Strategy Formulation In Entrepreneurial Firms

This book is concerned with strategy formulation issues in the relatively neglected field of entrepreneurial firms. It raises questions, such as what is the strategic role of entrepreneurship in small businesses? How does the top management in small firms perceive the processes associated with strategy formulation? How are business strategies formulated and implemented in SMEs and importantly, are there lessons that can be learnt by large corporations from the smaller ones? Using a sample covering a wide range of entrepreneurial firms in the UK, the author addresses the lack of strategic thinking in the management of small firms and provides recommendations for effective strategic management processes.

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,9, University of Plymouth, course: Bachelor Abschlussjahr, language: English, abstract: This report aims at explaining the differences between the strategy formulation of small and large firms, by examining major factors directly influencing the management and the strategy formulation within a firm. This analysis indicates that strategy formulation in large firms is a very formal process handled by top executives especially dedicated to this process. Small firms in contrast often suffer from a lack of resources and managerial skills. As a result, in small companies, the importance of strategy is often underestimated and not worked out with sufficient accuracy. This leads to a company’s performance often remaining under its market opportunities.

The majority of businesses throughout the world are small firms and they play a crucial role in the economic growth of the world's economies. The authors offer a conceptual framework supported by their own original case study data to explain how and why a small firm should approach strategic planning.

Behavioral strategy continues to attract increasing research interest within the broader field of strategic management. Research in behavioral strategy has clear scope for development in tandem with such traditional streams of strategy research that involve economics, markets, resources, and technology. The key roles of psychology, organizational behavior, and behavioral decision making in the theory and practice of strategy have yet to be comprehensively grasped. Given that strategic thinking and strategic decision making are importantly concerned with human cognition, human decisions, and human behavior, it makes eminent sense to bring some balance in the strategy field by complementing the extant emphasis on the “objective” economics-based view with substantive attention to the “subjective” individual-oriented perspective. This calls for more focused inquiries into the role and nature of the individual strategy actors, and their cognitions and behaviors, in the strategy research enterprise. For the purposes of this book series, behavioral strategy would be broadly construed as covering all aspects of the role of the strategy maker in the entire strategy field. The scholarship relating to behavioral strategy is widely believed to be dispersed in diverse literatures. These existing contributions that relate to behavioral strategy within the overall field of strategy has been known and perhaps valued by most scholars all along, but were not adequately appreciated or brought together as a coherent sub-field or as a distinct perspective of strategy. This book series on Research in Behavioral Strategy will cover the essential progress made thus far in this admittedly fragmented literature and elaborate upon fruitful streams of scholarship. More importantly, the book series will focus on providing a robust and comprehensive forum for the growing scholarship in behavioral strategy. In particular, the volumes in the series will cover new views of interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks and models (dealing with all behavioral aspects), significant practical problems of strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation, and emerging areas of inquiry. The series will also include comprehensive empirical studies of selected segments of business, economic, industrial, government, and non-profit activities with potential for wider application of behavioral strategy. Through the ongoing release of focused topical titles, this book series will seek to disseminate theoretical insights and practical management information that will enable interested professionals to gain a rigorous and comprehensive understanding of the subject of behavioral strategy. Entrepreneurship and Behavioral Strategy contains contributions by leading scholars in the field of entrepreneurship with an interest in researching behavioral perspectives. The 10 chapters in this volume deal with a number of significant issues relating broadly to the behavioral aspects of entrepreneurship, covering topics such as entrepreneurial process orientation, a machine learning approach to reviewing the intersection of the entrepreneurship and behavioral strategy literatures, the temporalities of entrepreneurial risk behavior, entrepreneurs under ambiguity, disruptive business model innovations, international attention, entrepreneurial team formation, building alliances in new and small ventures, the role of insight in entrepreneurial action, and the effects of foreign competition on entrepreneurship activities. The chapters include empirical as well as conceptual treatments of the selected topics, and collectively present a wide-ranging review of the noteworthy research perspectives on the confluence of entrepreneurship and behavioral strategy.

The creation of innovative products and services by entrepreneurs is often cited as one of the key strengths of the current American economy. Academics and executives alike are beginning to recognize the advantages of innovation and real-time experimentation over traditional strategic planning processes. Large firms find they need to create strategies that are entrepreneurial, and emerging firms are recognizing the importance of a continuing emphasis on entrepreneurship in their long-term strategic vision. This volume reviews the existing literature in the area of entrepreneurship strategy and includes chapters by six distinguished strategic management scholars: Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Michael A. Hitt, Jay Barney, Raffi Amit, Grant Miles, and Arnold Cooper.

As the dominant paradigm of economic activity is shifting to a focus on creating customer value, it is becoming increasingly clear that companies must be able to formulate business strategies, product and service strategies and internal operating strategies that accelerate the creation and delivery of customer value. The ability to create value has become the primary source of sustainable competitive strength. With this book, Ulwick introduces a strategy formulation theory and process that allows firms to create strategies that consistently produce breakthrough results. The application of advanced modeling and pattern detection techniques commonly reserved for physics and the behavioral sciences is used in both the design of the theory and in the process it initiates; its application can result in strategies and solutions that delivery up to ten times more value than those created with traditional methods. It is a process that can be broadly applied across an organization and a wide range of subjects or missions. Ulwick describes Outcome-Based Logic, which can transform organizational dynamics and the way an organization approaches the process of strategy formulation, and proposes a Universal Strategy Formulation Model which defines the four essential elements of strategy creation: desired outcomes, constraints, the desired competitive position, and solutions. Using this model, it becomes possible for an organization to first choose its desired competitive position and then work to uncover the strategy or solution that will enable it to occupy that position. The book also introduces a process called the Customer-Driven Mission Achievement Process (CD-MAP), now successfully used by many large companies to formulate and assess strategies at every organizational level of their organizations. This book, steeped in modern business theory and backed by years of practical experience, will help practitioners in any company improve their operations and their competitive position.

Airborne Express, Hershey's, Motorola, Pillsburyhow do the executives of international corporations formulate effective strategies for corporate success? Filled with helpful insights into the state of the art in strategic management, this book provides a framework for the formulation, implementation, and control of strategies for all types of domestic and global organizations. You'll also find 21 suggested corporate cases for analysis (complete with reference sources), including Blockbuster Video, PepsiCo, Harley-Davidson, Nike, Home Depot, and Microsoft. This up-to-date volume gives you a comprehensive overview of strategic management in an easy-to-read format. It addresses important current issues, such as TQM (Total Quality Management), reengineering, benchmarking, and the formulation of strategic management in international markets. Strategic Management: Formulation, Implementation, and Control in a Dynamic Environment is a part of The Haworth Press, Inc. promotion book series edited by Richard Alan Nelson, Ph.D., APR. Here is a small sample of what Strategic Management: Formulation, Implementation, and Control in a Dynamic Environment will teach you about: the definition, meaning, and history of strategic management the difference between business policy and business strategy corporate structure, governance, and culture mission statements how to assess the corporate/business environmentinternal, external, and macro how to formulate an effective business strategy strategic alternativesspecialization, diversification, alliances, joint ventures, acquisitions, and more dealing with foreign governments and competing on a global scale the role of the general manager and the board of directors the control process and ways to measure the financial soundness of strategic decisions management techniques for not-for-profit companies Strategic Management: Formulation, Implementation, and Control in a Dynamic Environment is an ideal reference for any teacher, student, or professional in the management arena.