Q1: Ans:

Define the term Strategic Management. Explain the importance of Strategic Management? Strategic management is a systematic approach of analyzing, planning and implementing the strategy in an organization to ensure a continued success. Strategic management is a long term procedure which helps the organization in achieving a long term goal and its overall responsibility lies with the general management team. It focuses on building a solid foundation that will be subsequently achieved by the combined efforts of each and every employee of the organization. The Ke feat!res of strategic management are:

"M#$%TA&'E $( ST%ATE)"' MA&A)EME&T: A rapidly changing environment in organizations requires a greater awareness of changes and their impact on the organization. Hence strategic management plays an important role in an organization. Strategic management helps in building a stable organization. Strategic management controls the crises that are aroused due to rapid change in an organization. Strategic management considers the opportunities and threats as the strengths and weaknesses of the organization in the crucial environment for survival in a competitive market. Strategic management helps the top level management to e amine the relevant factor before deciding their course of action that needs to be implemented in changing environment and thus aids them to better cope with uncertain situations. !hanges rapidly happen in large organizations. Hence strategic management becomes necessary to develop appropriate responses to anticipate changes.

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Descri+e #orter,s fi-e forces Mo.el? Porters Five Force model "ichael #. $orter has identified five competitive forces that influence every industry and market. %he level of these forces determines the intensity of competition in an industry. %he ob&ective of corporate strategy should be to revise these competitive forces in a way that improves the position of the organisation.

(ig!re: (orces Dri-ing "n.!str 'ompetitions (orces .ri-ing in.!str competitions are: Threat of new entrants / 'ew entrants to an industry generally bring new capacity( desire to gain market share and substantial resources. %herefore, they are threats to an established organisation. %he threat of an entry depends on the presence of entry barriers and the reactions can be e pected from e isting competitors. An entry barrier is a hindrance that makes it difficult for a company to enter an industry. Suppliers / Suppliers affect the industry by raising prices or reducing the quality of purchased goods and services. Rivalry among existing firms / In most industries, organisations are mutually dependent. A competitive move by one organisation may result in a noticeable effect on its competitors and thus cause retaliation or counter efforts. Buyers / )uyers affect an industry through their ability to reduce prices, bargain for higher quality or more services. Threat of substitute products and services / Substitute products appear different but satisfy the same needs as the original product. Substitute products curb the potential returns of an industry by placing a ceiling on the prices firms can profitably charge. Other stakeholders 0 A si th force should be included to $orter*s list to include a variety of stakeholder groups. Some of these groups include governments, local communities, trade association unions, and shareholders. %he importance of stakeholders varies according to the industry.

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Define the term 2!siness #olic . Explain its importance. )usiness policies are the instructions laid by an organisation to manage its activities. It identifies the range within which the subordinates can take decisions in an organisation. It authorizes the lower level management to resolve their issues and take decisions without consulting the top level management repeatedly. %he limits within which the decisions are made are well defined. )usiness policy involves the acquirement of resources through which the organisational goals can be achieved. )usiness policy analyses roles and responsibilities of top level management and the decisions affecting the organisation in the long+run. It also deals with the ma&or issues that affect the success of the organisation. Features of business policy ,ollowing are the features of an effective business policy Specific 0 $olicy should be specific and identifiable. %he implementation of policy is easier if it is precise. ppropriate ! $olicy should be appropriate and suitable to the organisational goal. It should be aimed at achieving the organisational ob&ectives.

"omprehensive ! $olicy has a wide scope in an organisation. Hence, it should be comprehensive. Flexible ! $olicy should be fle ible to ensure that it is followed in the routine scenario. #ritten ! form %o ensure uniformity of application at all times, the policy should be in writing. Stable ! Policy serves as a guidance to manage day to day activities. %hus, it should be stable. $mportance of Business Policies A company operates consistently, both internally and e ternally when the policies are established. )usiness policies should be set up before hiring the first employee in the organisation. It deals with the constraints of real+life business. It is important to formulate policies to achieve the organisational ob&ectives. %he policies are articulated by the management. $olicies serve as a guidance to administer activities that are repetitive in nature. It channels the thinking and action in decision making. It is a mechanism adopted by the top management to ensure that the activities are performed in the desired way. %he complete process of management is organized by business policies. Business policies are important due to the following reasons% "oordination / .eliable policies coordinate the purpose by focusing on organisational activities. %his helps in ensuring uniformity of action throughout the organisation. $olicies encourage cooperation and promote initiative. &uick decisions / $olicies help subordinates to take prompt action and quick decisions. %hey demarcate the section within which decisions are to be taken. %hey help subordinates to take decisions with confidence without consulting their superiors every time. #very policy is a guide to activities that should be followed in a particular situation. It saves time by predicting frequent problems and providing ways to solve them. 'ffective control / $olicies provide logical basis for assessing performance. %hey ensure that the activities are synchronized with the ob&ectives of the organisation. It prevents divergence from the planned course of action. %he management tends to deviate from the ob&ective if policies are not defined precisely. %his affects the overall efficiency of the organisation. $olicies are derived ob&ectives and provide the outline for procedures. (ecentralisation / 0ell defined policies help in decentralisation as the e ecutive roles and responsibility are clearly identified. Authority is delegated to the e ecutives who refer the policies to work efficiently. %he required managerial procedures can be derived from the given policies. $olicies provide guidelines to the e ecutives to help them in determining the suitable actions which are within the limits of the stated policies. $olicies contribute in building coordination in larger organisations.

