Real World Business Issues: Strategic Direction and Its Implications

This report explores the effectiveness of strategic direction on organizational performance, covering entrepreneurship, SPICE framework, effective decision making, and social innovation. It assesses the implications of strategic direction on four key organizational areas and provides recommendations for the board of directors.

Running head: REAL WORLD BUSINESS ISSUES
Real World Business Issues
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Executive Summary
The report that has been framed tries to create a proper understanding of strategic
direction and how it is influential in the development of the long term operational plan for any
company. The effectiveness of strategic direction and whether it is helpful for an organization
will be understood from this report. The report has assessed strategic direction on the basis of the
four key organizational areas and accordingly an idea about the effectiveness of the strategic
direction and their implications for long term performance can be understood.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Entrepreneurship..............................................................................................................................4
SPICE Framework...........................................................................................................................5
Effective decision making...............................................................................................................6
Social Innovation.............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion and Recommendations for the board of directors.......................................................10
Reference List................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
In the current business environment, there have been several real world business issues
that the companies face and accordingly take certain steps and actions with the help of which
they can mitigate these issues. The elimination of these threats and issues leads to effective
controlling, directing of the functional activities of the business (Steinbach et al., 2017). In this
manner, strategic direction is one of the critical measures that are undertaken by an organization
with the help of which they look to develop and improve their operational activities. This paper
intends to understand the effect of strategic direction on several performance areas of an
organization and whether they are beneficial for an organization or not.

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Entrepreneurship
The word entrepreneurship is associated with gaining knowledge about the performance
and the jobs that needs to be undertaken within a working environment in order to identify the
several business activities and their effectiveness. The process of entrepreneurship looks to
monitor, assess, evaluate and construct plans and policies with the help of which the the
businesses are able to function efficiently. The function of entrepreneurship is in a manner
associated with strategic direction as in comparison to strategic direction, the process of
entrepreneurship has various goals and these goals are undertaken with the assistance of the
specific strategic path (Karadag, 2015). The entrepreneurship initiates with initially explaining
the business with the help of which the company is able to direct their plans and policies in
accordance to the concepts and ideas about the sort of business the company wants to undertake
and the course and the actions that would be beneficial for the development of the company.
Entrepreneurship assists in understanding whether the business is diversified or not so that the
entrepreneurs can accordingly direct their strategies. The elements of addressing the business
functions is gaining knowledge about the consumers who will be satisfied, the demands and the
needs of the consumers and the processes and the technologies that would be used in order to
satisfy the desires of the consumers.
Entrepreneurial process is even has the role of understanding and establishing the
strategic aims, which will be fundamental in achieving the desired objectives and goals. The
strategic direction and aims are helpful in identifying the scenario in the current market and
accordingly perform in such a manner that their missions and visions and reached. The strategies
are categorized in external and internal strategies within which the external strategies looks to
recognize the industrial mix and gain competitive advantage for the companies. The strategic

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directions that are internal in nature try to assess the financial end results and the overall
organizational performance (Zahra, 2015). The process of entrepreneurship is even related to the
computation of the plans and strategies in relation to the aims of the business by taking help of
which the organization can improve their extent of performance. The process of entrepreneurship
is therefore related to the strategic direction and both of them are connected positively explaining
that incorporation of the strategic direction is able to improve the entrepreneurial practices as it is
seen that strategic direction is able to create a long term performance of entrepreneurship.
SPICE Framework
SPICE framework is regarded as a process or a strategy that is helpful in assisting the
development of the flourishing businesses with the help of the changes and the ambition of the
company knowledge into the accessible plan that would have computable effects. A unique
model is constructed as a source that would rational and available that would be supportive in
explaining the five distinct issues like the performance management, assisting actual process of
making decisions, assisting talent development, assisting and providing resource to the
progression planning and even implicating the transformation management and the
transformations in the culture (Lewis et al., 2015).
The companies that are facing issues like the corporate development, strategic process of
decision making, management of talent and performance of management look to incorporate the
SPICE model which is constructed with the assistance of training and coaching processes. The
model is related to five specific elements and they include Pattern, Strategy, Individual, Context
and Emergence. The strategic components are related to a plan that is effectively argued and has
a purpose set. The individual components are related with a person at the business level that
concentrates on the performance and the enhancement of individuals (Kielar, & Borrmann 2018).

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The method of pattern assesses the benefits and the patterns that are faced by the companies,
which would be helpful in the construction of the plans and strategies with the help of which the
recognition of the pattern and accepting the same is possible. Pattern generally refers to the way
in which the global economy is looked upon. The aspect of context aids in the construction of the
beliefs and the intentions with the help of the discovery of the visions and the missions of the
company (Tang et al., 2015). It is even associated to the determinations and the struggles that are
undertaken for making developments and amendments. Lastly, emergence is associated with the
dispositions and the understanding of the actions and their responses. The SPICE framework
assists in the supporting the maturity mechanism model within the strategic management process
by establishing an atmosphere where strategic decisions are interconnected directly to the
significances of the developments in a company. In order to ensure that competitive edge is
maintained it is seen that the capabilities and the organizational model are more conclusive. The
model is associated with the management system so that they perform in an effective manner and
have extensive level of effect on the central performance mechanism.
Effective decision making
The main aim of the strategic decision is on the conversion and the development of a
company. The long term plan that is associated to strategic direction is related with moving the
company ahead from the current scenario to a chosen future scenario. The strategic direction
method is helpful in creating a long term organizational direction with the assistance of the
construction of plans and policies for gaining the distinct objectives of the performance (Kaiser
et al., 2015). There are certain issues in a company that looks for strategic answers for making
sure that the organizations survive and prosper in the altering atmosphere of the business. It is
essential for the management to incorporate the strategies by the recognition of the appropriate

