Once you have reviewed all of the Strategic Alternatives (review postings to Str

Question

Once you have reviewed all of the Strategic Alternatives (review postings to Strategic Alternative-W4 thread), you should have a pretty comprehensive list of strategic alternatives or options. So how are you going to narrow down that list to identify the strategies that are most critical and manageable? The easiest and most objective way to accomplish this task is to use a weighed decision matrix. (This analytic technique was covered in a previous course on decision-making and problem solving). If you have identified many different strategies, it is often helpful to group like or complimentary strategies together before conducting the analysis. This reduces the number of options and simplifies the analysis. For instance, if you feel that StilSim needs improve its technological capabilities, you might group together a technology creation strategy with a technology-related training strategy. Once you have grouped complementary strategies together, check to see if you need to include any related, but mutually exclusive strategies in your list. Using the above example, a mutually exclusive technology strategy might be to purchase technology expertise through an acquisition (corporate strategy). Adding a mutually exclusive strategy to your list enables you to evaluate two different options with the matrix (build vs. buy) to determine which technology option is best for StilSim. Before conducting the weighted decision matrix analysis, you should also review the selected decision criteria and the weighting you choose for each criterion. There are many different criteria that you can choose for your matrix (customer impact, cost, ease of implementation, ROI, etc); evaluate your options carefully; strive for a balance. Evaluate how you apply the weighting. Which criteria are more important (more heavily weighted) and why? Make sure all criteria rating scales are in sync, ie., 1 = low, poor, not important, etc., and 9 = high, excellent, very important, etc. As you proceed through the matrix evaluation, carefully evaluate each criterion you are considering. (Don't rate everything a 5 and expect meaningful results.) As you review all of your strategic alternatives: How might you group like strategies together? What decision-making criteria need to be considered for the matrix? Why are they important? How are you going to weight the decision criteria? Which criteria should be given more weight? See this example to answer the question: How might you group like strategies together? The low cost strategy of standard policies and procedures for the entire company can be grouped with the focus of internal communication improvements because they both complement the idea of ensuring better customer service with customers. What decision-making criteria need to be considered for the matrix? Why are they important? The decision-making criteria I am considering are cost, return on investment, feasibility, customer acceptance. The cost of a strategy is important, because you do not want the expense of a solution to be greater than the revenue that it could potential generate. Return on investment is important to show shareholders that StilSim wants to improve its market presence while not incurring an ongoing expense to the company.   The importance of feasibility is to ensure the strategy is innovative but still manageable by StilSim employees. If the strategy is too foreign to the employees that they cannot adopt the change, it will ultimately fail. A customer’s acceptance of a new strategy to improve the companyin any way is important because if it does not benefit the customer, it would have been an expensive waste of time. How are you going to weight the decision criteria? Which criteria should be given more weight? Criteria Weights Return on Investment at 0.4 Cost at 0.3 Customer Acceptance at 0.2 Feasibility at 0.1 The criteria given more weight is the return on investment and then cost because though customer acceptance and feasibility are important criteria to consider, the company’s impact to the profitability must be a greater priority. If the strategy cannot be affordable with only minimal impact to profits, the change will not be sustainable.

Explanation / Answer

StilSim have been sufficiently evaluated and analyzed and we now know whatspecifically the company is facing internally and externally and we now know where its strengthand weakness lies. It is now time to formulate a comprehensive strategy that is essential for thegrowth and success of the company. Strategic formulation is choosing the best course of action toachieve company objective and goals and it is essential to a company’s success because itprovides a basic structure of what is necessary to lead to the desired outcome. Dess (2012) statesthat strategic formulation consists of business level strategies and corporate level strategies.Business level strategies are the specific actions taken to provide customer value and competitiveadvantage. Corporate level strategies are the specific action a company must take to gaincompetitive advantage. In this report, there will be a balanced score card and a weighted matrix,and recommendations to support the information

Strategic OptionsBy now, it is certainly obvious that StilSim Personnel requires dramatic change andorganizational refinement to endure and avoid being bankrupt. It is necessary for the company tochange the climate and culture that is currently being embraced. The key for StilSim will be tospot the symptoms of its decline before they accumulate and then shift towards a strategy, andthen take actions that build positive momentum and turn the company around to make itprofitable.The biggest and simplest strategic change will be to change the culture that permeates thebusiness currently. Internal communication and communication between branches is a must, asStilSim is not a multiple independent location, but one singular company over a large area.StilSim has the knowledge and experience to thrive in this industry, but the way the employees

are managed and the company is structured needs to be altered. There needs to be a firm chain ofcommand that installs order throughout the branches. This will hopefully improve the culture aswell as change attitudes of employees both towards the business and each other.Generic StrategyAccording to Dess (2012), there are three basic strategic method to help a company gaincompetitive advantage. Porter’s three generic strategies is composed of cost leadership,differentiation, and focus strategies. In cost leadership, a company sets out to become the lowestcost producer in its industry (Dess, 2012, p. 162). Setting prices below its competitors willincrease profit and gain market share. If StilSim can achieve, sustain and maintain overall costleadership, then it will be an above average performer in the personnel industry. Indifferentiation, it involves making the services unique and more attractive than its competitors.

External AnalysisThe external environment of StilSim Personnel is an important factor that must be lookedat and considered when discussing the future of the business. The general environment iscomposed of six different segments; demographic, sociocultural, political/legal, technological,economic, and global. Of these six, StilSim is impacted by the demographics, technological, andsociocultural segments. (Dess, 2012) The competitive analysis consists of Porter’s Five-Forces;threat of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat ofsubstitute products and services, and intensity of rivalry among competitors in an industry. (Dess,2012) This analysis will be evaluating the external environment, while focusing on threats andopportunities surrounding the company.General Environment AnalysisThe general environment surrounding a business plays a huge role in the way a businessruns. As I mentioned earlier, demographics, technology, and sociocultural have the greatestimpact on StilSim. It is best for StilSim to have good understanding of the general environmentaround them so that they may maximize profits and gain more business.Opportunities:There are many opportunities that StilSim has; they are just not takingadvantage of them to further the company. An opportunity for StilSim would be a way for thecompany to grow and expand, all while keeping up the current reputation and clients.Demographics:This segment of the general environment is especially importantto StilSim, so that they can find the right applicants for the positions our clients need filled. Wehave an opportunity to gain more clients in certain areas due to the green industry and the newmedical center in the Lakeside area. We also have the opportunity to gain more clients.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse O
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.