1.

Planning in organizations and public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a plan; and the psychological process of thinking about the activities required to create a desired goal on some scale. As such, it is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior. This thought process is essential to the creation and refinement of a plan, or integration of it with other plans, that is, it combines forecasting of developments with the preparation of scenarios of how to react to them. An important, albeit often ignored aspect of planning, is the relationship it holds with forecasting. Forecasting can be described as predicting what the future will look like, whereas planning predicts what the future should look like.
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The term is also used for describing the formal procedures used in such an endeavor, such as the creation of documents, diagrams, or meetings to discuss the important issues to be addressed, the objectives to be met, and the strategy to be followed. Beyond this, planning has a different meaning depending on the political or economic context in which it is used. Two attitudes to planning need to be held in tension: on the one hand we need to be prepared for what may lie ahead, which may mean contingencies and flexible processes. On the other hand, our future is shaped by consequences of our own planning and actions. The counterpart to planning is spontaneous order.

Overview
Planning is a process for accomplishing purposes. It is a blue print of business growth and a road map of development. It helps in deciding objectives both in quantitative and qualitative terms. It is setting of goals on the basis of objectives and keeping in the resources. [edit]What

should a plan be?

A plan should be a realistic view of the expectations. Depending upon the activities, a plan can be long range, intermediate range or short range. It is the framework within which it must operate. For management seeking external support, the plan is the most important document and key to growth. Preparation of a comprehensive plan will not guarantee success, but lack of a sound plan will almost certainly ensure failure. Planning can be summarized in 3 easy steps: 1. choosing a destination, 2. evaluating alternative routes, and 3. deciding the specific course of your plan. [edit]Purpose
[2]

of a plan

Just as no two organizations are alike, so also their plans. It is therefore important to prepare a plan keeping in view the necessities of the enterprise. A plan is an important aspect of business. It serves the following three critical functions:

Helps management to clarify, focus, and research their business's or project's development and prospects.

Provides a considered and logical framework within which a business can develop and pursue business strategies over the next three to five years.

Offers a benchmark against which actual performance can be measured and reviewed.

[edit]Importance

of the planning process

A plan can play a vital role in helping to avoid mistakes or recognize hidden opportunities. Preparing a satisfactory plan of the organization is essential. The planning know the business and that they have thought through its development in terms of products, management, finances, and most importantly, markets and competition. Planning helps in forecasting the future, makes the future visible to some extent. It bridges between where we are and where we want to go. Planning is looking ahead.

Objectives and policies

[edit]The

objectives

The objectives are general parts of the planning process. They are the end-results towards which all business activities are directed. They are needed in every aspect where performance and result directly and vitally affect the survival and success of the firm. In other words, the objective of the firm justifies its existence. Newman and Summer stated, "For managerial purposes, it is useful to think of objectives as the results we want to achieve. Objective covers firm's long-range plans specific departmental goals and short-term individual assignment also." [edit]The

policies

Policies are specific guidelines and constraints for managerial thinking on decision-making and action. Policies provide the framework within which decision-makers are expected to operate while making organizational decisions. They are the basic guides to be consistent in decision-making. [edit]

Planning basics
of planning

[edit]Essentials

Planning is not done off hand. It is prepared after careful and extensive research. For a comprehensive business plan, management has to: Clearly define the target/goal in writing. It should be set by a person having authority. The goal should be realistic, specific, acceptable to the organization, and easily measurable. Identify all the main issues which need to be addressed. Review past performance. Decide budgetary requirement. Focus on matters of strategic importance. What are requirements and how will

they be met? What will be the likely length of the plan and its structure? Identify shortcomings in the concept and gaps. Strategies for implementation. Review periodically. Define strategies and activities.

