Historical development of strategic management Birth of strategic management Strategic management as a discipline originated in the 1950s and 60s. Although there were numerous early contributors to the literature, the most influential pioneers were Alfred D. Chandler, Philip Selznick, Igor Ansoff, and Peter Drucker. Alfred Chandler recognized the importance of coordinating the various aspects of management under one all-encompassing strategy. Prior to this time the various functions of management were separate with little overall coordination or strategy.
Interactions between functions or between departments were typically handled by a boundary position, that is, there were one or two managers that relayed information back and forth between two departments. Chandler also stressed the importance of taking a long term perspective when looking to the future. In his 1962 groundbreaking work Strategy and Structure, Chandler showed that a long-term coordinated strategy was necessary to give a company structure, direction, and focus. He says it concisely, “structure follows strategy. [3] In 1957, Philip Selznick introduced the idea of matching the organization’s internal factors with external environmental circumstances. [4] This core idea was developed into what we now call SWOT analysis by Learned, Andrews, and others at the Harvard Business School General Management Group. Strengths and weaknesses of the firm are assessed in light of the opportunities and threats from the business environment. Igor Ansoff built on Chandler’s work by adding a range of strategic concepts and inventing a whole new vocabulary.
He developed a strategy grid that compared market penetration strategies, product development strategies, market development strategies and horizontal and vertical integration and diversification strategies. He felt that management could use these strategies to systematically prepare for future opportunities and challenges. In his 1965 classic Corporate Strategy, he developed the gap analysis still used today in which we must understand the gap between where we are currently and where we would like to be, then develop what he called “gap reducing actions”. 5] Peter Drucker was a prolific strategy theorist, author of dozens of management books, with a career spanning five decades. His contributions to strategic management were many but two are most important. Firstly, he stressed the importance of objectives. An organization without clear objectives is like a ship without a rudder. As early as 1954 he was developing a theory of management based on objectives. [6] This evolved into his theory of management by objectives (MBO). According to Drucker, the procedure of setting objectives and monitoring your progress towards them should permeate the entire organization, top to bottom.
His other seminal contribution was in predicting the importance of what today we would call intellectual capital. He predicted the rise of what he called the “knowledge worker” and explained the consequences of this for management. He said that knowledge work is non-hierarchical. Work would be carried out in teams with the person most knowledgeable in the task at hand being the temporary leader. In 1985, Ellen-Earle Chaffee summarized what she thought were the main elements of strategic management theory by the 1970s:[7] •Strategic management involves adapting the organization to its business environment. Strategic management is fluid and complex. Change creates novel combinations of circumstances requiring unstructured non-repetitive responses. •Strategic management affects the entire organization by providing direction. •Strategic management involves both strategy formation (she called it content) and also strategy implementation (she called it process). •Strategic management is partially planned and partially unplanned. •Strategic management is done at several levels: overall corporate strategy, and individual business strategies. •Strategic management involves both conceptual and analytical thought processes. Growth and portfolio theory
In the 1970s much of strategic management dealt with size, growth, and portfolio theory. The PIMS study was a long term study, started in the 1960s and lasted for 19 years, that attempted to understand the Profit Impact of Marketing Strategies (PIMS), particularly the effect of market share. Started at General Electric, moved to Harvard in the early 1970s, and then moved to the Strategic Planning Institute in the late 1970s, it now contains decades of information on the relationship between profitability and strategy. Their initial conclusion was unambiguous: The greater a company’s market share, the greater will be their rate of profit.
The high market share provides volume and economies of scale. It also provides experience and learning curve advantages. The combined effect is increased profits. [8] The studies conclusions continue to be drawn on by academics and companies today: “PIMS provides compelling quantitative evidence as to which business strategies work and don’t work” – Tom Peters. The benefits of high market share naturally lead to an interest in growth strategies. The relative advantages of horizontal integration, vertical integration, diversification, franchises, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and organic growth were discussed.
The most appropriate market dominance strategies were assessed given the competitive and regulatory environment. There was also research that indicated that a low market share strategy could also be very profitable. Schumacher (1973),[9] Woo and Cooper (1982),[10] Levenson (1984),[11] and later Traverso (2002)[12] showed how smaller niche players obtained very high returns. By the early 1980s the paradoxical conclusion was that high market share and low market share companies were often very profitable but most of the companies in between were not.
