Q:1 Explain the corporate strategy in different types of organization ?

Answer: A well-formulated strategy is vital for growth and development of any organization- whether it is small business a big private enterprise, a public sector company , a multinational corporation or a non profit organization. But the nature and focus of corporate strategy in these different types of organization. Small business , for example generally operate in a single market or a limited numbers of markets with a single product or a limited range of products. The nature and scope of operations are likely to be less of a strategic issue than in larger organizations. Not much of strategic planning may also be required or involved and the company may be content with making and selling existing products(s) and generating some profit. In many cases the founder or the owner himself forms the senior/top management and his/her wisdom gives direction to the company. In large business or companies-whether in the private sector or multinationals-the situation is entirely different. Both the internal and the external environment and the organizational objectives and priorities are different. For all large private sector enterprises, there is a clear grow ,increase market share and generate more revenue and profit . For all such companies, both strategic planning and strategic management play dominant roles. Multinationals have a greater focus on growth and development, and also diversification in terms of both products and market .This is necessary to remain multinational companies like General Motors, Honda and Toyota may have to decide about the most strategic locations or configurations of plants for manufacturing the cars. They are already operating multi location strategies and in such companies. In public sector companies objectives and priorities can be quite different from those in private sector. Generation of employment and maximizing output may be more important objective than maximizing profit. Stability rather than growth may be more priority in many times. Accountability system is also very different in public sector from that private sector. There is also greater focus on corporate social responsibility. The corporate planning system and management have to take into account all these factors and evolve more balancing strategies. In nonprofit organizations the focus on social responsibility is even greater than in the public sector. In these organizations, ideology and underlying values are of central strategic significance. Many of these organizations ideology and underlying values are of central significance. Q;2 What are role consultants play in the strategic planning and management process of company? Is it an essential role? Answer: Management consultant can play a very useful roles in the strategic planning process of a company . Consultants services in different functional areas of management including the strategic planning and management process. In companies with no separate planning division or unit, consultants can fill that gap. They can undertake planning and strategy exercise as and when the company management feel that need for such exercise or consultants may provide specialized inputs or insights into identified management or strategy areas. Top strategic consultants like Mckinsey & Company use or develop latest tools, techniques or models to work out solutions to specific strategic management problems and issues be it productivity, cost efficiency, restructuring, long term growth or diversification. Consultants bring with them diversified skills and experience from various companies in to a single company. This the reason why the even single and large multinational companies hire consultants for achieving their goals or objective. There are many international consultants who are in demand in different countries .there are also national consultants who are in demand in different countries. There are also national consultants .leading international consultants in addition to McKinsey & Company are Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Arthur D Little Accenture .Prominent Indian consulting companies are AF Ferguson, Tata Consultancy Services TCS and ABC Consultants. Consultants , sometimes have a difficult or delicate role to play. In many companies a situation develops when the chief executive or the top management needs to bank upon the support of an external agency like a consultant to push through a strategic change in the organizational structure or management system of the company. It may be for growth and development or downsizing. In many cases many companies face internal resistance to change. The resistance is more if it is downsizing even when it is requiring for turn around a company. This happiness particularly in public sector companies where implementing change is always difficult . Consultants are engaged to support or substantiate the company s point view. So that the change is more easily acceptable to the internal stakeholders of the company. Q;3 What is strategic Audit ? Explain its relevance to corporate strategy and corporate governance? Answer: With increasing pressure on boards from external stakeholder to be more active ,many directors are seeking more practical ways to conduct strategic overview of company management without getting directly involved in it. Donaldson(1995) has suggested strategic audit as a new tool for systematic review of strategy by board members without directly involving themselves with management of companies. Strategic audit is a formal strategic review process , which imposes its own discipline on both the board and the management very much like the financial audit process. But , it is different from management audit which is undertaken in many companies by the senior/top management on the progress and outcome of important corporate activities. To understand strategic audit in the correct perspective , one needs to analyse this in terms of various elements . Donaldson has specified five elements of strategic audit. These are : 1. Establishing criteria for performance 2. Database design and maintenance 3. Strategic audit committee 4. Relationship with the CEO 5. Alert to duty( BY board members) The performance criteria should be simple well understood and well-accepted measure of financial performance . A number of measure of financial performance are available. One common measure , used by many companies ,is return on investment (ROI).

