Capturing Corporate Strategies

Abstract

Rapidly changing business environments is a challenge that most organizations of today are facing. It is often the case during times of economic difficulty that an organization enters a reactive move instead of attempting to reassess its strategic direction in order to meet new business requirements. It is the intent of this thesis to attempt to provide tools, which can be used to investigate organizations with a proven track record. The result of these tools will provide an organization in need of strategic change new options and, especially important, an eye-opener to new possibilities. Three organizations have been chosen that all have excelled in different strategic areas, making them world leaders in their industries. Careful studies of the strategies employed by these companies will be used to form something called Key Areas of Excellence. These areas of excellence form the backbone of this thesis as they explain the origins of successful strategies, which then can be applied to other organizations. To apply a new strategy within an organization it is necessary to know what capabilities currently exist, therefore a comparison is necessary to ascertain what kind of gaps that might exist. The last step involves the creation of a future corporate vision where the newfound strategies are incorporated within the case company. Steps are then made to explain how implementation should be handled and what risks are associated with these new strategies. If successful, the newly implemented strategies will give strength to the organization and allow it to function more effectively.