Using integrated solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry Part 5

Using integrated solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry

Part 5

 

استفاده از "راه حل یکپارچه" به عنوان استراتژی شکل دهنده بازار و هدایت کننده  بازار در صنعت نفت

بخش پنجم

لینک بخش 4

 

این پژوهش به عنوان تز پایانی دوره MBA در یکی از دانشگاه های مطرح اروپایی ارایه شده است

Strategy as a Dialogue

 

Rational school of strategy and its formal planning approaches are criticized by process group (Mintzberg et al, 1998) (Mintzberg (b), 1987). They focus on differences between intended, emerging and realized strategy. Emerging strategy sees strategy as an opportunistic, incremental, and political process which is done through trial and error and learning. The realized strategy is the outcome of the both intended and emergent factors. It has been said that realized strategy is only between 10-30 % of intended strategy (Grant, 2010) (Mintzberg et al, 1998). In reality, strategy formation begins with rational approach then moves into a process mode. In an interesting metaphor Mintzberg (1987) (b) managers are assumed as craftsmen and strategy as their clay. Like the potter, they sit between a past of corporate capabilities and a future of market opportunities and if they are truly craftsmen, they bring to their work an equally intimate knowledge of the materials at hand; that is the essence of crafting strategy. Classic approaches to strategy adopt a predictable future founded on rational assumptions about changes in environment. In a highly uncertain era, this approach is not an applicable method. Mintzberg has criticized formal strategic planning schools and recognized four fallacies (Mintzberg et al, 1998):

·         The fallacy of predetermination

·         The fallacy of detachment

·         The fallacy of formalization

·         The grand fallacy of strategic planning

To explain these fallacies, Mintzberg (1998) states that formal planning is valuable if the strategy makers can predict the future accurately. Furthermore, stability and predictability of conditions should be hold not only during planning but also during implementation. Considering highly uncertain conditions of today’s business world it is not a realistic assumption. Additionally, since analysis is not synthesis, formal strategic planning which is based on analysis cannot be strategy making. Analysis may come first and support synthesis by providing essential inputs. Via decomposing and formalizing its outcomes, analysis may follow and expand synthesis.

 

Considering inability of classic approaches to strategy in new business world revealing some modern thoughts on strategy seems necessary. An interesting framework is the portfolio-of-initiatives developed by Bryan (2002) based on ideas of three horizons of growth and Courtney’s levels of uncertainty. The framework states that a good strategy should entail “a handful (portfolio) of good initiatives”. In a further contribution from McKinsey, strategy is seen as a dialogue, a process which leads to a prepared mind and creativity in strategy making. The research shows that formal planning can add value if it has two main goals (Beinhocker & Kaplan, 2002); the first is to form “prepared minds” to make sure that strategy makers have a concrete understanding of the business, its strategy and assumptions, environment, challenges and opportunities, thus making it possible for executives to react swiftly to challenges and opportunities in real time. The second is to increase the likelihood that creative insight will occur and consequently the innovativeness of strategies. Results of another research on 800 executives have shown that too many companies concentrate on data gathering features of strategic planning and overlook the vital and critical interactive components (Dye & Sibony, 2007). Hence, team members’ time should be devoted to challenging yet cooperative debates with mangers instead of struggling to absorb many facts during the review. In other words, the role of interaction is more important than data gathering (Dye & Sibony, 2007).

لینک به بخش ششم

 

References:

Beinhocker, E., & Kaplan, S. (2002, June). Tired of Strategic Planning. Retrieved 2011, from McKinsey Quarterly: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Tired_of_strategic_planning_1191

Bryan, L. (2002). Just-in-time strategy for a turbulent world . Mckinsey Quarterly, https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Just-in-time_strategy_for_a_turbulent_world_1195.

Dye, R., & Sibony, O. (2007). The McKinsey Quarterly. Retrieved 2011, from McKinsey & Company: https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/How_to_improve_strategic_planning_2026

Grant, R. (2010). Strategy. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Mintzberg (b). (1987). Crafting Strategy. Harvard Business Review, 66-74.

