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CS 615 Idea solution :
Question # 1:
Choice elements are found in the theory and practice of strategic management and
provide the performance standard by which enterprise resources are identified, selected,
committed for the growth and survival of the organizational process and future products.
Discuss the key choice elements for the strategic management that are important building
blocks in the design and implementation of the strategies for the enterprise’s future.
Solution:
In the management of an enterprise as if its future mattered, nine key choice elements are
involved. These choice elements for the enterprise are:
1. vision
2. mission
3. objectives
4. goals
5. strategies
6. programs
7. projects
8. operational plans
9. organizational design
These choice elements provide for the major performance standards by which enterprise
resources will be identifies, selected, committed, and reviewed in the enterprise for
survival and growth in its future products, services, and organizational processes.
Vision:
A vision is a mental image of what could be anticipated for the enterprise’s future such as
becoming a world-class competitor. One company defined its vision to be a “world-class
competitor and to keep it that way. We have programs in place to do just that such as a
total qualitymanagement process whereby we live quality.” Another company included
in its vision statement: “We will enhance our competitiveness by being first in the
development of advanced technology that supports our world-class products and
services.”
Mission:
The mission of an enterprise answers the basic question: What business are we in? One
project-driven firm defined its mission in the following way: “We are in the business of
designing, developing, and installing energy management systems and services for the
domestic industrial market.”
Objective:
An objective is a statement of the ongoing purposes in the enterprise that must be carried
out to support the organizational mission. A computer company defines one of its
objectives as “leading the state-of-the-art in its products and services.”
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Goal:
A goal is a specific achievement in the satisfaction of enterprise objectives. As a
performance measurement for progress in the use of resources to support corporate
purposes, a goal has a specific time element. One company defined its goals as the
realization of a certain percentage of return on invested assets by a specific date.
Strategy:
An organizational strategy is the design of the means, through the use of resources, to
accomplish end purposes. Strategies also include action plans for establishing the
direction for the coordinated acquisition and use of resources through organizational
design choices. Strategies also provide for the means to obtain resources for the
enterprise, and how to use such resources effectively and efficiently in the fulfillment of
organizational purposes.
Programs:
Programs are resource-consuming combination of organizational resources, which have a
common purpose in supporting the enterprise’s purposes. For example, a productivity
improvement program could be composed of projects such as the following:
 the use of self-managed production teams on the assembly line
 plane and equipment modernization initiatives
 use of computer-aided design and manufacturing
 Changeover of a production facility from conventional manufacturing to
manufacturing cells.
Projects:
Projects are ad hoc, resource-consuming activities used to implement organizational
strategies, achieve enterprise goals and objectives, and contribute to the realization of the
enterprise’s mission.
Operational plans:
Operational plans are those documents developed to guide the organization in a
consistent fashion toward meeting its mission, objectives, and goals through designated
strategies. These plans from the overarching policies, procedures, and practices for when
and how program and project work will be accomplished.
Organizational Design:
Organizational design is the organizational structure that facilitates performing the work.
Organizational design considers the business that is being conducted, the manner in
which work will be conducted, the practices for managing the work effort and strategies
for work accomplishment. An optimal organization design supports the enterprise in
getting its work accomplished in the most competitive way.
Question # 2:
Discuss the planning limitations in formal strategic planning? (At least five)
Solution:
Some limitations of formal strategic planning
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1. The environment that the enterprise faces may change more than expected,
including unexpected events in economics, social issues, war or the threat of war.
The growing threat of terrorism, natural catastrophes like the Katrina hurricane.
2. Resistance by enterprise people. The old way of doing things, old policies, old
strategies, and operating processes and procedures may be so entrenched that it is
difficult to change them.
3. Strategic planning is challenging. It is hard work, expensive, and the desired
results may take years to more about.
4. Formal strategic planning is not designed to get an enterprise out of current
difficulties. But a strategic planning process that has considered alternative
scenarios, both positive and negative, will help to reduce the effects of operational
difficulties.
5. Strategic planning is hard work. It requires imagination, innovation, analytical
ability, creativity, and the resolution to evaluate, choose, and design
implementation strategies for organization products, services, and processes likely
to be relevant several years into the future.
6. Strategic plans are commitments made in the present for alternative choices for
the often distant future. A strategic plan should be a “living document” not
allowed to become fixed for the future, but be a plan whose implementation is
likely to come about assuming that environmental factors remain relatively
constant.

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