Global Strategic Management: A Case Study of Facebook

This case study analyzes the global strategic management practices of Facebook, including business and corporate strategies, internal and external analysis, strategic models, and contemporary strategic issues. It also examines how Mark Zuckerberg creates, develops, and designs strategic planning for Facebook.

Global strategic
management

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK A...........................................................................................................................................1
Business and corporate strategies which have impacted organisation positively........................1
TASK B...........................................................................................................................................3
External and Internal analysis of organisation and how complex problems can be solved
through business framework .......................................................................................................3
TASK C...........................................................................................................................................5
Explanation of strategic model adopted by Mark Zuckerberg to enhance organisational
performance ................................................................................................................................5
TASK D...........................................................................................................................................6
Examining how Mark Zuckerberg create, develop and design strategic planning for Facebook6
TASK E............................................................................................................................................7
Critical evaluation of contemporary strategic issues in strategy in relevance with Facebook .. .7
Corporate examples of Facebook ................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management is considered as an exercise of setting goals and objectives for an
organisation to make it more competitive in market (Andresen and Bergdolt, 2017). It aids
management in deploying human resources in order to accomplish those pre-determined goals
and objectives. It is essential for organisation as it provides direction to employees that assists
them in focusing their efforts towards ascertaining common organisational goals. Global
strategic management concludes all the activities which enables business houses to capitalize
their varied activities in order to become competitive on a world wide basis. It is significant for
organisations to meet multiple fluctuating demands of their several stakeholders globally.
Understanding of global strategic management is crucial for managing organisations due to
increase of globalised business activities performed by organisations. For better understanding of
adaption of strategic management practices globally, globalised strategies of Mark Zuckerberg is
taken into consideration. Mark Zuckerberg is chief executive officer of Facebook. Company was
established in 2004 and was founded by Mark Zuckerberg. It is a social networking site which
assists in connecting varied individuals on a world wide basis. It is significant platform for
businesses as it provides them a stage for promoting their products or services. It also provides a
network interface to its users for creating their own profile.
This project highlights corporate strategies which are used by Mark Zuckerberg in
operating its business activities. It also encompasses internal and external factors that can
influence development of business strategies. It comprises of strategic tools which are used by
Mark Zuckerberg in enhancing organisational performance. It also depicts on how strategic
planning is performed by Facebook. It also includes a critical evaluation of planned strategies of
Facebook.
TASK A
Business and corporate strategies which have impacted organisation positively
Business and corporate strategies are concerned with framing plans which helps
organisations to concentrate on varied markets where it want to gain competitive advantage
(Artikis, 2017). Effective corporate strategies help organisations in measuring their success and
establishing direction which aids in attaining organisational objectives effectively. Some of the
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corporate strategies which are implemented by Mark Zuckerberg in order to measure positive
impact on Facebook are as follows: Have conviction- In few past years, Mark Zuckerberg and his team had come with a new
tool of news feed which provides to keep track of individual's activities. At that time
many people criticised it for various reasons. However, after critically criticised Mark
Zuckerberg does nit change that feature. Zuckerberg has advocated that criticism is likely
to encourage a business decision. After the launch of news feed feature,a lot of new users
were added to Facebook network that had impacted positive company growth (Arun and
Ozmutlu, 2021). Testing operations- Mark Zuckerberg has stated to test their operations and activities on
a regular basis which helps them to make modifications and measuring their success.
Zuckerberg beliefs to get and work according to feedbacks received from community. It
helps them to modify their operations and can gain user loyalty towards their brand
(Beiker and Burgelman, 2020). Promotes innovation- Zuckerberg always tried to promote innovative an d creative
practices in his organisation. For instance, at time when Zuckerberg and his team are
trying to make Facebook to reach more users through a mobile application. Team
members were ask to give their suggestions and innovative ideas. Even, for every new
feature, employees are asked to give their feedbacks, suggestions and ideas. Mark
Zuckerberg is keen to set accurate expectations and organisational goals that helps
employees to focus their efforts in one direction. This practice aids company to grow
their operations effectively and strategically (Berisha, 2017).
