Wk1 DQ1

Discussion Question 1 CLOs 2, 4 

Should a company's strategy be tightly connected to its quest for competitive advantage? Why or why
not? What difference does it makes whether a company has a sustainable competitive advantage or
not?

Ans:

Business is all about achieving competitive advantage, and competitive advantage is achieved by
offering greater value to the consumer than the competitors. The competitive advantage of a business
refers to the ability of the business to provide additional benefits to its customers than their
competitors. Competitive advantage helps any business to take advantage over its competitors. A
competitive advantage is the unique ability of a firm to utilize its resources effectively, managing to
improve customer value and position itself ahead of the competition. In other words, it's something
that a company does better than its competitors because of some proprietary process, service, or
brand (Accounting Course , 2016). For example, there are a great variety of the Nike sports goods,
which is the competitive advantage for the Nike. The customers are satisfied with their products and
they are willing to pay a premium for the Nike products. Nike gains a competitive edge against other
sports goods brands.

The companies should develop strategies focusing on the competitive advantage which makes the
product and the company visible in the market. Similarly, the competitive advantage helps the
business firms to develop their advertising strategies which could persuade the customers. According
to Gomez-Mejia & Balkin (2012), if a company can make better strategies based on the competitive
advantage, it will hold the customers for longer. Similarly, in the real business world, firms gain a
competitive edge by capitalizing on their know-how, technological infrastructure, the cost of
production, and overall resources to be able to offer customer value and high-quality
products (Accounting Course , 2016).

Sustainable competitive advantage provides a long-term advantage and is not easily replicable
(Mapesa, 2014). A sustained competitive advantage is often based on the habits, symbols, norms,
beliefs, mission, and behavior of an organization. An innovative culture that embraces change and is
supportive of creativity may sustain a competitive advantage indefinitely (Anna Mar 2013). There are
many different types of sustainable competitive advantages, they are, powerful brand, product
differentiation, low-cost provider etc. For instance, we can take an example of coke and Pepsi which
have been ruling for a long time. There are many similar companies but they don't succeed to
overcome these companies. Coke and Pepsi have the sustainable competitive advantage that they
created over the time.

References
Accounting Course . (2016, March 2). Retrieved from Competetive Advantage :
https://www.myaccountingcourse.com/accounting-dictionary/competitive-advantage

Anna Mar. (2013, May 25). Simplicable. Retrieved from Sustainable Competitive Advantage:
https://business.simplicable.com/business/new/competitive-advantage-vs-sustainable-
competitive-advantage

Gomez-Mejia, L., & Balkin, D. (2012). Management: People, Performance and Change.New Delhi:
Pearson.

Ans:
 Business strategy is an organization's working plan to achieve its set goals, visions and
objectives. To do so the organization prioritizes its objectives, competes successfully, and optimizes
financial performances with its business model. One of the essential key factor to marketing strategy
is time. Strategic management should be very time-centric. Otherwise the company will likely end up
hitting an impasse (Thompson, Williams, & Gamble, 2017). The business environment today is
different than ever before and is constantly evolving to its better form. With technological
advancement, the company faces competitive market and needs to come up with improvised business
strategies that helps take optimum advantage from the competition.

It is very true that a company should always base their company's strategy with its
competitive advantage. However, it is not necessarily important that all the company's strategy should
be based upon their competitive advantage (Gluck, Kauffman, & Walleck, 1980). Depending upon the
barrier to entry, flexibility and market conditions too, a company must formulate their strategies.

For instance, in a market where barrier to entry is high and a firm is being run through
government subsidy, it does not make any sense for businesses to strategize based upon their
competitive advantage. For instance, in the context of Nepal, in the telecommunication sector, Nepal
Telecom is a government run telecommunication network. This means that they do not necessarily
have to release new products or new type of services in order to create a competitive advantage. As
government is already subsidizing NTC, it is not important for the company to align their company's
strategy with its competitive advantage.

However, in a market with high competition, it is very important for business to have
competitive advantage. For instance, in the sector of food industry, mobile phone industry, and even
internet service provider, the competition is very high. In such businesses it is very important to align
business strategy with their competitive advantage. It is very important for business to differentiate
their products from others and even more important to sustain their uniqueness in order to stay in the
market.