Planning Function of Management

Planning means looking ahead and chalking out future courses of action to be followed. It is a preparatory step. It is a systematic activity which determines when, how and who is going to perform a specific job. Planning is a detailed programme regarding future courses of action. It is rightly said Well plan is half done. Therefore planning takes into consideration available & prospective human and physical resources of the organization so as to get effective co-ordination, contribution & perfect adjustment. It is the basic management function which includes formulation of one or more detailed plans to achieve optimum balance of needs or demands with the available resources. According to Urwick, Planning is a mental predisposition to do things in orderly way, to think before acting and to act in the light of facts rather than guesses. Planning is deciding best alternative among others to perform different managerial functions in order to achieve predetermined goals.
According to Koontz & ODonell, Planning is deciding in advance what to do, how to do and who is to do it. Planning bridges the gap between where we are to, where we want to go. It makes possible things to occur which would not otherwise occur.

Steps in Planning Function

Planning function of management involves following steps:-

1. Establishment of objectives
a. Planning requires a systematic approach. b. Planning starts with the setting of goals and objectives to be achieved. c. Objectives provide a rationale for undertaking various activities as well as indicate direction of efforts. d. Moreover objectives focus the attention of managers on the end results to be achieved. e. As a matter of fact, objectives provide nucleus to the planning process. Therefore, objectives should be stated in a clear, precise and unambiguous language. Otherwise the activities undertaken are bound to be ineffective. f. As far as possible, objectives should be stated in quantitative terms. For example, Number of men working, wages given, units produced, etc. But such an objective cannot be stated in quantitative terms like performance of quality control manager, effectiveness of personnel manager. g. Such goals should be specified in qualitative terms. h. Hence objectives should be practical, acceptable, workable and achievable.

2. Establishment of Planning Premises

a. Planning premises are the assumptions about the lively shape of events in future. b. They serve as a basis of planning. c. Establishment of planning premises is concerned with determining where one tends to deviate from the actual plans and causes of such deviations. d. It is to find out what obstacles are there in the way of business during the course of operations. e. Establishment of planning premises is concerned to take such steps that avoids these obstacles to a great extent.

f.

Planning premises may be internal or external. Internal includes capital investment policy, management labour relations, philosophy of management, etc. Whereas external includes socio- economic, political and economical changes. g. Internal premises are controllable whereas external are non- controllable.

3. Choice of alternative course of action

a. When forecast are available and premises are established, a number of alternative course of actions have to be considered. b. For this purpose, each and every alternative will be evaluated by weighing its pros and cons in the light of resources available and requirements of the organization. c. The merits, demerits as well as the consequences of each alternative must be examined before the choice is being made. d. After objective and scientific evaluation, the best alternative is chosen. e. The planners should take help of various quantitative techniques to judge the stability of an alternative.

4. Formulation of derivative plans

a. Derivative plans are the sub plans or secondary plans which help in the achievement of main plan. b. Secondary plans will flow from the basic plan. These are meant to support and expediate the achievement of basic plans. c. These detail plans include policies, procedures, rules, programmes, budgets, schedules, etc. For example, if profit maximization is the main aim of the enterprise, derivative plans will include sales maximization, production maximization, and cost minimization. d. Derivative plans indicate time schedule and sequence of accomplishing various tasks.

5. Securing Co-operation
a. After the plans have been determined, it is necessary rather advisable to take subordinates or those who have to implement these plans into confidence. b. The purposes behind taking them into confidence are :a. Subordinates may feel motivated since they are involved in decision making process. b. The organization may be able to get valuable suggestions and improvement in formulation as well as implementation of plans. c. Also the employees will be more interested in the execution of these plans.

6. Follow up/Appraisal of plans

a. After choosing a particular course of action, it is put into action. b. After the selected plan is implemented, it is important to appraise its effectiveness. c. This is done on the basis of feedback or information received from departments or persons concerned. d. This enables the management to correct deviations or modify the plan. e. This step establishes a link between planning and controlling function. f. The follow up must go side by side the implementation of plans so that in the light of observations made, future plans can be made more realistic.

