Case study of 27

1. Why has Lady Gaga been so successful? What strategy has she followed?

Some people love Lady Gaga and some people hate her but the real fact is she is here to rule the music industry in the world. With the release of debut album Fame she has become a global superstar.Since last decade she has been the only one singer who has been able to remain in number one position in Billboard with two debut albums.

The reason behind her success is simple: she is talented, brilliant, shocking and she has the ability to adapt with the changing environment of music industry. But the main reason behind her success is her audience.

Her music is very impressive and simple. Everyone can sing her song easily. She has also got skills in playing piano. Her fashion sense is also a plus point for her success.

The main reason behind her success is her ability to adapt with changes. She knows the power of digital media and has got skills to explore from it. She understood the market with the excessive use of social media networks. She has used the entire social media network and has integrated them with her fashion by which her fans are increasing day by day. She has more than 10 million Twitter fans and 30 million Facebook fans which shows her influences in the music industry. Every time she appears in the public show she appears different and that is her strategy. The way she writes songs and produces with different touch is amazing.

She has followed some co-branding and product placement strategies. Here co-branding refers to marketing and development of two or more brands. Lady Gaga was using modern technology and was depending on modernity.  Product placement refers to techniques of advertising by highlighting branded goods and services in advertisement, movie, music video and TV show. It has allowed her to reach the audience directly instead of going through traditional way.

1.   If you were advising her on her future strategy – what analysis would you undertake? What models or theories would you use? 

Most of the critics blame her that she is just using adaptation and is not using her creativity in writing songs. She needs to focus more on creativity.

An internal analysis can be conducted to analyze the strategy of Lady Gaga:

Visibility:

Today lady gaga is a famous and popular pop singer. Her first solo album was “the Fame” was able to make a sale of 10 million copies and still its growing. In addition, she is also well renowned for her talents and skills like piano playing, writing songs and best performance.

Credibility:

Lady Gaga is a very hard working celebrity today. She determines everything as a success factor. If we research her then we can know that she is straight forward, honest and passionate person and when it is about business she is a real player.

Expertise:

When it comes to technical factor, she is expert on piano playing as well as for the best performance. She knows exactly how to attract and impress audience through her music.

Attractiveness:

Lady Gaga’s attractiveness can be clearly seen through her fan base. There might be someone who doesn’t like her music and her outrageous style but there are so more people who really like her.

Power:

She has already proved that she is the best through her excellent music. She has been able to sold millions of albums which has really strengthened the music industry. New comers are also copying her style and are influenced with her music and performance.

In this modern age the competition is very tough. The way competitive advantage theory was used is totally different because of innovation. Today day by day consumers want and demands changes so there cannot be a stable competitive advantage. Flexibility and creative thinking can only be used to remain competitive today. So does lady gaga. She knows the importance of social media through which she has made a huge fan base.

References :

Anon., n.d. Lady Gaga, Why so succesful?. [Online]
Available at: http://ocdtetris.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/lady-gaga-why-so-successful/
[Accessed 27 3 2010].

Mathieu Deflem, U. o. S. C., n.d. Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame. [Online]
Available at: gagacourse.net

Michael Cooper, L. P. M. E., 2012. Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" Era: What Went Wrong?. [Online]
Available at: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/lady-gaga/articles/144803/title/lady-gagas-born-way-era-what-went-wrong
[Accessed 12 5 2013].

Availiable at: HYPERLINK "http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/meet-the-woman-who-inspired-lady-gaga_100324226.html" http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/meet-the-woman-who-inspired-lady-gaga_100324226.html

[Accessed 12 5 2013].

Availiable at : HYPERLINK "http://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/taiwan-issues/2012/05/22/341775/Media-overlook.htm" http://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/taiwan-issues/2012/05/22/341775/Media-overlook.htm l

[Accessed 12 5 2013]

Assignment of week 27

Week 27

1)       In your own words and using referenced quotes explain why strategy theories developed in the last 10 years tend to be quite different from those developed in the 1960’s.

2)      You attend a job interview for an entry level managerial position and mention that you completed a 30 week strategy module. Your interviewer seems interested and explains that this job role would enable you to become involved in the strategy making process. In 200 to 300 words explain to your interviewer how the module has helped to prepare you for a strategy role.

