Strategic Management in Printing Industry: Watershed Group Analysis

This report provides an analysis of strategic management within the Watershed Group, a company in the printing industry. It begins by defining strategic management and its importance for organizational success in a competitive environment. The report outlines the various stages of strategic management, including identifying business objectives, formulating strategies using SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), implementing strategies through resource allocation, organizational structure adjustments, and functional policy development, and finally, evaluating strategies to adapt to the changing business environment. The evaluation process involves setting standards, measuring performance, analyzing variances, and taking corrective actions. The report emphasizes the need for Watershed Group to continuously evaluate and adapt its strategies to maintain a competitive advantage in the printing industry.

Running head: BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Business Environment and Strategic Management
NAME OF STUDENT:
NAME OF COLLEGE:
AUTHORS NOTE
1

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Literature review..............................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12
2

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Introduction
Strategic Management is a process which every organization should follow in order to ensure the
effectiveness of the strategies developed by the organization. Effective strategic management
helps in ensuring that the organizational goals and objectives are accomplished in an ideal
manner. It also involves various stages and every organization must focus on complying with the
requirements of the various steps in strategic management. This report focuses on the process of
strategic management in Watershed Group which belongs to the printing industry and the stages
of strategic management involved. This report also focuses on the key factors which ensure the
success of strategic alliances which is considered as a key component of strategic management.
Literature review
Strategic Management Defined
It is defined as the constant planning, monitoring, evaluation and assessments of all the necessary
tasks which are required by an organization in order to achieve its goals and objectives. The
rapid rate of innovation, emerging technologies and change in customer expectations force every
organization to think and implement strategic decisions in order to remain successful in the
market. According to Jansson and Söderman (2015) this process helps leaders of the companies
to analyze the present situation of the company, develop strategies based on the situation,
implement them accordingly and analyz the strategy effectiveness. It involves the analysis of
business decisions which are cross-functional before implementation. The strategic management
process involves examining the strengths and weaknesses of an organization which are internal
in nature, formulation of action plans and strategies, execution of action plans and strategies and
evaluating the degree to which plan is successful and making changes when the intended results
are not achieved. According to AinulAzyan, Pulakanam and Pons (2017) the process requires a
commitment towards planning, which is strategic in nature and which also represents the ability
of the company to develop and set goals which are both long-term and short term in nature and
then deciding the action that are required to be adopted in order to accomplish the goals. It is also
defined as a management technique which is used for future planning. The companies creates a
vision for long term strategy development which helps in identifying the required processes and
3

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
allocation of resources in order to achieve those goals. The strategic management process
enables companies to enhance and provide support to their core competencies. By deciding a
particular strategy, companies can take decisions which are logical in nature and create new
goals in a faster manner in order to keep up with the business environment which is changing
constantly. This process also enables a company to increase their competitive advantage and also
enables them to increase their market share.
Discussion
Stages of Strategic Management
As stated by Ronda-Pupo (2015) in context of Watershed Group it can be stated that the process
of strategic management is very important considering the competitiveness of the industry as
there are multiple organizations which operate in printing industry and the margin for error is
very minimal. Therefore it is very important for Watershed Group which belongs to the printing
industry that they should apply strategic management in their organization in order to design and
implement strategies for their organizations which will help in the achievement of the company
goals and will help Watershed Group to remain competitive in the market. There are various
stages or phases of strategic management which must be followed by Watershed Group that
belongs to the printing industry in order to increase the effectiveness of their strategic
management process which is as follows:
Identification of the business objectives and purpose- As opined by Grant and Baden-Fuller
(2018) the business objectives signify the ultimate results which must be achieved by an
organization over a period of time and strategies are designed in order to achieve those results.
The corporate purpose and the corporate objectives provide a complete picture regarding the
company and regarding its state of achievement in the future. The corporate purpose of
Watershed Group is to lead with their expertise the packaging, labeling and printing design
industry and serving customer needs is principal line of their business statement which they seek
to achieve. The company mission helps in explaining the scope of business in context of their
products and markets whereas their business goals define the way in order to accomplish the
mission of the company.
4