Seven New Management and Planning Tools

Overview Read More In 1976, the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) saw the need for tools to promote innovation, communicate information and successfully plan major projects. A team researched and developed the seven new quality control tools, often called the seven management and planning (MP) tools, or simply the seven management tools. Not all the tools were new, but their collection and promotion were. The seven MP tools, listed in an order that moves from abstract

analysis to detailed planning, are: 1. Affinity diagram: organizes a large number of ideas into their natural relationships.

2. Relations diagram: shows cause-and-effect relationships and helps you analyze the natural links between different aspects of a complex situation.

3. Tree diagram: breaks down broad categories into finer and finer levels of detail, helping you move your thinking step by step from generalities to specifics.

4. Matrix diagram: shows the relationship between two, three or four groups of information and can give information about the relationship, such as its strength, the roles played by various individuals, or measurements.

5. Matrix data analysis: a complex mathematical technique for analyzing matrices, often replaced in this list by the similar prioritization matrix. One of the most rigorous, careful and time-consuming of decision-making tools, a prioritization matrix is an L-shaped matrix that uses pairwise comparisons of a list of options to a set of criteria in order to choose the best option(s).

6. Arrow diagram: shows the required order of tasks in a project or process, the best schedule for the entire project, and potential scheduling and resource problems and their solutions.

7. Process decision program chart (PDPC):systematically identifies what might go wrong in a plan under development. Excerpted from Nancy R. Tagues The Quality Toolbox, Second Edition, ASQ Quality Press, 2004.

What is SWOT Analysis?

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis is a strategy developmenttool that matches internal organizational strengths and weaknesses with external opportunities and threats.

Steve Jobs' 12 Rules of Success

4. Make SWOT analysis. As soon as you join/start a company, make a list of strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your company on a piece of paper... More

A Balanced Perspective
SWOT analysis helps you balance idealism and pragmatism, and obtain a balanced perspective of your internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats to develop aneffective strategy.

Why SWOT Analysis?

SWOT Analysis is the Key Component of Strategic Development. It can prompt actions and responses. Successful businesses build on their strengths, correct their weaknesses and protect against internal vulnerabilities and external threats. They also keep an eye on their overall business environment and spot and exploit new opportunities faster than competitors. SWOT analysis is a tool that helps many businesses in this process. SWOT analysis is based on the assumption that if managers can carefully review such strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, a useful strategy for ensuring organizational success will become evident to them.

Strengths
Two factors contribute to your strengths: ability and resources available. Ability is evaluated on 3 counts: 1. Versatility: your ability to adapt to an ever changing environment.

2. Growth: your ability to maintain a continuing growth. 3. Markets: your ability to penetrate or create new markets.
The strength of resources has three dimensions: 1. Availability: your ability to obtain the resources needed.

2. Quality: the quality and up-to-dateness of the resources employed. 3. Allocation: your ability to distribute resources both effectively and efficiently. Weaknesses
Your weaknesses are determined through failures, defeats, losses and inability to match up with the dynamic situation and rapid change. The weaknesses may be rooted in lack of managerial skills, insufficient quality, technological backwardness, inadequate systems or processes, slow deliveries, or shortage of resources. There are three possible outcomes to the analysis of your weaknesses.1 1. Correction of an identified defect.

2. Protection through cover-up and prevention strategies to reduce the exposure of your weaknesses. 3. Aggression to divert the attention from your weaknesses. Opportunities

Opportunities are abundant. You must develop a formula which will help you define what comes within the ambit of an opportunity to focus on those areas and pursue those opportunities where effectiveness is possible. The formula must define product/service, target market, capabilities required and resources to be employed, returns expected and the level of risk allowed. Weaknesses of your competitions are also opportunities for you. You can exploit them in two following ways: 1. Marketing warfare: attacking the weak leader's position and focusing all your efforts at that point, or making a surprise move into an uncontested area.

2. Collaboration: you can use your complementary strengths to establish a strategic

alliancewith your competitor.

Threats
External threats arise from political, economic, social, technological (PEST) forces. Technological developments may make your offerings obsolete. Market changes may result from the changes in the customer needs, competitors' moves, or demographic shifts. The political situation determines government policy and taxation structure.

