The quality of your answer is much more important than its quantity. You do not need to use in-text citation, nor reference in answering the questions. Please note that you do not need to use in-text

Strategic Management

Please note that you do not need to use in-text citation, nor reference in answering the questions. 

Find examples from the case studies, assignments, textbooks, your personal working experiences, and media reports, to illustrate your understanding.

you need to:

–describe the concepts involved in each essay question to show your understanding of the concept (s) and/or theories;

–explain how these concepts, theories or managerial techniques can be used in practice. You need to provide example(s) selected from case study, assignments, personal experience, and/or media reports, to demonstrate such practical applications;

–provide critical comments on the pros (benefits) and cons (limitations) in applying these concepts, theories, and/or analytical tools to business organisations.

Please note that you do not need to use in-text citation, nor reference in answering the questions. .

Module 1 Introducing Strategy - Knowledge Check

1.Strategy and strategic management are two fundamental concepts in the field of business strategy study.  What is the difference between strategy and strategic management?

2. Describe the three levels of strategy and explain their differences and relationships.

1. Name one industry and identify important macro-environmental forces that can influence its development. Assess and elaborate their impact on the industry growth in the future in terms of opportunities and threats.

2. The term VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) can be used for better understanding of the key characteristics of the macro-environment.  Briefly describe the characteristics of each aspect of VUCA, provide examples and discuss some general approaches to deal with each of them.

1 Explain the following statement: “there are five forces that determine an industry’s profit potential”.  What are the main benefits and limitations of the five forces framework?

2 Describe the concept of strategic group. What are the advantages of undertaking a strategic group analysis? What criteria can be used for grouping firms within an industry? Give example to support this.

1.

For a strategic capability in an organisation to provide competitive advantages, it should meet four criteria.  Describe these four criteria and provide example(s) to support your argument. Explain how such strategic capabilities can be identified. 

2.Robustness (or inimitability) of a firm’s resources and competences is a key concept for understanding its core competence. What is an organisation’s core competence or strategic capability? Elaborate the three sources of robustness and give examples to show your understanding.

3. Resource-based view is one of the two dominant strategic perspective.  Describe briefly its strategic argument (proposition), key assumptions, and strategic implications, and pros and cons in application.

4. Porter’s “market positioning” and Resource-based view (RBV) have been the two most dominant strategic perspectives. Discribe  these two strategic perspectives in terms of key assumprions and propositions, discuss their similarities and differences.  Are these two perspectives competing or complementing in strategic management?

1. Stakeholder mapping is a useful technique for stakeholder management.  Describe the process of stakeholder mapping and explain how its outcomes can help  in managing its relationships with stakeholders and the coalition-building process.

2. Describe the concept of corporate social responsibility and four possible corporate stances on social responsibility.  For each stance, explain its rationale, leadership, management, and stakeholder relationship required for each of these four stances.

1. Singapore Airline has implemented its differentiation strategy since its establishment. In doing so, it has offered a high quality of customer services, maintained a very good safety record, and procured new aircrafts, including Airbus 380.  At the same time, it attempts to reduce its overall costs through lowering its back-office costs and administrative overhead.  Do you think these activities are contradictory or complementary in implementing Singapore Airline’s differentiation strategy?  Why?  (Hint: You can address these issues based on your understanding of the concept of value, value chain analysis, and business strategy)

1. What is cost leadership strategy?  Describe and discuss the four drivers of costs. What are the two key requirements for cost based strategies.  Provide examples to illustrate your understanding of these two requirements.

1. Consider Porter’s three generic strategies. In your opinion, how differentiation-based advantages can be sustained?  Give example to support your argument.

1. There are three major types of corporate parenting role played by the corporate headquarters to add value. Explain these three corporate parenting roles and discuss their logic, strategic requirements and organisational requirements.  Can more than one rationale co-exist in a particular corporation? Why?

1. What could be the reasons for using diversification as a part of an organization’s corporate strategy? Do you think diversification always guarantee high performance in organizations? Give reasons for your answer.

1. Describe the four types of international strategies.  Discuss the benefits and limitations of each type of these international strategies.  Give examples to support your arguments

1. Describe four entry mode strategies for international market expansion and resources requirement, risk and benefit of each of them

1. Strategic alliance, acquisitions and organic development are three different methods of strategic development.  Describe briefly these three methods. Identify and discuss the critical factors that should be considered in choosing between acquisitions, alliances and organic development.

1. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is an important method of strategic development.  Describe these two concepts, and identify and discuss the key motives of M&A. Provide examples to support your argument.

1. Strategic alliance is an important method of strategic development.  Describe and discuss the motives of strategic alliances and provide examples to support your discussion

1. Describe the three SAFe criteria for strategy evaluation.  What key issues does the suitability address?  How the suitability of a strategy can be evaluated?  Provide example to show your understanding of the suitability evaluation process.

1. Describe two basic approaches to measuring organisational performance.  Elaborate the four elements/perspectives of the balanced scorecard.  Provide examples for measuring each of these four perspectives.

1. Explain the following statement: “The styles of managing strategic change need to match organisational context”. Briefly describe the change kaleidoscope.  Focusing on organisational capability and readiness, identify and discuss briefly the FOUR most appropriate styles of change leadership based on the high and low levels of these two organisational characteristics (capability and readiness).

1. Turnaround (reconstruction) is an important type of strategic change.  Describe and discuss the five elements of turnaround strategy and provide an example to support your discussion.

1. Financial control, strategic control, and strategic planning are three ways of dividing responsibilities between corporate centre and its business units. Discuss these three ways of control and their links with three types of corporate role (portfolio manager, synergy manager, and parental developer).  Give examples to support your argument.