           Answers :

1)      Originating in the business community in the 1960s, strategic planning attempts to combine short-term and long-term planning. Organizations conducting strategic planning typically commit themselves to a formal process in which a group of "planners" articulates a mission statement, sets goals and objectives, audits the organization for internal strengths and weaknesses, assesses the external environment for opportunities and threats, evaluates strategic options, and then selects and operationalise an organizational strategy. The basic aim of strategic planning is to link daily organizational decisions with a vision of where the organization wants to be at some point in the future, usually five years hence. Back then, many organizations used to follow the same strategy and often the result is positive but not incremental.

The time change, people adapt the change and they change the process. Strategic theories look more complex at present.  Due to the stiff competition in the business, strategy theories are developing day by day.

Differences between the strategy theories developed in the last 10 years and 1960’s can be done through strategy theory responses:

1)      Complexity Theory:

If we look after recent strategies, it has been found that nothing is predictable. Flexibility has been seen as the major determinant for adapting to the change. The best example can be emergent strategy as every company is following this strategy. On the other hand, deliberate strategy takes so much time for implementation that the whole scenario might change at that moment.

2)       Rapid Adaptation:

From the last ten years new technologies have been developed and customer’s wants are also increasing day by day. It is wise to say that competitive advantage in today’s date cannot be achieved through a unique resources or positioning strategy. Today business organization are changing their strategy as per the change in the market it is very hard to use traditional tools such as SWOT analysis because it is difficult to analyze the changing market. 

3)      Options Theory:

In the theory of porter’s five forces model the main source for competition was competitive rivalry depending upon the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, the threat of entrants, and availability of substitute goods. Now today the concept has been changed. It is said that competition comes from flexibility. The market is changing unexpectedly. So opening up the door of flexibility for any time can be a biggest competitive advantage for any organization.

2)      This module “Strategy Choices and Impact” has taught many things about strategy, its procedure, theories and implementation and adaptation. Strategy becomes more complex within the past 10 years time period. Today the meaning of strategy has changed. So, strategy today is creating environment, rather than a series of procedures, where the companies find themselves in a flexible position. This module has covered all the basics and complex aspects of the strategy.  Use of different analytical tools like Porter’s Five Forces Model, 7s Model, PESTEL Analysis, SWOT ,TOWS Analysis, Ansoff Matrix makes this module more useful for students. This module is more about practical knowledge than the theoretical, lots of research and study over the internet as well as from the text books are needed to be done. This module helps to understand the nature and understanding of business and the strategies to tackle with the problems. This module provides the clear understanding about the risk-taking, management of strategic innovation processes, strategy formation and implementation, behavioral understandings of competition, global strategy and entrepreneurial strategy. The module also embraces a wide variety of methodological approaches that are important for strategic outcomes.

With case study and report included, this module aims to give the real understanding about the organizational situation or problems and strategy to cope with it.

References

Anon., n.d. Real Option in Business. [Online]
Available at: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/realoption.asp
[Accessed 13 5 2013].

Encyclopedia of Business, 2. E., n.d. Complexity THeory. [Online]
Available at: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Bun-Comp/Complexity-Theory.html#ixzz2UeoYaCew
[Accessed 12 5 2013].

Engstrum, J., December 8, 2011 at 12:36pm. Early Adaptation vs. Rapid Adaptation. [Online]
Available at: http://www.koreabusinesscentral.com/forum/topics/early-adaptation-vs-rapid-adaptation

Witzel, M., 5th August, 2003,. Financial Times,, p. p11.

Assignment of week 23

1)      In your own words and using referenced quotes describe what is meant by the term “strategic leadership”.

2)      Identify two interesting similarities and two differences between the 5 Elements of Successful and Effective Strategic Leadership model and the Transcendent Leadership model.

Answers

1)       Strategic leadership refers to a manager’s potential to express a strategic vision for the organization, or a part of the organization, and to motivate and persuade others to acquire that vision. According to the Professor Richard Lynch, “Strategic leadership is the ability to shape the organization’s decisions and deliver high value over time, not only personally but also by inspiring and managing others in the organization”.