SWOT Analysis
SWOT is an acronym used to describe the particular Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that are strategic factors for a specific company. A SWOT analysis should not only result in the identification of a corporations core competencies, but also in the identification of opportunities that the firm is not currently able to take advantage of due to a lack of appropriate resources. (Wheelen, Hunger pg 107) The SWOT analysis framework has gained widespread acceptance because it is both simple and powerful for strategy development. However, like any planning tool, SWOT is only as good as the information it contains. Thorough market research and accurate information systems are essential for the SWOT analysis to identify key issues in the environment. (Marketing and Its Environment, pg 44)

Assess your market:

What is happening externally and internally that will affect our company? Who are our customers? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor? (Think Competitive Advantage) What are the driving forces behind sales trends? What are important and potentially important markets? What is happening in the world that might affect our company? What does it take to be successful in this market? (List the strengths all companies need to compete successfully in this market.) What do we do best? What are our company resources assets, intellectual property, and people? What are our company capabilities (functions)? How are we different from the competition? What are the general market conditions of our business? What needs are there for our products and services?

Assess your company:

Assess your competition:

What are the customer-market-technology opportunities? What are the customers problems and complains with the current products and services in the industry? What If only. Statements does a customer make? Opportunity an area of need in which a company can perform profitably.

Threat
challenge posed by an unfavorable trend or development that would lead (in absence of a defensive marketing action) to deterioration in profits/sales. An evaluation needs to be completed drawing conclusions about how the opportunities and threats may affect the firm. EXTERNAL: MACRO- demographic/economic, technological, social/cultural, political/legal MICRO- customers, competitors, channels, suppliers, publics INTERNAL RESOURCES: the firm Competitor analysis is a critical aspect of this step. Identify the actual competitors as well as substitutes. Assess competitors objectives, strategies, strengths & weaknesses, and reaction patterns. Select which competitors to attack or avoid. The Internal Analysis of strengths and weaknesses focuses on internal factors that give an organization certain advantages and disadvantages in meeting the needs of its target market. Strengths refer to core competencies that give the firm an advantage in meeting the needs of its target markets. Any analysis of company strengths should be market oriented/customer focused because strengths are only meaningful when they assist the firm in meeting customer needs. Weaknesses refer to any limitations a company faces in developing or implementing a strategy (?). Weaknesses should also be examined from a customer perspective because customers often perceive weaknesses that a company cannot see. Being market focused when analyzing strengths and weaknesses does not mean that non-market oriented strengths and weaknesses should be forgotten. Rather, it suggests that all firms should tie their strengths and weaknesses to customer requirements. Only those strengths that relate to satisfying a customer need should be considered true core competencies. (Marketing and Its Environment, pg 44) The following area analyses are used to look at all internal factors effecting a company: Resources: Profitability, sales, product quality brand associations, existing overall brand, relative cost of this new product, employee capability, product portfolio analysis Capabilities: Goal: To identify internal strategic strengths, weaknesses, problems, constraints and uncertainties The External Analysis examines opportunities and threats that exist in the environment. Both opportunities and threats exist independently of the firm. The way to differentiate between a strength or weakness from an opportunity or threat is to ask: Would this issue exist if the company did not exist? If the answer is yes, it should be considered external to the firm. Opportunities refer to favorable conditions in the environment that could produce rewards for the organization if acted upon properly. That is, opportunities are situations that exist but must be acted on if the firm is to benefit from them. Threats refer to conditions or barriers that may prevent the firms from reaching its objectives.(Marketing and Its Environment, pg 44) The following area analyses are used to look at all external factors effecting a company:

Customer analysis: Segments, motivations, unmet needs

Competitive analysis: Identify completely, put in strategic groups, evaluate performance, image, their objectives, strategies, culture, cost structure, strengths, weakness Market analysis: Overall size, projected growth, profitability, entry barriers, cost structure, distribution system, trends, key success factors Environmental analysis: Technological, governmental, economic, cultural, demographic, scenarios, information-need areas Goal: To identify external opportunities, threats, trends, and strategic uncertainties The SWOT Matrix helps visualize the analysis. Also, when executing this analysis it is important to understand how these element work together. When an organization matched internal strengths to external opportunities, it creates core competencies in meeting the needs of its customers. In addition, an organization should act to convert internal weaknesses into strengths and external threats into opportunities.

