Identify and understand the strategic decision made
With the ramified economic changes and complex business structure, every organization needs to take imperative decisions to implement the strategic decisions and effective business functioning. It is analyzed that business strategic game is associated with the internal and external business factors which needs to be undertaken to formulate effective business strategic program. Strategic management is the starting process which is undertaken in the business strategic game to evaluate and analysis all the opportunities and threats of the business. In the business strategic game, student’s analysis will be made to determine whether the undertaken business will be more beneficial and better as compared to other business organizations. The business strategic game is used by students to learn the effective learning process and implement the effective strategic decision. In this report, main focus has been made to evaluate the business strategic game which is used to evaluate proper internal and external business strategic program to win over the market. It reflects the process activities and undertaken strategic program which company takes to accomplish its set objectives and goals in long run.
After analyzing all the process of the business strategic game, I could easily determine the issues and threats of the business and how these issues could be mitigate by implementing the effective strategies in determined approach. In this reflective strategic report, strategic decision made and undertaken strategic program have been analyzed which will assist business managers to make the effective decisions in determined approach.
The business strategic game is PC based game exercise in which all the real world issues and external business factors is analyzed. I have analyzed that by using the business strategic game, I could easily determine the influential factors which might positively and negatively impact the business growth and efficiency of the organization. I have found that strategic decisions made in the business is highly depended upon the internal and external factors. If proper equilibrium is made between these factors then it will not only assist organization to make the positive changes in business. It is further observed that cost and revenue relation cause and effect relation is the main part which reflects that company needs to manage these factors before undertaking the particular decisions in organization. I have found that the strategic decisions made in the big multinational on the basis of strategic decisions reflects that company follow Business strategic game so that they could easily identify the proper procedure and process system to develop effective business decisions. It is analyzed that many firms have used the business strategic game such as Wesfarmers, Woolworth and Tesco to make the effective strategic decisions (Aumann, 2017). I have analyzed that this BSG game starts with the setting up the operational activities plans and strategic approach undertaken which will assist in formulating the long term business plan. The PESTLE analysis, BCG matrix and long term development plan matrix will be the base in the business strategic game. In BSG game, I have found that every organization is accompanied with the several strategic options and functional program. In Wesfarmers, I analyzed that there are several strategic activities such as inbound and outbound activities. In every department, line managers are appointed to take the strategic decisions. These persons are the key owners of the department who takes their tactics decisions for maintaining the business effectively. It is analyzed that managers takes the key decisions for the effective business functioning. I have observed that most of the employees are dependent upon the orders and decisions taken by their supervisors. This kind of tendency in organization resists the creation and innovation in business. Wesfarmers have faced issue of non-effective product differentiation strategy program (Aumann, 2017). In addition to this, Business strategic game has shown that company development of the strategic program is based on the undertaken work.
Critically evaluate the application of creative strategic management thinking
After using the business strategic game, I have understood that creating core competency in business is very much required to compete in the market with the advance business program. Company needs to learn that in order to give strong competition in market. It has to adopt the advance technologies and cyber computing system in its business. This advance technology assists organization to connect with its clients through online modes in effective manner. strategic decision making is long term business plan which is developed to mitigate the short term and long term business issues (Aumann, 2017). However, in order to expand the business in long run, company could take merger, amalgamation, joint venture and franchises business strategies. These are the most effective business strategies which are undertaken to achieve the certain goals and objectives. the main strategic decisions which were taken by Wesfarmers are product development, market expansion and diversification of its business in other market segments. The strategic decision was undertaken after collecting the required amount of information form the valuable sources. It assisted organization to estimate the future issues and problems in the earlier time and proper resolvance program is prepared to mitigate the same issues (Cokins, 2017). I have found that most of the strategic decisions are taken by the persons who are key managerial persons. These persons act in the best interest of the organization and takes imperative decisions for the sustainable growth of the organization. In case of Wesfarmers, all the strategic decisions such as arrangement of finance funding, investing in the particular course of action and implementing the strategic decisions is highly based on the
It is analyzed that the application of the creative strategic management thinking is based on the implemented strategic program in business. I have found that manager of the company focuses on achieving the competitive advantage in business. The creative strategic management thinking is the base program which assists organization to create competitive advantage in market (Carfì, 2017). It reflects the different outcome and effective business strategies which company uses to beat the competition in market. In addition this, the proper developed program have also shown that Wesfarmers have created core competency in product differentiation strategic program. Creative thinking provides the base for creative and effective strategic program. These are mainly taken by the management for the effective development of organization. I have also analyzed that divergent thinking is based on the set of strategic activities implemented by organization to mitigate the strategic issues and problems in business. I have learned that the proper strategic thinking and development program is developed with the consistent efforts and long term planning (Cokins, 2017). If proper analysis is done to evaluate the internal and external factors of the business then only organization could develop creative strategic management thinking in business. The business strategic game is one of the tools to analysis all these associated factors and its impact on the business of the Wesfarmers. The management department are responsible to take the strategic decisions and undertaken the creative strategic management decisions to manage the business in effective manner (Criado-Gomis, Cervera-Taulet, and Iniesta-Bonillo, M.A., 2017). I have found that strategic management assist organization to mitigate the present and future business issues. However, after using the business strategic game, I have considered that by using the BCG matrix, top down analysis and life cycle stage, managers could easily make the effective application of the undertaken strategic program. It is analyzed that proper business strategic game is top management activities. I have considered that the biggest challenge for each and every company is to set up itself different and effective in the market. The product differentiation and cost leadership skills are the biggest achievement for organization to create strong brand image in market. All the students have learned that business strategic game has learned to make the effective decisions related to operations, distribution and warehouse activities. The business decision making is not only related to the key managerial persons but also related to all the operational managers to meet the short term and long term objectives (Fabbe-Costes, and Colin, 2017).