This was sometimes called the “hole in the middle” problem. This anomaly would be explained by Michael Porter in the 1980s. The management of diversified organizations required new techniques and new ways of thinking. The first CEO to address the problem of a multi-divisional company was Alfred Sloan at General Motors. GM was decentralized into semi-autonomous “strategic business units” (SBU’s), but with centralized support functions. One of the most valuable concepts in the strategic management of multi-divisional companies was portfolio theory.
In the previous decade Harry Markowitz and other financial theorists developed the theory of portfolio analysis. It was concluded that a broad portfolio of financial assets could reduce specific risk. In the 1970s marketers extended the theory to product portfolio decisions and managerial strategists extended it to operating division portfolios. Each of a company’s operating divisions were seen as an element in the corporate portfolio. Each operating division (also called strategic business units) was treated as a semi-independent profit center with its own revenues, costs, objectives, and strategies.
Several techniques were developed to analyze the relationships between elements in a portfolio. B. C. G. Analysis, for example, was developed by the Boston Consulting Group in the early 1970s. This was the theory that gave us the wonderful image of a CEO sitting on a stool milking a cash cow. Shortly after that the G. E. multi factoral model was developed by General Electric. Companies continued to diversify until the 1980s when it was realized that in many cases a portfolio of operating divisions was worth more as separate completely independent companies.
Training Principles Aquathlon
This report will discuss the knowledge of the training principles, specificity, HIT and overload as well as a reflection on my performance. 2. 0 Event Description The sport of quotation involves two continuous stages, swimming and followed by running. An quotation can be commonly referred to as an aquatint. The distance in which an athlete swims and run may vary, for example the TIT “Warm water” standard distances is a 2. Km run, mm swim followed by another 2. Km run.
If the temperature is below 220 it then comes wetsuit-mandatory with a mm swim and a single Km run. Lastly “long course” distances are mm swim and a km run. During this term our class has been tasked with training for an quotation. The quotation involves a km run, transitioning and a mm swim with the run before due to convenience. In order to achieve this to our uppermost capability a training plan devised by our teachers was used to improve our cardiovascular fitness.
This fitness plan focused on continuous, farther and interval training and went for a duration Of 6 weeks. 3. 0 6 Week Training plan Quotation Running Training Program Week Type What Time/ Length/ Intensity/ Frequency Continuous Running a cross country circuit 2 sets x 5 laps Maintaining 70% Max her 6 min rest 2 2 sets x 6 laps 3 Farther Running a cross country circuit with speed work 3 sets x s laps – Surge the hills 5 min rest 4 interval Speed work with rest periods Sprint the driveway hill, walk to other entrance, sprint back again, walk the downhill.
Rest 2 miss 5 Maintain 80% Max her 5 min rest 6 3 sets x 3 laps Surge the hills Quotation Swimming Training Program Interval training Wastebasket relay 5 Quotation 4. Analysis of Training Principle Specificity The training principle of specificity is one of the key ideologies in creating an effective training program. It basically states to have a successful training program the exercises and activities you do must be specific to the fitness components you are Wing to improve. For example, if you wanted to improve your strength it would be ideal to do weights.
So with this in mind, the training program that was set targeted cardiac-vascular fitness and continuous, farther and interval running exercises were performed in order to achieve this. These types of training were used to improve my heart rate which leads to a larger heart muscle which increases the blood flow, therefore increasing the amount of oxygen going through my lungs. In turn this means that my body will be able to work longer and harder, leading to a faster performance in the quotation. 5. Analysis of Training principle FIT The FIT training principle relates to the frequency, intensity, time and type of exercise. “These four principles of fitness training are applicable to individuals exercising at low to moderate training levels and may be used to establish deadlines for both corporeality’s and resistance training’ (Davies, 2011). To achieve a successful training program, the individual needs to train frequently, train at a high intensity, train for an appropriate time and lastly the type of training needs to be suited to the fitness components that are trying to be improved.
To train frequently for cardiac respiratory or aerobic training, a minimum oftener and ideally five or six sessions per week are needed to be effective. The second rule of the FIT principle is intensity. Like frequency there must be a balance between a sufficient level of intensity to overload the body but not to the point that it causes overstraining. The heart rate is the primary measure of intensity for aerobic training, as the target is to get between 50 and 75% of your maximum heart rate (MR.).