SWOT Focus on your strengths. Shore up your weaknesses. Capitalize on your opportunities. Recognize your threats.

Identify

Against whom do we compete? Who are our most intense competitors? Less intense? Makers of substitute products? Can these competitors be grouped into strategic groups on the basis of assets, competencies, or strategies? Who are potential competitive entrants? What are their barriers to entry?

Evaluate
What are their objectives and strategies? What is their cost structure? Do they have a cost advantage or disadvantage? What is their image and positioning strategy? Which are the most successful/unsuccessful competitors over time? Why? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor? Evaluate competitors with respect to their assets and competencies. Size and Growth What are important and potentially important markets? What are their size and growth characteristics? What markets are declining? What are the driving forces behind sales trends? Profitability For each major market consider the following: Is this a business are in which the average firm will make money? How intense is the competition among existing firms? Evaluate the threats from potential entrants and substitute products. What is the bargaining power of suppliers and customers? How attractive/profitable are the market now and in the future?

Cost Structure What are the major cost and value-added components for various types of competitors? Distribution Systems What are the alternative channels of distribution? How are they changing? Market Trends What are the trends in the market? Key Success Factors What are the key success factors, assets and competencies needed to compete successfully? How will these change in the future? Environmental Analysis An environmental analysis is the four dimension of the External Analysis. The interest is in environmental trends and events that have the potential to affect strategy. This analysis should identify such trends and events and the estimate their likelihood and impact. When conducting this type of analysis, it is easy to get bogged down in an extensive, broad survey of trends. It is necessary to restrict the analysis to those areas relevant enough to have significant impact on strategy. This analysis is divided into five areas: economic, technological, political-legal, sociocultural, and future. Economic What economic trends might have an impact on business activity? (Interest rates, inflation, unemployment levels, energy availability, disposable income, etc) Technological To what extent are existing technologies maturing? What technological developments or trends are affecting or could affect our industry? Government What changes in regulation are possible? What will their impact be on our industry? What tax or other incentives are being developed that might affect strategy development? Are there political or government stability risks? Sociocultural What are the current or emerging trends in lifestyle, fashions, and other components of culture? What are there implications? What demographic trends will affect the market size of the industry? (growth rate, income, population shifts) Do these trends represent an opportunity or a threat? Future What are significant trends and future events? What are the key areas of uncertainty as to trends or events that have the potential to impact strategy? Internal Analysis Understanding a business in depth is the goal of internal analysis. This analysis is based resources and capabilities of the firm. Resources A good starting point to identify company resources is to look at tangible, intangible and human resources. Tangible resources are the easiest to identify and evaluate: financial resources and physical assets are identifies and valued in the firms financial statements. Intangible resources are largely invisible, but over time become more important to the firm than tangible assets because they can be a main source for a competitive advantage. Such intangible recourses include reputational assets (brands, image, etc.) and technological assets (proprietary technology and know-how). Human resources or human capital are the productive services human beings offer the firm in terms of their skills, knowledge, reasoning, and decision-making abilities.

strategic planning analysis

Capabilities
Resources are not productive on their own. The most productive tasks require that resources collaborate closely together within teams. The term organizational capabilities is used to refer to a firms capacity for undertaking a particular productive activity. Our interest is not in capabilities per se, but in capabilities relative to other firms. To identify the firms capabilities we will use the functional classification approach. A functional classification identifies organizational capabilities in relation to each of the principal functional areas.

