Strategic IT Management

1. What is Strategic Management? What are its objectives? Also state the Process of
Strategic Management.
Answer:
 Strategic Management can be defined as the art and science of formulating,
implementing, and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to
achieve its objectives. Focuses on integrating management, marketing,
finance/accounting, production/operations, research and development, and
information systems to achieve organizational success.

 strategic management is used to refer to strategy formulation, implementation, and

evaluation, with strategic planning referring only to strategy formulation.

2. Explain the Framework of Strategic Management.

Answer:
Elements of the framework
The framework is made up of three elements. These elements represent 1) the business
organization construct, the object of strategy, 2) the activities involved in strategy formation
and execution, and 3) the people's capabilities --
 Business design construct -- The business organization is the object of strategy. The
business design construct is a template reflecting the structure and elements of the
business organization. The construct defines the form the answer to inquiry takes.
Inquiry is the process to understand and design a business organization. Therefore, the
design construct template is used to represent the intended outcome of the strategy.
The use of the construct provides strategic insights and stimulates creative innovation of
the business design.
o See business design construct and business model for further definition.
 Strategic management principles and activities -- These are the activities that form and
execute strategy. They produce the understanding necessary to develop innovative
strategy, the business designs to be deployed, plan the deployment, and carry out the
deployment. Collectively, this portfolio of activities develops competitive advantage,
transforms the business organization, and develops the capabilities for the
organization's members.
o See strategic management activities for further definition.
 Organization member capabilities -- These are the capabilities the people of the
organization needed to carry out the activities to produce an advantage. These
capabilities are categorized into three levels - leadership and management begin the
foundation, innovation being the next level, and business design being the highest level.
o See organization member capabilities for further definition.
o Capable people and effective processes produce competitive business designs.
The business design construct guides the inquiries to produce the strategy and
business design. The strategy and business design are reflected in the business
model.
 o Foundational ideas influencing the definition of the framework --
 creative destruction drives the need to evolve
 business organizations are complex social systems
 complexity and value produced by business organizations will be ever increasing
 systems science and complexity science offer insights into organization design and are
incorporated into the knowledge and understanding of the framework - impacting
strategic management processes and business organization design.
3. Explain the Importance or Benefits of Strategic Management. Do you think that
Companies should manage strategically? Discuss.

Answer:
There are many benefits of strategic management and they include identification,
prioritization, and exploration of opportunities. For instance, newer products, newer markets,
and newer forays into business lines are only possible if firms indulge in strategic planning.
Next, strategic management allows firms to take an objective view of the activities being done
by it and do a cost benefit analysis as to whether the firm is profitable.

Just to differentiate, by this, we do not mean the financial benefits alone (which would be
discussed below) but also the assessment of profitability that has to do with evaluating whether
the business is strategically aligned to its goals and priorities.

The key point to be noted here is that strategic management allows a firm to orient itself to its
market and consumers and ensure that it is actualizing the right strategy.

4. List the Features/Major Dimensions of Strategic Decision Making.

Answer:
Features of Strategy

 Strategy is Significant because it is not possible to foresee the future. Without a perfect
foresight, the firms must be ready to deal with the uncertain events which constitute
the business environment.
 Strategy deals with long term developments rather than routine operations, i.e. it deals
with probability of innovations or new products, new methods of productions, or new
markets to be developed in future.
 Strategy is created to take into account the probable behavior of customers and
competitors. Strategies dealing with employees will predict the employee behavior.

Strategy is a well defined roadmap of an organization. It defines the overall mission, vision and
direction of an organization. The objective of a strategy is to maximize an organization’s
strengths and to minimize the strengths of the competitors.

5. What do you mean by Strategic Vision? What are its elements?

Answer:
The strategic vision provides an overview of where you want to be at in a specific time in the future. It helps

provide an overarching principle(s) for all the detail contained in later sections. The vision should also support

the strategies and agenda of the target audience. The strategic vision can be short or long term, depending on

the type and duration of the project being proposed. The strategic vision should present the ideal, but

achievable, outcome.

Elements:
  What is the strategic vision for your organisation / service?
 How does this relate to digital preservation?
 Does it give you a steer for where you want to be in x years for DP?
 Explain how your vision supports the work of the wider organisation

 What are you trying to achieve with digital preservation?

 Access to digital assets?
 Certification? Trusted repository?
 Meeting legal requirements for retention?

 Define a reasonable time frame.

6. What do you mean by Mission? Bring out its features .

Answer:
A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, identifying the

goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its

geographical region of operation. It may include a short statement of such fundamental matters as the

organization's values or philosophies, a business's main competitive advantages, or a desired future state—the

"vision".

The sole purpose of a mission statement is to serve as a company's goal/agenda, it outlines clearly what

the goal of the company is

7. What are the guidelines in the formulation of Mission Statement.

Answer:

For any given firm, organizational mission is normally summarized and documented in a mission
statement.

The titles of the mission statements are quite varied. They include "corporate philosophy,"
"objectives," "credo," "our way," "guidelines," "our purpose," and so on. For example, the
Figure presents Ford Motor Company's "Mission, Values, and Guiding Principles".

But despite the variety of names, the idea is the same: to define what is important to the
company. Therefore, in formulating its mission, an organization must base on the four elements
of mission described by Campbell and Nash: purpose, strategy, values, and behavioral
standards (see above).

In practice, mission statements take on a variety of forms and lengths. But each mission
statement has a personality which is unique and reflective of the individuals ideals of the
corporate directors. Although there are differences in the mission statements of various
companies, there are also many similarities.

The kinds of information contained in mission statement vary somewhat from organization to
organization. Most mission statements cover the following major topics:

 Company product or service

 Market
 Technology
 Company objective
 Company philosophy
 Company self-concept
 Public image
The need to assess the quality of a mission statement is a problem that is being faced by many
management teams and consultants.

Goodstein, Nolan and Pfeipher provide the following ten criteria for evaluating mission
statements:

1. The mission statement is clear and understandable to all personnel, including rank-and-
file employees.
2. The mission statement is brief enough for most people to keep it in mind. This typically
means one hundred words or less, which is possible.
3. The mission statement clearly specifies what business the organization is in. This
includes a clear statement about:
o "What" customer or client needs the organization is attempting to fill, not what
products or services are offered;
o "Who" the organization's primary customers or clients are;
o "How" the organization plans to go about its business, that is, what its primary
technologies are; and
o "Why" the organizations exists, that is, the overriding purpose that the
organization is trying to serve and its transcendental goals.
4. The mission statement should identify the forces that drive the organization's strategic
vision.
5. The mission statement should reflect the distinctive competence of the organization.
6. The mission statement should be broad enough to allow flexibility in implementation
but not broad enough to permit a lack of focus.
7. The mission statement should serve as a template and be the means by which
mananagers and others in the oragnization can make decisions.
8. The mission statement must reflect the values, beliefs, and philosophy of operations of
the organization.
9. The mission statement should be achievable. It should be realistic enough for
organization members to buy into it.
10. The wording of the mission statement should help it serve as an energy source and
rallying point for the organization.

The process of writing a mission statement can be broken down into several distinct steps;
these include:

1. Establish the basic parameters;

2. Collect and assemble possible ideas for inclusion;
3. Determine the limits;
4. Set the priorities of each statement;
5. Carefully express each of the ideas;
6. Add explanatory statements;
7. Establish the document's apperance;
8. Gain final approval.

The principal value of mission statement as guide to strategic action is derived from
its specification of the ultimate aims of the f