Alternative Approaches to Strategic Management: Benefits and Issues

This essay provides a detailed analysis of alternative approaches to strategic management, focusing on the industrial-organizational, sociological, and organizational change perspectives. It discusses the benefits and limitations of each approach, highlighting implementation issues that organizations may face. The industrial-organizational approach emphasizes resource allocation and competitive rivalry, while the sociological approach focuses on consumer satisfaction and societal norms. The organizational change approach deals with adapting to internal and external changes. The essay concludes that the successful implementation of any strategic management approach depends on careful planning, collaboration, and the skills of the management team. Desklib offers a platform for students to access this essay and many other solved assignments.

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
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Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In today's markets scenarios which are ever changing and risky Strategic management is an
essential tool for the success of organizations. An organization’s goals and objectives
accomplishment, is the core purpose associated with strategic management in the long run.
Therefore, organizations should ensure effective strategic management process where careful
collaboration, effective planning and the mindful implementation of the planning occurs: hence
leading to smooth functioning and success of organizations business activities. There are several
alternatives to strategic management, this paper will focus on three approaches which include
sociological approach, industrial-organizational approach, and organizational change approach.
These strategic management approaches are crucial since businesses are faced with several issues
that create barriers or affect their overall performance in the context of achieving their goal and
objectives and in order to solve these issues, approaches to strategic management are applied by
organizations.IN regards to this context the paper will discuss into detail the three approaches
through clear and concise perspective. Moreover, it will discuss the benefits and the shortcoming
the organizations may experience while using these approaches. organizations to accomplish
their goals and objective, it depends entirely on the appropriate selection and implementation of
a strategic management approach. Moreover, it also depends on the skills, knowledge and
experience of the management team. Therefore, the paper will further discuss the implementation
issues that may occur during its implementation process.

Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 3
Table of Content
s
ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT.......................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Alternative Approaches to Strategic management..........................................................................4
Industrial-organizational approach to strategic management......................................................4
Benefits of Industrial-organizational approach........................................................................5
Limitation of Industrial-organizational approach.....................................................................5
Implementation issue................................................................................................................6
Sociological approach to strategic management..........................................................................6
Benefits of the sociological approach to strategic management..............................................7
Limitation of the sociological approach to strategic management...........................................7
Implementation issue................................................................................................................8
organizational change approach to strategic management...........................................................8
Benefits of organizational change approach to strategic management....................................9
Limitations of organizational change approach to strategic management...............................9
Implementation issue..............................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCE................................................................................................................................12

Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 4
ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
Strategic management is an essential tool for the success of organizations in today's markets
scenarios which are ever changing and risky. Therefore, the purpose of strategic management is
associated with an organization’s goals and objectives accomplishment. However, organizations
should ensure effective strategic management process where careful collaboration, effective
planning and the mindful implementation of the planning occurs: hence leading to smooth
functioning and success of organizations business activities. There are different approaches to
strategic management which include the sociological approach, industrial-organizational
approach, and organizational change approach.
Business is faced with several issues that create barriers or affect their overall performance in the
context of achieving their goal and objectives and in order to solve these issues, approaches to
strategic management are applied by organizations. Some of the issues could be a lack of
strategic focus or vision of the critically important aspects that define the success of a business in
the long run. Additionally, a lack of identification or proper understanding of the changes taking
place within a business environment, such as a change in government policies, consumer taste
and preferences and technological change. These three approaches to strategic management will
be discussed in depth in the context perspective while identifying the shortcoming and benefits
which have an impact on an organization choose to use any of the three approaches
Alternative Approaches to Strategic management
Strategic management is crucial to the success of organizations achieving their capability to
accomplish their goal and objectives in the long run. However, for organizations to accomplish
their goals and objective, it depends entirely on the appropriate selection and implementation of
a strategic management approach. Moreover, it also depends on the skills, knowledge and
experience of the management team. Therefore, in regards to this perspective, the three different
strategic management approaches include:

Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 5
Industrial-organizational approach to strategic management
This strategic management approach is basically based on the critical economic theory that’s
strategically tailored in solving issues such as allocation of an organization’s resources,
competitive rivalry within an organization’s business environment and the economies of scale.
According to David and David (2017) the effective implementations and use of industrial-
organizational approach will play a big role in assisting an organization to cope and survive
volatile markets it is based in. Additionally, they also mentioned that through this strategic
management approach, organizations are in a better position to understand their industrial
relationship with other business organizations. The main assumption in this context is that
organizations the main agenda is to maximize profits and gain a bigger chunk of the market
share, through strategic business activities while maintain and observing the policies, standards
and laws within the region, international and within their business-oriented market Durand, et
al.2017. Nevertheless, Industrial-organizational approach also emphasizes that organizations can
achieve a competitive advantage within a particular industry through cost-effectiveness of the
daily business activities and maximizing the profitability scale
Benefits of Industrial-organizational approach
Competitor prediction- The industrial organization strategic management approach enables firms
to identify the extents of the competitive advantage their rival firm has. through the use of
competitive analysis tools such as tools such as game theory, otherwise called the intuitive
choice hypothesis, comprises of a limited measure of players (the opposition) and a constrained
measure of choices they can make. Utilizing numerical networks and tree charts, a firm can
survey its best course of action, by reproducing its rivals' decisions and conceivable results of
those decisions
Decision making-This strategic approach allows the top executive and management team to
make crucial decisions that would define key changes essential to the organization’s
achievements capability. Such a scenario is where the management team decides how much
product to sell, the price of the product, the distribution channel and so on. (Paauwe and Boon
2018)

Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 6
Cost-effectiveness -Through this strategic approach, the management team is able to identify
areas where there need to minimize operational cost and directing those to areas where its needed
more or for future use. This reduces significant chances of waste, therefore, contributing to profit
maximization in the long run
Limitation of Industrial-organizational approach
Complex -Industrial-organizational strategic management approach requires extensive research
and analysis on a very business environment that’s ever-changing and continuously risky. This
requires skilled personnel who are able to analyze the markets as well as study their rival’s
business models and strategies. This is the essential component of this approach assist goal is to
determine exploitable weakness to use against them, therefore gaining a competitive advantage.
Rapid changes in the business environment- today's business environments has grown to be more
complex and riskier making them volatile in nature. The framework used to design and
implement the industrial-organizational approach will be affected from time to time making it
un-efficient unless it is updated on regular interval
possibility of time consumption-Volatility of the business environment may cause an avoidable
delay during the conduction of the relevant research on business rivals. Moreover, a rapid change
in the business environment will require a redo for the strategic framework or regular updates
before implementations This may further lead to delays in the achievement of intended goals and
objectives
Implementation issue
The main implementation issue to the complexity of the process of the strategic management
approach which requires a skilled, knowledgeable and experienced management
team.Moreovoer, today's business environments has grown to be more complex and riskier
making them volatile in nature. The framework used to design and implement the industrial-
organizational approach will be affected from time to time making it un-efficient unless it is
updated on regular interval

Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 7
Sociological approach to strategic management
The strategic domain for this strategic management approach is somehow can act as a
complement to the industrial-organizational approach in achieving competitive advantage and
gaining market share which in turn leads to increased profits. This is due to the fact that the
sociological approach is entirely based on Consumer satisfaction and management. A consumer
is strategically important to the existence and success of an organization. They are the center of
all business organizations goals and objectives definition. It’s essential for organizations to study
the patterns and behaviors of consumers towards their products and services. Therefore,
according to Booth (2015). This strategic management approach theme is based on the context
that organizations will always try to consider the interest of their consumers and solve any gaps
available. This approach is further based on a phycological point of view where it strongly
considers human behavior as the main element that assists organizations to manage their
business activities in the long run. Moreover, organizations or companies are part of societies
and have a strong impact on their building blocks, therefore in order to achieve success
organizations must act on society norms (Karepova, et al.2015)
Benefits of the sociological approach to strategic management
Improves products service delivery-Through this approach an organization are entirely focused
on improving the products service delivery for the core purpose of ensuring the consumers and
clients can receive the best services that their rivals in a similar market
Effective understanding of the consumer behavior—Extensive research is always conducted
through the sociological approach to strategic management which is essential in determining the
consumer behavior from time to time. This allows and organizations to identify common trends
within a demographic and tailor their products and services to target specific markets
Decision making-This strategic approach allows the top executive and management team to
make crucial decisions that would define key changes essential to the organization’s

Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 8
achievements capability. Such a scenario is where the management team decides how much
product to sell, the price of the product, the distribution channel and so on.
Effective lean management techniques -Through this strategic approach, the management team is
able to identify areas where there need to minimize operational cost and directing those to areas
where it’s needed more or for future use. This reduces significant chances of waste, therefore,
contributing to profit maximization in the long run
Improve consumer relations-This strategic management approaches creates a channel where
consumers and an organization can interact in relation to the products and service delivery and
air any grievances or recommendations which are considered for increased consumer retention
Limitation of the sociological approach to strategic management
Complex -This strategic management approach requires extensive research and analysis on a
very business environment that’s ever-changing and continuously risky. This requires skilled
personnel who are able to analyze the markets as well as study their rival’s business models and
strategies. This is an essential component of this approach assist goal is to determine exploitable
weakness to use against them, therefore gaining a competitive advantage.
Rapid changes in the business environment- today business environments has grown to be more
complex and riskier making them volatile in nature. The framework used to design and
implement the sociological approach will be affected from time to time making it inefficient
unless it is updated on a regular interval
Conflict with stakeholders- In any case, sociological approach to strategic management is, for the
most part, accentuated on the connection between the organization and the consumers. It is also
crucial to note that originations individuals have known stakeholders whose role is crucial to the
organizational success. However, their interests may not align with the strategic approach which
would initiate organizational issues affecting the successful implementation of the strategic
approach in the long run

Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 9
Implementation issue
The emphasis of the strategic management approach is the quality of the relationship between n
organization and its customers in order to provide quality services improving their loyalty to the
brand of the organization. However, an organization has stakeholders whom interest may not
align with the goals and objectives of the strategic approach which will ultimately affect the
organizations' ability to maintain good behavior with both the consumers and the stakeholders
causing organizational problems in the long run.
organizational change approach to strategic management
The organizational change approach is embraced by the business associations to get a few
enhancements on some troublesome circumstances. This specific approach of strategic
management utilizes distinctive procedures of social science illustrating that this approach
behave in a manner similar to a change management approach .This indicates that this particular
approach acts like a change management approach (Cameron and Green 2015). However, this
approach has also some limitations. Engert and Baumgartner (2016) expressed that the
organizational change approach of strategic management is utilized by the organizations during
the season of bringing some change in a precise way. It has been speculated for a while that the
strategic management approach in context brings sudden change, however this is not the case as
Chen and Lieberman (2015) illustrate that it can only create essential opportunities in the long
run.
Benefits of organizational change approach to strategic management
Increase in operations effectiveness -Through the organizational change approach to strategic
management, managers and the top executives are able to identify operational areas within the
organizations that are lacking in quality or has several barriers that are affecting quality process
conduction. Therefore, the implementation of policies and strategic frameworks through the
process will increase the operational effectiveness in these areas in the long run (Rosemann and
vom Brocke 2015)

Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 10
Effective lean management techniques -Through this strategic approach, the management team is
able to identify areas where there need to minimize operational cost and directing those to areas
where it’s needed more or for future use. This reduces significant chances of waste, therefore,
contributing to profit maximization in the long run
Effective Decision making-This strategic approach allows the top executive and management
team to make crucial decisions that would define key changes essential to the organization’s
achievements capability. Such a scenario is where the management team decide what significant
change can be made or improved which would affect basic crucial decisions such as; how much
product to sell, the price of the product, the distribution channel etc. (Collings, et al. 2018, p 6-9)
Limitations of organizational change approach to strategic management
Time consumption–Time consumption is adamant in regards to organizational change strategic
approach, as it takes a long time for a significant change to occur and take effect,this may lead to
further utilization of resources affecting the profitability maximization scale (Pearlson, et al.
2016)
Non-independent- It evident from the above text that the strategic approach takes a long time to
implement change significantly although there are minor errors. Therefore, this also implies that
this strategy has to be used with other strategic approaches such as collaborative approach and
cultural approach to significantly affect change within the scheduled timeline
Implementation issue
The main implementation issue is the time consumptions and the non-independence of the
strategic approach. organizations that utilize this approach will have to take a while before a
significant change occur. Moreover, its strategically focused on key small areas nits as an
organization as a whole, despite this, its Non-independent nature requires the assistance of other
strategic management approaches. This does not actually mean that organizational approach is
bad, it’s still effective but with its own pace and setting (Wheelen, et al. 2017, p 127)

Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 11
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it has been distinguished that vital strategic management approaches are essential
for each business association. The key strategic management approaches help the organizations
in improving their execution standard. This study has distinguished essentially three prevalent
key strategic management approaches and these are – sociological approach, industrial-
organizational approach, and organizational change approach. According to the discourse in the
study, industrial-organizational encourages the organizations to accomplish economies of scale,
effective utilization of resources and survive in competitive markets in the long run. The
sociological approach generates a better relationship with the society and the other methodology
that is organizational change approach is effective during the change within the companies.
However, from the above report, it very well may be said that the strategic management
approaches like, sociological approach, industrial-organizational approach and organizational
change approach are useful for enhancing the execution of the business organizations. Be that as
it may, every one of the key strategic approaches has a few constraints. If by chance that a
comparison is made among these three vital strategic approaches, at that point it tends to be
recognized that the industrial-organizational approach is more compelling than the other key
strategic approaches (Formentini and Taticchi 2016). This is on the grounds that, on account of
the industrial-organizational approach, the organization can enhance the general execution level.

Alternative Approaches to Strategic management 12
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efficiency as a performance measure in strategic management research. Strategic Management
Journal, 36(1), pp.19-36.
Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T., 2018. Human resource management: A critical
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(pp. 49-73). Pearson.
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