Case Study «Environment»

ISSUE

Your company is running out of space and needs to build an extension to accommodate additional staff. The only space available is presently occupied by a small lake. When the weather is good, staff sit out by the lake at lunch-times. A small group takes a special interest in the lake and its environment. They have stocked it with fish and have encouraged wildlife to use the lake as its habitat. When plans were announced to build the extension, around 50 per cent of the staff were strongly against the plan on environmental grounds. The other 50 per cent are in favor of the extension, because it will mean more jobs.

The meeting has been called for the management committee to discuss the issues and decide how to handle them.

An agenda has been agreed.

AGENDA

1. Environmental implications

2. Financial implications

3. Employment

4. Alternative sites

5. Decision and communication to staff

Notes to the agenda

1. Environmental implications

The spokesperson of the ‘Save our Lake’ group will present the arguments against building the extension. This should be followed by discussion.

2. Financial implications

The Finance Manager will present the costings for the extension and any alternatives.

3. Employment

Human Resources Manager will outline the plans for recruitment once the extension is completed.

4. Alternative sites

The Managing Director will present a summary of the alternative sites which have been considered.

5. Decision and communication to staff

Following the presentation and discussion above, a decision will be made and action decided about how to communicate to the employees.

Brainstorming

Think over the task and sound your decision, providing with effective arguments.

You are out having a quiet celebratory supper with your partner in an expensive Metropolitan restaurant. You realize that your Chief Executive is sitting a couple of tables away with someone that isn’t their partner and is becoming rather drunk, rather loud and is talking openly about confidential company matters. The Chief seems to have looked in your direction a few times. Do You:-

1. Go over and discreetly remind the CE that some matters are confidential?

2. Stroll over, smile and say hello?

3. Keep quiet and say nothing?

INDIVIDUAL PROJECT / Presentation

Socially Responsible Companies (1 by choice)

Unit 14 theory: «Corporate strategic planning»

«In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless,

but planning is indispensable»

Dwight d. Eisenhower

Corporate strategic planning is how an organization defines its future direction over a year, three to five years or even longer, and it outlines how the organization will make decisions regarding the allocation of capital and labor resources to follow this strategy. A strategic plan is usually a document that describes the steps necessary for an organization to grow and become more relevant or profitable, and it involves techniques such as SWOT or PEST (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural and Technological) analysis that affect growth and profitability.

The strategic planning process is often a matter of bridging the gap between the current economic situation and the ideal situation. Its benefits include ensuring that all members of the organization are working towards fulfilling common objectives and that a company’s resources are allocated as efficiently as possible. An excellent corporate strategy should outline where an organization is heading and give employees a sense of belonging and purpose. Moreover, a corporate strategic plan for a company operating in a slow growth economy, such as Europe, is very different from one for a company operating in an explosive growth economy such as China.

A criticism of corporate strategic planning is that it is not adaptable enough for situations where the economy is in a state of flux and is unpredictable or when there are abrupt and unexpected changes in the business environment. Critics comment that a corporate strategic plan always forecasts favorable conditions and only works well if the domestic or world economy is stable over the period of the plan.

FOLLOW-ON QUESTIONS…

1. What is corporate strategic planning and when should it be done?

2. What are its advantages and disadvantages?

3. What 4W + H questions is strategic planning process based on?

4. What techniques does strategic planning involve?

5. Which are the essential characteristics of a successful strategist in business (e.g. decisiveness, integrity, experience, etc)