 Hire experienced people- Mark Zuckerberg believed in hiring people who are efficient
and skilful. This practice helps them to search new talents world wide. It helps
organisation to rescue their training costs as candidates are skilful and knowledgeable. It
also helps in getting more innovative and creative ideas from new employees. Corporate
strategy adopted by Mark Zuckerberg helped company to evolve with new market trends.
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TASK B
External and Internal analysis of organisation and how complex problems can be solved through
business framework
SWOT analysis is performed for analysing internal evaluation of organisation. It aids top
management of Facebook to evaluate their strength and weaknesses in order to grab
opportunities and minimizes business risk (Bromiley and Rau, 2017). SWOT analysis of
Facebook are as follows:
Strengths Market dominance- Facebook is at that
market position from many years that
dominated other social networking
sites. Understanding user's preferences-
Facebook has managed to identify
varied preferences of their users which
help them to understand their
behaviour.
Weaknesses
 Advertisements- There are many
advertisements which user have to see
while exploring their news feed.
 User's privacy- Facebook lacks to
provide safety to user's privacy as they
outsource this data to earn revenue.
Opportunities Can diversify sources of income- Mark
Zuckerberg can think to diversify their
income sources other than promoting
advertisements. Expansion to different countries-
Because of changing regulations,
Facebook can get a chance to make
entry in new country.
Threats
 Identity thefts- Facebook is unable to
provide strong interface to protect
user's confidential data.
 Increase of ad-block extensions- Users
can use this extensions to block
Facebook advertisements instead of
clicking them.
PEST analysis is conducted by strategists of Facebook for identifying external factors
that can influence company's workings (Dhir, 2019). Factors of PEST analysis in relevance with
Facebook are as follows:
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 Stable political conditions aids Facebook to diversify their operations in different
countries. While strict political rules and regulations in countries like China stops
Facebook to effectively operate their operations effectively.
 Increased disposable income of people have led them to purchase more mobile devices
and have easy access to internet. This practice company to expand their operations world
wide basis.
 Social factors- Improved living conditions and emphasize of people on high quality
products has opens up the way for Facebook to retain their clients who pays them for
displaying advertisements.
 Technological factors- With increase in technological advancements in mobile phones, it
is easier for mangers for Facebook to promote their application on a world wide basis.
Technological advancements has come with competition for Facebook. Companies like
Amazon provides service of display advertising to affiliated websites.
Business framework used by Facebook is to earn their revenue through display
advertisements of their client company and influence users to make a purchase (Dias and
Ferreira, 2019). Mark Zuckerberg promotes innovation in its organisation and also inspires
employees to come up with new ideas. Complex problems faced by Facebook are large number
of fake accounts, privacy theft and hate speech. It was revealed in a study that Facebook is not
able to protect personal information of their users and this can be used without their consent. In
order to overcome this issues, Mark Zuckerberg has to work with his IT team to develop
software which helps to reduce privacy thefts.
Increased number of fake accounts is another problem which is faced by Mark Zuckerberg.
These fake accounts can scam profile of their users and wide spreading fake information
(Drumaux and Joyce, 2017). These can be dealt by Mark Zuckerberg by installing automated
intelligence software to identify fake accounts and delete them.
Increased fake news is another massive issue which is faced by Facebook. These fake news is
continuously hampering company's brand and position in market. Mark Zuckerberg have
introduced new algorithm called Click-gap which analyse specified posts in order to rank them
in news feed.
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TASK C
Explanation of strategic model adopted by Mark Zuckerberg to enhance organisational
performance
Porter's five forces is used by CEO of Facebook to ascertain company's position in
competitive market. It also assists top management to evolve their corporate strategies in order to
enhance long-term profitability of organisation (Emeagwali and Aljuhamni, eds., 2019).
