Sekolah Pendidikan Profesional dan Pendidikan Berterusan

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

ASSIGNMENT

NAME : Jong Chou Wee

STUDENT NUMBER/IC : TD22060098

SUBJECT CODE : PDBM 2083

COURSE NAME : BUSINESS STRATEGY & STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

LECTURER’S NAME : TEACHER FAUSTINA

PROGRAMME : Professional Diploma in Business Management

DATE : 22nd October 2022

TIME : 2 hours

FULL MARK : 100

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Introduction

Strategic management is the ongoing planning, monitoring, analysis and assessment of all
necessities an organization needs to meet its goals and objectives. Changes in business
environments will require organizations to constantly assess their strategies for success. The
strategic management process helps organizations take stock of their present situation, chalk
out strategies, deploy them and analyze the effectiveness of the implemented management
strategies. Strategic management strategies consist of five basic strategies and can differ in
implementation depending on the surrounding environment. Strategic management applies
both to on-premise and mobile platforms.

Strategic management is generally thought to have financial and nonfinancial benefits. A

strategic management process helps an organization and its leadership to think about and plan
for its future existence, fulfilling a chief responsibility of a board of directors. Strategic
management sets a direction for the organization and its employees. Unlike once-and-done
strategic plans, effective strategic management continuously plans, monitors and tests an
organization's activities, resulting in greater operational efficiency, market share and
profitability.

What Business Strategic Management is for a small business firm?

Strategic Management is a concept that focuses on organisation’s ability to choose and

implement strategic options and actions so that it will successfully meet the challenges posed
by the changing world, other organisations and its own goals and objectives.

In business, the term “strategic management” is often used as synonymous with “strategic
planning”. Strategic planning is an important component of strategic management in business
organisations. But there are other equally important components, and these include strategic
human resource management , and strategic marketing. Therefore, to be clear, strategic
management for small businesses will involve a combination of the above processes and
activities.

Strategic Management helps organisations to identify the goals and objectives they need to
achieve and then create strategies that will enable the organisation to actively achieve these
goals and objectives. The term goal refers to a specific result that management wants to
achieve, whereas objective refers to a specific process that management needs to incorporate

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into the organisation’s routine processes and activities, so that it will be able to achieve the
goals effectively.

So strategic management for small business will assist you to set well-defined goals and
objectives, and tailor your existing processes and activities, as well as introduce new
processes and activities, to ensure that the business is in alignment with the goals and
objectives.

Before strategic management for small business can begin, the development of a strategic
plan is necessary.

The steps in the Strategic Management planning process are:

 The identification of the organisation’s goals and objectives.

 The analysis of the external environment, especially the business environment.
 The development of strategies that will enable the organisation to achieve its goals
and objectives.
 The development of objectives that will enable the organisation to achieve its
strategies.
 The development of tactics that will enable the organisation’s objectives to be
achieved.
 The implementation and execution of the strategies and tactics that will enable the
organisation to achieve its goals and objectives.
 The establishment of processes which will ensure that the business is in harmony with
the external environments.
 The continuous assessment of the organisation’s strategies, objectives and plans to
ensure that they are in line with the current external environment.

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What can a entrepreneur do to increase the chances for a selected strategy to be
successfully implemented.?

Entrepreneurs can come from different backgrounds and utilize varying skillsets to achieve
their goals. However, a careful study of entrepreneurship shows there are a few shared
strategies that can help entrepreneurs succeed in the early stages of their career. Let’s take a
look at some of the strategies employed by the most successful entrepreneurs:

1. Learn from prior work experience. Many entrepreneurs don’t become successful
overnight: they often begin at the bottom of a traditional corporate totem pole. Starting out as
an employee, rather than an entrepreneur, is an opportunity to learn how organizations work.
Use your early job roles to observe how management teams make strategic decisions and to
develop the humility, resilience, and competitiveness you will need as a leader of a startup
business.

2. Develop a diverse set of skills. In many ways, an entrepreneur is a full-time problem-

solver first and foremost. Therefore, it’s important for an entrepreneur to develop a wide skill
set in various fields so that they are prepared to tackle different types of problems in their
eventual leadership roles. Start by analyzing your own strengths and weaknesses, and seek to
fortify your knowledge base in areas that you’re unfamiliar with. For instance, if you are
great at coming up with innovative ideas but lack a fundamental understanding of business
administration, try shadowing someone who works in that field to learn from them.

3. Identify a problem that needs solving, then solve it. The best entrepreneurs build their
businesses by surveying the landscape, identifying a problem, and then constructing a
business idea that seeks to solve that problem. For instance, Amazon recognized that online
shopping was complicated and non-intuitive, and solved that problem by creating a
streamlined interface with a vast inventory.