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Formulation of strategies- As stated by Sambasivan et al. (2013) during the formulation of
strategies in order to achieve its objectives, Watershed Group should be aware of its strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The SWOT analysis is the most effective and popular tool
in order to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company. The
strength and weakness of Watershed Group are considered as its internal factor whereas the
opportunities and threats are considered as external factors of the company.
The strengths of Watershed Group which belongs to the printing industry is highly skilled,
trained and productive workforce, well organized research and development function, efficient
marketing networks and high quality products which helps them meet needs of customers
appropriately.
The weaknesses of Watershed Group are obsolete and old machinery used in production,
outdated technology used in the manufacturing of the products, uncertain future financial
position due to economic instability of targeted markets.
The opportunities for Watershed Group are friendly policies of the government related in relation
to taxes, exports, duty drawbacks and import substitutions, demand for eco-labeling packaging
and demand for more innovative printing solutions.
The threats of Watershed Group are increasing competition, rising costs of raw materials,
changes in demand, changes in government policies and regulations and changes in customer
preferences.
Implementation- After the formulation of the strategy, the next step in the strategic management
process is implementation of the formulated strategy which includes a number of operational and
administrative decisions such as implementation of resources, organizational implementation and
implementation of functional policies.
 Resource implementation- In order to implement a strategy in the most effective manner,
all resources such as financial, technological, human and material must be available to
Watershed Group that belongs to the printing industry. The top management of
Watershed Group must act objectively in nature in order to ensure availability of the right
resources at the right time. As opined by Bao (2015) the main role of strategic
5

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
management is subjected mainly to the areas of operation of physical, financial and
human resources and until the availability of the desired resources at the right time, no
strategic plan could be put into action. There are various challenges which are mainly
faced by the Watershed Group in terms of resource allocation such as scarcity of
resources due to their non-availability and costly nature, restrictions of the government
regarding sourcing and procurement of raw materials and machinery from other countries
and lack of qualified human resources who could utilize available physical resources for
proper implementation of the strategy.
 Organizational implementation- A suitable arrangement is required in order to effectively
implement a strategy. Neither a strategy nor a structure can be determined without the
help of each other and therefore it is highly believed that strategy can hardly succeed
without a proper organization structure. It is evident from the example of various large
scale enterprise that well perceived and conceived strategic plans of enterprises failed
miserable due to absence of an appropriate organizational structure and therefore in order
to effectively implement a strategy, an organization structure may require change and
therefore Watershed Group must be capable to predict structural changes in advance and
must accordingly change their organization structure in order to ensure the execution of a
strategic plan.
 Functional policy implementation-As stated by Qehaja, Kutllovci and Pula (2017) the
designing of policies is very important for the implementation of an effective strategy as
a policy is considered as instructions for an action. The formulation of policies helps in
channelization of efforts of Watershed Group in a pre-decided way which helps in
achieving their organizational goals. The most vital aspect, the main exercise that is
analytical in nature which is involved in the process making of policy is the authority to
factor the main compatible and workable strategy. It is not only significant for the
managers of Watershed Group to decide to change the strategy in case required, but even
it is important for them to determine how to achieve the strategy in the most efficient
manner and therefore the organizational managers prepare policies in order to implement
the grand strategy. There are various policies which can be developed in order to
implement the strategy in the most effective manner such as corporate policies, divisional
6

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
policies and departmental policies and the policies provides directions to Watershed
Group regarding accomplishment of their strategies.
 Evaluation of strategies- The last phase of this process is evaluation and control of the
implemented strategies. As stated by White et al. (2016) in context of the Watershed
Group which belongs to printing industry it can be stated that the business environment
changes constantly and therefore it is very important to evaluate their existing strategies
and formulate new strategies as per requirement in order to take advantage of the
continuously changing business environment. The main aim of evaluation of strategies is
to observe and analyze progress towards achieving the organizational goals and to rectify
and modify the strategic plan of Watershed Group in order to adapt them in to a better
manner with the current conditions and purposes and therefore the strategic evaluation is
undertaken in order to measure the success of currently implemented strategies so as to
realize the main goals of Watershed Group. As opined by Jong-Ho and Hyeon-Wook
(2016) the evaluation of strategies in Watershed Group helps in keeping a control on the
performance of the organization, provides a feedback of the strategies and policies
implemented, helps in motivation of the employees as the promotion and emotion of the
employees are based on the evaluation of the policies, helps in evaluating the decisions
taken by the managers regarding implementation of strategies and thus enables
Watershed Group to learn about various new trends from the evaluation of their
strategies. The evaluation process is comprised of multiple stages namely as follows:
 Fixing the standards- The basis which is applied for comparison in evaluating is termed
as standards. The process of strategic evaluation compares the current strategy of
Watershed Group with the best available substitute strategy and accordingly determines
the modification rate of the strategy. The standards to be used in the evaluation process
can be fixed on the basis of qualitative criteria or quantitative criteria.
 Measuring the performance of the organization under the strategy- According to Vattikoti
and Razak (2018) the measurements of the performance evaluation of Watershed Group
becomes easy when there are adequate standards in advance as well as when there are
adequate measurement techniques present. The timing and the period of evaluation is
very important for the measurement of performance under the strategy.
7