strategic planning swot

Capacity planning is the process of determining the production capacity needed by an organization to meet changing demands for itsproducts.
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In the context of capacity planning, "capacity" is the maximum

amount of work that an organization is capable of completing in a given period of time. The phrase is also used in business computing as a synonym for Capacity Management A discrepancy between the capacity of an organization and the demands of its customers results in inefficiency, either in under-utilized resources or unfulfilled customers. The goal of capacity planning is to minimize this discrepancy. Demand for an organization's capacity varies based on changes in production output, such as increasing or decreasing the production quantity of an existing product, or producing new products. Better utilization of existing capacity can be accomplished through improvements in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Capacity can be increased through introducing new techniques, equipment and materials, increasing the number of workers or machines, increasing the number of shifts, or acquiring additional production facilities. Capacity is calculated: (number of machines or workers) (number of shifts) (utilization) (efficiency).

BCG Matrix Model

BCG Matrix Model

The BCG matrix or also called BCG model relates to marketing. The BCG model is a well-known portfolio management tool used in product life cycle theory. BCG matrix is often used to prioritize which products within company product mix get more funding and attention. The BCG matrix model is aportfolio planning model developed by Bruce Henderson of the Boston Consulting Group in the early 1970's. The BCG model is based on classification of products (and implicitly also company business units) into four categories based on combinations ofmarket growth and market share relative to the largest competitor.

When should I use the BCG matrix model?

Each product has its product life cycle, and each stage in product's life-cycle represents a different profile of risk and return. In general, a company should maintain a balanced portfolio of products. Having a balanced product portfolio includes both high-growth products as well aslow-growth products. A high-growth product is for example a new one that we are trying to get to some market. It takes some effort and resources to market it, to build distribution channels, and to build sales infrastructure, but it is a product that is expected to bring the gold in the future. An example of this product would be an iPod. A low-growth product is for example an established product known by the market. Characteristics of this product do not change much, customers know what they are getting, and the price does not change much either. This product has only limited budget for marketing. The is the milking cow that brings in the constant flow of cash. An example of this product would be a regular Colgate toothpaste. But the question is, how do we exactly find out what phase our product is in, and how do we classify what we sell? Furthermore, we also ask, where does each of our products fit into our product mix? Should we promote one product more than the other one? The BCG matrix can help with this. The BCG matrix reaches further behind product mix. Knowing what we are selling helps managers to make decisions about what priorities to assign to not only products but also company departments and business units.

What is the BCG matrix and how does the BCG model work?
Placing products in the BCG matrix results in 4 categories in a portfolio of a company:

BCG STARS (high growth, high market share) - Stars are defined by having high market share in a growing market. - Stars are the leaders in the business but still need a lot of support for promotion a placement. - If market share is kept, Stars are likely to grow into cash cows. BCG QUESTION MARKS (high growth, low market share) - These products are in growing markets but have low market share. - Question marks are essentially new products where buyers have yet to discover them. - The marketing strategy is to get markets to adopt these products. - Question marks have high demands and low returns due to low market share. - These products need to increase their market share quickly or they become dogs. - The best way to handle Question marks is to either invest heavily in them to gain market share or to sell them. BCG CASH COWS (low growth, high market share) - Cash cows are in a position of high market share in a mature market. - If competitive advantage has been achieved, cash cows have high profit margins and generate a lot of cash flow. - Because of the low growth, promotion and placement investments are low. - Investments into supporting infrastructure can improve efficiency and increase cash flow more. - Cash cows are the products that businesses strive for. BCG DOGS (low growth, low market share) - Dogs are in low growth markets and have low market share. - Dogs should be avoided and minimized. - Expensive turn-around plans usually do not help. And now, let's put all this into a picture:

Are there any problems with the BCG matrix model?

Some limitations of the BCG matrix model include:

The first problem can be how we define market and how we get data about market share A high market share does not necessarily lead to profitability at all times The model employs only two dimensions market share and product or service growth rate Low share or niche businesses can be profitable too (some Dogs can be more profitable than cash Cows) The model does not reflect growth rates of the overall market The model neglects the effects of synergy between business units Market growth is not the only indicator for attractiveness of a market

There are probably even more aspects that need to be considered in a particular use of the BCG model.