Having competitive advantage is a thing, but in a competitive market it has become

increasingly important for businesses to have sustainable competitive advantage. The marketplace is
changing rapidly and so is customer's preference. A company that does not have sustainability in their
competitive advantage will not be able to sustain in the market as well. For instance, Nokia was a
mobile phone giant that had competitive advantage through its service offering, being one of the first
mobile phone brands to enter the market, they had a huge competitive advantage. However, with
changing market place and preferences of customer, they could not have a sustainable competitive
advantage over newer smartphone companies like Apple and Samsung. Due to this, they could not
sustain the competitive advantage. This show how important it is for a company to have a sustainable
competitive advantage.

References

Gluck, F. W., Kaufman, S. P., & Walleck, S. A. (1980, July). Strategic Management for Competitive

Advantage.Harvard Business Review , 1-8.

Thompson Jr, A., Williams, M. E., & Gamble, J. (2017). Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for
a Competitve Advantage: Concepts and Cases (21 Edition ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc.

Ans:

     A straight answer on whether a company's strategy should be connected to the quest of

competitive advantage or not is that: Yes, the company's strategy and its ability to become
competitive must go hand in hand. One vital reason from a broad bird's eye perspective is when a
business creates its strategies, its main priority should be or would be to have sustainable and a
sound competitive advantage (Thompson Jr, Williams, & Gamble, 2017). There are several other
reasons why this relation between a business strategy and competitive advantage is important for a
firm.
            When a company wants to become competitively advantageous, its main priority is always on
how to generate as much as returns to its initial investment. Also, it also tries to link company's main
strategies with finances and with capital markets outside of the organization. The whole purpose of
taking such initiative is that the company's competitive advantage is solely focused on to examine its
economic operation - cause that's what important for sustainable future of its business.

            There are various implications of a company's competitive nature over a long run. For
example, without a company being sincere and focused on being competitive, it cannot fulfill priorities
such as being able to earn enough to payback to shareholders - the more profit a company earns it
makes shareholders' pocket strong thus allowing them to invest more in the coming days. (Gluck,
Kaufman, & Walleck, 1980) Likewise, if a company does not have any sense of competitiveness in a
business strategy then it will have fewer reasons to have a sound economy for a long term growth -
meaning competitiveness is company's life and without it a company will be in shaky position.

            So looking at all of those observations, company's solo important goal is to be able to
concentrate in being competitively advantageous.  That has to be its standout and single attribute to
take company into a sustainable operation - it has to be, especially in this modern era where
competition gets bigger and bigger with each passing moment (Švárová & Vrchota, 2014). A company
will find very difficult to thrive if it cannot standout being financially strong for foreseeable future.

            Thus, a company's competitive advantage and its business strategies should be closely
connected because both can form a good partnership to give a company a sustainable boost. There is
another best implication wherein a company can stand strong even if its competitors could apply their
best efforts to rock its philosophy. They might look to overcome a company's advantage of sustainable
operation but if a company is strong in its belief then it can obviously survive in a long run.       

References
Gluck, F. W., Kaufman, S. P., & Walleck, S. A. (1980, July). Strategic Management for Competitive
Advantage. Harvard Business Review , 1-8.

Švárová, M., & Vrchota, J. (2014). Influence of Competitive Advantage on Formulation Business
Strategy. Procedia Economics and Finance , 12 (2014), 687-694.

Thompson Jr, A., Williams, M. E., & Gamble, J. (2017). Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for
a Competitve Advantage: Concepts and Cases (21 Edition ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc.

Ans:

   Yes, a company's strategy should be tightly connected to its quest for competitive advantage.
There are several reason behind this. Many companies make strategy on regular basis but the
best strategy is that which achieves a durable competitive edge over rivals to make profits for
long period of time along with building a string customer base and steady market position
(Thompson, 2013). In this 21st century, we can see market being more competitive than ever
before. Hence, to compete in today's market and make a position in market, companies need
good strategy.

