Comprehensive Report: Strategic Management for Business

This report delves into the core principles of strategic management, emphasizing its crucial role in organizational decision-making and overall growth. It examines the benefits of strategic planning and its impact on various business aspects. The report analyzes Huawei's political challenges, illustrating how external factors can significantly affect a company's global operations and market position. Furthermore, it explores the BCG Matrix as a strategic tool for portfolio analysis, classifying brands based on performance and potential. The report also compares functional and divisional organizational structures, arguing for the functional structure's efficiency. It concludes by assessing staffing strengths and weaknesses using Apple Inc. as a case study, highlighting the importance of identifying and leveraging staff capabilities for optimal organizational performance.

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Strategic Management for Business
Strategic Management for Business
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Strategic Management for Business
Table of Contents
The benefit of Using Strategic Management for Decision Making...................................3
Political Issue in Huawei...................................................................................................3
BCG Matrix......................................................................................................................4
Functional and Divisional Structure.................................................................................5
Staffing Strengths and Staffing Weakness........................................................................6
References.........................................................................................................................7

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The benefit of Using Strategic Management for Decision Making
Strategic management is an essential tool which is needed for the growth of every
organization. Strategic management not only allows for the decision maker to understand the
dynamics related to the business but also helps the person in evaluating the factors which
have a possible effect on the business in any way. It is important for any organization to
strategically assess the situation first and then go about making decisions.
Keeping the above points in mind, it is important to understand that strategic management
plays an essential role in decision making. Strategy not only provides a vision into the future
of how things can happen when a certain decision is made, but it also provides all the relevant
support needed to control the damage as well (Ong, 2017). It also confirms the purpose,
objectives, goals and values of the organization, clarifies all the relevant threats and
opportunities associated, determines methods to leverage strengths, and mitigate weaknesses
(at a minimum). As such, it sets a framework and clear boundaries within which decisions
can be made. It is this framework which allows the organization to further develop a
mechanism of its own to achieve the best practices for itself and ensure that it is always
functioning in a structured manner without faltering. Furthermore, strategic planning or
strategic management allows the organization to ration its resources well so that it not only
saves on cost but can also gain an advantage over its competitors as well. decision makers are
able to make a more informed decision, and hence, can work in a more pro-active
environment rather than a reactive environment for the smallest of things. This ensures better
results are obtained, and the organization follows the best possible practices as well.
Political Issue in Huawei
Huawei is a Chinese smartphone manufacturer. The company has its presence all over the
world because of its innovative smartphone which is available at cheap prices. The company
has grown a lot since its inception. However, currently, the company has found itself amidst a
political crisis. It is known for some time now that China and the USA are in a trade war. The
situation has worsened so much that the two countries are now imposing sanctions over each

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other because of which world trade is getting affected. The situation has worsened so much
that the United States Government has asked Google to stop all business with Huawei at
once, and revoke their android business licence as well (Fazzini, 2019). this came as a huge
blow to the company since it meant that it will no longer be able to use Android OS for its
phones, and the existing users will not be able to redeem complete android services such as
systems updates etc. as well. This has affected the operations and the goodwill of the
company a lot, so much so that it has seen a dip in its share already, and the users are now
switching to other brands as well. the new phones have seen a major decline in their sales too.
This shows how political environment is important for an organization as working on a global
level means that the organization will no longer be able to work in the system, and can have
issues in its overall working machinery as well.
Huawei right now is in such a fix where it has barely any way out. The trade war between
both the countries is getting uglier by the day, and it is these companies which are now at the
receiving end.
BCG Matrix
BCG Matrix or the Boston Consultancy Group Matrix has been defined as one of the most
influential and important tools for strategic management and strategic development for
organizations so far. This framework helps in evaluating the position of the business brand
portfolio and its potential. it divides or classifies its brand portfolios in four quadrants: cow,
star, dog and question mark all depending on their performance and relative positioning based
on economic outputs and investment (Jurevicius, 2013).
When we talk about a relative comparison between a cash cow and a question mark in terms
of the success parameters of a brand, it is important to understand the kind of brands which
fall here. Cash cow is brands which are the most profitable kinds and have to be sustained for
as much long as possible. It allows the brands to not only focus on economic growth but
allows success otherwise as well. These brands are capable enough to support their own
market share as well. the relative strength is offered by their popularity and ever-increasing
customer demands for these brands. Since they are capable of supporting their won growth,
corporates do not need to put so much money into these brands to induce growth, but rather

