Evaluation of Strategies and Presentation.
When given the scenario and task the first thing we did was to decide exactly what the company wanted to achieve, which was to increase capacity and size, get a stock exchange quotation by 2005, and ultimately achieve a wider market share.
We then identified the issues that needed addressing within the company (strengths and weaknesses). This was important as before a company can begin to think about developing a new strategy, and setting new objectives, it must first be clear about what strengths are already there to build on, and what weaknesses need to be improved upon. We looked many aspects of the company when doing this - how long it had been established, experience and skills of the staff, communication on all levels within the company, relationships between the staff, attitudes of staff and management, staff performance, the companies assets, the way administration is handled within the company and how well the company performs. .
We decided that if the company were to stick to the classical/rational approach to strategy which they had followed since the company was established, they would not be able to achieve an increase in size or a stock exchange quotation by 2005. The classical approach had been successful for a number of years though, due to it's strengths. It allows the business to be secure in it's sense of direction, but it is inflexible and unable to allow for changes in environment which cannot always be predicted. Another advantage is that all the strategic planning can be done at once, and potential strategies limited to an agreeable amount and also scheduled, but the strategies can become out of date very quickly.
We therefore had to decide on another approach to strategy. Both incremental and emergent strategies acknowledge and are flexible within an ever changing environment. An emergent strategy develops in contrast to the classical strategy imposed but sometimes can be inappropriate, and have to be changed.