The main objective of strategic leadership is strategic productivity. Another aim of strategic leadership is to develop an environment in which employees forecast the organization’s needs in context of their own job. Strategic leaders encourage the employees in an organization to follow their own ideas. Strategic leaders make greater use of reward and incentive system for encouraging productive and quality employees to show much better performance for their organization. Functional strategic leadership is about inventiveness, perception, and planning to assist an individual in realizing his objectives and goals.  The strategic leadership requires skills and talent that goes beyond the normal thinking. Some essential skills can be pointed as:

a)      Anticipate

b)      Challenge

c)      Interpret

d)     Decide

e)      Align

f)       Learn

Holistic Theories of Strategic Leadership

a)       Five elements of successful and effective strategic leadership model

b)      Transcendent Leadership Model

Five elements of successful and effective strategic leadership model have been developed by Lynch in order to describe strategic leadership. Followings are the five elements of successful and effective leadership model:

a)       Developing and communicating the organizations’ purpose

b)      Sustaining Competitive Advantage over time

c)      Managing human resources & organizational decisions

d)      Setting ethical standards

e)       Defining and delivering to Stakeholders.

Strategic Leadership: Transcendent Leadership

a)       Leadership of Organization

b)       Leadership of Others

c)       Leadership of Self

Answer 2 :

Similarities:

Both the model of strategic leadership, focus on maintaining good relationship between leaders and followers. These models believe that organizational goals can be achieved only with the cooperation in between leaders and followers. Leaders are the idol for its followers or employees. They need to motivate their follower with reward and incentives. Leaders have the responsibility to develop skills of their followers or employees. By maintain good relationship with followers leaders need to achieve organizational goals.

The main purpose of both the leadership model is to achieve organizational goal. By preserving competitive advantage of the organization both focuses on achieving organizational goals and objectives.

Differences:

Lynch model is more flexible than the Transcendent Leadership model. It is because Lynch model is more focused on developing the key skills of employees is only possible with a good relationship with them, whereas transcendent model is more focused with the rules, procedure and structure of organization.

Lynch model give more emphasis to maintain good relationship with stakeholders whereas transcendent leadership model has not mentioned such relationship with stakeholders. Lynch model of strategic leadership believes that with a good relationship with both the internal and external stakeholders, organization may be able to adapt to change in a complex situation.

References:

·         Crossan, M., Vera, D and Nanjad, L. (2008) Transcendent Leadership: strategic leadership in dynamic environments, The Leadership Quarterly, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2008, Pages 569-581.

·         Lynch, R., (2009) Strategic Management, 5th Edition, Prentice Hall, chapter 16.

·         Burke, C. S., Stagl, K. C., Salas, E., Pierce, L., & Kendall, D. (2006). Understanding team adaptation: A conceptual analysis and model. Journal of Applied Psychology,91(6),1189-1207. doi:10.1037/0021 -9010.91.6.1189.

·         Chemers, M. M. (2000). Leadership research and theory: A functional integration. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 4, 27-43. doi:10.1037/1089-2699.4.1.27.

Assignment of Week 21

Week 21

1)         What are the benefits and drawbacks of taking an “emergent” approach to strategy making?

2)       Did Honda’s entry strategy demonstrate the characteristics of “logical incrementalism‟?

Answers

1)    A strategy which is always in the process of being articulated it emerges through a process of learning. An emergent strategy is a pattern of action that develops over time in an organization in the absence of a specific mission and goals, or despite a mission and goals.

Emergent Strategy is a strategy whose final objective is unclear and whose element are developed during the course of its life, as the strategy proceeds.A perfectly emergent strategy is characterized by order, but in the absence of intention about it. It is although difficult to imagine action in the total absence of intention. Emergent strategy does not mean chaos, but in essence unintended order.

Benefits of emergent strategy:

Flexibility:

Emergent Strategy increase flexibility in a turbulent environment, allowing the business to respond to threats and exploits opportunities. Organizations must keep their options open , by not committing to early actions and investments.

Entrepreneurship:

Emergent strategy is developed for adapting human needs and continuing to develop overtime. The difficult period gets the best leadership skills out of the individuals. The best way to find out what will work is to let people try. This is conductive to an entrepreneurial spirit to emerge.

Learning:

It gives an opportunity for the organization and the employees to learn from the errors and mistakes .Letting strategy emerge provides the environment of the organization to learn.

Drawbacks of emergent strategy:

Bad Planning:

Emergent strategy does not happen by accident. A corporate strategic plan should allow for the emergence of potential benefits that were never anticipated. When those benefits are discovered, an emergent strategy is in place to analyze them and see if the benefits should be explored further.

Emergent strategy is that its lacking in planning so that the organization lacks in any sense of strategic direction and control.

Unclear goals and objectives:

Since emergent strategy is a pattern of action that develops overtime in an organization in absence of specific missions and goals. It often has unclear goals and objectives.