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
 Analyzing the variance in the results- Variance is defined as the difference between
actual performance and planned performance of an organization. As opined by Witek-
Crabb (2016) if the actual performance of Watershed Group is better than the planned
performance, then the variance is said to be positive in nature and it suggests that no
corrective actions are required regarding their strategy, whereas if the actual performance
of the Watershed Group after the implementation of the strategy is lower than the planned
performance, then the variance is said to be negative in nature and suggests that
corrective actions needs to be taken.
 Taking corrective actions- Taking corrective actions is the last step in the strategic
evaluation process, which involves making corrective actions in the strategy of the
organization in order to improve the performance of Watershed Group and to increase the
effectiveness of the strategy of the organization.
Need For Strategic Alliances
As stated by Yadav, Sushil and Sagar (2014) there is a recognition in the Watershed Group that
the competition is moving away from a “firm against firm perspective” to a “supply chain
against supply chain perspective” and therefore as a response to this shift, Watershed Group
which belongs to the printing industry seek competitive advantage by indulging in co-operative
supply chain arrangements in the form of strategic alliances which helps them in combing their
own strengths and unique resources and working together with partners to minimize the non-
value adding activities which helps in facilitating improved performance. As stated by Zhao
(2014) the main focus of all alliance improving efforts in Watershed Group are buyer-supplier
sourcing relationships. In order to ensure that both the involved parties remain committed to this
form of relationship, mutual benefits much exists in a win-win relationship that is developed
among the Watershed Group and involved parties. While the interests of Watershed Group
remains particularly strong in these arrangements but it is also widely believed that creating,
developing and maintaining of strategic alliances in the printing industry is a very challenging
task and the success of such strategic alliances depends on a number of factors which are as
follows:
Trust- As opined by Kang (2014) trust is a very vital element which must exist in an alliance
between two parties in the printing industries since each member is dependent on the other party
8

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
to achieve their common goals. There should be trust among the members present in a strategic
alliance for sharing information which are critical in nature in order to manage the partnership
for participating member and in order to believe that the long term needs of each of the partners
will be met. Hence, the managers and executives of Watershed Group typically feel that they
tend to know where trust of higher level is present or not present in a relationship and
subsequently defining and measuring the trust which is involved between the members of the
strategic alliance as these are very complex and problematic in nature.
Senior Management Support-As opined by Charles, Ojera, and David (2015) the support of the
senior management of Watershed Group for their strategic alliances is also a vital factor which
determines the success of a strategic alliance as the support of the senior management provides
with both encouragement and also resources such as qualified human resource personnel, time,
travel, technology and physical plants to the individuals who are directly involved in the strategic
alliance between the companies. The support of senior management is very important in both
strategic and operational areas of the alliances. As opined by Siew-Phaik, Downe and
Sambasivan (2013) the strategic areas of the alliance comprises of the decisions and actions
which affects the long term goals and directions of Watershed Group and their partners who are
involved in strategic partnerships whereas the operational areas of the alliance refers to the
decisions and actions which affects their short term planning and day to day operating
performance of the partners who are involved in the alliance.
Ability to meet performance expectations- The ability to meet the performance expectations also
creates a concern in the execution and evaluation of the goals of the alliance as well as the goals
of the individual companies who are involved in the alliance. In order to meet performance
expectations it is very important to gain access and exchange performance information among
Watershed Group and their partners who are involved in the alliance. If one of the company is
able to meet the performance expectation of the other partner present in the alliance, then both
parties remains committed to fulfill the performance expectation of the each other which helps in
benefiting both Watershed Group and their partners involved in the alliance.
Clear goals- The success of the partners present in the alliance depends on the partners sharing a
common future vision. As opined by Drouin and Jugdev (2014) the success of a strategic alliance
involves the setting up and carrying out of goals which are clearly defined and therefore in order
9