The third component of the HIT principle dictates the type of exercise performed to achieve the appropriate training response. To improve in cardiac respiratory training, it is recommended that various running exercises are performed including continuous, farther and interval. The final component of the FIT principle is the time or duration of each session. This can differ depending on he level of fitness one may have, so for a beginner it is recommended that they train for at least 20-30 minutes, and once they become more advanced it should increase to at least 45-60 minutes.
The FIT principle is vital is being successful in a training program. 6. 0 Analysis of Training Principle Overload The basic sports training principle of overload is key to creating an effective training program. The overload principle states “that in order to improve, athletes must continually work harder as they their bodies adjust to existing workouts” (Sports Training Adviser, 2009). So in order to achieve the goals set by the end of the term, our class progressively made the exercises more difficult.
For example, our first continuous training session was two set of a five lap circuit maintaining 70% of our MR. with a six minute rest, and in Week 5 the same training session was two sets of a six lap circuit at 80% with a five minute rest. It is progressive overload like this that allows athletes to improve their fitness without overdoing it and injuring themselves. Although we have used the training principle of overload for the quotation, we did not rain long enough to properly develop this principle. 7. 0 Evaluation of performance To effectively complete an quotation, prior to the event you need to warm up.
The specific purpose being to increase your heart rate, therefore supplying a sufficient amount of oxygen efficiently through the aerobic system. In the previous term to training we performed an quotation so we could later compare the results. In this quotation I did not warm up prior to the event and didn’t achieve it at my highest potential, therefore completed it in 23:14 minutes. After completing the training program with some implications including a public holiday, inability to use the pool and becoming ill I still believe have increased my fitness and will perform a quicker time than my previous attempt.
Also, the second time completed the quotation knew what to expect so in the next quotation will better prepared and therefore complete it in a quicker time. After partially completing the second quotation (swimming) I can confidently say I have become fitter as completed the swim in 5 minutes and 14 seconds rather than my much slower first attempt. 8. 0 Conclusion In conclusion, it can be said through completing this training program and earning the training principles I have become more effective in competing in an quotation.
Ashes English Response
Ashes’ father is stuck in a situation where he needs some money to pay off his debt. The way that the father has thought of a solution is to steal the mother’s rainy day fund, and to return it by Friday. Sleigh reaches for the money in the jar and turns around to stare at her father who’s waiting in the car. Clearly, Ashes has picked her father. Susan Beth Prefer does a great job at depicting the importance of being a realist rather than a dreamer. Ashes’ father who is believed to be a dreamer struggles with his everyday life.
He goes through every day hoping for the est.. Ashes mother, however, is different She always plays it safe. Susan Beth Prefer portrays that dreamers may sometimes be too far-fetched and need to be brought back to the real world sometimes. Ashes’ father has to rely on Ashes’ mother to help him get out of him slum. Susan Beth Prefer is conveying that it is better to be a realist, because it keep you on the ball. Dreamers usually get side tracked, and stuck in difficult situations.
An inferior theme that the author portrays is the idea of what parents are able to offer. Ashes mom provides a safe living environment for ashes. Ashes father on the other hand is poor, has his life upside down, and can be putting his little girl’s life in danger by owing people money. These are the complete opposites, but it depicts this theme beautifully since it emphasis both extremes. Susan Beth prefer uses setting to help get her point of the importance of money across. The story takes place in the slums, and in a rundown looking restaurant of a city.
Her father is a very poor man, and the setting helps show he financial issues the father is struggling with throughout the story. The characters of this short story helped display the theme of realistic versus dreamers: the mother being the realist, and the father being the dreamer. Sure the father makes the daughter feel special with everything he says, but the mother actually has things to offer to her daughter. The mother can take care of her kids, whereas the father can’t even take care of himself. This short story was a text that I found very interesting.
At the beginning, the ext was a little boring, but the story took a twist when the father asked Ashes’ to steal her mother’s money behind her mother’s back. It was frustrating not knowing how the story ends. Despite the fact that it was a short story, the author did a great job on developing the characters. Prefer made the story so we may relate to the characters and understand their life struggles. I like how the story was straight forward, because it was short and sweet, just how I like my coffee. If there?s one thing I can relate this short story to, it would be my life.