Q3:

4hat in +rief5 are the t pes of Strategic Alliances an. the p!rpose of each? S!pplement o!r ans6er 6ith real life examples? Types of Strategic lliances and Business (ecisions %he mutual agreements between the organisations can take a number of forms and are increasing their common goals to get upper hand over their competitors. %he different types of strategic alliances are listed below-

Ans:

1. )oint *enture% 1oint venture 1oint venture is the most powerful business concept that has the ability to pool two or more organisations in one pro&ect to achieve a common goal. In a &oint venture, both the organisations invest on the resources like money, time and skills to achieve the ob&ectives. 1oint venture has been the hallmark for most successful organisations in the world. An individual partner in &oint venture may offer time and services whereas the other focuses on investments. %his pools the resources among the organisations and helps each other in achieving the ob&ectives. An agreement is formed between the two parties and the nature of agreement is truly beneficial with huge rewards such that the profits are shared by both the organisations.
The a.-antages of 7oint -ent!re are A long term relationship is built among the participating organisations It Increases integrity by teaming with other reputable and branded organisations The .isa.-antages of 7oint -ent!re are: Sometimes the organisations deal with wrong people, thereby losing investments %he organisations do not have the opportunity to take up decisions individually # ample / %he !hina 0ireless %echnologies, a mobile handset maker is getting into an agreement with the .eliance !ommunications 2td 3.!om4 to launch its new mobile. %he &oint venture between the two companies is to gain profits and provide affordable mobile phones to the market that consists of advanced features and aims to earn eight billion dollars in the ne t five years. %he new mobile consists of dual SI" smart phone with56 technology at a cheaper rate.

2.

+ergers and ac,uisitions "erger is the process of combining two or more organisations to form a single organisation and achieve greater efficiencies of scale and productivity. %he main reason to involve into mergers is to &oin with other company and reap the rewards obtained by the combined strengths of two organisations. A smart organisation7s merger helps to enter into new markets, acquire more customers, and e cel among the competitors in the market. %he participating organisation can help the active partner in acquiring products, distribution channel, technical knowledge, infrastructure to drive into new levels of success. 0ith the perception of the organisation structure, here are a few types of mergers. %he different types of mergers are-

-ori.ontal merger / %he horizontal merger takes place when two organisations competing in the same market &oin together. %his type of merger either has a ma imum or minimum effect on the market. %he minimum effect could also be zero. %hey share the same product line and markets. *ertical merger / %his involves the union of a customer with the vendor. It is the process of combining assets to capture a sector of the market that it fails to acquire as an individual organisation. %he participating organisations determine the intentions of &oining forces that will strengthen the current positions of both the organisations and lay basis for e panding into other areas. Product!extension merger / "ost of the organisations e ecute product e tension merger to sell different products of a related category. %hey serve the common market. %his merger enables the new organisations to pool their products to serve a common market.

"onglomerate merger / %his merger involves organisations alliance with unrelated type of business activities. %he organisations under conglomerate merger are not related either horizontally or vertically. %here are no important common factors among the organisations in terms of production, marketing, resear ch5 .e-elopment an. technolog .