Mintzberg et al. (1998). Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Trough the Wilds of Strategic Management", Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joseph Lampel, 1998. New York: The Free Press.

Thinking differently

Thinking differently

If A Company’s Goal is industry leadership, then restructuring and re-engineering are not enough. To build leadership, a company must be capable of reinventing its industry; to rebuild leadership, a company must be capable of regenerating its core strategies. It is not enough to get smaller and better; a company also needs to have the capacity to become different. But to ultimately be different, a company must first think differently. To have a share in the future, a company must learn to think differently about three things; the meaning of competitiveness, the meaning of strategy and the meaning of organizations. 

Download Link:

Hamel, G., & Prahalad, C. K. (1995). Thinking differently. Business Quarterly, 22-35
حجم: 890 کیلوبایت

Managing the New Global Threats

Managing the New Global Threats

By Peter Enderwick

 

بروز تهدید های جدید در محیط جهانی ( مانند تروریسیم، بیماری های فراگیر و ویروس های کامپیوتری) چالش های بسیاری را برای مدیران تجارت های جهانی ایجاد کرده است. این تهدید های جهانی به عنوان "تکان ها" که به صورت اتفاقی رخ می دهند شناخته می شوند. اثرات و تغییرات آنها با توجه به بخش و یا موقعیت جغرافیایی متفاوت می باشد. این موارد به صورت دقیق تر به عنوان عدم قطعیت دسته بندی می شوند تا ریسک.

این مقاله بهترین رویکردهای موثر برای مدیریت این تهدیدها را ارایه می دهد.

Download Link:

Managing the New Global Threats
حجم: 467 کیلوبایت

Using integrated solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry Part 4

Using integrated solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry

Part 4

 

استفاده از "راه حل یکپارچه" به عنوان استراتژی شکل دهنده بازار و هدایت کننده  بازار در صنعت نفت

بخش چهارم

لینک بخش 3

 

این پژوهش به عنوان تز پایانی دوره MBA در یکی از دانشگاه های مطرح اروپایی ارایه شده است

Strategy in Uncertain Environments

 

The essence of any decision is uncertainty (Drucker, 2002). In strategic planning or any other type of planning, a manger should deal with the concept of “Future” and accompanying with future there is always concept of uncertainty. The high level of uncertainty aftermath of recent downturn and its consequences have made traditional strategy tools unrelated or at least less useful. Here, some of the tools, methods, strategy postures and moves proposed by literature in face of uncertainty, are presented. 

Historically, the US Army established and advanced scenario planning and war gaming in 1950s. Later, quantitative techniques, decision trees and probability-based net-present-value calculations have been studied since 1960s. Although these tools are valuable, the challenge of managing uncertainty needs more than just thorough analysis produced by them (Bryan, 2009). Flexibility and its importance are one of the most popular factors that researchers have mentioned in context of uncertainty. Flexibility moves increase internal responsiveness without changing the predictability of external factors and they are identified as flexibility in operation and diversification (Miller, 1992) (Wernerfelt & Karnani, 1987) (Enderwick, 2006) (Lowell & Farrell, 2008).

