Please respond to the following statement no more than 180 words and internet references only. This week confirmed for me the value of a CEO in a company. Learning about strategy may seem to be a si

Please respond to the following statement no more than 180 words and internet references only.

This week confirmed for me the value of a CEO in a company. Learning about strategy may seem to be a simple exercise. For example, Thompson et al (2019) refers to strategy as how to position the company in the marketplace, how to attract customers, how to compete against rivals, how to achieve the company’s performance targets, how to capitalize on opportunities, and how to respond to changing economic and market conditions. What the textbooks do not tell you is the answers to all those questions. CEO’s and other senior managers must decide the course and direction of a company.In a well-established company, this might be a little easier, because of all the hindsight available to senior executives, but for the company that is just starting out, these questions become extremely difficult to ascertain.Another difficulty associated with strategy is the implementation. Just because the senior executives have a clear vision and a clear path to the goals, does not mean execution is flawless. For example, as the strategy is deployed down the workforce, it becomes diluted and more disorganized. At the boots level, daily activities may or may not be in line with corporate strategies. The bigger the ship, the harder it is to navigate the business environment.At Henkel, we have a product line that was very innovative and had a lot of promise but had some limitations for many customers. When the technology was first sold, many companies purchased and used the product, but as the deficiencies were revealed, some of the customers moved away from the products. Henkel is left with several customers that invested money to use the product, but its potential for growth is limited. As a result, Henkel decided not to put any further resources into this technology, unfortunately, the current customers still need support. Support for these customers goes against the corporate strategy for this product line.Regarding the Costco assignment, I gained a greater appreciation for Costco. My family has never used those warehouse type companies, primarily because, our perception was that they sold inferior products. After the readings and subsequent research, it is clear that Costco does sell quality items but at a very attractive price.Thompson, A., Strickland, A., & Gamble, J. (2019). Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases (22nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.