3. "ollaborations and "o!branding !ollaboration is the process of cooperative agreement of two or more organisations which may or may not have previous relationship of working together to achieve a common goal. It is the beginning to pool resources like knowledge, e perience and sharing skills of team members to effectively contribute to the development of a product rather working on narrow tasks as an individual team member in support to the development. 'olla+oration is a 6in06in metho.olog . "t means that +oth the organisations insist !pon each other to gain e8!al profits 6ith no negati-e attit!.e of ac8!iring each other,s possessions.
Effecti-e colla+oration can +e o+taine. + the follo6ing actions: The 6or9 c!lt!re in the organisation m!st enco!rage team6or95 cooperation an. colla+oration. There m!st +e effecti-e team 6or9 an. cooperation among the emplo ees of +oth the organisations to achie-e the goal. S stematic approach of pro.!ct .e-elopment process m!st +e +ase. on sharing of information5 technolog etc. !o+branding involves the process of combining two or more brands into a single product or service. It is becoming a positive way to associate different brands and develop a strong brand in the market. It creates synergy among the various brands. An organised co+branding strategy leads the co brand partners to a win+win situation and helps in realising large demands in the market. # ample / %he sportswear giant 'ike formed co+branding agreements with $hilips consumer electronic products. %he $hilips electronic products will contain 'ike7s logos and it is mainly marketed in 8nited States since the market share of $hilips is not much impressive. %he newly introduced digital audio player and portable !9 players of $hilips will be unveiled with the 'ike logo to enhance profits in the market share in 8nited States.

4. Technological partnering It is the process of associating the technologies of two different companies to achieve a common goal. %he two organisations work as co+owners in business and share the profits and losses. # ample / %he software giant, Infosys %echnologies 2td. has entered into partnership with 8S based ':I9IA, 6$8 inventor and the world;s visual technologies giant. %he purpose of this partnering is to develop ':I9IA !89A 3!ompute 8nified 9evice Architecture4. %his technology is viewed as the ne t big revolution in the field of technology in lending high performance in computing. %he software helps the developers of various applications to tap into the previously uncultivated power of the 6$8. %his will enable certain applications to achieve high performance. %he capacity of !89A is e pected to multiply fifty times the performance of e isting computing and reduce the run time to advance the user enterprise. 5. "ontractual agreements It is the process of agreement with specific terms between two or more organisations which guarantee in performing a specific task in return for a valuable benefit. %he contractual agreement is the heart of business dealings. It is the most significant areas of legal concern and involves variations in certain situations and comple ities. %he organisations require analysing fundamental factors before involving in contractual agreements.
%he elements to be analysed areIt is necessary to identify the type of offer being laid by the organisation to make an agreement. %he acceptance of the information involved in offer which results in meeting the market needs. %he organisations are required to recognise the strong commitment towards the contractual agreement. Systematic scheduling of the process involved in manufacturing product without any hindrances to both the organisations. 9iscover the terms and conditions for manufacturing the product and the guarantee of the organisations in fulfilling it.

%he contract agreement includes several documents such as letters, orders, offers and counteroffers. %here are various types of contractual agreements. %hey are !onditional / "t is +ase. on occ!rrence of an e-ent. 1oint and several / The organisations promise to perform together +!t still the possess in.i-i.!al responsi+ilities. Implied / The 7!.icial co!rt 6ill .etermine the contract +et6een the organisations +ase. on circ!mstances. The parties 6ill +e a+le to +! all man!fact!re. pro.!cts5 enter into a contract to s!ppl other,s re8!irements5 or rene6al of the existing contract.

6. Outsourcing
It is the process of entering into a contract with an organisation or a person to perform a particular function. "ost of the organisations outsource the work in numerous ways. %he function being outsourced is considered as noncore to the organisation. %he e ternal firms that provide outsourcing services are called as third parties or it is commonly called as service providers. %he concept of outsourcing e isted from the era of work specialisation. 8sually organisations adopt this concept to carry out narrow functions such as payrolls, billing, and data entry. Since most organisations lack in many resources, it outsources these processes to other organisations which consists of specialised tools, facilities and trained personnel. %he four stages involved in the process of outsourcing are-

%he first phase involves strategic thinking for developing the organisational philosophy about the role of business activity outsourcing. %he second phase is the process of evaluating and selecting the appropriate outsourcing pro&ects and choosing the potential location for the work force. %hird phase is the process of contractual agreement such that the business activities are worked legally in terms of pricing and service level agreement 3S2A4 terms. %he final phase is to outsource management to refine the present working relationship between client and outsourcing service providers. # ample / %atvasoft is an Indian outsourcing company that offers software development services to its clients in 8nited States, !anada and Australia. %hey provide software outsourcing services and solutions with the focus on secure, scalable, and reliable business systems. %he key benefits of outsourcing are cost efficiency, availability of trained staff, fle ible manpower utilisation, and risk minimisation. 7. Other +ethods
%he :arious other methods in forming strategic alliances can include the following-+

Affiliate "arketing %echnology 2icensing $roduct 2icensing ,ranchising Sharing . < 9 9istributers