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to help them sustain. These mentioned qualities make cash cows extremely desirable for
investors and market players.
Questions marks are brands which require a lot of monitoring and constant overlooking since
they are new and are establishing their ground (Mohajan, 2018). These brands require a lot of
support, both financial and non-financial, and because of this the company often experiences
a lot of fluctuations in terms of getting investors, in terms of getting a decent customer base
and so much more. Thus, this particular business type is not safe for investing big money, as
it can get extremely good returns and extremely poor losses as well.
Functional and Divisional Structure
If I had my own business, I would definitely go for a functional structure of the organization
rather than a divisional structure. This is because I personally believe in increasing and
maximising the efficiency of the people to achieve the best possible organisational efficiency.
In a functional structure of the organization, the efficiency can be increased since the
employees are grouped together according to their area of specialisation (Fairfield, 2016).
While in a divisional organisation structure refers to the structure wherein the organisational
functions are grouped together, into divisions, depending on product, service, market or
geographies.
While both this organizational structure can be used efficiently for a restaurant business, it is
best understood that the best efficiency can be achieved only by ensuring that people who
work and think alike and have a similar approach towards working, and most important of
similar competencies and likings. Hence, it is important to ensure that chefs are grouped
together, the waiters are grouped together and so are the hosts. This will ensure that people
who have similar work interact with each this will not only increase their professional
engagement but will also push them towards growth as they will see one another working
hard.
The divisional structure does not suit the best here because it focuses more on grouping
people on products and services. In a restaurant, the requirement isn't so. Hence, this structure

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not only becomes redundant but also adds no value to the operation as well. this being said, it
is best that all business first understands the requirement of their organization, the service or
product they will be dealing in, and then decide on what kind of organizational structure is
required and if it will be sustainable in the long run as well.
Staffing Strengths and Staffing Weakness
Staffing strengths and staffing weaknesses are important to identify and determine,
considering they play an important role in team formation and overall working of the
organization as well. hence, it is important to look for certain areas where the staff feels at
strengths and build on them. And then look at certain areas where the staff feels week or
insecure and then work towards setting them right as well.
To better analyse the staffing strength and weakness, we have taken the example of Apple
Inc. to analyse the case in detail:
Staffing strength of Apple:
 The staff is the best of the lot and the most technically adept in the world. Because of
this, the staff has a knack for innovation and creativity which reflects in the products
 The staff is able to bond well with each other considering their similar background
and expectation from the organization
Staffing weakness of Apple:
 The employees have poor communication with the management which has resulted in
a lot of issues for both the employees as well as the management
 The employees do not focus on correcting the previous issue while they jump on
creating new solutions for the company

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References
Ong, C., 2017. 5 benefits of strategic planning. [Online]
Available at: https://www.envisio.com/blog/benefits-of-strategic-planning
Available from [29 May 2019]
Fazzini, K., 2019. This is why there’s been a decade-long disconnect between Huawei and
the US, and it’s unlikely to be fixed soon. [Online]
Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/16/why-huaweis-problems-with-the-us-
government-have-been-so-bad.html Available from [29 May 2019]
Jurevicius, O., 2013. BCG growth-share matrix. [Online]
Available at: https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/bcg-matrix-growth-
share.html Available from [29 May 2019]
Mohajan, H. K., 2018. An Analysis of BCG Growth Sharing Matrix. Noble International
Journal of Business and Management Research, 2(1). Available from [29 May 2019]
Fairfield, K. D., 2016. Understanding Functional and Divisional Organizational Structure: A
Classroom Exercise. Management Teaching Review. Available from [29 May 2019]

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