Strategic Management: Analyzing Alternative Approaches in Business

This report provides an in-depth analysis of alternative approaches to strategic management, moving beyond the traditional linear model. It introduces the stakeholder approach, emphasizing its importance in managing environmental trends and achieving organizational goals. The report then explores dynamic capabilities, illustrating how organizations can adapt and innovate to gain a competitive edge, with examples from Coca-Cola and Apple. Finally, it discusses sustainability as a critical factor for long-term organizational existence, highlighting sustainable approaches by companies like BAT and Honda. The report examines the evolution of strategic objectives, the significance of stakeholder engagement, and the need for companies to continuously evolve and adapt to maintain a competitive advantage in the market.

RUNNING HEAD: Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management
Alternative Approaches to Strategic
management

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 2
Executive summary
The report has been prepared with a specific view in new approach towards strategic
management. It gives the introduction of standard linear approach as a successful process in
the organization. It then describes the various approaches towards strategic management
explaining the effect of the new approach on companies. The first approach is stakeholder
approach defining the value of stakeholder to the company. The second approach defines the
dynamic capabilities through which an organization can lead to the market. The third and last
approach is sustainability which explains the effect of sustainability on the existence of an
organization.

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 3
Table of Contents
Executive summary...............................................................................................................................2
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4
3 approaches towards strategic management are................................................................................5
Stakeholder approach.......................................................................................................................5
Coco-cola approach towards stakeholder.....................................................................................6
Ford stakeholder approach............................................................................................................8
Dynamic capabilities..........................................................................................................................8
Coco-cola capabilities are............................................................................................................11
Capabilities of Apple are..............................................................................................................11
Sustainability...................................................................................................................................14
Sustainable approaches by BAT...................................................................................................16
Sustainability approaches by Honda............................................................................................17
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................18
References...........................................................................................................................................19

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 4
Introduction
A strategic management new approach defines the company strategic objectives from a new
point of view. A traditional approach is nowadays is not suitable for certain types of
organization (Hill, Jones &Schilling, 2014). Thus the requirement for the new approach for
strategic management arose. This includes creating a mission statement for the organization,
choosing or defining the organizational intermediate goals, recognizing the approaches or
strategies to achieve goals, identifying the action plans to implement every strategy and in
last monitoring the plan (De Wit & Meyer, 2010). The standard linear approach might not be
useful for all organization. The reason behind it is the requirement of naturalistic planning
procedure which allows flexibility in all activities and perspectives by organizations.
Sometimes it is holistic for some companies.

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 5
3 approaches towards strategic management are
Stakeholder approach
A stakeholder approach is engaged to give a one-way strategic structure. It should be flexible
for dealing with environmental trends and should be without the interference of managers to
continuously adopt new strategic paradigms. The motive behind this approach is to break the
traditional circle of:
A stakeholder is a process of managing strategic planning in an organization. But strategic
planning concentrates on predicting the upcoming environmental trend and then creating
plans for the organization to beat that position (Freeman, 2010). In opposite, strategic
management is continuously developing a new plan and direction for the organization. This
help in considering how the environmental effects can harm the firm as well as how the firm
Evironmental
shift
New strategic
problem
Development
of new
strategic
policy
Adoption of
new strategic
practices
New
environmental
shift and new
problem

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 6
is affecting the environment. The concern for adopting stakeholder approach is also to create
sustainability in the survival of the firm.
To create a position in a turbulent situation administration should coordinate a course for the
firm, not simply advance current yield. According to Hanna & Rowley (2011) to effectively
change course, management must have the help of the individuals who can influence the firm
and see how the firm will influence others (as over the long haul they may make a receptive
reaction). In this manner, understanding stakeholder approach is, no less than, a matter of
accomplishing the company’s goals which is thus a matter of survival (Luoma-aho & Vos,
2010). The stakeholder approach does not depend on an over-riding administration objective
for all choices. It gives no opponent to the conventional point of "maximizing shareholder
wealth" despite what might be expected, a stakeholder approach rejects the general concept
of expanding.
Coco-cola approach towards stakeholder:
They engage stakeholder through various ways of formal and informal meeting across the
global Coco-cola system. They engage with various stakeholders through meetings with
groups, suppliers, and consumers. At the world level, they are very active with multi-
stakeholder initiatives like UN global compact, world forum which helps in addressing
global challenges. By proactively cooperating with outer partner accomplices, they can
distinguish and address issues by combining the expertise, information, and enthusiasm of
numerous associations and people (Harrison, Bosse & Phillips, 2010). This approach
encourages accomplish far more prominent positive effect on natural, social and different
issues than by working alone.

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 7
Coco-cola engagement with Stakeholders:
The various ways in which Coco-cola is engaging with stakeholders are:
• Bottling partners: Everyday collaboration as business accomplices, joint undertakings,
joint business arranging, the functional team on vital issues, Top-to-Top senior
administration discussion, Global Environment Council.
• Consumers: hotlines, local websites, plant visits, explore, reviews, social channels,
centre gatherings.
• Customers: regular visits, dedicated account teams, joint business planning, joint value
creation initiatives, customer care centres, social media engagement, surveys;
• Communities: Community gatherings, site visit, partnership on general argument,
sponsorships, classes in college and universities;
• Employees: engagement studies, senior official market information, corridor
gatherings, representative correspondences, singular improvement designs, wellbeing and
security interchanges projects, group and worker prosperity ventures, morals hotline.
• Governments and regulatory authorities: Foreign direct investment advisory board,
reusing and improvement directives, chambers of commerce;
• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs): progressing discourse, organizations on
regular issues, participations of business and industry affiliations;
• Shareowners and analysts: Annual general meeting of shareholders, quarterly budget
report, webcasts, investor representation, newsletter and conversation with investors and
accountants.

