PLANNING TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PDF

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Notes from the planning tools and techniques that exist in strategic management, environmental assessment, forecasting, resource allocation, pert network analysis, contemporary planning techniques, project management, the role of the project manager and future scenario planning. ...

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PLANNING TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Techniques for evaluating the environment Mark Hanson, VP of Marketing, Video Audio Integrated Operations Division (VAIO), from Sony, oversees introducing the laptop to the American market World's smallest, code-named U. What will determine the success of the product? Hansen says the environment is a crucial factor. Recognition of the environment How do managers find out about significant changes in the middle, like a new law in Germany that allows you to buy "tourist items" on Sundays? Or that the chain Toys "R" Us decided to partner with Amazon.com in response to the big Internet portals of other toy stores? Or that the working-age population is rapidly reduced in Japan, Germany, Italy and Russia? Managers of small and large organizations make A Recognition of the environment, which is the revision of large volumes of information to anticipate and interpret changes in the environment. An external recognition maybe Reveal problems and concerns that affect current or planned activities of the organization. Research has shown that companies with advanced systems of recognition of the medium have increased their profits and profits. The Organizations that are not aware of environmental changes suffer otherwise. For example, Tupperware, the food container company, had an unprecedented success during the decades of 1960 and 1970 selling its products at home parties in which housewives made games, alternated and saw demonstrations of Products. But society has changed: more women work full-time Away from home, the divorce rate has increased, and young people wait longer before they get married, So the popularity of Tupperware parties began to decline because No one had time to go. The company market in North America fell from 60 To 40%, while Rubbermaid, the rival who marketed their plastic containers in The Shops It increased its share of 5 to 40%. At the beginning of the decade of 1990 the Most women did not want to go to a Tupperware party or knew where else to find the products. However, the president of Tupperware obviously lost with respect of the changes in the environment, predicted that before the end of that decade the concept of the party would regain its popularity. This example shows that a successful company You may have problems if you do not accept media changes. One of the fastest growing fields in environmental recognition is The Competition Intelligence, an activity in which organizations collect information About the competition and answer several questions: who are they? What are you doing? What effect will it have on us? Un Example of how you take advantage of an organization the intelligence of the competition. Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), one of the main Providers of commercial credit information, marketing and purchasing, has an active Business Intelligence Division. The Division manager received a call from an assistant of the vice president of sales of one of the territories of the

company. This person Returned from a sales visit with an important client, which he had mentioned of Step that another company had visited them and had made them an extensive presentation of their Services. The interesting thing about the case is What Although D&B had many competitors, this Company was not among them. The manager gathered a team that asked in dozens of Sources (research services, Internet, personal contacts and Other external sources) and soon became convinced that there was something, of That this company "was aiming its cannons at us." The managers D&B were set to draw up plans to counteract this Competitive attack. Experts in competition intelligence point out that 80% of what managers must know is about how it is Competition between their own employees, suppliers and customers. The intelligence of the competition does not consist of espionage activities. Advertising, promotional materials, press releases, Reports delivered to government agencies and studies of Industries are examples of very accessible sources of information. Attending trade shows and holding questions and meetings Answers with vendors are other good sources of information About the competition. Many companies buy regularly Competing products and ask their engineers to study them (using the technique of Reverse engineering) To find out about Technical innovations. Moreover, the Internet has opened vast resources of competition intelligence, because in many Web pages Information about new products and other newsletters is included Press. Concerns about competition intelligence concern the Way to gather the information. For example, in Procter & Gamble Executives hired intelligence companies to spy on to their rivals in the hair care business. At least One of these companies deceived Unilever employees (a competitor), was introduced into the hair care business matrix In Chicago and checked the trash to acquire information. When the Executive director of P&G found out, immediately dismissed the Guilty and apologized to Unilever. Competition Intelligence becomes illegal corporate espionage when it consists in the robbery, by any means, of private materials or trade secrets. The Economic Espionage Act, approved by the United States Congress In 1996, declares that in that country it is a crime to carry out economic espionage to Rob a trade secret. Tough decisions about competition intelligence arise, because many times it is fine the line that divides what is considered Legal and ethical, and what is Legal but immoral. Although the director of an intelligence company assures that 99.9% of the information gathered is legal, there is no doubt that some people or companies would Whatever it was (even immoral) to get information about the competition. A particularly important form of environmental recognition is the recognition Global. Because global markets are complex and dynamic, managers have Broadened the scope of their recognition activities to obtain vital information About the global forces that affect your organization. Of course, the value of global recognition for Managers depends on the extent of the global activities of their