     Strategy that yield competitive advantages lead a company to have good financial
performance and financial position. However, if a company's strategy is not connected to its
quest for competitive advantage in that case a company will not have a profitable business
model. Thus, a manager need to make best strategy as this strategy will help to attract the
customers and give strength to outcompete with its rivals (Rothaermel, 2015). For example-
when we talk about soft drink the first name that click in our mind is Coca-Cola. There are many
soft drink available in market. Pepsi is the major rival for the company Coca-Cola. However,
people still give first preference to Coca-Cola, Why?  The answer is Coca-Cola has best strategy
that yield a competitive advantage over its rival like Pepsi. It always comes with best
advertisement that please its customers like few months back they came up with ad (Buba, aama,
chori, and pariwar). This ad directly hits customer emotions. And this strategy give strength to
outcompete with its rival and please its customers.

     If a company's strategy is not connected with competitive advantages in that case it cannot
become the industry leader. Hence, its competitive advantage that enables a company to achieve
its strategic objectives.

     The companies who are able to maintain a competitive advantage for many years are thought
to have a sustainable competitive advantage. If a company don't have sustainable competitive
advantage than in long-run they might fail to perform in market. Thus, to have sustainable
competitive advantage, a manager need to have an ability to forge a series of moves, both in the
marketplace and internally. Coca-Cola is an example of sustainable competitive advantage. Thus,
there are many types of sustainable competitive advantage like cost-based, powerful brand,
superior product and others. For instance- Wal-Mart and Southwest Airlines are the low-cost
provider which makes company sustainable competitive advantages in long run.

Reference

Rothaermel, F. T. (2015). Strategic management.McGraw-Hill.

Thompson, A. P. (2013). Crafting & Executing Strategy 19/e: The Quest for Competitive
Advantage: . Concepts and Cases. McGraw-Hill Education.

Wk1 DQ2
Discussion Question 2 - (CLOs covered: 1, 5) 

Discuss which departments and responsible parties that would be involved in the execution of the
organization's strategy. How does communication and project management help facilitate strategic
execution?

Ans:
 It is literally crucial to determine who is involved in the strategic planning. The people who
participate in the strategic planning can also influence whether or not the plan is implemented
effectively. We also need to understand that there are several components of the strategic planning
process. Before questioning who is responsible for the formulation and execution of the corporate
strategy plan, people should know who is accountable for the formulation and execution of the
corporate strategic plan.

Many of the people would answer that CEO of the organization should be involved in the
strategic planning but it is not possible to walk in alone and have a map to the road. Well, the senior
management team must come together to review, discuss, challenge, and finally agree on the
strategic direction and key components of the plan. Without genuine commitment from the senior
team, successful implementation is unlikely. So, a key to planning must be performed by a team of
the top-level executives which is likely to improve the chances of enhanced long term performance of
the organization.

Generally, a team consisting of the chief executive and their closest colleagues, is by far the
most appropriate group of people to accept accountability for formulating, and implementing, the
overall strategic plan of the organization. A corporate strategic planning team made up of the CEO,
and a few other of the top managers, will know more about their organization than anyone else on the
planet. Anything they are not conversant with they have the authority to find out. So, no one other
than the CEO has the authority to even mention some of the strategic elephants in some
organizations.

To add more, anyone that the strategic planning team deems could be of assistance in the
process can take part in the strategic planning which can also include any of the  stakeholder
representatives who could ensure that all affected groups are at least not harmed by the process, and
its resultant plans. More positively these other interest groups need to be constructively engaged in
the process, and in the execution of the agreed strategic plans.

To point out:

Governors,

Chair of the governing body,

CEO,

CXO members of the CEO led Planning team,

Managers once removed (MoR) from the CEO,

Other executive staff,

Operators,

Facilitator,

Advisors and assistants,

Consultants

Interest Groups, and

Beneficiaries.

These of the people are eligible to take part on the strategic meeting.

One main thing that we must all understand that a brilliant strategy, blockbuster product, or
breakthrough technology can put you on the competitive map, but only solid execution can keep you
there. You have to be able to deliver on your intent (Neilson, Martin, & Powers , 2008).

Now, talking about how communication and project management help facilitate strategic
execution. Well, yes making strategic plan is very crucial thing but communicating it to the whole
organization is yet another difficult task. And after communicating projecting and executing also come
along with many difficulties (Chatterjee, 2018). I think in order to fulfill the execution part project
management can help that particular strategic plan convert into reality. And communication can help
to transfer the further plan to various part of the organization.