All the aspect of the undertaken strategic program of the business strategic game reflects the functions of the real-world organizations and how they strive to accomplish the predetermined objectives and goals. Thus, it has allowed me to think rationally and logically in determining and deciding what to do and how to get the valuable decisions for the effective competitive conditions. There are other thinks which I have learned by using the business strategic game such as leadership, management, key managerial persons and undertaken strategic program. If company takes all the decisions and strategic programs then it will not only increase the overall outcomes and efficiency of the business. In addition to this, I have considered that before accepting the particular project company needs to manage the possible resources and capital in the business. These initial requirements which need to be covered by organization to mitigate the possible issues and challenges in the business are the main factors to achieve the certain goals and objectives. Business strategic game has taught me to learn the aspect of crafting the strategies. These strategies are very much required to maintain the business and implement the effective strategies to manage the volume, profit, market share, revenue, costing of the business and performance of organization in long run (Gans, and Ryall, 2017).
I have learned that low cost leadership strategy is considered as competitive advantage which assists organization to implement the effective strategic programs to manage the business in the competitive environment. I have considered that Wesfarmers needs to succeed in the world by using the proper strategic program such as providing the high quality goods and services in market follow proper strategic cost leadership program and implementing the marketing plan. I have found that every organization wants to achieve the success in economic by increasing the market share. With the ramified economic changes, Wesfarmers have used advance technologies and system process to attract high number of clients in market. These strategic programs assist in selecting the targets and regions which needs to be covered by entity to strengthen its overall sales (Ginter, Duncan, and Swayne, 2018).
Many organization decisions are taken with a view to strengthen the overall market growth and mitigating the business issues. I have found that in order to meet the current and future demand of clients in market, Wesfarmers needs to follow the cost leadership and product differentiation strategy. These both strategies are highly depend upon the invested capital for the creative and innovative business strategies in long run. Strategic decisions are the foundation for business growth and expansion in long run. The strategic decisions should be based on the collected primary and secondary data to make the effective decision making. There are so many cases when several companies have collapsed due to the non-effective strategies and resulted to destruction of the business (Kurucz, et al. 2017). There are several reasons which show that why decisions resulted to better and worse results that what is expected from the undertaken decisions. I have found that There is no built-in bias favoring any one strategy, no “secret” which reflects that if company wants to set up its strong brand image then it needs to undertake proper strategic program and innovative business strategies to set up strong brand image in long run. It is further observed that there is no magic bullet strategy that students need to challenge to discover the main compete with their rivals offering in market. The business strategies are the key aspect for the effective success of business. I have learned that well executed strategy and well-convinced plan is the valuable approach to achieve the certain parameters. Furthermore, the strategic plans such as entering into merger, amalgamation and joint venture are the key strategic decisions which are taken by organization to manage the business on sustainable in long run (Lawton, 2017).These decisions are highly impacted by the positive and negative business factors of organization. For instance, with the increasing GDP rate of the Australia, the budget prepared by the Wesfarmers was also changed which negatively impacted the value chain activities and available financial resources (Pant, and Yu, 2017).
All aspects of the business strategic game closely mirror the competitive functions of the real world of the retail stores. Cause and effect relation could also be determined on the basis of revenue and cost plus method. However, PESTLE analysis is the best method which reflects analysis of all the external factors such as political, social, legal, technological, environmental and economical. These factors have been made as realistic as possible in order to provide company co-managers with a close-to-real-life managerial experience where they can apply what they’ve learned in business school. It is the best approach to understand the key aspect of the strategic planning and implemented strategic plans. It is further observed that most of the business has undertaken the proper strategic plans to expand the business on international level (Priem, Wenzel, and Koch, 2018).