Organization. This recognition is very valuable to a company with substantial global interests. For example, Mitsubishi Corporation has complex information networks and elaborated systems to monitor changes in the world. The sources exploited by managers to recognize the environment are insufficient for global recognition. Managers must adopt points of view and acquire sources Global information for example, you can subscribe to services of information cuts that review newspapers and publications Specialists in the world and deliver summaries with the Desired information. There are also numerous electronic services That offer automatic thematic searches in the fields That are particularly relevant to managers. Forecasts The second technique with which managers examine the environment is the Realization of Forecasts, which is an important part of planning of the organization. Managers need forecasts that Anticipate the events with success and opportunity. Recognizing the environment Establishes the basis for Forecasts, which are predictions of the Results. Virtually all elements of the external environment can be predicted. COW forecast managers and how accurate are their Forecasts. Forecasting Techniques The forecasting techniques belong to two categories: Quantitative and qualitative. In the Quantitative forecasts Mathematical rules are applied to Data sets to predict results. These techniques are preferred when managers They have enough specific data. On the contrary, the Qualitative forecasts are based in the good judgment and the opinions of connoisseurs to predict results. are followed Qualitative techniques when there are few precise data, or it is difficult to achieve them. Many organizations are currently collaborating on forecasts through an Internet software called CPFR, which is the acronym in English of Collaborative planning, Prognosis and Refill. The CPFR offers vendors and manufacturers a homogeneous way to exchange data over the Internet. Each organization takes its own data on Sales trends, promotion plans and other factors to calculate a forecast of the demand for a certain product. If the forecasts differ in a certain figure (say, 10%), The seller and the manufacturer exchange more data over the Internet and make comments Until you reach a unique and wiser forecast. This collaborative forecasting technique Helps organizations make their planning work better. Accuracy of forecasts In the 100 companies of Fortune It is not unusual for from 1.000 to 5.000 managers contribute information to make forecasts. In these companies Have found that the more people who take care of the prognoses, the more reliable It's the results.

The goal of the forecasts is to give managers information that facilitates the making of Decisions. Despite the importance of forecasts for planning, managers have had contradictory results. Forecasting techniques are more accurate if the Environment does not change quickly. The more dynamic the environment, the more likely it will be That managers Pronostiquen wrong. In addition, the techniques are ineffective in predicting Contingencies, such as recessions, unusual situations, suspension of operations, and the actions and reactions of the competition. Although these techniques have contradictory results, there will always be ways to make them More effective. First, use methods of simple forecasting. They are as good or better than the complicated ones, which they come to confuse Random data with meaningful information. For example, in Emerson's offices Electric, in St. Louis, the president and Former Executive Chuck Knight found that the Forecasts made as part of the company's planning process indicated that Competition was no longer national, but global. Did not resort to complex mathematical techniques to come to this conclusion, but he took the information which had already been compiled into the Planning function. Then he compared the forecasts to the "no change" forecast. A Prognosis without change Atina, about half the time. Thirdly, it did not apply A single forecasting method, but made forecasts with several models and promedied them, Especially with longterm forecasts. Fourth, don't think you could determine All the points of change of a trend. What appears as a point of Inflection often turns out to be a fluke. Fifth, shortened the extent of the forecasts to make them more precise, because the accuracy decreases as it extends the time one tries to predict. Finally, remember that the elaboration of forecasts It is a management skill and as such you must exercise and perfect it. The software of Prognoses has alleviated the mathematical difficulties of the task, although the "numerology" is Just a part of the activity. The managers ' challenge is to interpret the forecasts and incorporate That information in planning decisions. Benchmarking Suppose you are a talented pianist or gymnast. To perfect you want to Learn from the best, so listen to outstanding musicians or study the movements and athletes’ techniques. That's what the latest technique for recognizing the environment Let's study: The Benchmarking, which consists of investigating best practices among Competitors and non-competitors to increase performance. Does the assessment work of indicators? Studies show that those who make it have a growing Higher than 69%, and 45% higher productivity. The basic idea of Benchmarking Is that managers can improve performance if They study and copy the methods of the leaders of various fields. Today, companies like Koch Industries, DuPont, Payless Shoe Source and Volvo Construction Equipment use the Benchmarking As a tool in their quest to improve performance. In fact, some companies have Chosen subjects of Benchmarking Extremely unusual. For example, Southwest Airlines He studied pit teams in the 500 miles of Indianapolis, who change a tire in 15 seconds to find out how I could

expedite customs clearance. IBM studied Las Vegas casinos to find ways to discourage employee theft. Many hospitals compared their admissions processes to Marriott's. Giordano Hong Kong Holdings Ltd., manufacturer and seller of casual clothes made in mass, took Borrowed his concept of "good quality, good value" from Marks & Spencer, he resorted to Limited Brands to evaluate their computerized information system at the point of sale and took as a model of your simplified product offering the McDonald's menu. Even small Companies have found that the Benchmarking It can bring a lot of benefits. By example, Henkel Consumer Adhesives, which manufactures adhesive tapes in Cleveland, compared Its processes with some great names: Wal-Mart, Rubbermaid and PepsiCo. Why? For Compete best against your opponent: 3m Corporation. What is the Benchmarking? It usually follows Four steps: 1. A team of Benchmarking. Your initial task is to identify what is going to be assessed, Determine the organizations of the comparison and choose the methods of Data collection. 2. The team gathers internal data on their own working methods and external data of other organizations. 3. The data is analyzed to detect performance gaps and the cause of the differences. 4. An action plan is drawn up and undertaken to meet or exceed the criteria of the Other. How do you get a team of Benchmarking Data from other organizations? In the first Place, you must decide with whom the comparison will be made. Go to your COntactos among customers, Providers and employees of organizations that seem to be better in the process That you want to improve. Trade associations and industry experts, they know which organizations have revolutionary practices. Pay attention to organizations Who have won local, regional or national awards as possible evaluation subjects. Research also on the Internet. Competition websites can be sources Rich in information. Many sites describe new products or services that are in Development and gives financial information that can be analyzed. Experts suggest That managers do not underestimate the possibility of associating with other organizations, including Rivals, to share indicators evaluation data. Of course, this works only if You have something others want. For example, if you want to improve your Customer satisfaction and already has an excellent ordering system, would be able to change the data with another organization that wants to learn from your experience. Techniques for allocating resources When the organization sets its goals, an important aspect of planning is to determine how these goals will be achieved. For the Managers can organize and