Evaluation of elements of Porter's five forces aids Mark Zuckerberg to formulate effective
strategies and enhance organisational performance. All the elements of Porter's five forces in
relevance to Facebook are mentioned below: Competition rivalry- This element is concerned with available number of competitors in
market and their capability to compete (Garzella and Fiorentino, 2017). In accordance
with Facebook, it is facing many competitors in market which are trying to provide
similar features. This element creates moderate force for Facebook as they companies
which are providing display advertisements service. Due to low switching costs,
companies can collaborate with others to display their advertisements. Identification of
competitors and modify products or services for catering a large number of users helps
Mark Zuckerberg to measure their performance. Threat of substitutes- It is considered as one of the major issue that can hamper business
operations and performance of Facebook. As various substitutes of providing display
advertising service in market (Kim, Qian and Zhang, 2020). Major substitutes are
Amazon, You tube and television or print media. These can deteriorate organisational
performance in long run. Bargaining power of Suppliers- In relevance to Facebook, suppliers are those who
provide them computing equipments, networks and servers. Suppliers role is minimal in
business operations of Facebook and they have low bargaining power. However, Mark
Zuckerberg is working to enhancing supplier relationship management in order to build
viable position in market. Bargaining power of buyers- Facebook provides a platform to their users which help
them share their social life. However, primary customers for Facebook are those
companies who provides them revenue for display their advertisements. Due to increase
of online advertising, Facebook customers are not in the position to switch their pronation
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channel (Phina, 2020). Hence customers have slightly low bargaining power. This helps
Mark Zuckerberg in enhancing their organisation al performance and gaining competitive
advantage.
 Threat of new entrant in market- It is easy for new entrants to make an entry in market
and can influence Facebook's customers to switch their service provider. However, it is
not easy for new entrants to reach and cater a massive number of customers. As customer
base of Facebook is very large.
TASK D
Examining how Mark Zuckerberg create, develop and design strategic planning for Facebook
Strategic planning is concerned as an technique which is used by organisations in
managing their varied business activities, setting organisational goals and provides direction to
employees in order to focus their efforts that aids in accomplishing standard objectives
(Phornlaphatrachakorn, 2019). It is beneficial for organisation as it aids in assessing
organisational progress and modifying operations. Steps in which Mark Zuckerberg created,
developed and designed strategic planing in relevance with Facebook are discussed below: Setting goals- Primary task performed by Mark Zuckerberg is to set goals and objectives
for Facebook. This goals can be planned in terms of revenue generation, reaching to large
customer base or modify their business operations (Prahalad and Doz, 2017). As set
goals helps him to ask their employees to get desired results strategically. Know audience – This step is concerned with identification potential users and and
customers (Remmer and Gilbert, 2019). As per business model of Facebook, customers
are considered those companies which avail the services of displaying advertisements.
Users are those to whom Facebook influence through advertisements in order to make a
purchase. In order to plan their strategies effectively, Mark Zuckerberg analyse its varied
stakeholders and audience. Determine strategic position- At this stage, Mark Zuckerberg assess position and
viability of Facebook which helps them to evaluate their marketing strategies. Facebook
created differential advertisements for different countries as per the preferences of their
audience.
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 Develop strategic plan- At this stage, where objectives are set, audience gets identified,
and strategic position is determined, it is the time to develop plan to meet organisational
objectives. This plan should be aligned with set organisational goals.
 Execute and review plan- Here, Mark Zuckerberg execute framed plan in order to attain
goals and objectives. After effective execution, it is necessary to monitor plan throughout
attaining objectives (Rezazadeh and Mirsanjari, 2020) (Roumpi, 2021). Monitoring helps
Mark Zuckerberg to set standards for measuring their progress in market.
TASK E
Critical evaluation of contemporary strategic issues in strategy in relevance with Facebook
It has been critically evaluated that varied strategic issues that can hamper
implementation of strategies in relevance with Facebook are as follows: Strategic focus- It is concerned with organisation in setting clear goals and objectives to
determine focused strategy. These comprises of action plan, mission, vision statement
that helps an organisation to keep a track of their progress and performance (Shafikova,
2017). If focus is lose from this, it would be difficult for Mark Zuckerberg to attain set
objectives.
 Strategic competencies- These help organisations in equipping people and to move
effectively towards attaining organisational goals while working in a highly dynamic
environment (Rugman and Verbeke, 2017). If Mark Zuckerberg fails to maintain
competencies in his organisation he can not meet set goals and loses company's viability
in market.