References
Chatterjee, R. (2018). Why Program Management is an Essential Part of Strategy
Execution. Resources for Project Management.

Neilson, G. L., Martin, K. L., & Powers , E. (2008). The Secrets to Successful Strategy
Execution. Harvard Business review.

Ans:

The need for strategy today is greater than ever before due to this ever growing
competitive market. Be it the marketing or the human resource department, an
effective strategy is essential for the brands to identify the changes in the external
forces in the marketplace. Strategies help to set out the SMART objectives to perform
better than competitors (Stimpson & Farquharson, 2010). Also, it focuses on setting the
company objectives to achieve the vision so, various departments such as sales,
marketing, research and development, human resources as well as stakeholder's
representatives, are responsible in executing the strategic plan.
The company will be unable to differentiate and most likely to fail to compete
with competitors without an effective business strategy (Thompson, Strickland, Gamble,
& Strickland III, 2008). So, for the effective strategy, it is important for the
management team to set the objectives according to the mission and vision of the
company as well as coordinate with the various departments to designate their roles.
Employees will know about what to do and what should be done to their respective
departments. This way, the sales team can re-design their sales campaign and
marketing experts can move towards more digitalization, if necessary to achieve the
target goals.
Designing and implementing strategy has always been a collaborative process.
Thompson, Strickland, Gamble, & Strickland III (2008), mentions how multiple areas of
expertise (departmental levels) is required to design an effective strategic plan as it is
too large for a small executive group. It is because the operations are delegated to
their own specializations. Marketing teams are focused on their ad campaigns whereas
Sales team are always planning to higher the sales. When these departments work
independently, their functional strategies might differ. So, each and every department,
from CEO to marketing to human resource and other stakeholders needs to coordinate
and communicate to best allocate the resources and complement each other.
Now, to ensure this understanding of its importance, project management helps
an organization to utilise limited resources, handle technological complexity, respond to
stakeholder satisfaction and increase global market competition (Cleland, 1998). A
project manager initiates, plans, executes, monitors and controls the activities along
with a project life cycle. It takes the views of senior executives' about the firm's long-
term direction and as a bonfire, helps to set and design the departmental objectives
and strategies respectively with syncing the firm's overall strategy for middle and
lower-level managers. This way, well communicated strategic vision will increase the
department participation and raises employee commitment to the firm's chosen
strategic direction.
 References
Cleland, D. (1998). 'Strategic project management', . In: Pinto, J. K., Project
Management.
Stimpson , P., & Farquharson, A. (2010). Cambridge International AS and A Level
Business Studies. London: Cambridge University Press.
Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. J., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland III, A. J. (2008). Crafting
and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Ans:

As mentioned by Fairholm (2009), organization's strategic is an umbrella term used to include and
summarize activities like planning, performance management, program budgeting and it has proven to
be very useful. For the effective executive of organizational strategy, all the departments of
organizations like human resource, operations, finance, marketing, and so on are equally responsible.

In a hierarchical organizational structure, there are three levels of department. The top level refers to
the strategic level where there are CEO, CFO, and COO of the company. They are responsible for
formulating strategies. While, the middle management and lower level management like senior
managers, employees, line staff are responsible for executing those strategies. To know how various
departments are responsible for executing strategies let's take an example. For instance, ND's is
hiring staffs for its new outlet that it has recently opened up in Jawalakhel, however, the CFO of the
company informs that they cannot afford providing higher salary to the employees of the new outlet.
Now, what can ND's as a company do is strategize by hiring graduates instead of looking for
experienced people. Now the HR department of ND's must seek for graduates who will match their
criteria to handle their new outlet. This is where one of department of ND's is executing the strategy
of the company. This will solve the problem of affordability for a time-being and will also be beneficial
for the company in terms of cost and new resources.

Communication and project management are very essential for facilitating strategic execution.

Communication and project management facilitate strategically to be clearer for companies. Let's take

an example. Suppose your company is hiring new staff by taking out the old ones knowing that they

are good with technology and all but later on you came to know that they are just good at technology

but they do not know the other works which your office requires. So, the information was

communicated in a wrong way instead you must keep the old staff until the new one understands the

work. So, these are very important factor to facilitate strategy.

References

Fairholm, M. R. (2009). Leadership and Organizational Strategy. The Innovation Journal: The Public

Sector Innovation Journal, Volume 14(1).

