Response to Management Strategies

In Kim Dawson’s (2013) essay, Strategy Schools of Thought, the author’s insightful essay reviewed Strategy Safari left the reader with a sound understanding of the concepts of the book while understanding how some of the key concepts of strategic management apply to her present situation at Merke.

Strategic management seems to be a very appropriate approach for Mercke. Being at the top of product innovation is difficult to maintain for a considerable length of time, and some may be able to achieve this, even for a century, but the drive of competition and innovation always keeps even top companies on their toes. Being proactive in a constant assessment of what the competition is doing in terms of marketing and product innovation is a constant challenge (Hill & Jones, 2013; Nag, Hambrick, & Chen, 2007).

Yet, there is a very human tendency to get too comfortable. Past achievements might deflate some of the drive needed to maintain the top position. Dawson’s (2013) observations about the change that is needed for Merke to continue to maintain its top position are insightful. It seems Merke is fighting against this very human tendency to become complacent from past achievements. Also, it is difficult to initiate and implement company culture changes to remain competitive. For instance, it can be very challenging for corporations to switch to a flexible employee-driven schedule after many years of maintaining a traditional operation structure.

As Dawson (2013) implied, change can be challenging for a corporation that has achieved so much over an extended period of time, which can invite inflexibility on all levels of the organization. It is an important point that in order for Merke to remain competitive, it needs to adopt an attitude of viewing their corporation as a whole, being careful to pay attention to every part of the organization so it can operate as a unified whole.

References

Dawson, K. (2013, November 21). Strategy schools of thought.

Hill, C. W.L. & Jones, G. R. (2013). Strategic management theory: An integrated approach (10th Ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Nag, R., Hambrick, D. C., & Chen, M.-J. (2007). What is strategic management, really? Inductive derivation of a consensus definition of the field. Strategic Management Journal 28(9), 935–955. DOI:10.1002/smj.615.