have God with us. As stated previously, a good strategy is only achieved through hard work and diligence. Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” Hence, why it is important to plan and use critical thinking when developing a strategy for a firm. It takes time and sometimes trial and error to come up with a strategy that will help the firm succeed. Even the best laid plans have hiccups sometimes. Psalm 20:4 states, “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” There are never any guarantees in business, but with prayer and God’s love and guidance you will be closer to success than without it.

Application

There are many examples of businesses that have successful business strategies, as well as those with failed, or bad strategies. Developing a great strategy is only half the battle; it has to be executed to really determine if the strategy is successful. Let’s highlight a firm with a successful business strategy. The airline industry is very competitive, capital intensive, and barriers to entry are low. One U. S. example of successful business strategy is Southwest Airlines. The founder surmised that “most customers wanted direct flights, low costs, reliability and good 176 Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation customer service, but didn’t need ‘frills’” (Teece, 2010). Southwest e followed elements of a failed discount airline model first pioneered in the U.K. and turned it into a success in the U.S.

Annotated Bibliography

Blackburn, R., Hart, M., & Wainwright, T. (2013). Small business performance: business, strategy and owner‐manager characteristics. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 20(1), 8-27. doi:10.1108/14626001311298394. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262966348_Small_business_performance_Business_strategy_and_owner-manager_characteristics

This article sets out to explain how different factors can contribute to the growth (or demise) and overall performance of small to medium sized firms. Ultimately, the findings were as follows: although a business strategy is important, the size of the firm and the length of time in which it has been in business attributes more to their performance being dominant than any other factor. As a result of these findings, those individuals in policy making positions are able to make informed decisions on what would be the best course of action to take in order to grow the business.

BibleGateway. (2017). https://www.biblegateway.com

Maroofi, F. (2013). Effects of organizational learning on firm’s flexibility, competitive strategy and performance. Trends in Applied Sciences Research, 8(2), 73-91. doi:10.3923/tasr.2013.73.91. http://scialert.net/qredirect.php?doi=tasr.2013.73.91&linkid=pdf

This article discusses the ability of firms to improve their competitiveness. By analyzing how, as a dynamic capability; organizational learning (OL) is used to design a firm’s strategic flexibility and overall competitiveness. The results of this study merely confirmed what the expected relationships were and show organizational learning to be an essential tool in current markets to provide customer value and to improve overall organizational performance by ways of effective competitive strategy design and flexible structure to rapid market development. From this, we can conclude that organizational learning contributes not only to strategy design as a key organizational capability, but also to the effective performing of competitive strategies.

Meredith, J. & Shafer, S. (2016). Operations management for MBAs (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 9781118369975.

Rothaermel, F. T. (2017). Strategic management concepts (Custom 3rd ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 9781259912818

Rumelt, R. (2012). Good strategy/bad strategy: The difference and why it matters. Strategic Direction, 28(8). doi:10.1108/sd.2012.05628haa.002. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/781613738

This article breaks down the three elements required for a good or successful business strategy, as well as the elements of a bad or unsuccessful business strategy. The good strategy elements are as follows: diagnosing of the competitive challenge, accomplished through external and internal environments; guiding policy to address the competitive challenge, accomplished through strategy formulation, resulting in corporate, business, and functional strategies; and

a set of coherent actions that will be used to implement the firm’s guiding policy, accomplished through strategy implementation. The bad strategy elements are: fluff or unnecessary slogans and language, failure to face the challenge, or ignoring the issues in the firm, and mistaking goals for strategy, which is making somewhat unattainable goals with no real plan on how to achieve them.

Teece, D. J. (2010). Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation. Long Range Planning, 43(2-3), 172-194. doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.003. https://ac-els-cdn-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/S002463010900051X/1-s2.0-S002463010900051X-main.pdf?_tid=ee59a786-c521-11e7-812f-00000aacb361&acdnat=1510213698_8d36c986356f54ceb0b6dd17aff261a8

This article is used to demonstrate how companies can apply a good business strategy to their business and best their competitors. The airline industry is very competitive, capital intensive, and barriers to entry are low; so, there are numerous competitors in the market. The firm that was used as an example is Southwest Airlines. This company is a perfect example of having a good strategy, because they have consistently beaten their competitors in the low cost or discount airline industry. Southwest airlines actually emulated a business model that failed for a failed airline in the U.K. and turned it into a very successful business strategy in the U.S.