STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

PARTNERSHIP
Number of organizations are choosing to establish partnerships in order to

strengthen their positions in the market place. The reasons for doing so are:

a) strategic reasons – the organization may need to ;

- expand but be unable to provide the resources;

- to improve its corporate image.

b) competitive reasons : the organization has found

that;

- competitors are gaining market share at its

expense;

- competitors have formed effective strategic

alliances;

c) marketing reasons : management has realized that:

- the product line needs to be expanded

- the organization would benefit from better market

recognition;
 d) human resources : the organization lacks;

- knowledge and skills for a new area of enterprise;

- ability to be innovative and creative in appealing

new area;

e) production reasons : the organization is suffering

because of;

- operating well below capacity;

- high cost of supplies and subcontractors, leaving it

at a competitive disadvantage.

So if they have the partners, these problems can be reduced

and the administrators will face less stress.

REENGINEERING AND DOWNSIZING

Why do organizations exist? To satisfy customers, to provide

employment, or to line the pockets of shareholders?The answer is 'yes'.

Everything starts with customer satisfaction. Otherwise we cannot fund

salaries for employees, or dividends and profits for the shareholders.

How is this best done?

Reengineering and Downsizing are two approaches that are

similar in some respects and very different in others.

Reengineering – examining and improving the key work

processes.

- it involves documenting our existing processes and then finding

innovative ways of reducing the time they take and improving

consistency of results.

- it may result in reducing the number of job

- it requires rethinking how we do business ;

- the benefits are significant , especially for the customers,owners

(lower costs) and employees (less frustration, greater input)

Downsizing – approach focused on reducing costs rather than

improving services.

- it involves the elimination of jobs and large-scale firing of people;

- the process is usually done quickly with little involvement by

department managers;

- it results in immediate short-term cost reduction;

- it can also devastate an organization;

- the benefits are short-lived and the results can be

counterproductive:

i. morale will plummet

ii. are employees are omften eliminated

iii. costs often go up as we tend to rely more on consltants

iv. business is lost because of disruptions in operations,

requiring additional layoffs.

What's the moral of the story?

 Think carefully before cutting costs by laying

off people.

 Considers how customers will be affected by

employee cutbacks.

 Pursue alternative strategies to improve the

bottom line.
3. STRATEGIC PLANNING: SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT stands for:

S = Strengths

W = Weakness

O = Opportunities

T = Threats

Internal Factors (Strengths and Weakness)

- The process of internal research is challenging in that getting

accurate and frank information is essential.

- Focus groups interviews should be carried out in

order to get the truth.

- They should be made up of a cross-section of

employees from all parts of the organization.

- Use them to answer such questions as:

a) To what extent do we respect the opinions of

people on the front line?

b) Do we recognized superior effort and

performance?
External Factors (Opportunities and Threats)

- When turning to the outside , determine how effective you are by

benchmarking your performance against others inside and outside your

industry;

- ”Benchmarking –is the deliberate, systematic process wherebyan

organization seeks to find out who the best are,to learn from them, and to

adapt and implement new ideas to improve customer satisfaction.”

- In order to gather the information ,as it adds to the buy – in factor, it is

advisable to use the employees in meeting with the customers to find out:

i) what you do that makes them loyal to you

ii) what frustrates them when they deal with you.

Findings from our group regarding SWOT analysis:

Regarless of whether you or your team are future planning for specific

products, work, personal or any other area, the SWOT analysis is quite the

same.

Step 1 – In the here and now………..

List all strengths that exist now. Then in turn, list all weakness that exist now.

Be realistic but avoid modesty!

Step 2 – What might be…………

List all opportunities that exist in the future.Opportunities are potential future

strengths.Then in turn, list all threats that exist in the future. Threats are

potential future weakness.

Step 3- Plan of action……….

Review your SWOT MATRIX with a view to creating an action plan to

address each of the four areas.

In summary;

• Strengths need to be maintained , built upon or leveraged .

• Weakness need to be remedied or stopped.

• Opportunities need to be prioritised and optimized.

• Threats need to be countered or minimised.

THE SWOT MATRIX

Strength Weakness
GOOD NOW BAD NOW
Maintain, build, Remedy, stop
Leverage

Opportunity Threat
GOOD FUTURE BAD FUTURE
Prioritise, Counter
Optimize
“Leaders are made not born.The best leaders are often
influenced by events that call on them to take up positions of
power.”