The other strategy suggested in face of uncertainty is created based on the notion that to the degree that the future is shaped there is no need to predict it (Sarasvathy, 2001 ). Firms may pursue to control environmental contingencies to reduce uncertainties (Cyret and March 1963, Mascarenhas 1982, as cited in Miller, 1992). MacCrimmon and Wehrung (1986) research present that managers are inclined to control uncertainty instead of accepting it as a given limitation. Examples are political activities, achieving market power and forcing competitors into more predicable patterns of behavior (as cited in Miller, 1992). The use of market power to prevent entry of new entrants is the main method suggested by Porter (1980, 1985) to manage uncertainty (Miller, 1992). Making alliance with complementary products’ suppliers, co-opt with rivals, making bold mergers and acquisitions, making alliances and joint ventures, multilateral agreements  are some of the strategic moves to bring certainty to the market (Miller, 1992) (Hamel & Prahalad, 1995) (Courtney et al, 1997) (Courtney, 2001). Hamel (1996,1997) proposes “strategy as revolution”  in which companies should not play by the rules of the industry, instead they should transform “ the basis of competition in their industry” and brings the examples of IKEA, Dell and Southwest Airlines as  rule breakers that are “overturning the industrial order” (as cited in Mintzberg et al, 1998). In addition, he criticizes industry analysis and focusing on direct competitors as path to strategy formation, since due to complexity of new business world identifying business and industry boundaries, and distinguishing competitors from collaborators became very hard (Hamel & Prahalad, 1994). Kim and Mauborgne (2005) introduce blue ocean strategy which suggests a systematic approach to make competition irrelevant. Red ocean strategists concentrate on making competitive advantages usually through analysis of competitors’ way of doing things and struggling to perform it better. Blue ocean strategists believe that boundaries exist in people’s minds so they do not allow existing market structures restrict them. They believe that abundant demand is out there, untouched waiting for them and their job is to create them. In addition, since market structures can be transformed via destroying the value-cost system, consequently the rules of games would be broken as well and competition via old rules becomes irrelevant (Insead , 2005) (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005).

Paradoxically, there are some ideas about favoring and encouraging uncertainty by some groups of business leaders which are in line with controlling and shaping uncertainty. Some entrepreneurs believe that being in an uncertain environment implies that the market could be shaped via their decisions and moves working in cooperation with pre-committed stakeholders and customer-partners (Sarasvathy, 2001 ).

DiMaggio and Powell (1983) state that imitation of pioneers in industry (or follow-the-leader) as other strategic choice for companies facing uncertainty (as cited in Miller 1992). Courtney et al (1997) and Courtney (2001) define adaptation as a strategic posture against uncertainty and one of the adaptors’ methods is to follow a leader (shaper). The other strategy under uncertain condition is avoidance which includes divestment for already active firms and postponement of market entry for not active yet companies (Miller, 1992) (Courtney et al, 1997) (Enderwick, 2006). Highly uncertain conditions –like aftermath of the recession- may cause to form too risk-averse strategies so business leaders should be careful that this would not cause firm to miss out valuable opportunities (Gjetsund et al, 2010).

One of the issues which have been mentioned in forming strategy under uncertainty is insufficiency of standard tools in this area. For example Porter five forces, discounted cash flow and core competency diagnostics could provide “ insight” into strategic opportunities in stable markets  they do not offer deep “foresight” into opportunities in uncertain and changing environments. Then, without this foresight, managers cannot outline the future they want to make (Courtney, 2001). Anthony et al (2008) express that in environments with low certainty using financial models and making all discussions on financial projections is waste of time. Furthermore, in establishing analytical priorities, some critical uncertainties cannot be clarified via more research (Bhide, 1994).

 لینک به بخش 5..

منابعی که با رنگ آبی مشخص شده اند قابل دریافت می باشند.

References:

 

 

 

Bhide, A. (1994). How Entrepreneurs Craft Strategies That Work? HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW March-April 1994, 150-161.

Bryan, L. (2009). Dynamic management Better decisions in uncertain times. McKinsey Quarterly, the business journal of McKinsey & Company, 50-62.

Courtney et al. (1997). Strategy Under Uncertanity . Harvard Business Review, 66-79.

Courtney, H. (2001, November). Making the most of the uncertainty. Retrieved 2011, from McKinzey Quarterly: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Making_the_most_of_uncertainty_1128

Drucker. (2002). Innovation and Entrepreneurship Practice and Principles. New York: HarperCollins.

Enderwick, P. (2006). Managing the new global threats. University of Auckland business review, 62-72.

Gjetsund et al. (2010). Strategic Planning in an Age of Uncertainty. Retrieved 2011, from Accenture: http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-strategic-planning.aspx

Hamel, G., & Prahalad, C. (1994). Competing for the Future. Boston: HBS Press.