Blue ocean strategy refers to creation of a specified market place which provides
competitive advantage to organisation (Spina and Spina, 2020). It talks about building new
customer base or set boundaries to develop business operations further. In order to become more
competitive in market and to deploy company's varied resources in developing a new market that
helps to generate more revenue and large customer base, Mark Zuckerberg can adopt this
strategy. It also helps top management of Facebook to solve their varied strategic issues such as
political regulations, modify revenue sources and improvising content. This strategy can be
benefited for Facebook in following way:
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 Pursues differentiation and low cost- Application of this strategy can help Mark
Zuckerberg in pursuing differentiated position in market and to gain competitive
advantage by offering services at low costs. Maximizing opportunities and minimizing risks- Through this, Mark Zuckerberg can
plan to grab varied opportunities in market due to technological advancements and
favourable economic factors. It also aids in mitigating varied risks and threat of high
competition in market. As it proposed to set up a new market which provides a new
segment of customers and users for influencing and to generate more revenues (Stephen,
2018).
 Helps to create a win-win situation- This strategy helps to make a win- win situation as
it comprises of all three elements, namely, value, profit and people. It helps Mark
Zuckerberg to focus their efforts for attaining organisational objectives.
Blue Ocean strategy helps Mark Zuckerberg in facing varied issues which organisation
faces in strategy implementation. It also helps organisations to search a specified market which
helps them to gain sustainable competitive advantage (Tajeddini, Ratten and Merkle, eds.,
2019). This strategy aids Mark Zuckerberg to plan their activities at different levels of strategy
implementation including corporate, business and functional.
Corporate examples of Facebook
Facebook intensive strategy according to various markets in different countries is to
increase its market share and expand its business operations effectively in order to maintain their
brand viability (Timeea-Alexandra and Doina, 2018). For developing its market share further,
Mark Zuckerberg has originated to talk with government officials in order to make therm
convince about removing ban in their country. Top management of Facebook is continuously
trying to develop its operations in those countries where it is banned.
One of the strategic objective of Facebook is to get into collaborations with telecommunication
alliances in order to increase their users which provides access to individuals to use Facebook
application on their mobile devices easily (Tjemkes, Vos and Burgers, 2017).
Facebook has recently bought Instagram and Whatsapp in order to gain their audience. Mark
Zuckerberg has also enter into a deal with other companies to provide them with personal
information of their users. This practice helps them to generate more revenues.
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CONCLUSION
From the above presented report, it has been concluded that strategic management is an
exercise performed by organisations for setting pre-determined goals and objectives as well as
provides a way to attain those goals. There are varied leaders that adopted varied leadership
styles in managing their employees effectively. Porter five forces is a strategy which assists
organisations in measuring their strength and weaknesses for gaining competitive advantage. It
also assists organisations in creating different strategies. PESTLE analysis is performed by
companies to scan external elements which can influence company's internal functioning. It is
needful to identify organisation's strength an weaknesses in order to react proactively. Strategic
planning is done to perform varied operations of organisation in a strategic manner.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Varied recommendations in order to maintain their differentiated position in market,
Mark Zuckerberg has to keep a close check on its business operations (Tskhadaya, 2018). It is
recommended to induce an understanding of dynamic market trends which helps to modify their
business activities accordingly. Mark Zuckerberg should take care of various government
regulations of countries where it is operating its activities. He should be aware of competition in
market and need to plan various strategies accordingly.
It is recommended to adopt those strategies which helps them to engage more users
towards using Facebook. As with increase use of Instagram, Whatsapp and Snap chat, Facebook
is losing its authenticity. However, whatsapp and Instagram are taken by Facebook but
engagement of people is declining. Company should try to bring new innovations and
advertisements according to different country base (Van Rijmenam, Schweitzer and Williams,
2017). It is recommended to stop access of fake accounts which can spread wrong information in
country and can hamper image of brand.
It is also recommended that Mark Zuckerberg should take care of privacy theft of its
users as as per general data protection act of UK it is illegal for companies to use personal
information of their users to outsource without their consent (Wang, Chen and Chen, 2018). This
practice can also lay them in official litigations which hampers their brand image.
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