Goutam, A. (2013). Effective Communication at Workplace. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN SOCIAL AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES,

VOLUME:1,ISSUE:2 .
Ans:

    In an organization, employees are divided into three department i.e. top level, middle level,
and operational level. The success of the organization largely depends upon the strategy.
However, making an organizational strategy is tough task. Many of people believe that
organization's strategy should be made by top level like CEO only. But the CEO should not walk
alone when it comes to strategic planning. The key to a plan that is likely to improve the chances
of enhanced long term performance of the organization, is that the planning must be performed
by all department i.e. top level, middle level, and operational level. All department consisting of
the CEO, chief executive managers and other workers, is by far the most appropriate group of
people to accept accountability for formulating, and implementing, the overall strategic plan of
the organization (Thompson, 2013).  

      An execution of the organizations strategy should be made up of the all three department, as
they will know more about their organization than anyone else on the planet. Anything they are
not conversant with they have the authority to find out. Involvement of all department lead to
have no faulty information. Hence, the conclusion is plain, the strategy of organization must be
led by the all department i.e. from top level to operational level.

     Communication play important role in the execution of strategy plan. What if top level make
a strategy but the middle and operational level don't know anything about the strategy because of
lack of communication. Hence, to executive strategy in an organization it is very important to
communicate with all the department and flow the information. Communication will create
awareness throughout the organization and thus it will be easy to execute the strategy. Effective
communications are key factors that contribute to successful projects (Belker, 2012).  

     Project management helps to facilitate strategic execution as they are specially appointed for
this job only. They look at the project and facilitate by optimizing cost of project, resources and
staff, and all the resources. They are the one who look after the things like scheduling,
controlling, and re-planning that help to execute the strategy of the organization

References:

Belker, L.B., (2012). Internal and External Communication.

Thompson, A. P. (2013). Crafting & Executing Strategy 19/e: The Quest for Competitive
Advantage: . Concepts and Cases. McGraw-Hill Education.
Ans:

The job of executing organization's strategy is associated with whole of the management team of the
company. The implementation of the strategy is the most time- consuming and most demanding part
in the management process. The departments and responsible parties for execution of the strategy
are the stakeholder representatives who could ensure that all affected groups are at least not harmed
by the process and its consequences. It includes departments and parties like governors, chair of the
governing body, CEO, executive staff, operators, facilitators, advisors, consultants, interest groups,
beneficiaries, human resource department, supply chain, production, accounts, sales and marketing
department and so on.

There is an important role of communication and project management in facilitating the strategic
execution. Here project management is a discipline of starting, planning, executing, controlling, and
closing the work. It is required, in order to achieve the specific goals and to meet the specific success
criteria at a predetermined time. Without proper project management, the strategy cannot be
implemented successfully. Almost 70% of all the strategies fail to achieve their goals (Charan &
Colvin, 1999 ).

Project management aids in strategic implementation by delivering the project under budget, by
increasing cost savings, by improving productivity, and by delivering projects ahead of the time.
Project management helps to organize the work effort along the lines of best practice. It ensures that,
the policies and procedures facilitate the implementation (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, 2007 ). It
helps the company to achieve its strategic goals which can later be used as competitive advantage
over others. The success of the Apollo project in 1960 for sending man to moon was also due to the
project management done by the American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE International)
(Seymour & Hussein, 2014). 

Similarly, communication also plays an important role in facilitating strategic implementation. It helps
to deliver the vision and mission statement of the company from the higher level managers to lower-
level employees. In order to win the assistance from the organization, members the executives have
to personally explain where they are going and why. An effective communication can garner support
from the employees. For example: Steve Jobs was successful in achieving the strategic goal of
launching iPhone. He was able to deliver his vision to the employees. So, he was successful in coming
up with Flagship phones which turned the way for evolution of phones. So, effective communication
also facilitates the strategic execution.

                                                                                     References

Charan, R., & Colvin, G. (1999 ). Why CEOs fail. Time Incorporated..

Seymour, T., & Hussein, S. (2014). The history of project management. International Journal of
Management & Information Systems (Online), 18(4), 233. .

Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. J., & Gamble, J. E. (2007 ). Crafting and Executing Strategy. The
quest for competitive advantage. Concepts and Cases. . NewYork, NY.

