Text 4. Strategic priorities

A company creates its strategic priorities to distribute its resources in effective way. The corporate objectives and strategic priorities have a common purpose – to serve the customers and meet their needs.

The strategic priorities constitute the wish to be innovative; they form a company mini-strategy (MOS), together with the company mission and objectives. The mini-strategy helps develop a company strategy, as a whole

MOS: Mission /Objectives / Strategic priorities

MOS is known to represent “a managerial bridge” between the strategy and tactics; it helps set the mind at company’s main goals in everyday activities.

Strategy – MOS - Tactics

To sum up, it is worth noting that corporate mission must be realistic, concrete and specialized. It must stimulate staff to do business for their company and customers. The vision, in turn, reflects the company’s foresight and identifies its future development for 5-10 years. The company management transforms the mission and vision into strategic objectives.

As for image, it is a concrete figurative idea (external and internal) that helps to understand the point and goal of company’s activity. Company image should demonstrate its ability to gain stable positioning in competitive market. In other words, image represents a firm’s corporate identity.

Text 5. Spin of Success

As “Marks and Spenser” Co. states: “Our mission is our basic customer benefits. We respect them and meet their needs providing them for maximum service”. Peter Drucker? The famous guru in management, prices “M&S” as the best world company in the sphere of management. He notes that its course intends the stable growth and success.

What is success? How can we define it?

Every large-scale company follows “a spin of success”:

- definition of effective demand;

- concentration on the problem;

- competence;

- success.

The main problem is in the centre of a spin, i.e. the main problem definition. It is one of the most important parts; the more is known about it, the better. In other words, it is an effective demand – the strongest demand in the market. A company should find it, decide what to do for its satisfaction and, finally do it better than its competitors.

The next step is concentration on the problem. A company starts making decisions and … “the spin starts turning”.

The third stage is a competence. In fact, any company needs to be competent in solving the problem and taking business direction.

A set of competences has been developed;

Client responsiveness:

1. Relationship building establishes mutual understanding and builds long-term relationships with key decision makers;

2. Professional judgment - knows who the “real client is at all times and uses this knowledge to operate effectively.

Business skills:

Commerciality –relates all aspects of company’s service to client’s business perspective.

Business development – is seen by existing clients to market effectively and appropriately

Management:

1.Task management skills – control the process of delivery to the client.

2.Team skills – encourages openness and co-operating working;

3. People development – gives staff responsibility and autonomy appropriate to their level of competence.

Personal effectiveness:

1. Drive and commitment to results –goes beyond client’s expressed requirements and meets their real need.

2. Resilience – recover crisis situations; is resourceful at time of pressure and stress.

Social skills:

1.Communication skills – speaks clearly and with impact(influence);

2. Social confidence – is perceived to enjoy the company of a wide range of people.

Thinking skills:

1.Analytical thinking – analyses large amounts of complex data, extracts essentials;

2. Proactive thinking –comes forward with ideas unprompted by clients.

While in operation, a company should be able to analyze its customers, competitors, changes if the environment it acts in, and to control its activities by answering the questions: What impedes (prevents) the profitability increase? After that it can define its corporate strategy.

Only then a company faces its business success. Developing spiral, success attracts the new success, like a magnet.

The company’s success depends on how all its strategies match its corporate mission. In turn, it is extremely important for the top management to have a clear understanding of corporate mission in order to create a basis for formulating corporate strategy.

The most important task of top management is to motivate the personnel, instill self-confidence in staff, and make guiding line turn into accessible objectives.

Answer the questions to Unit 2

1. What is meant by the mini-strategy and vision?

2. What’s special about mission and why is it so vital?

3. Why are your company’s objectives so important?

4. What are the strategic priorities?

5. What can be considered as a bridge between the strategy and practice?

6. Why is it difficult for company to do the strategic choice?

7. In what way can a company achieve its goals?

8. Why is it important to watch over a company image?

9. What is meant by “a spin of success”?

10. What competences are essential for a manager to be a success?

Vocabulary to Unit 2