manage to achieve the goals, they must have resources. The Resources Of an organization are its financial assets (debt, mortgage value, income Retained and other financial possessions), physicists (equipment, facilities, raw materials and Other tangible assets), human (experience, skills, knowledge and skills of the Persons), intangible (trademarks, patents, reputation, rights, intellectual property, registered designs and databases), and structural and cultural (History, culture, work systems, labor relations, trust, Policies and structure). How are these resources efficiently and efficiently distributed to achieve the organization's goals? Although managers with various techniques for distributing resources (many of the which are addressed in the courses of accounting, finance, resources and operations Management), here we are going to expose Four techniques: Elaboration of budgets, programming, analysis of the equilibrium point and linear programming. Elaboration of budgets Almost all of us have had some experience, no matter how limited, With budgets. Maybe we learned very soon What If we do not distribute Well our "income", our Sunday would go in "Exits" before the week passed. A Budget is a numerical plan to distribute resources to Specific activities. Managers prepare income budgets, Expenses and capital expenditures, such as equipment purchases; But It is not unusual for budgets to serve to improve time, Space and the use of material resources. In these budgets the figures are not monetary. Daily budgets are made, weekly and monthly items such as hours per person, use of installations or production units. Why are budgets so popular? Maybe because he They apply to many organizations and their work activities. Live In a world where almost everything is expressed in monetary units. dollars, pesos, euros, yen, etc., are units of measurement Common in a country. So, it is logical that monetary budgets Be a useful tool for allocating resources and guiding the work of departments so Dissimilar as manufacturing and research of markets or various levels of the organization. Budgets are a planning technique that all managers apply, Whatever your level. It is an important management activity because it imposes Organization a financial structure and discipline. However, many managers do not They like to prepare budgets because they seem to lose time, they are adamant, Inefficient and ineffective. How is the budgeting process improved? Organizations such as Texas Instruments, IKEA, Volvo and Svenska Handelsbanken Incorporated several of these suggestions when they modernized Their budgeting systems (see the budget-making module on page 518 for an explanation of process mechanics. Programming

Ann is the manager of an Express store in San Francisco. Every week determines the Working hours of the employees and the area of the shop in which each one will work. If you Observe for several days a group of supervisors or store managers, you will see that They do basically the same thing: they allocate resources, in the sense that they detail what activities Must be done, the order in which they should be made, who does everything and when should Be finished. What these managers do is Program. Gantt charts Henry Gantt, Assistant scientific Administration expert Frederick Taylor conceived in the early years of the twentieth century the Gantt Chart. The idea of the graphics is simple. This is essentially a bar graph with time on the axis the horizontal and the activities to be programmed on the vertical axis. The bars represent the production, both the planned and the real, with the passage of time. In a graph is illustrated when you must do the tasks and compare this data with the advance Real. It is a simple but important mechanism with which managers easily detail What to do to finish a job or a project and to evaluate whether an activity She's ahead, on time or delayed. Time is expressed in months at the top of the graph. The main work activities are noted in the column on the left. Planning is to decide what activities to do to produce the book, the Order in which they are made and the time to be assigned to each. The place they occupy the bars in the graph manifests their planned sequence. The part Shading represents the Real progress. The graph also serves as a means of control because the manager can See plan deviations. In this example, both the design of the cover and the printing of the first flat were delayed. The deck design is about three weeks of delay and the impression of the first flat, two weeks. Given this information, the Manager must take steps to compensate for those two lost weeks or make sure That there are no more delays. At this point, the manager knows that the book will be published At least two weeks after planned if you do nothing about it. Load charts A Load graph It is a modification of the Gantt chart. Instead of annotating the activities on the vertical axis, departments or resources are annotated. This Provision allows managers to plan and control capacity utilization. In Other words, the graphs illustrate the capacity by Labor areas. Each editor oversees the production and design of several Books at once. In reviewing the graph, the chief editor, who oversees the six development editors, see who's free to take another book. If everyone is busy, the boss decides not to accept New projects, accepting some delaying others, asking publishers to work hours Extras or hire more development editors. The other editors have Some time and could accept new projects or would be available to help to...