 Answer : 2

With studying all the case study we can easily say that Honda’s entry strategy demonstrate the characteristics of logical incrementalism. Logical incrementalism is a management philosophy which states that strategies do not come into existence based on a one time decision but rather, it exists through making small decision that is evaluated periodically. These small decision are not made randomly but logically through experiment and learning.

In the case of Honda, they learn from every failure strategy. Every time it failed it goes for another strategy again and again and finally that experience helps them to grow in the market.At the very beginning stage of business in U.S, the people there used to believe the motorcycles are for bad guy or rowdies, so in order to remove the misconception Honda introduced “You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda" slogan. Further, they knew that Motorcycle business was seasonal in U.S and after knowing this some Honda’s motorcycles began to sell but after some month’s complaint were coming about the machines. They again ran test and redesign the machine. In such a way Honda continuously scanned the US motorcycle environment and it was successful in adapting with changes.

 For 5 years Honda struggled a lot to get in U.S. markets.  As it turns out, even Honda's larger bikes were not robust enough for American riders and they started having engine failures. While waiting for the engineers to upgrade the design, the staff in the U.S. continued to hit the streets. They rode around doing errands in Los Angeles on Honda's small lightweight bike, the 50cc Super Cub. The success of the Super Cubs eventually translated into success with larger bikes, and Honda went from no presence at all in the U.S. market in 1959 to 63% of the market.

     The conclusions from the successes of Honda and Grace Manufacturing are to have humility about what you don't know about an unfamiliar market, to not over-plan and to stay adaptable to emerging information and circumstances. This doesn't mean being wishy-washy or directionless. Your objectives must be clear, but the shape in which success takes shape within them may be quite unexpected.

           References:

          Abrahamson, Eric (1996) ‘Management fashion’,Academy of Management Review 21.1:     254-285.

         Abbeglen, James C. and George Stalk Jr. (1985) Kaisha, The Japanese Corporation. New York: Basic Books.

Lessons from Honda's Early Adaptive Strategy, 2011, Available from <

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/02/lessons_from_hondas_early_adap.html>

Assignment of week 20

Assignment of week 18

1.      How can using the Change Kaleidoscope and Force-field analysis help an organization to deliver its intended strategy?

Change Kaleidoscope and Force-field analysis are the major tools which are used to assess the change within an organization. Both the tools have got positive and negative features. The positive features assist change and the negative features resist change.

Change Kaleidoscope

The change kaleidoscope is a diagnostic framework. It can be particularly useful in a context sensitive change process, which one can argue is the case in this management project.

The kaleidoscope contains an outer ring concerned with the organizational strategic context. There is a middle ring that has the features of the change context. Finally there is an inner ring which contains the design choices that can be made.

The change contextual features are aspects of the organization to do with its culture, competences and current situation. These are all issues that need consideration before selecting the change approach.

Below you find a short theoretical description of each one of them:

• Time: How much time does the organisation have to achieve this change? Is it in a short term crisis or is it concerned with long-term strategic development? Are stakeholders, such as the stockmarket, expecting short term results from the change?

• Scope: Is the required outcome realignment or transformation? Does the change affect the whole organisation, or is it only concerned with a particular division or department?

• Preservation: To what extent is it essential to maintain continuity in certain practices or preserve specific assets? Do these practices and/or assets constitute invaluable resources, or do they contribute towards a valued stability or identity within an organisation?

• Diversity: Is the staff group concerned diverse or relatively homogeneous in terms of its values, norms and attitudes? Are there many subcultures or national cultures within the group? Are there different departments or divisions or is it one particular staff group? With whom or what in the organisation do different staff groups identify – their team, job, department, division or the whole organisation? Are there professionals who identify more with their profession than their organisation?

• Capability: How capable or competent is the organisation at managing change and how widespread throughout the organisation is this capability? How much change has the organisation and its individual staff experienced in the past? Is there an expertise at an individual level for handling change?

• Capacity: How much cash or spare human resource is there to divert towards the change?

• Readiness for change: Are staff aware of the need for change? If they are, how willing and motivated are they towards the change? How much support generally is there for the change? How much understanding is there for the scope needed?

• Power: Where is power vested within the organization? For this change to be successful, who are the major stakeholders within and outside the organization whose support must be canvassed? Is the unit needing to change part of a larger group or is it relatively autonomous?

The kaleidoscope does not give predictable configurations that lead to more formulaic change recipes. The eight contextual features remain the same but they are constantly reconfigured to produce different pictures for each organizational change situation. Certain features lead to certain design choices, but the potential permutations are endless.