Hamel, G., & Prahalad, C. K. (1995). Thinking differently. Business Quarterly, 22-35.

Insead . (2005). Alumni/Newsletter/. Retrieved 2011, from Insead The Business School: http://www.insead.edu/alumni/newsletter/February2005/Interview.pdf

Kim, C., & Mauborgne, R. (2005). Blue Ocean Strategy How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant . Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.

Lowell, B., & Farrell, D. (2008). Leading through uncertainty. Retrieved 2011, from McKinsey Quarterly-McKinsey & Company: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Leading_through_uncertainty_2263

Miller, K. (1992). A Framework for Integrated Risk Management in International Business. Journal of International Business Studies, 311-332.

Mintzberg et al. (1998). Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Trough the Wilds of Strategic Management", Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joseph Lampel, 1998. New York: The Free Press.

Sarasvathy, S. (2001 ). What makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial? Harvard Business Review.

Wernerfelt, B., & Karnani, A. (1987). COMPETITIVE STRATEGY UNDER UNCERTAINTY. Strategic Management Journal, 187-1 94.

 

 

 

Using integrated solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry Part 3

Using integrated solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry

Part 3

 

استفاده از "راه حل یکپارچه" به عنوان استراتژی شکل دهنده بازار و هدایت کننده  بازار در صنعت نفت

بخش سوم

 

این پژوهش به عنوان تز پایانی دوره MBA در یکی از دانشگاه های مطرح اروپایی ارایه شده است

لینک بخش قبلی ( بخش 2)

Recognizing the Role of Uncertainty

 

Instead of hunt for definite success recipes, managers shall change their view about the environment of their strategic decisions. One of the first steps is to understand the uncertainty and its central role in the business world (Rozenzweig, 2007). To discuss this issue first the definition of uncertainty should be elaborated then the sources of uncertainty in business world will be introduced.

Definition of uncertainty: There is a rich body of publications in definition for uncertainty in different fields. However, to narrow down those to scope of this report the definitions relevant to opportunity and decision making are considered which are connected to the subject of strategy directly. Knight (1921) in his search for the examination of profit, presents a thorough review of uncertainty, its distinction with risk and its bearing on economic process. He has two different ideas of uncertainty; the first is found on possibility of an outcome, the second is about individuals’ subjective expectation about future (Brooke, 2010). The reason for uncertainty in circumstances is that due to lack of knowledge, the meaningful attribution of a probability function to results is impossible (Helmer, 2003). There is a difference between risk and uncertainty, the distribution of probabilities outlines the amount of risk. However, if the probabilities are not known, the expression “true uncertainty” is applicable (van Gelderen et al, 2000).

Sources of uncertainty: Uncertainty can arise from four different types of sources listed here in order of importance: demand structure, supply structure, competitors and externalities (Wernerfelt & Karnani, 1987). Lack of perfect causality, customers and competitors and their unclear behaviours, technological change and ambiguity about internal capabilities of organization are mentioned as some of the sources of uncertainty (Rozenzweig, 2007). Read (2009) specifies that market fragmentation, competitive pressures and new customer tastes are drivers of the trend toward market volatility. The origins of uncertainty can be categorized as industry level, the firm level, and the personal level which are all form of information or knowledge uncertainty (Miller, 1992). Knowledge uncertainty, developments in technology, consumer preferences, and behavior of competitors, human’s limited processing ability, competitors, unfaithful customers, unreliable suppliers, lack of finance, opportunistic employees are all sources of uncertainty (van Gelderen et al, 2000) (Helmer, 2003).

 

لینک به بخش 4

References:

 

Brooke, G. (2010). UNCERTAINTY, PROFIT AND ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTION: FRANK KNIGHT’S CONTRIBUTION RECONSIDERED. Journal of the History of Economic Though, 221-235.

