The Value-Adding Support Strategies Research Paper

The Value-Adding Support Strategies Research Paper

Conducting an analysis of the external environment of an organization is very essential towards informing directional, adaptive and competitive strategies. The main focus of an external analysis is seeking to aggregate, determine and interpret any existing issues that influence the running or existence of a business organization. Some of the external factors include government regulations, inflation, customer behavior and laws. When a thorough external analysis is done, strategic awareness is created and helps in interpretation and recognition of changes in environment. An organization structure on the other hand refers to a system that dictates how certain activities in an organization should be conducted to achieve the desired goals. Some of these activities include responsibilities of every stakeholder and employees, rules and roles that govern the whole organization (Burton & Obel, 2018)The Value-Adding Support Strategies Research Paper.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

Organization structure is essential in determining how information should be conveyed in the various levels of an organization. Having an organization structure is therefore very important in maintaining its focus and efficiency while producing its product or services. This paper aims at looking the effect of external environmental analysis in development of value-adding support strategies and the basic building blocks of an organization structure.
An environmental analysis main objective is to facilitate development of a strategy through ensuring that decision makers in the organization have sufficient information of external environment. Some of these information may include increase of regulation with an aim of reducing pollution, shifting demographics, changing political parties as well as making other technological developments (Dean, 2020). For example, if an invention of technology is made and effectively utilized in other organizations, it is the work of the managers to also explore on how the technology would improve efficiency in their organization to increase competitiveness. An external environmental analysis main purpose is identifying all the possible threats from competitors or any other available opportunities through emphasizing on organization’s competitiveness, structure, dynamics and history. Identifying these threats and opportunities subsequently helps the major decision makers of an organization to develop the appropriate strategies.
Accurate analysis of external environmental factors can help an organization to identify, classify and evaluate factors based on their significance thus helping the strategic managers to implement and formulate the appropriate strategies. The gathered information from the external analysis is essential in making future predictions thus helping to plan for any unfavorable events that may influence the survivability of the organization (Malhotra, Majchrzak, & Niemiec, 2017).

Strategy formulation encompasses all the processes of goal establishment as well as developing an appropriate plan of achieving such goals. Organizations incorporate strategy formulation to make plans for success and making any improvements in the strategies employed.
The strategy formulation process, commonly referred to as parts of the process involves six major steps. Determining the objectives of the organization is the first step. The objectives must be clearly defined and a detailed plan of how they would be achieved be developed. Moreover, a strategy formulation must specify the time period that each objective is expected to be met. The second step is assessment of the environment of the organization. Assessment of organizational environment involves observing, tracking and analyzing the organization’s competitors (Dean, 2020). It also involves regular review and analysis of both qualitative and quantitative properties of product or services that the organization deals with. Fixing quantitative targets is the third step. At this stage, the organization fixes the quantitative targets that they plan to achieve within a quarter or financial year. Such targets help to provide an important information concerning the long-term value of customers to an organization. The fourth step involves divisional plans and contributions from different departments. It is a step that involves each organization’s department, product, division or service being identified and evaluated for its adherence and performance in accordance with the strategic planning (Malhotra, Majchrzak, & Niemiec, 2017). The fifth step is performance analysis. Every organization is expected to point out and analyze the existing gap between the actual performance and the desired performance. It is a process that is done through customer’s feedback, performance data and suggestions of employees among other existing trends in an organization. It is also the step that enables an organization to embrace its past and present achievements as well as determining the achievable future accomplishments. Finally, choice of a strategy is the last step. It is the final stage of making a decision of what strategy to utilize in an organization. It is a step that requires a thorough and careful consideration of the weaknesses, strengths, potentials, limitations and availability of internal and external opportunities of the organization for the best strategy to be chosen.
There exist three major basic building blocks of an organization structure. The three include divisional structure, functional structure and matrix structure. To start with, the functional structure is also referred to as bureaucratic organizational structure. It is an organizational structure that breaks a company/organization according the specialization of its workforce (Egelhoff, 2017). In many cases functional structure is applied in medium sized and small organizations. For example, a firm may apply the functional structure through dividing into various departments such as sales, marketing and operations. This type of structure experiences some hierarchical and centralization in its unity of command in most cases. Some of the structure’s pros include promoting specialization, promoting centralization which impact increased control and creating a room for various departments where expertise is paramount. Some of its drawbacks include limited potential growth due to specialization that discourages innovation and limiting horizontal communication since majority of communication is vertical (Dean, 2020). The structure can also impact slow decision making process as well as limiting the coordination rate of the organization’s general managers.
Divisional structure on the other hand is more pronounced in large companies and organizations that have large business units. An organization employs this type of structure throughout its team of leadership according to projects, product or the subsidiaries that they operate (Burton & Obel, 2018)The Value-Adding Support Strategies Research Paper. For example, a company such as Johnson & Johnson that deals with numerous products in its business has structured itself in a way that every business unit operates itself independently as any other company. It is a structure that helps to overcome some of the challenges experienced in the functional structure. Some of the pros associated in this type of structure include increased coordination, specialization and efficiency and increased accountability and responsibility. It also emphasizes on geographical segmentation. The development of general managers is also increased, which is an added advantage. Some of the disadvantages that might be experienced is duplication of activities and high competition among the business units. A mistake made by one business unit may destroy the reputation of the whole organization which is also a disadvantage.
Last but not least, the matrix structure is also an important structure that is employed by a significant number of large companies. It is a structure that is utilized across different departments, divisions or superiors in an organization. For instance, an employee working in an organization/company that is matrixed can assume roles of sales and customer service at the same time (Egelhoff, 2017). It is a structure that focuses on increased integration and synergy. Some of the advantages of this structure include increased productivity, creativity and innovation. The structure also facilitates increased product differentiation as well as creating well diversified team with skills and experience. However, it experiences some drawbacks such as hardship of maintenance due to its complex nature and communication challenges. The structure may also impact loss of control.
In a recap, the external environmental analysis is very crucial especially in a competitive environment. It facilitates the planning for strategies that ensure survivability of an organization. It is also essential since it helps organizations to provide high quality product and services as a result of the competition. Through the role of external environmental analysis in identifying threats and opportunities surrounding an organization, the critical decision makers are able to develop strategy formulation process that involves five crucial parts as detailed above. These strategies facilitate a smooth and successful running of the organization. The organization structure also plays an important role towards the success of an organization. Some of the three basic building blocks of an organization structure include divisional structure, functional structure and matrix structure. These organization structures facilitate consistency, clarity among employees as well as enabling communication and good decision making processes. The Value-Adding Support Strategies Research Paper

References
Burton, R. M., & Obel, B. (2018). The science of organizational design: fit between structure and
coordination. Journal of Organization Design, 7(1), 1-13.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41469-018-0029-2
Dean, G. R. (2020). The role of the CMO in marketing strategy formulation (Doctoral
dissertation, University of Pretoria). http://hdl.handle.net/2263/80433
Egelhoff, W. (2017). The Importance of the Strategy–Structure Relationship in MNC s. The
Blackwell handbook of cross‐cultural management, 99-120.
https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405164030.ch6
Malhotra, A., Majchrzak, A., & Niemiec, R. M. (2017). Using public crowds for open strategy

ORDER TODAY

formulation: mitigating the risks of knowledge gaps. Long Range Planning, 50(3), 397-
410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2016.06.004
Mosca, L., Gianecchini, M., & Campagnolo, D. (2021). Organizational life cycle models: a
design perspective. Journal of Organization Design, 10(1), 3-18.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41469-021-00090-7 The Value-Adding Support Strategies Research Paper