The eight contextual features of the change kaleidoscope are:

2. Add your Change Kaleidoscope diagram for Hewlett Packard (Exercise 1 – slide 21) to your Learning Journal.

References

·  Online available from http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/vijaymallya-shuts-down-kingfisher-re/1/19258.htm/. [Accessed April 6, 2013]

·         Online available from http://www.economictimes.com  [Accessed April 3, 2013]

Assignment of week 17

Week 17

1)      Can you think of an organization that has implemented a high risk strategy that has resulted in success (why was it high risk at the time and why it was a success – was it a success – was it good luck or good judgment.)

2)      Now do the same for an organization who embarked on a high risk strategy that resulted in some sort of failure (why was it high risk and why did it fail – bad luck  or poor judgment)

Answers

1)      Organization that has implemented a high risk strategy that lead to the success is Ncell Private Ltd. Ncell is a privately owned GSM operator in Nepal. It is the first private company to operate GSM services telecommunication sector of Nepal.

I think the company has implemented high risk strategy because the Nepal telecommunication which is currently big competitive rival of Ncell used to be a monopoly player in telecommunications and it was hard to change the customers mind to attract for the newly established company like Ncell. In the early stage of the establishment the Ncell used to be named as Mero Mobile. At the period the company was not doing well, they were unable to attract the public. In 12 March, 2010 the company was re- branded as Ncell and is now owned in 80% by Swedish/Finnish TeliaSonera Holdings. Now, the company had seven million mobile subscribers and also the company operating all 75 districts in the country.

I think company has well implemented the high risk strategy at the period it was rebranded as Ncell. Being a new owner in a new environment it is always tough to operate and TeliSonera Holdings did it pretty strategically. The first task of the company was to change the mind perspective of Nepalese customers. They try to do that by renovating the strategy. First they reduce the cost of outgoing calls and also reduce the cost of their GSM prepaid and post-paid Sims. This strategy also helps them to enter in the market and also provide the noticeable advertisement towards the customers. Now the company is gradually expanding its network coverage in various urban, semi urban and rural areas of the country. Ncell has also been providing services to the subscribers by installing and using satellite equipments and network.

 I think Ncell being a number one telecommunication industry in Nepal currently it is the success more than luck. The company changes the face of telecommunications industry in the country.

2)      Every organization encounters risk every day as they pursue their objectives. Some cope with it very well and some stay behind. There are many companies which have failed because of their high risk strategy. One of the companies is Kingfisher Airlines Limited. Kingfisher Airline Ltd. was an airline group based in India. The airlines commenced its operation 2005 and it has a 50% of stake on low-cost carrier Kingfisher red. On the beginning of operations the company was doing very well. They were operating 250 daily flights with regional and long haul international services. This airline was one of the seven airlines awarded 5 stars rating by Skytrax and also won Skytrax award for India`s best airline of the year 2011.

On October 20, 2012 the airline had to shut down its operations as DCGA suspended the flying license.  The major reasons for the downfall of airlines are:

1)      No network Planning : Kingfisher tried to copy the network of arch rivals of jet airways “ A me too approach”  shifting its operations base from Bangalore where it was sole Indian carrier to the Mumbai, the base of the both jet Airways  and Air India, this strategy increases intense competition, economic downturn and inability to hike due to competition.

2)       In the early of November 2011 the company could not pay its pilots, stewardess, janitors and its staffs. The debt was increasing, with total debt of Rs. 7000 cr.  and airlines made an operational loss of Rs. 1027 cr. over the last year operation. The debt was increasing and the airline unable to make a daily routine flight due to suspension makes the environment much worse.

3)      In 2007, Kingfisher Airlines acquired Air Deccan which was a low cost airline. For an airline to fly internationally it requires five years of operations. For this reason, Air Deccan was acquired by Kingfisher Airlines and entered into cheaper market segment. It was a high risk strategy, because Kingfisher Airlines was launched as a premium business class airline. Launching as a premium business class airline was a high risk for Kingfisher Airlines.

The reason behind the failure of Kingfisher airline was poorer judgment than the bad luck. The company unable to identify the customers and making random poor decisions led to the failure of Airlines

References

·         Online available from http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/vijaymallya-shuts-down-kingfisher-re/1/19258.htm/. [Accessed April 6, 2013]

·         Online available from http://www.economictimes.com  [Accessed April 3, 2013]

·         Online available from http://www.ncell.com.np  [Accessed April 3, 2013]