Helmer, H. (2003). A Lecture on Integrating the Treatment of Uncertainty in Strategy. Journal of Strategic Management Education , 93-114.

 

Knight, F. (1921). Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit . New York: Harper.

 

Miller, K. (1992). A Framework for Integrated Risk Management in International Business. Journal of International Business Studies, 311-332.

 

Rozenzweig, P. (2007, Februery). The halo effect, and other managerial delusions. Retrieved 2011, from The McKinsey Quarterly: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/The_halo_effect_and_other_managerial_delusions_1928

 

van Gelderen et al. (2000). Strategies, uncertainty and performance of small business startups. Zoetermeer: EIM / Business & Policy Research.

Wernerfelt, B., & Karnani, A. (1987). COMPETITIVE STRATEGY UNDER UNCERTAINTY. Strategic Management Journal, 187-1 94.

 

The Strategy Concept I: Five Ps for Strategy

The Strategy Concept I: Five Ps for Strategy

Mintzberg. California Management Review, 11-24

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حجم: 1.1 مگابایت

Using integrated solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry Part 2

 

 

 

Using integrated solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry

Part 2

 

استفاده از "راه حل یکپارچه" به عنوان استراتژی شکل دهنده بازار و هدایت کننده  بازار در صنعت نفت

بخش دوم

لینک قبلی ( بخش 1)

LITERATURE REVIEW

 

In this report literature review has two main branches; strategy-related literature and marketing-related literature. In strategy-related part, uncertainty and its importance in new era are discussed while incompetency of traditional strategy making approaches are criticized and new approaches of strategy making more suitable for highly uncertain environments –including market-shaping strategy-  are presented. Since this study is not about any particular and specific company the discussions about strategy can be considered as “a dialogue to build prepared minds”. In marketing-related part literature concerning to the objectives of this study are reviewed; CRM in B2B context, service-dominant logic and last but not least orientation to market with focus on market-driving approach which can be said is to review market-shaping strategy from marketing point of view. The other important point of literature review in this report is to prepare the minds of readers that: “The world has changed so should the way of thinking about it”

Theories on Business Strategy

Strategy has its roots in military, the word strategy stems from the Greek term “Strategia” which means “generalship” (Grant, 2010). Though, the Greeks were not the first originators of the strategy concept and it was Sun Tzu who portrayed the essentials of strategy in his great work “The Art of War” in 500BC. His book is considered as the first text on strategy in which he portrayed the essentials of strategy in ten principles (Grant, 2010) (Krause, 2004).

 As Mintzberg states, the concept of strategy cannot be described in a single definition and he proposes five definitions (Mintzberg (a), 1987). Strategy schools are divided into two main branches from the “approach to strategy making” point of view, rational school; the followers of this school –which is also called prescriptive or design school- believe in formal planning and rational decisions of the organizations’ mangers (Mintzberg et al, 1998). Their main objective is to clarify how strategies should be formulated. The other branch is process school- which is also called behavioral or incremental school- based on the creators of this school strategy making is a process in which companies –specifically managers and people involved in strategy making- learn from the feedback of their decisions and their success or failure and it is more like a gradual trial and error course. In a more detailed study Mintzberg introduced ten schools of thought in a comprehensive manner (Mintzberg et al, 1998).

لینک ادامه مطلب

References:

Grant, R. (2010). Strategy. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Krause, D. (2004). The Art of War for Executives . London: Nicholas Brealey.

منابع زیر از این پژوهش را می توانید با کلیک بر روی لینک های زیر دریافت کنید

Mintzberg (a). (1987). The Strategy Concept I: Five Ps for Strategy. California Management Review, 11-24.

Mintzberg et al. (1998). Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Trough the Wilds of Strategic Management", Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joseph Lampel, 1998. New York: The Free Press.

