Sydney Symphony Orchestra: A Case Study in Business Strategy

This report examines the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO), a renowned Australian orchestra established in 1932. It delves into the SSO's business strategy, exploring its importance, theories, and challenges. The report analyzes the orchestra's globalization efforts, uncertainty management, innovation strategies, government policy considerations, technological impacts, and strategic thinking approaches. It also discusses various business strategy theories, including contingency theory, organizational theory, resource-based theory, positional view, economic theory, and behavioral theory, in the context of the SSO's operations. The report concludes by highlighting the key takeaways from the case study and emphasizing the importance of a well-defined business strategy for the SSO's continued success.

HI6006 COMPETITIVE STRATEGY
ASSIGNMENT 2
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Executive summary
This report is based on the case study of the Sydney symphony orchestra, which is
established in the year 1932. It is one of the oldest bands of the system which has 24
members in the year 1932 and extending to 84during the Second World War. It aimed
to be the best orchestra in Sydney. In this report, a business strategy of Sydney
symphony orchestra is discussed. Meaning, its importance, its theories are discussed in
this report. Business strategy is the mixture of all the choices and decides which are
made by the business to achieve its desired target. There are three basic strategies
through which a company can accomplish its goal. They are a focus on the desired
result, determination to achieve them, and third is the right leadership. Further business
strategies are discussed in this report.
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Contents
Executive summary...........................................................................................................2
Introduction........................................................................................................................4
A brief summary of Sydney symphony orchestra..............................................................5
Strategies issues...............................................................................................................7
Business strategies theories............................................................................................10
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................13
References.......................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
Sydney symphony orchestra is one of the most prominent bands in Australia. It is
expanding in different parts of Australia .it stated with 24 players and extending since
then, in this report a brief study about the orchestra and its comparison with another
band of the world. This report is based on the brief survey of Sydney orchestra in
context with its business strategy. The aim focus of this report is the expansion of the
industry in different parts of the world. Different business strategies and theories are
discussed in this report with context to the Sydney symphony orchestra.
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A brief summary of Sydney symphony orchestra
SSO established in 1932 with 24 players and thereafter it expended to 82 players. The
aim of the company is to be in the top six orchestras in the world. The home city of SSO
is Sydney and it is a multicultural city. The income distribution gap between the near city
areas and greater Sydney is very high. Hobart a small city in Australia supports its own
orchestra. SSO is an expensive orchestra and the people of Hobart prefer their own
orchestra.
There are many cultural similarities to Australia in terms of cultural music. In the USA
there is no scope of orchestra people like classical music than an orchestra. In April
2011 the Philippian's orchestra filed bankruptcy for chapter 11. This orchestra was on
the top five orchestras of USA. Over the 20 years, it faced a major fall in the numbers of
audience. The same people who come regularly and some donors helped the orchestra
to survive. Classical music is popular globally and the orchestra is famous in some
countries such as Russia, Asia, and Europe. The technology is creating numerous
problems for music. YouTube has clips of almost every artist and this is the reason
behind the decline in the audience. The technologies impact the overall revenue system
of classical payer (Kaartemo, et.al. 2019)
A major change introduced for the music industry, in which the audience in the film
theatre can enjoy opera and orchestra at the same time as a physical audience. In the
year 2012, a megastar in Tasmania had a concert which was shown in multiple theatres
live. It has become now a common practice. In Australia, classical music is funded by
the government.
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The SSO is a full orchestra with more than 90 musicians. The players of SSO are well
paid and talented. In the year 2011, the symphony players entered into an agreement in
which they said that they are paid less than SSO. SSO run a lot of programs and free
concerts in order to become part of the music industry. In Sydney, it is part of the social
fabric. It has excellent hiring practices and it hires the best musicians. For the
development of the SSO, it adopted a business strategy in which hiring of best people
was the part of the formal strategy. It organised its all activities and its website and
management are remarkable (Wirtz,et.al., 2016). Due to good networks and excellent
network this orchestra generating plenty of revenues. The SSO claimed that in the
whole of Australia it is the only orchestra which is generating the profit from its own
activities. In Sydney there is not only one group of music there are numerous music
groups are available.
In Sydney, there is a chamber music group and managing it is easier than
managing symphony orchestra. The Australian chamber orchestra is best known
and this group appeared at different places in the world. In this group, several
members play famous instruments. In the wide range of offering it is more
famous than SSO. SSO is generating profit however to remain competitive in the
music industry, it needs to formulate business strategy correctly (Kaartemo,et.al.,
2019).
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Strategies issues
 Globalization
There are many issues which are related to the globalization as there is a
different culture, and people usually like to follow their culture only. This issue is
solved by understanding the market and the demand of the market. In this case,
there are different another orchestra which creates competition in the market
among the musicians. There are different policies and strategy which need to be
followed to enhance the business in different parts of the world (Band, et.al.,
2016).
 Uncertainty
Uncertainty is another business strategy issue, which is there in almost all the
business as every business has risk and change with it. The company needs to
focus on the short term as well as extended terms goals of the company. The
company needs strategic planning to achieve its target in a planned manner.
There is a need to make a balance between the plans and policies and their
implementation on time.
