The Role of Strategy in Business Success

This assignment delves into the importance of strategy for organizational achievement. It analyzes different aspects of business strategy, including strategic planning, innovation, environmental assessment, and human resource management. The provided readings offer insights from renowned authors and experts in the field. Students are expected to synthesize these ideas and demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of how strategy shapes successful businesses.

Business Strategy

Table of Contents
Business Strategy.............................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................1
3.1 Strategy for market entry and growth...................................................................................1
3.2 Justification...........................................................................................................................2
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................2
4.1 Roles and responsibilities of staff to implement the strategy ..............................................2
4.2 Requirement of resources......................................................................................................3
4.3 Contribution of SMART objectives......................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Business strategy includes a planning process which is developed to achieve desired
objectives and goals of the organization. This is concerned with leading the issues of resources in
organization such as sales planning, raising finance for business and product development.
Strategies are mainly concerned with the various activities of business (Baye, 2000). The
products features and production locations for new business are also planned in this strategies .
This report will help to understand the need and development of business strategy in
organization. In this report, Sony Corporation is selected to study the importance of business
strategy. Further this report includes the planning process and formulation of strategy to evaluate
the requirement of various resources in the company. The implementation and selection of
business strategies are also described in this report.
TASK 3
3.1 Strategy for market entry and growth
The Sony can adopt few options such as market entry, substantive growth and limited
growth and retrenchment to consider company's future strategy.
 Market entry- For the future strategy, Sony can adopt the option of market entry. Cited
firm can enter in new market with the existing products. In new foreign market company
can implement few methods such as strategic alliance, joint venture and franchising.
 Substantive growth- This option can increase the sales and profit which can help in
business growth of Sony (Chow and Suen, 2001). For the substantive growth company
can adopt the horizontal and vertical integration or related and unrelated diversification.
Sony can also adopt the acquisition option to enter in new market and to increase the
growth of company.
 Limited growth- While considering the future growth strategy, company can adopt
limited growth option if Sony do not want to take the risk. Cited firm can focus on market
penetration, market development and product development (Chow and Suen, 2001).
 Retrenchment- By adopting this strategy, Sony can focus on its product line and market
segmentation. The retrenchment strategy offers the opportunity to offload the
unprofitable strategic business unit and also reduces the loss. In this strategy firm can use
divestment and cost reduction methods.
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3.2 Justification
Sony has adopted the market entry strategy option to expand their business. For this
purpose, cited firm has planned to enter in South Asia with their existing product because this
region is growing and developing very fast. Increasing growth rate of this region is the main
reason behind the selection of this market to expand business. Cited firm is already employing in
many countries with the various variety of products (Baye, 2000). To enter in the market of
South Asia, company can adopt many options such as franchising, acquisition, strategic alliance
and licensing option. With the help of these options, company can maintain its presence globally
in a secure way. For this purpose, firm can implement licensing option in which company allows
vendor to use their rights to sell the product (Grundy, 2003). On the other hand, franchising is
also an effective option in which company allows other business to use its trade mark or name in
order to conduct trade activities on the behalf of it. In order to achieve competitive advantage,
Sony can use strategic alliance option. In this option, firm decides to pursue their objective with
equal parties by sharing resources (Eshun, 2009). In further, Sony can use acquisition option to
increase its presence in which company decides to buy another business at different location.
TASK 4
4.1 Roles and responsibilities of staff to implement the strategy
To expand and increase the presence of Sony, company have to implement the new
business strategy. For this purpose cited firm have to hand over the responsibilities and charge to
various employees of different departments. These employees will be managers who take the
responsibility of finance, marketing operational and human resources. The roles and
responsibilities of these managers are described below:
 Finance manager- These managers controls and makes the decisions which are related
to finance and they also raise the fund and capital to implement the new strategy in new
market.
 HR manager- For implementation of new managers, these managers recruit and train the
man power. They also conduct the training and motivation programs to increase the
productivity of Sony.
 Marketing manager- To enter in new market of South Asia, marketing managers of
Sony makes the plans and strategies to promote the products and company. Their main
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motive is to give awareness of company image and product features among the customers
to attract them. They also manage and performs the functions which are related to
customer relationship management in Sony.
 Operational manager- Operational manager of Sony, makes the planning of product
production. To enter in new market, they take the responsibility of required machines and
physical layout of Sony.
The board of directors are also selected and they acts on the behalf of shareholders to take
the decisions such as implementation of new strategy of Sony.
4.2 Requirement of resources
Sony has decides to expand their business by entering in new market of South Asia. For
this purpose, cited firm have implemented the new business strategy, so, Sony have to develop
the business plan. With the help of business plan, company can estimate the requirement of
resources which will be required in new market. The requirement of resources depends on the
nature and size of the new business of Sony (Coomber, 2014). However, in the starting phase to
stat a new business, the important resources are work space, capital, knowledge equipment and
suppliers. The limitation of required resources can directly affects the nature and productivity of
business. The evaluated required resources for new business are mentioned below:
 Human resources- To implement the business in new market of South Asia, Sony needs
the human resources. The business plan have evaluated the requirement of human
