The strategy-circus reflection sheet

My interconnections with among the cases so far

What are the similarities and differences in the situations I got involved in? Similarities: 1. I could understand from 1st couple of sessions that how Vision and mission are articulated from the assessment of the external environment assessment. I could relate the Vision and Mission of my organization DELL Services very well on relating it the External environment for the Software Business. I also understand how business level and corporate level strategies are in alignment to the Vision & mission. 2. I could find that how intangible competitive advantage cannot be copied like in case of south west airlines. I belong to DELL and have been the part of supply chain design team. Dell supply chain mechanism is huge. My team had developed a module for embedding the COA (certificate of Authentication) electronically, this module made manufacturing of laptop efficient such that $1 was saved per laptop. Michal Dell gave special importance to this and acknowledged our work himself. So I relate that Dell gives so much importance to its core competence related innovation. 3. Recently micromax had launched the mobile Canvas 4, I was in market and asked for that phone and about 5 shop keepers said its not available; few which had said that there is very less supply of this phone and therefore wont bargain. I realized that this was the false demand created by Micromax after launching it with great propaganda. 4. I can relate the cultural movement I experienced when Perot Systems was acquired by DELL. There was a gap in culture between Perot systems than DELL. DELL top leaders had mind set of manufacturing and focused more on efficiency (by buying or developing technology). Perot system was a software company where primary focus is on innovation in software services. Even now, 3 year after the acquisition the culture is grey. One of the example is that DELL leadership harp more on use of efficiency tools such as sapience, which I experience, is less relevant for software innovators as they are thinkers and therefore their efficiency cant be calculated by tools.

Difference: 1. Working with different organizations I realize that Knowledge management is a real difficulty. In my present organization, although a very technological advanced Knowledge management portal and process are well in place but still its difficult to capture tacit knowledge. Been part of presales I work on different proposal (RFPs), though there is some similarity in technology need but the fundamental requirements of clients are entire different. I cannot document the tacit knowledge I have gained through my experience in dealing with client with different requirement. While working on proposals this inert knowledge get evoked and helps in cracking the problems of my clients and propose them relevant solution.

The strategy-circus reflection sheet

Are there any patterns in the occurrences of events, causes or consequences that I have seen within or across the situations?

In all cases companies were trying to avoid perfect competition by developing some core competence by adapting appropriate strategy through innovation. There was a focus on internal and external environment. Further focus was to achieve above average returns maintaining the cost leadership. Also in all case there was focus on end result and entire strategy was built to achieve the same.

Have I discovered any interrelations among the events, causes and consequences? In all cases goal was to achieve the core competency for long term sustainability. To do so there was emphasis on innovations, knowledge management, Corporate Governance, Ethics, Culture, BCG etc.

My illustrations of ten (or more) terms from articles and chapter readings
Key Terms of the articles Intangible Competency (like SW airlines) My Illustrations Its like personality you cant copy it. Finding new meaning out of the picture drawn by some artist and replace with existing. Its there required but one has to explore. Its like umbrella when open covers lot of space than closed Its like map which can only guide the way. But reality is not exactly the same when you follow the map. Its like entire Shape of the body. Thin, fat, fit means how well it is shaped. Lord Krishna, he was the great strategist, entire Mahabharata is built around strategy Its like Ball and socket joint, if not fit properly will always give pain. It is like a report card which reflect continuous performance (in financial context) Relate diversification as multiple eggs in basket which as a whole increase the value of the basket.

Disruptive Innovation Open or Close Innovation

Theory Organizational Structure Strategy Merger & Acquisition Balanced Scorecard

Diversification

The strategy-circus reflection sheet

Corporate Governance A model to keep discipline between top leaders to ensure stakeholders stake.

My Decisions and My Analysis

Specific Decisions Taken by me Case4 Newell 1. Effective corporate level strategies and help any new business in the corporate umbrella for gaining profits and become competitive in the market by leveraging the process build as standards. 2. For few businesses which are not much in alignment to the corporate portfolio should be treated separately as they may not fit with the current corporate standards and may lead to losses e.g. the risk with Rubbermaid in Newell.

Case1 Bajaj Auto 1. We should analyze each part of our value chain and identify how to reduce cost by innovation and therefore create differentiation strategy. 2. There should be few strategic activities which competitors could not copy.

Case2 South West Air Lines: 1. Adherence to the Culture is very important. 2. Financial information should be analyzed for decision making. 3. Just cost leadership does not work, ultimate goal is to deliver the value to the customer by innovation, culture, core competence etc.

Case3 Nintendo

Case4 Corning Glass

1. False demand can be created to enhance the demand and reduce bargains. 2. Been in bad industry how to make out profit by innovation. 3. Always create a win-win strategy for partners and therefore develop great trust. 4. Sold player cheap and pulled more profits from cartages e.g. like it happens with printers and its refills.

1. They should look for what new innovations in gl which are people are looking furth 2. Corning should o for open innovat as they have few finances availabl for the R&D. The might collaborat with individuals, universities or an source which cou provide those Innovations for now. 3. They must mana some budget for R&D as R&D is its core competency and they cant survive without that. So open innovation shoul be just to share t budget of R&D which they canno manage right no

The strategy-circus reflection sheet

My abstractions for the subsequent sessions
Based on my Involvement, Have I been able to augment a framework? Develop a new checklist of questions? Challenge a Concept?

Framework: There were few key learning through the structure development exercise we did; we learned that one should keep in mind the end result before making changes in structure. So its essential to keep in alignment with the core strategy while growing in the market. So it was like a model which gave us the learning about maintaining the structure while competing with others in market and keep in mind about the final goal. Challenge a Concept Strategic theories are just map to achieve goal they cant be followed blindly with the expectation of great success. In real world scenarios we just use these theories as reference and decide based on real world conditions. We tweak theories and come up with appropriate model which suits the situation of with the company.

How this course so far has changed/developed me (my thinking process, biases, world view, attitudes, habits, etc.)

Through cases and exercises I learned to be more thoughtful and how to take decisions under bounded rationality. Mangers face lot of uncertainties therefore having knowledge about strategic tools help them deal with situations in a systematic manner. I learned that always search for appropriate questions and ask relevant questions. Manger should seek for appropriate information and fit them into strategy to articulate the solution. I also learned to be silent and listen carefully when other speaks and place owns opinion after understanding others carefully. This is a situation where managers sometimes fail and get affected by pre conceived notions.

Overall it was fun learning strategies with so many practical exercises with bunch of theories.

The strategy-circus reflection sheet