Using integrated solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry

 

Using integrated solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry

استفاده از "راه حل یکپارچه" به عنوان استراتژی شکل دهنده بازار و هدایت کننده  بازار در صنعت نفت

این پژوهش به عنوان تز پایانی دوره MBA در یکی از دانشگاه های مطرح اروپایی ارایه شده است. که متن آن به صورت بخش بخش در اینجا به اشتراک گذاشته می شود.  همچنین سعی بر این خواهد بود که متن مقالاتی که در این پژوهش به آنها ارجاع شده نیز آورده شود.

 

بخش اول - چکیده

این مطالعه  امکان استفاده از" راه حل یکپارچه" به عنوان استراتژی شکل دهنده بازار و هدایت کننده بازار در صنعت نفت را بررسی می کند. این تحقیق مباحث " راه حل یکپارچه "، هدایت کننده بازار/شکل دهنده بازار می پردازد و امکان بکارگیری " راه حل یکپارچه " را به عنوان عامل شکل دهنده بازار بررسی می کند. در جهان غیرقابل پیش بینی و غیر قطعی امروزه دیگر ابزارهای سنتی تدوین استراتژی به کار نمی آیند. در این پژوهش نگرش و ابزارهای جدید تدوین استراتژی ارایه شده است.

ایده شکل دادن به بازار موفق ترین رویکرد در میان گستره وسیعی از ابزاری هایی است که در هنگام وجود عدم قطعیت بالا پیشنهاد می گردند. همچنین تکامل (evolution) در بازاریابی از دیدگاه کالا- غالب   (goods-dominant) به خدمت-غالب (service-dominant) معرفی شده است. تکاملی که موجب شده تا شرکت های سازنده  به" راه حل یکپارچه " روی آورده تا با ایجاد تمایز کردن ازطریق ارتباط با مشتریان، رضایت مشتریان و وفاداری آنها به سود های بالاتری دست یابند به ویژه در زمانی که کالاهای مشابه در بازار زیاد می شود.

. در تحقیق انجام شده برای درک موضوعات مربوط به اعمال استراتژی هایی که در " راه حل یکپارچه " در بازار مد نظر دخیل هستند، این مطالعه درگیر تحقیقی اولیه شده است.

نتایج نشان داد که برای شکل دادن به بازار به منظور اینکه بازار به جای درخواست  صرف کالا ، " راه حل یکپارچه" را نیز درخواست کند، می بایست بازار را به سمت مفاهیم هزینه طول عمر، مهندسی ارزش و قابلیت اطمینان و اهمیت آنها در افزایش ارزش مشتری در صنعت نفت و گاز سوق داد

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 تعریف راه حل یکپارچه (Integrated solution).: به مجموعه ای از محصولات، خدمات و نرم افزارها که می توانند مشکل مشخصی از  مشتری را حل کنند "راه حل یکپارچه" گفته می شود. "راه حل یکپارچه " پیشنهادی گسترده و پیچیده است که نه تنها بر یکپارچگی فنی تمرکز دارد بلکه بر تمامی شرایط استفاده محصول نیز تمرکز دارد.

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1-Abstract

This study examines the possibility of using solutions as market-shaping/market-driving strategy in oil industry. The research refers to a range of literature about solutions, market-driving/market-shaping and if solutions can be employed as a market-shaping strategy. As traditional strategy tools are not applicable in new uncertain world, new outlook to strategy making involving new tools are presented.

The idea of shaping the market have been the most successful approach among a variety of strategic postures, moves and tools suggested in face of high levels of uncertainty. Furthermore, the evolution in the marketing from a goods-dominant view to a service-dominant view is revealed; an evolution which caused manufacturing companies to shift to “solutions”, to differentiate via customer relationship, customer satisfaction and loyalty to achieve higher margins and expand revenues especially when tangible products approach commodity status. In search for understanding the issues concerning implementing the strategy involving solutions in focal market the study has engaged in a primary research-employing an interpretive methodology. The results show that to shape the market to request solutions instead of just tangible goods, the focus should be on transforming the market around concepts of life cycle costs, value engineering and reliability and their importance in increasing customer value in the oil industry.

لینک ادامه مطلب