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Thomas Sheppard
Integration of Faith and Learning Paper
BUSI 690
October 10, 2013
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Corporate leaders are responsible for guiding the firm’s strategies. Their goal is to
help the firm gain and sustain a competitive advantage and thus a profit for
shareholders. What responsibility do company managers have for other
consequences of their strategies? For example, should Wal-Mart try to mitigate the
negative impact its arrival in communities can have on small locally owned stores?
Why or Why not? Explain.
It’s sometimes said that there’s nothing more practical than a good theory. Whether they
realize it or not, managers need a theoretical understanding of enterprise growth and
development. We propose the adoption of a conceptual framework that will help
executives lead their organizations in highly competitive global markets. For some, it will
change frames of reference and accepted priorities in terms of what’s important to build,
own, and manage. The Dynamic Capabilities Framework is animated by the recognition
of several global megatrends that impact the contemporary business enterprise operating
in hypercompetitive environments. Perhaps the most critical of these trends is that access
to global transportation and information flows is so widespread that some say the world is
“flat”. In particular, intermediate goods and services that might once have been hard to
access are now widely available, a reality which has created a system of global
specialization. But on this “flat” landscape, characterized by hyper-competition, the
capabilities required to orchestrate and deploy the available resources remain scarce and
geographically isolated. As a result of the greater ability to outsource almost anything and
everything, the traditional competitive sources of differentiation based on economies of
scale and scope have been eroded. If your market is too small to capture scale economies
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for an input or even a whole product, then you should source from companies that have
achieved them already. Textbooks need to be rewritten to recognize the new reality. The
leader sets measurable goals and objectives for the organization. A goal or objective for
which attainment cannot be measured is worthless. The leader makes measurable goals
effective by building in incentives for attainment. These incentives reward goal-attaining
behavior, discourage the opposite, and thus make strategy “happen” by virtue of their
self-enforcement power, but they must be created to fit the organization.
1 Peter 5:1-4 states the elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a
witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be
revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by
constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords
over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall
appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. This verse is explaining
how using your leadership as an example of doing well and following the word of God
when making ethical decisions.
In James 4:13-17, “ Come now, you who say, “ Today or tomorrow we will go into such
and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not
know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a
little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and
do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So
whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. The verse is
sating use your time wisely in and follow the Lord in making decisions.
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Leadership is very important in all aspects of not only the business world, but in all
manners of life. By using the word of God, men and women will lead in a socially and
ethically manner that will benefit everyone involved. As with all manners of business
when the CEO or manager etc. make decisions that could affect the state of the particular
business there will be consequences in these decisions and strategies. If the person in
charge is making the decision in the best interest of not only the business, but also the
environment, the employees and the community then the strategy and decision will be
supported which in turn will be successful. The verse I choose states this fact as well as
showing arrogance and boastfulness in the decisions are evil and will in turn find
disastrous results. As James states, “If the Lord wills it, we will live and do this or that”
by doing this the leader will do exactly that live and lead by the word of God.
In the verse from Peter we must not only follow Gods word in making our decisions and
strategies, but do so by leading as an example of making decisions in a manner supported
by the Lord and following through in a Godly manner.
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References
http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com
Fuller, James, and Jack Green. "The Leaders Role in Strategy." Graziadio Business
Review 8.2 (2005): n. pag. Graziadio Business Review. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.
Holy Bible: the new King James version, containing the Old and New Testaments.
Nashville: T. Nelson, 1982. Print.
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