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Explain the concept5 nee. for an. "mportance of a Decision S!pport S stem? "oncept% 9ecision support systems constitute a class of computer+based information systems including knowledge+based systems that support decision+making activities. It is also e plained as a class of information systems 3including but not limited to computerized systems4 that support business and organizational decision+making activities. A properly designed 9SS is an interactive software+based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from a combination of raw data, documents, personal knowledge, or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions. %ypical information that a decision support application might gather and present are An inventory of all of your current information assets 3including legacy and relational data sources, cubes, data warehouses, and data marts4, !omparative sales figures between one week and the ne t, $ro&ected revenue figures based on new product sales assumptions. 0eed% "any companies in developing countries have a very detailed reporting system going down to the level of a single product, a single supplier, a single day. However, these reports / which are normally provided to the 6eneral "anager / should not be used by them at all. %hey are too detailed and, thus, tend to obscure the true picture. A 6eneral "anager must have a bird7s eye view of his company. He must be alerted to unusual happenings, disturbing financial data and other irregularities. As things stand now, the following phenomena could happen %hat the management will highly leverage the company by assuming e cessive debts burdening the cash flow of the company. %hat a false $rofit and 2oss 3$'24 picture will emerge / both on the single product level / and generally. %his could lead to wrong decision+making, based on wrong data. %hat the company will pay e cessive ta es on its earnings. %hat the inventory will not be fully controlled and appraised centrally. %hat the wrong cash flow picture will distort the decisions of the management and lead to wrong 3even to dangerous4 decisions. $mportance% A decision system has great impact on the profits of the company. It forces the management to rationalize the depreciation, inventory and inflation policies. It warns the management against impending crises and problems in the company. It specially helps in following areas %he management knows e actly how much credit it could take, for how long 3for which maturities4 and in which interest rate. It has been proven that without proper feedback, managers tend to take too much credit and burden the cash flow of their companies.

 A decision system allows for careful financial planning and ta planning. $rofits go up, non cash outlays are controlled, ta liabilities are minimized and cash flows are maintained positive throughout. %he decision system is an integral part of financial management in the 0est. It is completely compatible with western accounting methods and derives all the data that it needs from information e tant in the company. So, the establishment of a decision system does not hinder the functioning of the company in any way and does not interfere with the authority and functioning of the financial department.

Q;:

4rite a short note on: a< 'orporate Social %esponsi+ilit

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'orporate social responsi+ilit 3!S.4, also known as corporate responsi+ilit , corporate citi=enship, responsi+le +!siness, s!staina+le responsi+le +!siness >S%2< , or corporate social performance, is a form of corporate self+ regulation integrated into a business model. Ideally, !S. policy would function as a built+in, selfregulating mechanism whereby business would monitor and ensure its adherence to law, ethical standards, and international norms. )usiness would embrace responsibility for the impact of their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere. ,urthermore, business would proactively promote the public interest by encouraging community growth and development, and voluntarily eliminating practices that harm the public sphere, regardless of legality. 'ssentially1 "SR is the deliberate inclusion of public interest into corporate decision!making1 and the honoring of a triple bottom line% People1 Planet and Profit2 %he practice of !S. is sub&ect to much debate and criticism. $roponents argue that there is a strong business case for !S., in that corporations benefit in multiple ways by operating with a perspective broader and longer than their own immediate, short+term profits. !ritics argue that !S. distracts from the fundamental economic role of businesses( others argue that it is nothing more than superficial window+dressing( others yet argue that it is an attempt to pre+empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations. !orporate Social .esponsibility has been redefined throughout the years. However, it essentially is titled to aid to an organization;s mission as well as a guide to what the company stands for and will uphold to its consumers.

+< 2!siness #lan Ans: A 2!siness #lan is a detailed description of how an organization intends to produce, market and sell a product or service. 0hether the business is housing, commercial or some other enterprise, a good business plan describes to others and to your own board of directors, management and staff the details of how you intend to operate and e pand your business. A solid business plan describes who you are, what you do, how you will do it, your capacity to do it, what financial resources are necessary to carry it out, and how you intend to secure those resources. A well+written plan will serve as a guide through the start+up phase of the business. It can also establish benchmarks to measure the performance of your business venture in comparison with e pectations and industry standards. And most important, a good business plan will help to attract necessary financing by demonstrating the feasibility of your venture and the level of thought and professionalism you bring to the task. A well+written plan will serve as a guide through the start+up phase of the business. It can also establish benchmarks to measure the performance of your business venture in comparison with e pectations and industry standards. And most important, a good business plan will help to attract necessary financing by demonstrating the feasibility of your venture and the level of thought and professionalism you bring to the task. A good business plan will help attract necessary financing by demonstrating the feasibility of your venture and the level of thought and professionalism you bring to the task.