Philippine Christian University

Sampaloc 1, Dasmariñas City, Cavite

Graduate School of Business and Management

In Partial Fulfilment of the requirements in Strategic Management

Submitted by:

DIMAANO, RIAN JAY P.

MBA ESPINAR 3B2

July 23, 2022

2. Dale McConkey says, “plans are less important than planning.” In terms of strategic

management and its benefits, what does McConkey mean?

Answer:

Based on the statement of Dale McConkey, we can therefore say that what he

really means is that strategic management aim is to achieve understanding and

commitment from managers down to the employees. For instance, both when managers

and employees understand the organization’s vision, mission, objectives and strategies,

they tend to feel that they are part of the firm/organization and it will always result to

their commitment. Thus, this commitment of both the employees and managers will

translate to their enthusiasm, creativity, and work performances towards their jobs. In

conclusion, we can assume and say that, the Dale McConkey is stating that we should

always involve all the individuals we on our organization in our planning and formation

of strategies to make them feel that they are not just an employee but rather a crucial

part of your organization. And with this, it will always translate to their commitment and

understanding about the organization that they are into.

3. Explain how and why firms use social networks these days to gain a competitive

advantage.

Answer: The Internet has created a broad playing field for business competition. Social

media plays an important role in a business plan, helping bring businesses and

customers together in innovative ways. And these are the things on how and why firms

are now utilizing the use of social networks for them to be able to gain competitive

advantage. With the use of social networks, businesses can now have a variety of ways

on how they can capitalize in terms of, profit maximization, customer relationship

management, supplier relationship and persuasion of potential markets. We all know

that social network can helps every business in terms of reaching out to a large volume

of markets as well as suppliers. Therefore, utilization of social networks will help every

business to gain competitive an advantage. It just a matter of adapting to the

technological advancement that we are experiencing from time to time to be able to fully

utilize the use of social network. Especially in today’s modern day environment, wherein

most of the market and business individuals are into the social network. So therefore,

we can say that there is really a gain that will translate to having competitive advantage

through the utilization of social network. With the advent of the internet, competitive

advantage and the gaining of it has become easier as firms directly sell to the

consumers and interlink the suppliers, customers, creditors, and other stakeholders into

its value chain. Because of the removal of intermediaries, firms can reduce costs and

improve profitability. Essentially, the internet has changed the rules of the game and

hence sources of competitive advantage in this digital era are now about how well firms

utilize the digital platform and social media to gain advantage over their rivals.
4. Discuss how relevant you think Sun Tzu’s Art of War writings are, for firms today, in

developing and carrying out a strategic plan.

Answer:

In spite of the passage of time, the Art of War is still relevant because it is more

about strategy and tactics rather than specific technological advances in warfare. Not

only have leaders across the globe benefited from it, but many areas of life, including

business, are also influenced by it.

With this, it translate as well to strategic management, particularly in strategic

planning. Wherein, we can say that it is where we were teach not to trust our gut feeling,

but rather always make calculated move and action upon developing your plans. That

we should not always see things as what is it, but rather, always think that problems will

arises sooner rather than later, and we must be always ready for it. Formulation of

contingency plan should always be a must in a business to become ready on whatever

scenario will arises. The Art of War becomes the foundation of readiness of each and

every strategic planning of most of the firms today.

5. Strategic management is all about gaining and maintaining competitive advantage.

Explain whether you agree or disagree with the help of examples.

Answer

Competitive advantage has to be earned, gained, and defended in any industry

that your firm are into. And I firmly believe that the use of strategic management will

help any firm in any industry to gain and maintain their competitive advantage. Hence,

those firms that are agile and responsive to changing market conditions and whose

internal capabilities are aligned with the external opportunities are those who would

survive in the brutal business landscape of the today’s modern day environment. As can

be seen from the characterization of competitive advantage, it is always subject to

change and therefore firms must always been on the lookout for newer sources of

competitive advantage and be alert for competitors’ moves.

For instance, the Nokia branding have been one of the best producers of cellular

phones during the year 2000-2010. They always have the advantage over their

competitors and they have been the leader in the industry for a decade, however

they’ve lost advantage when they wasn’t able to keep on the changes that are

happening in terms of the trend on cellular phones. And this leads to their downfall, they

wasn’t able to strategize well enough to adapt on the sudden changes that have

happened. And so again we are going to go back to the statement that competitive

advantage is always subject to change and therefore firms must always been on the

lookout for newer sources of competitive advantage and be alert for competitors’ moves.