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substitute plans and policies. The process of effective decision making and effective planning of
strategies needs to be dependent on the clear knowledge on the kind of businesses that is
undertaken by an organization. The process with the help of which the businesses are controlled
financed and framed has key applications for the strategic enhancement of a company.
In the current developing market, the companies need to establish strategies in
accordance to effective decision making, which would be helpful in altering the direction of an
organization by creating competitive edge (Epstein et al., 2015). The organizational value gets
optimized with the assistance of the short and the long term strategies. The process of decision
making that are properly associated with the directions of the strategy assists in giving out
benefits that are long term in nature. The strategic directions needs to be expressed which will be
helpful in permitting the flexible direction for an organization and have the capability of
incorporating to the current business environment. However, the strategies that are long term in
nature assists the companies to handle with swift alterations at a faster manner. The process of
strategic decision making can be progressive if the strategies that are constructed are in nature
long term and they are looked down as robust as it will assist in concentrating on the long term
benefits of the organizational stakeholders (Helfat, & Peteraf 2015). These kinds of strategic
directions are looked upon as a replication of the higher level management and are dependent on
the experiences and the personal understanding and the experiences of the entrepreneurs. They
undertake extra pressure in order to address the objectives that are long term in nature by
associating with the long term visions of the organization. The strategic decisions assists in the
incorporation of the sustainability within the strategic management mechanism. Hence, the
construction of the plans and strategies that are long term in nature will assist a company to
attain their ascertained objectives.

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Social Innovation
Social innovation assists the companies to generate social alterations and is looked upon
as a technique and an end result of the strategic planning of a company that tries to look after the
society. It is a foundation that incorporates the various process and the methods towards the
answers that are new and advanced. The companies that are making use of the social innovation
utilize advanced process for completing something uniquely in order to attain the social
transformations (Smith et al., 2016). The focus that is long term in nature for the companies in
order to construct strategies that are concerned with the society can be addressed with respect to
social ownership. Social ownership is a distinct path for attaining social innovation as it assists in
attaining answers that are precise and sustainable for any distinct social issues that are faced by
the companies. The organizations that are functional in a specific area establish a newer
company that is helpful in answering to the social problems by communicating directly to a
person or a group within a community and provides new and advanced answers to the social
problems (Perry-Smith, & Mannucci 2017). Social innovation is all about the innovative
implication of the processes by incorporating effective equipment and the development of the
current strategies for resolving the most key issues that are existent globally. It assists the
companies to generate an attachment that would make collaboration among the business
practices, government and the non-profit companies so that the social issues are explained in the
most precise manner.
The strategies that are related to the social innovation assist the companies that are
compelled socially by utilizing the processes that are related to the market. Social innovation is
regarded as a key process that changes the performance of an organization as it is helpful in
lowering the expenses and increasing the extent of profit (Popescu, 2015). The companies may

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look to create partnership with the various others social based companies in order to enhance the
operations that are innovative to the society on the associated stakeholders, practices and
techniques that are constructed by the companies that would assist in developing the social
innovation that is inclusive of the tools, prizes, financial framework and the advocacy
framework.

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Conclusion and Recommendations for the board of directors
In order to have a long term benefit for a firm, the strategic planning that is long term in
nature and the construction of the path is looked upon as the obligatory factor. These kinds of
strategic planning techniques need the association of the board members as they need to assess,
explain and undertake the sanction of the plan. It is advisable to the members of the board of a
company to incorporate the SPICE model so that the long term operational plan can be
constructed. This is due to the fact that this model provides authentic resources that assists in the
incorporation and the introduction of the performance management and thereby relate to the
individuals at various levels in a company. The companies should look assess their performance
and undertake supervision on a frequent basis so that a proper connection can be created. Social
innovation is the innovative process that assimilates the strategy of social development with the
strategies that are market related and henceforth raises the profit and the earnings of the
company. It is even suggested that the board of directors adapts social innovation within the
strategy development technique as it nurtures the culture that would influence the contributions,
resolving and learning from a single employee. The process of authentic and precise decision
making within the company is dependent on the constructed strategy and the effectiveness of the
strategy. It is even suggested to stay in line with the process of decision making at the extent of
the management in accordance to the strategic direction of the organization.

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Reference List
Epstein, M. J., Buhovac, A. R., & Yuthas, K. (2015). Managing social, environmental and
financial performance simultaneously. Long range planning, 48(1), 35-45.
Helfat, C. E., & Peteraf, M. A. (2015). Managerial cognitive capabilities and the
microfoundations of dynamic capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 36(6), 831-
850.
Kaiser, M. G., El Arbi, F., & Ahlemann, F. (2015). Successful project portfolio management
beyond project selection techniques: Understanding the role of structural
alignment. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), 126-139.
Karadag, H. (2015). Financial management challenges in small and medium-sized enterprises: A
strategic management approach. Emerging Markets Journal, 5(1), 26.
Kielar, P. M., & Borrmann, A. (2018). Spice: a cognitive agent framework for computational
crowd simulations in complex environments. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent
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Lewis, S. A., Noyes, J., & Hastings, R. P. (2015). Systematic review of epilepsy self‐
management interventions integrated with a synthesis of children and young people's
views and experiences. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(3), 478-497.
Perry-Smith, J. E., & Mannucci, P. V. (2017). From creativity to innovation: The social network
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Popescu, G. H. (2015). The dynamics of social innovation networks. Psychosociological Issues
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Smith, A., Hargreaves, T., Hielscher, S., Martiskainen, M., & Seyfang, G. (2016). Making the
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Steinbach, A. L., Holcomb, T. R., Holmes, R. M., Devers, C. E., & Cannella, A. A. (2017). Top
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