Now it is time to apply lessons learned from this week's case analysis and discussion about strategy evaluation, this week's readings, and other resources, to help you think about how you might answer the question, what is the strategy your playbook is designed to support and how will you evaluate it?
To prepare for this Discussion:
- Review all required readings, including the Weekly Briefing, which provides additional guidance on how to complete the Assignment.
- Review this week's case study and peer discussion and reflect and make notes on the following: What insights did you gain, and what did you learn from this week's resources your case analysis and peer discussion that you can apply to your Strategy Playbook for your chosen organization? What conceptual and strategic differences are important between the case example and your organization (focus on the concepts analyzed this week)? What assumptions do you need to make in order to use the strategy concepts appropriately?
- Identify and review all relevant readings from the MBA Capstone Program Bibliography. Given your chosen organization, what concepts, tools, and readings from the Program Capstone Bibliography are most relevant to helping guide how you might recommend improving the company? How and why are they relevant?
- Locate and maintain access to publicly available information about your organization.
By Day 5, post a polished and synthesized entry into the discussion area, which will also be the basis for an entry into the final draft of your Strategy Playbook for Extraordinary Results. Based on all of your previous week's work on the playbook, and based on the strategy evaluation content from this week, at minimum you should add the following to your discussion post and Strategy Playbook:
- Explicitly identify and provide a name for the company-wide strategy you recommend for your company and then explain the essential components of the company-wide strategy you recommend for your company.
- Evaluate the company-wide strategy that you recommend for your company.
General Guidance: Your original discussion post for the Capstone Forum will typically
be 2 single-spaced pages, excluding references. Refer to the Week 7 Discussion
2 rubric ***
THIS FOLLOWING LINK IS THE ORIGINAL SUBMISSION THAT YOU ARE BASING THIS ASSIGNMENT
ON:
References
· Wolfe, N. (2011). The living organization: Transforming business to create extraordinary results. Irvine, CA: Quantum Leaders Publishing.
- Chapter 11, “Putting It All Together”
- Chapter 12, “Executing in Real Time”
· Barney, J., & Gorman Clifford, T. (2010). What I didn't learn in business school: How strategy works in the real world. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.
- Chapter 14, "A Tailored Presentation: Real World Strategies for Anticipating Resistance to Recommendations, Making High Impact Presentations, and Aligning Organizational Structure with Strategic Objectives" (pp. 191–204)
This business novel explores the human side of executing strategy. It concerns the relationships, politics, and personalities that can shape a company's strategy. In this chapter, consultants discuss how to present recommended strategic options to the board of HGS, a chemical company that has developed a new textile technology. HGS is unsure of how to exploit this opportunity. As you read this excerpt, consider how top managers at the company you have selected for the Capstone Project would receive and question your findings and recommendations.
· Collis, D. J., & Rukstard, M. G. (2008). Can you say what your strategy is? Harvard Business Review, 86(4), 82–90. Retrieved from https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/pl/28623611/28644118/a0fa58fcda86692847a484b57789085f
How easy is it to explain your strategy? Once you finish explaining, will the audience be able to articulate your strategy well? In this article, the authors discuss why the answers to these questions are so important when implementing a strategy. They describe how to craft a strategy statement that communicates the aims of a strategy simply and succinctly.
· Hamel, G., & Prahalad, C. K. (2005). Strategic intent. Harvard Business Review, 83(7/8), 148–161. Retrieved from https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/pl/28623611/28644113/419f9cb4f3e44b40f6ee4b326fe566cb
For Hamel and Prahalad, being a leader in business does not mean lowering expectations to match resources and opportunity. These authors argue that leading competitors need stretch targets, coherent organizational learning, and innovation to match and surpass rivals. In this article, the authors describe four techniques companies can use to realize their strategic intent.
· Levitt, T. (2004). Marketing myopia. Harvard Business Review, 82(7/8), 138–149. Retrieved from https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/pl/28623611/28644111/c209df73cb1b3eba21d137de9b1e03de
In this seminal article, renowned scholar Theodore Levitt popularized the question, "What business are you in?" Levitt focuses on strategy as much as marketing. He stresses companies need to orient their strategy on the services and value they provide to consumers and not only on selling a product.
***Kanter, R.M. (2014). The
Weather Company. (Harvard Business School Case No. 9-314-083). Boston, MA.
Retrieved from:
https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/pl/28623611/32686304/22ed097d08984a8e59b4d00f42a68673