Grand Strategy - Presentation Transcript

1. 2. o o o o GRAND STRATEGY Introduction Grand strategies , often called master or business strategies, provide basic direction for strategic actions Indicate the time period over which long-range objectives are to be achieved Firms involved with multiple industries, businesses, product lines, or customer groups usually combine several grand strategies Any one of these strategies could serve as the basis for achieving the major long-term objectives of a single firm

3. o o o o 4.

Four Alternatives Stability Growth Combination Retrenchment Stability To remain the same size or To grow slowly and in a controlled fashion

5.

Growth Internal growth: can include development of new or changed products External growth: typically involves diversification businesses related to current product lines or into new areas

6. 7. 8. o o

Combination It involves deliberate use of different strategies for different units or divisions at the same time or chronological use of different strategies over the period of time. Retrenchment The organization goes through a period of forced decline by either shrinking current business units or selling off or liquidating entire businesses. Grand Strategy Matrix Rapid Market Growth Slow Market Growth Quadrant 2 Quadrant 1

Strong Competitive Position Weak Competitive Position I II III IV o Quadrant 3 o 9. o o o o o o o o Quadrant 4 Suitable Strategies Quadrant 1 Market Development Market Penetration Product Development Forward Integration Backward Integration Horizontal Integration Concentric Diversification

10. Suitable Strategies o Quadrant 2

o o o o o o

Market Development Market Penetration Product Development Horizontal Integration Divestiture Liquidation

11. Suitable Strategies o o o o o o o Quadrant 3 Retrenchment Concentric Diversification Horizontal Diversification Conglomerate Diversification Divestiture Liquidation

12. Suitable Strategies o o o o o Quadrant 4 Concentric Diversification Horizontal Diversification Conglomerate Diversification Joint Ventures

13. Forward Integration o o o o o It enables an organization to obtain increased control over its distributors or retailers. It can be implemented: When the distribution of an organization is costly, distributors are unreliable. When an organization is earning high profit because of stable production. When an organization is not able to avail the advantage of competition due to lack of quality distribution.

14. Divestiture o o o o Divestiture is the selling of a division or a part of an organization to raise capital for future strategic investments. It can be implemented: When an organization failed to accomplish necessary improvements through retrenchment strategy. When a division needs more resources to be competitive than an organization can provide.

o o

When a single division is responsible for poor performance of the organization. When division is a misfit with the rest of an organization. This can result from different markets, customers, managers. Employees, values etc.

15. Liquidation o o o Liquidation involves closing down of an organization and selling of its assets. It can be implemented: When an organization has pursued both retrenchment and divestiture strategy and neither has been successful.

16. Conglomerate Diversification o o o o o o In this new products or services that are related are added. It can be implemented: When basic industry of an organization is facing a downfall in annual sales and profit. When an organization has the opportunity to purchase an unrelated business that looks like an attractive investment. When there is a financial synergy between acquired and acquiring organization. When existing markets are saturated by the organizations present products.

Quantitative and Qualitative Data collection methods The Quantitative data collection methods, rely on random sampling and structured data collection instruments that fit diverse experiences into predetermined response categories. They produce results that are easy to summarize, compare, and generalize.
Quantitative research is concerned with testing hypotheses derived from theory and/or being able to estimate the size of a phenomenon of interest. Depending on the research question, participants may be randomly assigned to different treatments. If this is not feasible, the researcher may collect data on participant and situational characteristics in order to statistically control for their influence on the dependent, or outcome, variable. If the intent is to generalize from the research participants to a larger population, the researcher will employ probability sampling to select participants.