The ROI can be analysed like this: Profit per unit of sales ; sales per unit of capital employed ; and capital employed per unit of equity invested . if these three ratios are multiplied together the resultant ratio will give profit per unit of equity Q;4 What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ? Which are the issues involved in analysis of CSR? Name three companies with high CSR rating. Answer: as mentioned above external stakeholder of an organization are too many and varied and many of them represent different sections of social groups. This implies that organizations should be socially responsible. that is , in addition to the interests of the shareholders , business or companies should also serve the society. This is corporate social responsibility CSR. Corporate social responsibility can be defined as the alignment of business operations with social values. The conflict between internal and external stakeholder can go much further than mentioned so far. Some feel that this is the most problematic issue in deciding company responsibility. External stakeholders argue that internals stakeholder demand be made secondary to be greater need of society. That is greater good of external stakeholder .Many of them feel that issue like pollution, waste disposals. Environmental safety and conservation of natural resources should be the overriding consideration for formulation of policy and strategic decision making. Internal stakeholders. On the other hand ,think that the competing or social claims of external stakeholders should be balanced in such a way that it protect the company mission , objective and profitability .the strong exponents of CSR also talk of social policy for companies. They feel that social responsibilities of companies should be clearly for companies. They feel that social responsibilities of companies should be clearly enunciated and declared as social policy. Social policies may directly affect a companys product and services technology , markets, customers and self image. According to these thinkers an organization s social policy should integrated into all management activities including the mission statement and objective. Many feel that corporate social policy should be integrated in to all management activities including implementation and reaffirmed or changed during strategy evaluation. Worldwide companies are trying to integrate corporate social responsibility into their business operations and strategies . Microsoft , Coca-Cola , McDonalds FedEx, IBM and Johnson & Johnson are some of the leading companies. In India also many companies are integrated CSR into their business practices and making significant contributions to society. Q;5 Distinguish between core competence , distinctive competence, strategic competence and threshold competence .Use examples? Answer: Competence Analysis: Competence is the ability to perform a task or achieve some objectives. Competence levels vary across organizations , and also within an organization from time to time . Difference in performance among companies in the same market and product category is , due to the difference in their competence levels. This happens because only some companies are able to demonstrate the competence demanded by particular competitive situations. This applies to a particular company also. Just for survival a company needs to possess a particular level of competence. Four major types of Core competence , Distinctive , Strategic, Threshold Core competence of a company is one of its special or unique internal competence. Core competence is not just a single strength or skill or capability of a company. It is interwoven resources , technology and skill or capability of a company. Honda s core competence is in engines . 3Ms core Competence gives a company a clear advantage over others. It should be relate to an activity or process that inherently underlines the value in the product or service as perceived by the customer. This is important because managers often take an internal view of value and either miss or deliberately overlook the customer perspective. Distinctive Competence ; core competence may not enough ,because it focuses it focuses predominately on the product or process and technology, or, as Hamel and Prahalad put it. the combination of individual technologies and production skills . there are two problem with this. First strong and aggressive competitors may develop , either through parallel innovations or imitations. It include core competence as one of the alternative . But there are other alternatives that are also based on organizational capabilities. So distinctive competence is more broad based. Thomson and Strickland have defined distinctive competence as; Distinctive competence is the unique capability that helps an organization in capitalizing upon a particular opportunity ; the competitive edge it may give a firm in the markplace. Strategic Competence: Strategic competence coexists with, or support core competence and distinctive competence .Strategic competence is the competence level required to formulate , implement and produce results with a particular strategy, for example to outwit competitors. Hindustan Unilever did this . in the mid and the late 80s, and reestablish their leadership in the detergent market. Strategic competence may also involve combination or convergence of different capabilities as in the case of Hindustan Unilever. Threshold Competence: Threshold competence is the competence level required just for survival in the market or business. The competence level of company may be weaker than many of its competitors. Threshold competence may be adopted by no. 5 and no.6 player in the market or those struggling to survive. Companies with threshold competence can , over time , graduate to a higher level of competence . But continued threshold competence can also lead to closure of business. Multi product of multi-SBU companies may often possess a portfolio of competence. In some product or business they may have core competence but not in all. A conceptual portfolio of organization competence consisting of core competence , distinctive competence , Strategic competence and threshold competence. Q;6 What is global industry? Explain with example, international strategy , multi-domestic ,global Strategy and transnational strategy. Answer:

Global industry: in global industry the strategic position of companies in different countries or national markets are governed by their overall global positions. For example: IBMS strategic position in competitors. To be called a global industry an industrys economic and competitors in different national market should be considered jointly rather than individually. Distinction should be made between an international industry and a global industry. An industry in a country may be international if it includes a number of multinational companies. But industries with multinational companies are not necessarily global industries . To be a global industry as explained above about IBM, an industry should have multi location manufacturing facilities. And compete worldwide to secure global synergy or competitive advantage. Porter has suggested a framework or steps for formulating competitive strategies in fragmented industries. This is a five step framework. The steps actually consist of finding answers to five vital questions relating to strategy formulating in fragmenting industries .companies which enter emerging industries during the course of their development also have a choice to make about which industries to enter . Here again they often have a choice between alternating emerging industries.