4. Surround yourself with people you trust. Your primary job as an entrepreneur and leader
is to build a team of people with diverse experiences and expertise but like-minded values.
Seek to recruit candidates with two essential characteristics: domain expertise in a skill base
beyond your own, and a value system in alignment with your own.

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5. Remain curious. Curiosity is one of the most important traits for entrepreneurs of every
age. To constantly learn and maintain your competitive edge, you must always seek out new
people and new experiences. Never lose the curiosity to see around corners.

Highlight and critique the business issues of today that make strategic management
practice a must for contemporary entrepreneur.

In a marketplace where workplaces are continually being disrupted through technological

innovation, strategic management can be the key to delivering a solid bottom line. Company
executives who have a strong grasp of their own organisation’s products or services and an
in-depth view of what their major competitors will do next, can forecast and plan timely
business decisions. It also means they can prepare for future opportunities and possible risks.

Developing a strategic vision requires an understanding of global trends, the competitive

landscape and stakeholder expectations. Once a firm knows what its mission is, the right
resources can be allocated to achieve that plan. Through strategic decision-making and
commitment to strategic planning, organisations can strengthen their long-term competitive
position.

Apart from financial gains, strategic management can also boost workplace motivation.
Setting effective goals for employees and involving them in organisational objectives can
improve overall performance. Studies showa dramatic increase in both employee and
business performance when goals are aligned.

But it’s not enough to just craft and execute a strategic management plan. Firms that
continuously measure and review the results of their strategic approach are more likely to
achieve success and see improved financial performance. Firms that continually assess
whether they are performing according to their corporate blueprint can respond to fast-
changing market forces. They can move the company along the strategic course that has been
charted for it.

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The below four reasons emphasise why strategic management is crucially important to
businesses.

1. Environmental awareness

The strategic planning process involved in strategic management is all but invaluable to a
business because it forces top-level management to be aware of changing business
environments.

Our world today is fast paced and dynamic, and in a business sense this results in tangible
changes like saturated markets full of expanding competition, consumer changes in both
morality, taste and preference, i.e sustainability, and also technological advancements such as
automation.

Such fast paced and significant changes do two things: Firstly, they open the business to new
opportunities if it is well placed to take advantage of these, but secondly they also open the
business up to new threats which could damage the business if it has underprepared. Either
option leads to potential ramifications if the business has not assessed the environment, nor
prepared accordingly.

Using strategic management however, the strategic planning process focuses the businesses
attention to the new opportunities and threats and prepares the business to pivot to these by
asking fundamental questions such as:

 What are the weaknesses of our organisation?

 What are our company’s competitors currently doing and what are they likely to do?
 Will any of our company’s products require changing?
 What is the cash flow of our organisation?
 What are the capital needs of our organisation?
 Do we possess an acceptable share of the market?

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  Is our organisation moving in the right direction?

2. Mission definition

Strategic management also helps to identify the overall mission of the business, something of
utter importance to all organisations.

A business mission defines what an organisation is, why it exists, and what its purpose is. In
that purpose a mission could relate to either the function, the competitive advantages or the
USPs of the business. A mission drives a business, and gives it something to build goals and
objectives around.

Comprehensive understanding of an organisation’s mission also enables senior management

to be better equipped to deal with an array of fundamental strategic issues stemming from the
following questions:

 In what competitive area is our organisation based?

 What are our requirements for success within our competitive environment?
 Is the size of the organisation optimal for achieving success?
 What are our businesses strengths and weaknesses in our basic areas?
 Is our mission appropriate when considering our capabilities, desires and
opportunities?
 How can our organisation capture consumer confidence?
 What is our organisation’s ethical posture concerning our consumers, suppliers,
employees and creditors?

3. Creates long-range objectives

A third reason that strategic management is so important to businesses is its ability to

formulate long term objectives specific to the business.

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Statements such as “Our objective is to make a profit” are too generalised, and do not provide
a specific enough direction for a businesses activities when compared to objectives such as
achieving a 10% return on net capital.

In the strategic management planning process, specific objectives can be defined for sales
figures, profit margins, share of market percentages, return on investments, and numerous
other factors that top-level management can implement to effectively measure progress.

4. Specifies policies and strategies

Strategic management also helps businesses in specifying important policies and strategies
which can make a difference to the deployment of business resources.

Policies and strategies provide a framework, mostly for managers, in which senior
management decisions can be made in consistent accordance with the identified mission,
defined purpose, and objectives of the organisation.

The significance of specifying the overall master policy or strategy is that it provides an
actionable roadmap that senior management can follow in order to continuously survey the
business environment, determine the nature of the business, work toward achievable goals
and to devise and deploy strategies that achieve sub-objectives that continually achieve
organisational purposes.