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
to achieve those goals, procedures which are well defined should be communicated to the
managers of both the parties involved in the alliance in a clear manner which will help in the
achievement of the defined goals and objectives and therefore in order to meet the performance
expectation of each other in a strategic alliance, the parties involved in the alliance with
Watershed Group should clearly define the goals and vision for the future.
Partner Compatibility- The compatibility of the partners is another vital issue which determines
the success of a strategic alliance. The compatibility of partners is defined as the ability to plan
and work together in a manner which is productive and solution-oriented. As stated by Piran,
Moradi and Naghdi (2013) compatibility of partners is mainly concerned with two issues namely
analysis of working philosophy and style and co-operation and ability of problem solving. In
most strategic alliances it is observed that though the operating philosophies of the partners of
strategic alliance are similar in nature but the management style of the involving parties differ
which creates issues regarding non-compatibility among the partners involved in the alliance.
There are certain barriers regarding successful strategic alliance between two companies in the
printing industry. The barriers to successful strategic alliance in Watershed Group are as follows:
Organization Culture-As opined by Tan and Ding (2015) the difference in organization culture
between both the parties involved in a strategic alliance acts as a barrier for successful strategic
alliance as difference in organizational culture between both Watershed Group and their potential
partner can create a clash of culture between the members due to the alliance, which can affect
the system of belief of employees belonging to both organization. The clash of both the cultures
can also create a new organizational environment with which the employees of both Watershed
Group and partner organization may not get accustomed to and thereby resulting into failure to
cope with new organizational environment which can act as a barrier to strategic alliances.
Business process re-engineering- As opined by Shujahat et al.(2017) the process of re-
engineering also act as a barrier for successful strategic alliances as business process re-
engineering involves changing the ways the company do business which may disrupt the
operations of the company. Therefore fearing such disruption of their business operations and
business performance, Watershed Group hesitates to enter into strategic alliances with unsuitable
10

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
partners who may not be compatible, as business process re-engineering is very essential for
Watershed Group to maintain their competitiveness and growth.
Conclusion
From the above report it is clear and evident that in order to ensure their constant business
performances, organizations must effectively carry out strategic management as it not only helps
in achieving the goals and objectives of an organization but also helps in increasing
competitiveness of the organization. In terms of the Watershed Group it can be sated that
strategic management is considered as a very important element considering the level of
competition and minimal margin for error. Further, it was also observed that Watershed Group
which belongs to the printing industry must focus on developing strategic alliances with other
companies belonging to the same or different sector in order to increase their competitiveness by
keeping in mind various factors which influence a strategic alliance.
11

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
References
AinulAzyan, Z. H., Pulakanam, V., and Pons, D. (2017). Success factors and barriers to
implementing lean in the printing industry. Journal of Manufacturing Technology
Management, [Online] 28(4), 458-484. Available at-
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1897649541?accountid=30552 Accessed as on 27/11/2018
Bao, G. (2015). What theories are needed for strategic management? Nankai Business Review
International, [Online] 6(4), 433-454. Available at-
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1732339404?accountid=30552 Accessed as on 27/11/2018
Charles, N. A., Ojera, P. B., and David, O. (2015).Factors influencing choice of strategic
management modes of small enterprises. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
[Online] 4(1), 1-22. Available at- doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13731-014-0016-y Accessed as
on 27/11/2018
Drouin, N., and Jugdev, K. (2014).Standing on the shoulders of strategic management giants to
advance organizational project management. International Journal of Managing Projects in
Business, [Online] 7(1), 61-77. Available at- https://search.proquest.com/docview/1467825128?
accountid=30552 Accessed as on 27/11/2018
Grant, R. M., and Baden-Fuller, C. (2018). How to develop strategic management competency:
Reconsidering the learning goals and knowledge requirements of the core strategy
course. Academy of Management Learning & Education, [Online] 17(3), 322. Available at-
https://search.proquest.com/docview/2125724277?accountid=30552 Accessed as on 27/11/2018
Jansson, H., and Söderman, S. (2015). International strategic management hybrids in
china. International Journal of Emerging Markets, [Online] 10(2), 209-223. Available at-
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1675863713?accountid=30552 Accessed as on 27/11/2018
Jong-Ho, L., and Hyeon-Wook, P. (2016).Main industry business strategy research through 3D
printing technology. International Information Institute (Tokyo).Information, [Online] 19(11),
5201-5208. Available at- https://search.proquest.com/docview/1897794314?accountid=30552
Accessed as on 27/11/2018
12