Why is Strategy Important

Importance and Benefits of Strategic Studies
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Q1. Why strategic studies are important in business?
The strategy has been defined as the determination of basic long-term goals of a business enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and allocation of resources destined to carry out such goals. Hence, strategic studies are important to ensure strategic management in an enterprise. Strategic studies help to study the formulation of action plans and its implementation mechanisms which is directed towards the achievement of business goals of an organization (Hill & Gareth, 2012).
It helps to understand the initiatives that are required by a company’s management on behalf of the owners. Hence strategic studies teach the optimization of resources, by evaluating the internal and external environments of an enterprise, with the aim of increased productivity or business goals. It helps to inculcate the qualities and skills of strategic management. Such skills help an individual to provide overall direction to the enterprise or his or her specific business unit to meet an organization’s objective. Strategic management also helps to develop policies and plans that would be instrumental in achieving such objectives and allocation of resources to execute such plan (Hill & Gareth, 2012).
Strategic studies also help in developing the skills of strategic decision making in the context of rapid changes in business environments. Such rapid fluctuations in a business environment may occur from competition, change in business policies and federal regulations.

Various models and frameworks are provided in strategic studies to inculcate the skills of strategic decision making in the context of complex environment and competitive dynamics (Hill & Gareth, 2012).
Strategic studies help in creating the concept of strategic planning that is implemented in running of an organization or business goals of an organization. Strategic planning is required both at managerial level and subordinate level for the orientation of action plans which provides the organization at the competitive advantage. The three forms of strategy can be learned through strategic studies (Mulcaster, 2009). These are:
1. Linear Strategy: which helps in inculcating planned determination of goal, objectives and resources of an organization
2. Adaptive strategy: It deals with change management, and it is concerned with addressing the adaptation of an organization to a particular environment.
3. Interpretive strategy: a field that helps to understand the strategy or formulate a strategy based on the mindset of an internal or external customer of an organization. This strategy is beyond the traditional ways of strategy planning and is flexible to suit the decisions or goals or directions of a company in line with the mindset of internal or external clients.
Q2. What are the advantages arising from a strategic approach in a business environment?
Answer: The advantages that arise from a strategic approach in business environment are:
i. Customer Centric Approach: Strategic approach helps to identify the potential internal and external customers associated with the objectives of a business or an organization. This is achieved by understanding the core needs and value added needs of a customer. This helps in synthesizing policies or products aimed to satisfy the needs of such customers that would expedite the business goals of an organization (Hill & Gareth, 2012).
ii. SWOT Analysis & Positioning of services or products
Once the need of a customer is unfolded, strategic approach will aim to position a company’s service or product, with the view of competition existing in the market place and the opportunities that can be explored in reaction to competition or environment changes. This can be achieved through analysis of the strength of organizations own product or services, weakness related to such services or products, opportunities that may be tapped further and the threats that are assumed from a competition. Thus, a strategic approach can help an organization to plan its business goals about competition or anticipated competition. Resources can be planned in advance and fluctuations in business may be minimized even under situations of challenging environments (Cameron, 2014).
iii. The strategic approach also helps to understand the business and employee dynamics which helps in inculcating behavioral changes that optimize business outcomes. For example, authoritative style of leadership may provide space to transactional type of leadership in the same individual, if it is felt that such changes would increase the productivity of his or her business unit (Besanko, 2012).
Q3. What are the uprising benefits from the approach in social networking/ media in terms of more clients/customers in the market?
Answer: The uprising benefits of social media approaches in a strategic execution of business and product marketing are immense. Social networking and utilization of social media is not only a platform to highlight the products or services of an organization, but it is now the platform for an organization to meet its clients or prospective clients. It helps to gather feedback on the strategies much faster before a strategy fails in the market place. This helps in change management much faster to challenge competitors. Moreover, social media may help to enhance non-tangible and tangible relationships with internal customers and to provide them motivation for their success, or innovativeness exhibited or benchmark shared that resulted in increased profitability t an organization. Such appraisal in social forums helps to enhance the self-esteem of an employee, which is critical for the success of a company in the long run. Finally, exhibition of an organization’s product or services in the social media increases the visibility of the product and portrays the value addition of such services or product before a prospective client (Besanko et al., 2012).
Q4. How strategic thinking can be approached?
Answer: Strategic thinking is the process involving generation and application of unique business insights and opportunities that puts an organization or a business unit at a competitive advantage over other organizations or business units respectively. The process involves challenging the core assumptions or traditional strategies and value propositions. In strategic thinking, a manager or an individual creates or synthesizes strategies or provides innovative “out of the box” approaches, which was not an initial part of the strategic planning process (Mulcaster, 2009).
Strategic thinking can be approached by an individual’s experiential learning from the operational procedures of an organization and the trouble shooting requirements that creped from time to time, to meet the business goals of the organization. Strategic thinking may also approach by evaluating data research from the market and synthesizing action plans as per the needs of the market and performance of the customers. Strategic thinking can be catalyzed through inherent qualities of an individual that relates to the early perception of the business environment, the assumption of competitor’s strategy ahead of time, and factual diagnosis (Cameron, 2014).
Thus, strategic thinking can be expedited by inculcating the capacity and skills to orient psychological and materialistic data and an alignment of both, to anticipate business environments ahead of time. Innovation and business intelligence are the two qualities, which an individual should have, to approach strategic thinking.
References
Besanko., D, Dranove., D, Schaefer., S. & Shanley., M (2012). Economics of
Strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Cameron, B. (2014). Using Responsive Evaluation in Strategic Management. Strategic
Leadership Review 4 (2), 22-27
Hill, C.& Gareth R. J.(2012). Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated
Approach, Cengage Learning, 10th edition.
Mulcaster, W. (2009). “Three Strategic Frameworks,” Business Strategy Series, Vol
10, No1, pp68 – 75.