Typical quantitative data gathering strategies include:

Experiments/clinical trials. Observing and recording well-defined events (e.g., counting the number of patients waiting in emergency at specified times of the day). Obtaining relevant data from management information systems. Administering surveys with closed-ended questions (e.g., face-to face and telephone interviews, questionnaires etc).(http://www.achrn.org/quantitative_methods.htm)

Interviews

In Quantitative research(survey research),interviews are more structured than in Qualitative research.(http://www.stat.ncsu.edu/info/srms/survpamphlet.html In a structured interview,the researcher asks a standard set of questions and nothing more.(Leedy and Ormrod, 2001) Face -to -face interviews have a distinct advantage of enabling the researcher to establish rapport with potential partiocipants and therefor gain their cooperation.These interviews yield highest response rates in survey research.They also allow the researcher to clarify ambiguous answers and when appropriate, seek follow-up information. Disadvantages include impractical when large samples are involved time consuming and expensive.(Leedy and Ormrod, 2001) Telephone interviews are less time consuming and less expensive and the researcher has ready access to anyone on the planet who hasa telephone.Disadvantages are that the response rate is not as high as the face-to- face interview but cosiderably higher than the mailed questionnaire.The sample may be biased to the extent that people without phones are part of the population about whom the researcher wants to draw inferences. Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI): is a form of personal interviewing, but instead of completing a questionnaire, the interviewer brings along a laptop or hand-held computer to enter the information directly into the database. This method saves time involved in processing the data, as well as saving the interviewer from carrying around hundreds of questionnaires. However, this type of data collection method can be expensive to set up and requires that interviewers have computer and typing skills. Questionnaires Paper-pencil-questionnaires can be sent to a large number of people and saves the researcher time and money.People are more truthful while responding to the questionnaires regarding controversial issues in particular due to the fact that their responses are anonymous. But they also have drawbacks.Majority of the people who receive questionnaires don't return them and those who do might not be representative of the originally selected sample.(Leedy and Ormrod, 2001) Web based questionnaires : A new and inevitably growing methodology is the use of Internet based research. This would mean receiving an e-mail on which you would click on an address that would take you to a secure web-site to fill in a questionnaire. This type of research is often quicker and less detailed.Some disadvantages of this method include the exclusion of people who do not have a computer or are unable to access a computer.Also the validity of such surveys are in question as people might be in a hurry to complete it and so might not give accurate responses. (http://www.statcan.ca/english/edu/power/ch2/methods/methods.htm) Questionnaires often make use of Checklist and rating scales.These devices help simplify and quantify people's behaviors and attitudes.A checklist is a list of behaviors,characteristics,or other entities that te researcher is looking for.Either the researcher or survey participant simply checks whether each item on the list is observed, present or true or vice versa.A rating scale is more useful when a behavior needs to be evaluated on a continuum.They are also known as Likert scales. (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001)

Qualitative data collection methods play an important role in impact evaluation by providing information useful to understand the processes behind observed results and assess changes in peoples perceptions of their well-being.Furthermore qualitative methods can beused to improve the quality of survey-based quantitative evaluations by helping generate evaluation hypothesis; strengthening the design of survey questionnaires and expanding or clarifying quantitative evaluation findings. These methods are characterized by the following attributes:

they tend to be open-ended and have less structured protocols (i.e., researchers may change the data collection strategy by adding, refining, or dropping techniques or informants) they rely more heavily on iteractive interviews; respondents may be interviewed several times to follow up on a particular issue, clarify concepts or check the reliability of data they use triangulation to increase the credibility of their findings (i.e., researchers rely on multiple data collection methods to check the authenticity of their results) generally their findings are not generalizable to any specific population, rather each case study produces a single piece of evidence that can be used to seek general patterns among different studies of the same issue

Regardless of the kinds of data involved,data collection in a qualitative study takes a great deal of time.The researcher needs to record any potentially useful data thououghly,accurately, and systematically,using field notes,sketches,audiotapes,photographs and other suitable means.The data collection methods must observe the ethical principles of research. The qualitative methods most commonly used in evaluation can be classified in three broad categories:

indepth interview observation methods document review