The causality of the decisions is based on the external factors and how it has been impacting the business growth of the organization. It is evaluated that company needs to understand that companies have full range of competitive strategic options which they could use to implement the effective strategic plans. These strategies are undertaken to implement the proper business strategic program and avoid the possible business issues. In addition to this, causality of these decisions is hard to determine. However, with the use of business strategic game, it is considered that decisions are influenced by analyzing the internal and external factors of the business. For instance, Wesfarmers took the decision to invest its capital in expanding the organization and increasing the number of business retail chains. It is considered that decision was taken with the increasing business growth. The increasing business growth decision was undertaken on the basis of past data and with the changing economic factors, the decision was changed (Tang, et al. 2017). The causality of the decisions taken depends upon the particular circumstance. The causality of the decisions undertaken showcase the strategic decisions based on the past collected data and implemented development plan. For instance, investing in the particular project was determined on the basis of return on capital employed of that project. Nonetheless, with the changing technologies and economic factors, the return on capital employed went down. It impacted the causality of the decisions undertaken and implemented strategic program. Company might change its decisions if the return on investment decreases or resulted to lower as compared to its cost of capital. In this case, there will be no reason of selecting the project for the investment purpose (Tang, et al. 2017).
With the changes in economic factors and increasing business complexity, it is required to implement the effective strategic program. However, with the changes in economic factors, if Wesfarmers found that the undertaken decisions will have negative impact as the associated business factors have varied then in that case project escalation strategic program will be accepted (Wheelen, et al. 2017). It is the strategic program which reflects how company could manage its business influential factors to mitigate the business issues and problems. In case of project acceptance of project, companies will analysis whether the given return on capital is adequate enough to cover the cost of capital. If due to the changing factors, the cost of capital becomes higher as compared to return on capital employed then company should not accept the project. This strategic program will be based on the available resources and return on capital employed of organization. In addition to this, company has also used the proper action plan chart in which all the activities and undertaken tasks will be managed by undertaking the proper business arrangement. The action plan reflects the time line for every activity and if the work is not taken in proper time line. In addition to this, project escalation and supporting plan is also developed to make the effective arrangement of the decisions. The budgeting and sensitivity analysis are the key measures steps which are used to evaluate the possible changes in market which might impact the decisions of the organization. Therefore, company needs to learn these things if they wants to mitigate the possible losses and business issues (Wieland, Hartmann, and Vargo, 2017).
Conclusion
After analyzing all the issues and factors related to business strategic game, I have found that management of decisions is highly dependent upon the strategic decisions undertaken by organization. In addition to this, if company uses the proper strategic approaches in its business then it will have to analysis that company has to create core competency in market by lower down the cost of the business and following the product differentiation strategic program. Now in the end, it could be inferred that the business strategic game is accompanied with the all level strategic approaches which will assist organization to manage its business and grow effectively.
References
Aumann, R.J., 2017. Game theory. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, pp.1-40.
Carfì, D., 2017. A game Pareto complete analysis in n-dimensions: a general applicative study case. Journal of Mathematical Economics and Finance, 3(1), pp.23-46.
Cokins, G., 2017. Strategic business management: From planning to performance. John Wiley & Sons.
Criado-Gomis, A., Cervera-Taulet, A. and Iniesta-Bonillo, M.A., 2017. Sustainable entrepreneurial orientation: A business strategic approach for sustainable development. Sustainability, 9(9), p.1667.
Fabbe-Costes, N. and Colin, J., 2017. Formulating logistics strategy. In Global Logistics And Distribution Planning (pp. 83-104). Routledge.
Gans, J. and Ryall, M.D., 2017. Value capture theory: A strategic management review. Strategic Management Journal, 38(1), pp.17-41.
Ginter, P.M., Duncan, W.J. and Swayne, L.E., 2018. The strategic management of health care organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Kurucz, E.C., Colbert, B.A., Luedeke-Freund, F., Upward, A. and Willard, B., 2017. Relational leadership for strategic sustainability: practices and capabilities to advance the design and assessment of sustainable business models. Journal of cleaner production, 140, pp.189-204.
Lawton, T.C., 2017. Cleared for take-off: structure and strategy in the low fare airline business. Routledge.
Pant, V. and Yu, E., 2017. Understanding strategic moves and reciprocity on Software Ecosystems: A strategic modeling approach. In IWSECO 2017, 9th International Workshop on Software Ecosystems (pp. 28-42).
Priem, R.L., Wenzel, M. and Koch, J., 2018. Demand-side strategy and business models: Putting value creation for consumer’s center stage. Long range planning, 51(1), pp.22-31.
Tang, J.P., Lam, H.L., Aziz, M.A. and Morad, N.A., 2017. Palm biomass strategic resource managment–A competitive game analysis. Energy, 118, pp. 456-463.
Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. and Bamford, C.E., 2017. Strategic management and business policy. pearson.