Corporation strategy and business or competitive strategy Co

Corporation strategy and business (or competitive) strategy. Company is \"Whole food market INC in 2014\"

1) What have been the key elements of the company’s corporate strategy up until the time of the case?

2) What is the company’s business strategy (ignore best cost provider)

3) What role does corporate culture play   in the implementation of the company’s strategies?

Solution

Strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by a company\'s top management on behalf of owners, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization competes.^[1]

Strategic management provides overall direction to the enterprise and involves specifying the organization\'s objectives, developing policies and plans designed to achieve these objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the plans. Academics and practicing managers have developed numerous models and frameworks to assist in strategic decision making in the context of complex environments and competitive dynamics.^[2] Strategic management is not static in nature; the models often include a feedback loop to monitor execution and inform the next round of planning.^[3][4][5]

Michael Porter identifies three principles underlying strategy: creating a \"unique and valuable [market] position\", making trade-offs by choosing \"what not to do\", and creating \"fit\" by aligning company activities with one another to support the chosen strategy.^[6] Dr. Vladimir Kvint defines strategy as \"a system of finding, formulating, and developing a doctrine that will ensure long-term success if followed faithfully.\"^[7]

Corporate strategy involves answering a key question from a portfolio perspective: \"What business should we be in?\" Business strategy involves answering the question: \"How shall we compete in this business?\"^[8] In management theory and practice, a further distinction is often made between strategic management and operational management. Operational management is concerned primarily with improving efficiency and controlling costs within the boundaries set by the organization\'s strategy.

A business strategy is the means by which it sets out to achieve its desired ends (objectives). It can simply be described as a long-term business planning. Typically a business strategy will cover a period of about 3-5 years (sometimes even longer)

A business strategy is concerned with major resource issues e.g. raising the finance to build a new factory or plant. Strategies are also concerned with deciding on what products to allocate major resources to - for example when Coca-Cola launched Pooh Roo Juice in this country.

Strategies are concerned with the scope of a business\' activities i.e. what and where they produce. For example, BIC\'s scope is focused on three main product areas - lighters, pens, and razors, and they have developed superfactories in key geographical locations to produce these items.

Two main categories of strategies can be identified:

1. Generic (general) strategies, and

2. Competitive strategies.