resources which is approx 650 persons and for this purpose cited firm will hire human
resources from their own home country.
 Financial resources- This is a important element to start a business. The financial
resources includes shares, capital and other assets of company (How to implement staff
appraisals in community pharmacy, 2014). According to the business plan of new
business, to implement the new strategy the estimated required finance based on the size
of business and their budget.
 Physical resources- The physical resources includes all type of tangible resources such
as storage, location, premises and machines. These resources are owned and used by the
business. For implementation of new business strategies in new market, Sony requires the
land for their production of product. To produce the product, firm needs the machinery,
raw material and physical outlets for the distribution of their product. These resources are
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also required to develop the physical structure of company at new place, where firm is
starting the business (Friend and Jessop, 2013).
 Technological resources- To operate the business Sony needs the new and updated
technology which will also gives the competitive advantage. The unique softwares and
tailored information system will be required to establish the new business in new market.
These resources are tools and system which help to increase and improve the
performance and productivity of the organization.
4.3 Contribution of SMART objectives
Sony is a multinational Japanese corporation which is one of the largest media
conglomerate in world. Company manufactures the world class items of electronics and they are
committed to apply the high level of advanced technology (Smith, 2013). So, it is clear that Sony
is a well established global company which is operating successfully in many countries. In
further to expand the business position, it is important to develop the smart objectives of
company. With the help of smart objectives, company can measure their growth and productivity
in the competitive market.
The smart objective means the company's objective should be specific (focus on precise
area), measurable (progress towards goal), achievable (at reachable level), realistic (reason to
achieve goal) and time bound (specific amount of time).
The SMART objectives of Sony will be :
 Specific- To develop and create the brand awareness in the customers of South Asia
market.
 Measurable- To reduce power consumption of products by average of 30%.
 Achievable- To achieve 15% reduction in energy consumption at sites of Sony (Howard,
2000).
 Realistic- At least 5% of contribution towards the carbon offset.
 Time bound- To attain the stand by power use of 0.1 W for all Sony products by 2020.
All these smart objectives will help Sony to increase their presence in global market and also
helps to implement the new strategy in foreign market of South Asia. With the help of these
objectives cited company will increase the market share, sales and profit of the Sony.
Balanced Scorecard approach-
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To monitor the business activities and to measure the performance of business, Sony can
implement the balanced scorecard approach (Bryson, 2011). This is a strategic planning and
performance management system tool which is supported by automation tool and design
methods (International Monetary Fund, 2005). With the help of these managers of company can
keep the track on activities execution and also to monitor the consequences which are raised by
staff members. Sony adopted this approach to measure the performance of company in which the
new strategies are implemented. In the implementation of new strategy, the balanced scorecard
control is applied by the management to monitor the performance against the strategic goals of
company (Simons and Richardson, 2012). This approach use four perspective to measure the
performance of business when the new strategy is implemented. The four perspective are:
 Growth and learning perspective
 Business process perspective
 Customer perspective
 Financial perspective
Conclusion
Business strategy plays a important and significant role in success and growth of the
business which involves the planning for both short term and long term business. These
strategies are mainly concerned with the various activities of business like sales and product
development. They helps to develops the winning edge for the organization. This report
describes the importance of business strategies in business and also describes its impact on
development and growth of the company. As per the above study, Sony has developed the
positive impact in global market and its customers. The proposed business strategy for company
represents that organization has high measure for development and business expansion.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baye, M., 2000. Managerial economics & business strategy. Boston: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
Bryson, J.M., 2011. Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to
strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons.
Friend, J. and Jessop, N., 2013. Local Government and Strategic Choice (Routledge Revivals):
An Operational Research Approach to the Processes of Public Planning. Routledge.
Short, M. and et.al., 2013. Strategic environmental assessment and land use planning: an
international evaluation. Routledge.
Smith, R.D., 2013. Strategic planning for public relations. Routledge.
Johnston, R.E. and Bate, J.D., 2013. The power of strategy innovation: a new way of linking
creativity and strategic planning to discover great business opportunities. AMACOM Div
American Mgmt Assn.
Chow, F. and Suen, L., 2001. Clinical staff as mentors in pre-registration undergraduate nursing
education: students’ perceptions of the mentors’ roles and responsibilities. Nurse Education
Today. 21(5). pp.350-358.
Coomber, S., 2014. CLAIMING THE CREDIT. Business Strategy Review. 25(1). pp.8-8.
Eshun, J., 2009. Business incubation as strategy. Business Strategy Series. 10(3). pp.156-166.
Evans, R., 2010. Children’s Caring Roles and Responsibilities within the Family in
Africa.Geography Compass. 4(10). pp.1477-1496.
Grundy, T., 2003. Gurus on business strategy. London: Thorogood.
How to implement staff appraisals in community pharmacy. (2014). The Pharmaceutical
Journal.
Howard, K. (2000). Strategies for the Future of Nursing: Changing Roles, Responsibilities and
Employment Patterns of Registered Nurses. Journal for Nurses in Staff Development (JNSD).
16(4). pp.184-185.
Hynes, M., 2002. Transitioning NAVSEA to the future. Santa Monica. CA: Rand.
International Monetary Fund, 2005. Burkina Faso: Priority Action Program to Implement the
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 2004: 2006. IMF Staff Country Reports. 05(341). p.1.
Kearns, P., 2003. HR strategy. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Simons, N. and Richardson, J., 2012. New Roles, New Responsibilities: Examining Training
Needs of Repository Staff. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication. 1(2).
Online
About Sony. 2015. [Online]. Available through: <http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/>. [Accessed
on 16th December 2015].
Sony's USP is?. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://douglasgoh.blogspot.in/2011/09/sonys-usp-is.html>. [Accessed on 16th December
2015].
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