 Innovation
In this a need a creative and innovation understanding about the lack of the
customers and market. Both market and customer decide about the success and
failure of the product. For increasing the popularity in the world, this orchestra
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needs to be more innovative and creative in presenting their concerts before the
people at Sydney opera house (Schaltegger,et.al., 2016). This group need to be
more innovative to have a positive impact on the audience.
 Government policy
In this changing world, there is a need to have some strategies and plan to
accomplish the desired goals of the company or the music group. There are
different policies like an environmental, financial policy which affect the working
of the group. There is a need to understand government regulations and
government policies to achieve the goal of the group (Power, et.al. 2016).
 Technology
Due to a lack of understanding of the market and need of the customers’
technology can be a strategic issue for the company or the group of people. This
need to be changed or improved as soon as possible to develop a long term
technology strategy in the company, which will help in creating flexibility in the
company. These days everything is available on Google and YouTube. People
prefer then as compared to going to a live concert (Band, et.al., 2016)
 Strategic thinking and problem solving
Due to the lack of approaches and theories, business suffers allot as there is no
proper guidance in the company, which is to be followed by the company and its
staff. There is a lack of strategic planning in the group, which results in creating
different issues and conflict for the musicians as well as the audience. So with
the help of strategic planning manager needs to make plans and need to
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implement those plans. The manager is responsible for strategic planning and for
solving the problems which are faced by the organization (Power, et.al. 2016).
 Being focussed
This is one of the major issues which is faced by the musicians as they are not
getting paid, they are getting less salary, which creates a problem of hesitation
among musicians regarding this orchestra group (Schaltegger,et.al., 2016).
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Business strategies theories
 Contingency theory
In this theory, a discussion is made that SSO applied the best way to manage the
working of the group. There is a difference of age sex and income in the group
which creates problem sometimes to achieve the things (Wieland,et.al., 2017).
 Organizational theory
Orchestra is a big thing in Sydney, and this SSO is established in the year 1932
with the 24 musicians, and till Second World War it extended to 82. There is a
difference between age groups and gross income of people, which has a direct
effect on this group (Wirtz,et.al., 2016). There is a difference in total revenue
from Sydney and greater Sydney, which also creates a business strategy issue
for the orchestra. It is required that the company will pay attention to the
organisational environment of the company and the associated factor of the
situation which plays a vital role in making and implementing the business
strategies of the Orchestra house (McCarthy& Gordon., 2016).
 Resource-based theory
The cost of these concerts is very high as compared to other orchestra groups. It
is expensive to book a hall and musicians as in the USA a show is sold for
$90000; however, a ticket for Sydney symphony is affordable as compared to
another orchestra all over the world. It is crucial for making any business
strategies implementing successfully that those strategies will able to make the
company use all available resources of the company (Abdullah& Kadir., 2019)
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 Positional view
There is a difference of area, income and qualification which create a problem of
the position of musicians in the orchestra, which leads to conflicts, and there is
no satisfactory result. SSO needs to have proper planning and management to
make this group more popular among the people (Wieland,et.al., 2017). SSO has
to manage a useful positional view while setting up any business strategy for
growth and success of the business strategies as well. It will be beneficial in
effectively running the procedure in the organisation if company management
considers the positional view of every associated people with the process
(Wirtz,et.al., 2016).
 Economic theory
In this case, there is a difference in salary given to the musicians which create a
problem for them. They are getting a low salary as compared to other musicians
of another orchestra group, and less pay often develop issues in the company. It
reduces the motivation level of the employees in the company, so it is
indispensable that company management will consider equal pay and timely
payment things while making any business strategies (Abdullah& Kadir., 2019).
 Behavioural theory
There is a behaviour change because of the difference in the age group of
people and because of the difference in the qualification of the people present in
this orchestra (McCarthy& Gordon., 2016). There is also a difference in the gross
income of people which create a change of behaviour among the people. There
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are plenty of things which could be the reasons for changing into the behavioural
of the employees working there. It will be good if the company pay attention to
the behaviours patterns of the people associated with the company, it would be
easy to make and execute changes according to the business strategies.
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Conclusion
In the above report, the case study of the Sydney symphony orchestra is discussed.
The different theories and issues are discussed in this report, which arises in the
Sydney orchestra. In this, the main focus of the story is on the business strategy and its
theories and issues in context with the band. The objective of this is to have a superior
value for the business and to expand the art in different parts of the world. In this study,
there is a brief description of the distribution of age and sex. A review of the gross
income of the people of greater Sydney is discussed in this report.
Further, in this report, there is a study of the highest qualification achieve in the year
2011 is also discussed in this case study. In this report, it is also considered that about
classical music and the demand for it in the country. There is a comparison of Australian
orchestra and USA Orchestra regarding the salary paid and the numbers of concerts
which are managed by them.
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References
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2016.https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/
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network dynamics: Rotating process theories to reveal network
microfoundations. Industrial Marketing Management.
· McCarthy, D. and Gordon, K., 2016. SEC issues guidance on business continuity
planning for registered investment companies. Journal of Investment
Compliance, 17(4), pp.71-74.
· Power, A. and Powell, S., 2016. Music and Art Project and Penrith Strings
Project Mentored by Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) and Penrith
Symphony Orchestra (PSO)
Tutors.https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:38988/
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