Strategic Management

Assignment I
Descriptive Questions: Individual Assignment
To be submitted in soft copy (doc or pdf) format

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1. The filename of Doc or PDF format should contain “MBA-SM-<Your Section>-

<Your Name>-Assmt III”
2. Submission Deadline: 15th Jan, Saturday (For both sections)
3. To be submitted in HUB

Candidates are required to give their answers in their own words as far as practicable.
Provide illustrations and examples while answering each question.

All questions carry equal marks.

1. Explain the difference between ‘Operational Effectiveness’ and ‘Strategic Positioning’.

When we talk about business strategy, why it is more about ‘strategic positioning’ than
‘operational effectiveness’? How are the concepts of ‘strategic fit’ and ‘strategic tradeoff’
related to the concept of ‘strategic positioning’? Explain with suitable examples.

2. Many researchers have inferred the absence of function and discipline of strategic
management as one of the reasons of failure of an organization. A CEO of an
organization, which wants to establish such function and discipline in his organization is
willing to get knowledge about the following aspects of the strategic management:
a. Meaning and process of strategic management
b. Its nature and characteristics
c. Need for strategic management
d. Benefits of having this function and discipline in the organization

Provide detail explanation of these aspects with proper logic.

3. “A well-conceived vision consists of two major components: core ideology and

envisioned future. Core ideology, defines what we stand for and why we exist. It’s
unchanging and acts like yin, complementing yang in yin-yang, the envisioned future.
The envisioned future is what we aspire to become, to achieve, to create – something that
will require significant change and progress to attain”. What are the core components of
core ideology and envisioned future and what makes a good vision.

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4. Strategic environmental analysis is one of the key steps for formulating strategies for an
organization. One of the tools used for such analysis PESTLE analysis. List down five
important variables which come into play within each of these six external environmental
factors and explain how each variable typically affect an environment of a business and
how such knowledge helps in the formulation of strategy of the business.

5. Harvard professor Michael E. Porter propelled the concept of industry environment into
the foreground of strategic thought and business planning. The cornerstone of Porter’s
work first appeared in the Harvard Business Review, in which he explains the five forces
that shape competition in an industry. Porter’s well-defined analytic framework helps
strategic managers to link remote factors to their effects on a firm’s operating
environment. Porter’s five forces framework has two main aims: a) to understand the
drivers of competitive behavior in the sector and; b) to evaluate the long-run profit
potential of the sector.

Consider a sector (of your choice) of which you want to understand the drivers of
competitive behavior and you will be using this framework for industry/ sector analysis.
List out all the variables which work as determinant(s) of each of these five forces in this
sector. Also list out at least five important aspects that should be considered while
conducting a sound industry analysis.

6. Competitive strategy involves positioning a business to maximize the value of the

capabilities that distinguish it from its competitors. It follows that a central aspect of
strategy formulation is perceptive competitor analysis. The objective of a competitor
analysis is to develop a profile of the nature and success of the likely strategy changes
each competitor might make, each competitor’s probable response to the range of feasible
strategic moves other firms could initiate, and each competitor’s probable reaction to the
array of industry changes and broader environmental shifts that might occur.

Answer the following questions in relation to the competitor analysis as one of the
important part of the strategic analysis:
a. What are four diagnostic components of a competitor analysis, the understanding
of which will allow an informed prediction of the competitor’s response profile?
What are key questions related to these four diagnostic components that you seek
an answer of during competitor analysis?
b. What are the key questions related to the competitor’s response profile that you
seek to get an informed prediction of after analyzing the four diagnostic
components?
c. Explain through an illustrative case, the application and utility of these four
diagnostic components of the framework of competitor analysis.
d. What are specific tools and techniques you can use for the analysis of a competitor
company? Give a short indicative illustration for the use of each.