The total process of Business Strategic Management of Samsung

The Samsung Group specializing in electronics originated in Asia. It started off as an

electronics consumer goods manufacturing concern in Korea in 1938. The operations began
on March 1, 1938 under the supervision of the then chairman, Byung-Chull Lee, in Taegu,
Korea. (Samsung Group Timeline and History 2007). According to Edwards (2003), the
organization grew and opened subsidiaries worldwide. The manufacturing concern launched
different categories of products over the years. Edwards (2003) stated that the company

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shifted its focus from the selling concept to the marketing concept. A few years ago, the
company embarked on strategic branding policies and brand management.

Nystedt (2007) wrote in his article that the Samsung Mobile segment of the Samsung Group
received much recognition and became a major source of its revenue. The progress in the
cellular technology and industry worldwide allowed the business of Samsung Mobile to
prosper.

Today, the mobile phone and devices utilizing cellular technology are being used individuals
from all walks of life. According to Nystedt (2007), these users not only include high-profile
business personnel but also students and housewives. He further asserted that life without
cellular technology is unthinkable in Europe and North America in modern times. Fast,
reliable and easy communication is fast becoming a necessity.

Nystedt (2007) stated that the Samsung Mobile’s strategic management understood and
realized this need of its consumers. Various beneficial mobile devices and phones using
powerful branding strategies were introduced. Strong sales and distribution networks were set
up by the company. The writer believed that the pace at which the organization is
progressing, it may even stand as the top mobile phone and related accessories company in
the world.

According to Nystedt (2007), Samsung Mobile is about to launch mobile television keeping
in view the growing demands of the consumers. This would be a truly digital TV operated by
latest technology by the name of Advanced VSB (A-VSB). The company claims itself to be a
pioneer in launching electronic goods using the new technology. The author remarked that it
prides itself in being amongst the few companies in the world which have introduced novelty
technology products. (Nystedt 2007),

According to Kim (2006), Samsung Mobile has global strategic policies in place. The tactics
used to achieve competitive advantage and boost brand power remain the same worldwide.
Nonetheless, the researcher asserts that slight variations in functional policies and strategies

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do exist in some countries in order to meet the local demands, and use available resources
efficiently.

Kim (2006) believes that it is because of the innovative technologies, various product
categories and powerful branding strategies that Samsung Mobile has reached the position of
being among the top multinational mobile phone and related accessories companies in the
world. The intellectual and human capital owned by the company is truly remarkable.

The researcher learnt a little known secret of Samsung’s success. The company does not
market itself as a Korean brand. Neither does the Samsung relate to its country of origin
when penetrating new markets and launching new products. This prevents the organization
from being affected by the low image of the country.

Conclusion

Strategic management is crucially important to businesses because it equips them with an

incredibly useful tool: Adaptability.

In strategic management processes organisations are encouraged to trial new things, to

develop strategies in line with updated or changed business objectives, and most importantly
to pivot the business in order to meet these changes. There is no harm or weakness in
admitting when something is not working and changing it so that it does, and strategic
management benefits businesses with this opportunity so that they can not only survive in
their sector, but thrive and most importantly: Grow.

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References

1. About Samsung 2007, Samsung Group Timeline and History. Web.

2. CNMMoney.com 2006, Fortune Global 500- Samsung Electronics. Web.
3. Edwards, C, ‘The Push to Polish Samsung’s Brand’, BusinessWeek, 2003. Web.
4. Hover 2008, Samsung Group Competitors. Web.
5. Herrick, S, ‘Samsung U600 – The Preferred Choice’, Ezine Articles, 2007. Web.
6. Kim, Y 2006, ‘Do South Korean Companies Need to Obscure their Country of
Origin Image?: A Case of Samsung’, Corporate Communications: An
International Journal, vol. 11, no. 2, p. 126-137.
7. Marketing Strategy 2006, EFFIE/The Best Brand 2006: National Award For
Effective Brand Value Building. Web.
8. McRae, BC 1998, Negotiating and Influencing Skills: The Art of Creating and
Claiming Value, Sage Publications, London.
9. Mobile Review 2007, Review GSM phone Samsung. Web.
10. Mobile Today n.d., Latest Upcoming Mobile Phones of LG, Nokia, Motorola,
Samsung, Sony Ericsson. Web.
11. Nystedt, D, ‘Samsung offers to bring mobile TV to North America’, InfoWorld,
2007. Web.
12. Park, R 1996, ‘Samsung Group Names New North American and Electronics
Leadership’, BNET Business Wire. Web.
13. ‘Samsung’s Goal: Be Like BMW’, BusinessWeek, 2005. Web.
14. Samsung Mobile 2007. Web.
15. Samsung Mobile: Phones 2007. Web.
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Through Organizational Transitions, Thomson Crisp Learning, Massachusetts.
17. Vodafone 2007. Web.

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