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 8
• Suppliers: joint venture creation activities, yearly provider meeting, Supplier Guiding
Principles, creating affiliations.
Ford stakeholder approach:
Ford’s stakeholders are effectively approached through numerous corporate social
responsibilities by various initiatives and programs.
Customer: Ford’s top-need priorities are its customers. The interests of this partner amass are
superior quality products and administrations, particularly after-deals services. Customers are
critical partners since they specifically decide the organization's incomes. Ford’s corporate
social obligation endeavors for stakeholder bunch are product development for quality,
mileage, and security, portage Smart Mobility, portage Driving Skills for Life program.
Employees: Ford positions its employees at second level priority. This group of stakeholder is
keenly interested in career growth, the increment in wages, equivalent opportunities and
treatment in the organization. They are the important part of stakeholder as they are mainly
responsible for production activities and service capacity of the business. if a small deduction
also occurs in employee stakeholder group then it directly leads to decline in company’s
revenue and performance (Weiss, 2014). Ford has adopted some of the CSR initiatives like
Sustainable workforce, online product training, global leadership development and programs
for enhancing leadership.
Dynamic capabilities
The capability of an organization to focus on new forms of competitive advantage is
termed as dynamic capabilities. The capability of a company to innovate
competencies to achieve correspondence with the transforming environment for

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 9
business is called as dynamic (Barreto, 2010). The main characteristics of being
dynamic are:
• It needs innovation to be respondent to the situation in arose. Like correct time to
make entry to the market.
• The timing is also vital for such cases.
• Moreover, when there changes in the area of technology, the character of
competition perspective, the market is dynamic to be predictable then dynamic
capabilities become important in competitive advantage (Parente, Baack & Hahn,
2011).
Dynamic capability is generally through a combination of a cluster of 3 major
activities like recognition and evaluation of an opportunity, mobilization of resources
to identify an opportunity as well as capturing value, and transformation. These
practices are required by the firms to be stronger than others. It is also required to
sustain a business in market development and technological change. Execution of
these exercises draws on every one of the abilities and orders utilized as a part of the
business organization all over the world (Katkalo, Pitelis & Teece, 2010). The
Dynamic Capabilities Framework sorts out outfit disciplinary information to apply it
to the errand of building solid upper hand at the venture level. It involves 3 steps to

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 10
recognize dynamic capability.
Recognition and evaluation: It is a basic set of entrepreneurial set of abilities which includes
exploring technological innovation, searching market, communicating with the customer, and
also scanning other parts of the business system (Pitelis & Teece, 2010). It needs
management to develop and evaluate hypothesis related to market and technological
innovation because it includes identification of recent trend in the market.
Mobilization of resources: It includes seizing capabilities which include designing of
business models to fulfill the demands of the customer and acquire value (Prange & Verdier,
2011). It needs access to capital and compulsory human resources. An employee motivation
and incentive scheme for hem is also needed to perform to best in the area of operations.
Companies which are successfully fulfilling these values are making high profits.
Transformation: It refers to renewing company internal structures and maintaining its
importance to customers. This requires managers of the company to continuously improve,
Recognition
and
evaluation
Mobilization
of resources
Transformatio
n

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 11
and amend organizational objective. It is also a key to create sustainable and technologically
advanced growth.
Coco-cola capabilities are:
With a strong financial position, Coco-cola is proceeding towards developing
international market on large scale. The money is used in investing for various purposes like
developing infrastructure, employee training, and growing distribution channels. They use
financial sources in implementing strategies of competitive advantage.
Coca-Cola proves be having an effective organizational capacity. It can employee 100
thousand employees at a time and offers the collection of more than 500 brands of soda pop
in almost 200 nations around the globe (Gehani, 2016). Their items show up nearly in every
eatery, stores, films halls, school and vending machines. Coca-Cola knows how to reduce the
distance between the customer and their products.
Capabilities of Apple are:
Evaluation Modification Transformation Result
Ipod Present Mp3
were of very
old technology.
form an
artistically
interesting
movable device
which provides
a simple
boundary on an
enhanced
product
port iTunes
software to
opponent
Windows
platform;
increase keen
on content
dispersal with
iTunes Music
command over
transferrable
digital music
competitor
marketplace;
development to
audio-visual
competences
(replay and

Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management 12
expansion
sequence;
improving with
special
FairPlay DRM
popular in the
iTunes Music
Store
Store; altering
corporation
weight starting
from
workstations to
customer
electronics
disbursement)
iphone Prevailing
“smart phones”
reserved a
difficult edge
too near toward
their mobile
phone origins.
Construct a
software
headset by an
outsized
display plus a
spontaneous
edge;
encourage
balancing asset
formation of
the App Store
structure.
Improve
telephonic
competencies;
go into the
structured
telephonic
marketplace.
one of the
corporations
generating
profits through
smart phones
(Hoog &
Strzempka,
2011).
iPad “netbooks”
deliver an
unproductive
calculating
involvement
Measure up the
iPhone edge to
deliver
wealthier
programme
Encompass the
“modest
boundary”
artistic to a
computing
Too early to
calculate.