Wk1 DQ3
Discussion Question 3 - Applied Concepts (AC) - Week/Course Learning Outcomes 

Using your textbook, LIRN-based research, and the Internet, apply the learning outcomes for the
week/course and lecture concepts to one of the following scenarios: 

As applied to your current professional career 

As applied to enhancing, improving, or advancing your current professional career 

As applied to a management, leadership, or any decision-making position 

As applied to a current or future entrepreneurial endeavor 

OR 

Using your textbook, LIRN-based research, and the Internet, apply the learning outcomes for the
week/course and lecture concepts to a business organization that exhibits and demonstrates these
concepts. You should develop a summary of the organizations strategy and how they use these
concepts to compete. 

This is a learning and application exercise designed to give you an opportunity to apply concepts
learned in a pragmatic and meaningful way that will enable you to gain valuable and relevant
knowledge in an effort to augment your skill set and enhance your professional careers.

Ans:

     In the first week we learned two chapters where we learned what is strategy and how strategy
is important for a company to have long- term strategy for the company. Strategy is all about
making plan, polices, ideas etc for the company growth so that they can lead the market. But
strategy is not only making your company best but making your company unique. The company
must be creator for the market to lead the market. The company must have competitive
advantage to lead the market. Competitive advantage is not just be the best but be different from
the other competitors in the market.

     Competitive advantage helps the company to achieve long-term profitability and financial
performance (Thompson, Strickland, Gamble, & StricklandIII, 2008). But only having
competitive advantage is not enough, the sustainable competitive advantage is what every
company requires. For instance: a company having triple profit in 2016 but in 2017 the company
is in loss. This is not good strategy of the company, the profit can be double but it should
continue for the long- term to sustain the company and lead the market.  

     Not only for the companies but for everyone strategy is important. There must be objective
that need to be achieved and for which different strategies should made. And also the strategies
are not always the same. It must be ongoing and change according to trend, it should be changed.
The strategies must be always checked and look after it. For the strategies thing, the PESTLE
and external factor need to considered because many factors from the external like: environment,
social, economic does effect the strategies of the company and should be done according to the
situation (Wheelen, & Hunger, 2010).

References

Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. J., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland III, A. J. (2008). Crafting and executing

strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2010 ). Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy
(12th e.d.) . New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Ans:

We studied Strategic management, competitive advantage, sustainable competitive advantage, steps

in formulating strategy in the first week. Strategies make us realize where we are and where we could
go. The plan of action for the future is what strategy is.  The present condition of the market and the
business should be analyzed first and the strategy should be made accordingly so that we can achieve
the targeted goals. When we make strategy in such a way we can cover different aspects which will
uplift the business.

The next concept is the comparative advantages that how can a company sell things and also create
its uniqueness. Many organizations have their own unique feature because of which they are grabbing
the attention of the customers. Competitive advantage means these unique features obtained by the
organizations. The various forms of competitive advantages obtained by several other organizations
are product differentiation, focus on a niche market and best price advantages (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin,
2012).

Similarly, I came to know the various aspects of the strategy development. There are various
departments involved in formulating and implementing the strategies at different levels of the
organizations which leads the organizations towards success. Likewise, I came to know the role of
communication and project management in successful execution of strategies which are the key terms
for the successful business.

Hence, the course and the given scenarios are designed meaningfully which helps us to increase the
knowledge and skills to our entrepreneurial life.

References
Gomez-Mejia, L., & Balkin, D. (2012). Management: People, Performance and Change.New Delhi:

Pearson.

Ans:

In the first week of our learning session, we learn how important strategy is for
the long-term success of the company. In moving company forward, there are many
things that managers look up to. They make an assessment of where the company is
standing now and where it should be lead. This week, we also learn how superiority and
sustainability, an important element of competitive advantage leads to long-term
profitability. Along with that, we expand our insights on the several factors that help in
creating and executing the effective strategy as a part of core management functions.
To put it in simple words, a strategy is a set of actions that direct us towards
performing differently from what our competitors are doing. It helps to perform better
and sometimes, lead the company to deliver something which rivals are not capable
of (Thompson, Strickland, Gamble, & Strickland III, 2008). As simple as its definition,
strategy provides us the guidance on what we should be doing to perform the best of
all. Not only as a marketers, but also as a student, we are often designing the strategy
to better ourselves. For instance, some set of students just wants to score higher
(vision), some may just want to increase their learning experience (vision) and there
are other sets of students who want to achieve both. For this, every one of them set
their objectives to reach their goals. 
Just say, a student who wants to score higher and increase the learning may set
an objective to increase the study hours during the exam time. However, everyone is
focused and devote high time in studying the cases and theories during exam research.
So, the objective of increasing the study hours in the exam hours doesn't seem too
different than other. To stand out in the market, the person or the company should
have a differentiating action than the competitors (Doyle, 1989). Also, sustainability is
important for the long-run success. So, maybe the student should study smart than
study hard. S/he needs to put up with that throughout the course if really wants to
enrich the learning capability and be on the top.
However, strategy doesn't always remains that same. It should be changed and
adjusted with the ongoing PESTEL and external factors. If the company doesn't go with
the trends and adjust the plans with respect to changing market conditions, then the
other emerging opportunities might take away the market. Taking an example of a Jolly
drink which has a short life-span on the market, has failed to create SMART marketing
objective to achieve its vision. It, in fact, became unsuccessful to differentiate it from
the existing competitors and failed as a brand. So, the sustainable competitive
advantage is required by the company to set the company apart and earn the above
-average profits in the long-term operating process. Therefore, there is so much to
learn from this week session. 

References
Doyle, P. (1989\). Building successful brands: the strategic options. Journal of
marketing management, 5(1), 77-95.
Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. J., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland III, A. J. (2008). Crafting
and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Ans: This week we got to learn two different chapters: Strategy and Mission as well as vision.
We learned what strategy is, how the strategy can be implemented and how it is made. Also, about
the difference between mission and vision and its importance towards the growth of the organization.

Well, today's dynamic markets and technologies have questioned the sustainability of
competitive advantage. Under pressure to improve productivity, quality, and speed, managers have
embraced tools like TQM, benchmarking, and re-engineering. Dramatic operational improvements
have resulted, but rarely have these gains translated into sustainable profitability says Porter (Porter,
2005).

A strategy is a framework for making decisions about how you will play the game of business.
These decisions, which occur daily throughout the organization, include everything from capital
investments to operational priorities to marketing to hiring to sales approaches to branding efforts to
how each individual shuffles and also the to Do list every single morning. Without a strategic
framework to guide these decisions, the organization will run in too many different directions,
accomplish little, squander profits, and suffer enormous confusion and discord.

We need to understand that the strategy doesn't answer all the questions required for
implementation--that's planning, but it clearly establishes the game you are playing and how you
expect to win. It also identifies the games that one is not playing and the things that have no intention
of delivering, even if the best customer begs you. So, identifying products, services, and target
markets is only the beginning. The strategic framework must also establish the business model used
to profitably create sufficient volumes of value (Latham, 2010).

A mission statement is important for an organization because it defines the business, products
or services, and customers. In addition, a mission statement allows the organization to differentiate
itself form competitors by answering three key questions: What do we do, for whom do we do it, and
what is the benefit?  Mission statements build and identify the relationships between employees and
the mission, the organization itself, the customer, suppliers, and co-workers. And a vision statement
describes how the future will look if the organization achieves its mission. An organizations vision or
preferred future must contain information that is realistic, credible, and attractive for the organization
in the future.

So, vision, mission, and values play a part in the organizational strategy process. The basic
building blocks of values such as honesty, integrity, respect, and professional behavior is combined
and developed into the mission statement of what the organization is all about. An organization such
as an underwater turbine induction system company cannot develop a strategic plan without
identifying vision, mission, and values. 

So, by formulating strong and ethical values that are the foundation and individual steps, a
mission can be stated. A mission or the current state of affairs for an organization as it is currently
helps employees and customers understand what the organization is all about. A mission assists the
organization move toward its vision or ultimate goal or objective of what the ultimate end should look
like when the organization achieves its mission.

References
Latham, A. (2010). What the Heck is Strategy? Forbes.

Porter, M. E. (2005). What is Stratgy? Harvard Business Review.

Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2010 ). Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy (12th
e.d.) . New Jersey: Prentice Hall.