Strategic control
Strategic control shapes the decisions that are taken by corporate rulers in relation to ‘the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of the enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals. Strategic decisions set or alter the structure of the basic parameters within which an enterprise acts (Scott 1997). To control the implementation of the new strategy, communication systems will be used between the members of the organization. The communication systems will assist in monitoring the new strategy and its effects on the organization. The implementation of the new strategy will be validated via its effect on the company and the industry. To assist strategic control, control techniques will be used. The following part lists the probable control techniques for Sony Ericsson.
A. Balanced Scorecard
The balanced scorecard was introduced by Robert Kaplan and David Norton to measure whether the activities of the company is meeting its objectives. The balanced scorecard have become a fertile field of theories and scholastic research, as times past the balanced scorecard was altered by various individuals depending on the need of the environment. When Sony Ericsson implements the balance scorecard it will translate the company’s vision into operating goals, the balance scorecard will communicate the vision and then link it to individual and organizational performance, the balance scorecard will also lead to a much strategized business planning process, lastly the balanced scorecard will help the company to know how to gain feedback and learn from such feedback. This in turn will help the company adjust its strategy according to the feedback and what they have learned from it. A disadvantage of the balanced scorecard is studies not linking balanced scorecard to improved financial performance. This could mean that the balanced scorecard can create changes to the financial performance but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the financial performance will improve. This also means that the balanced scorecard can only initiate the movement in the financial performance and not create methods to increase the financial performance of the firm.
B. Benchmarking
Benchmarking can help Sony Ericsson compare what it does against what another organization does; it puts the basis of comparison on its cost, time spent or quality of service. A problem with benchmarking is it forces restriction on what has been done. Benchmarking does not help the organization to achieve marketing share instead it is a catch-up managerial tool.
C. Sony Ericsson Budget
The company’s budget in 2007 reached €5,380,000. This budget was used for the cost of production and the other expenses made by the firm. Each expense of the firm was duly noted and recorded. The cost for the company includes the production expenses, supplies expense, rent expense, salary expenses, tax expenses and other miscellaneous expenses.
D. Project Program management
Project management will not work if managers are not knowledgeable about the project they are guiding. Putting project managers that knows about economics into projects that are purely technical in nature would cause the failure of such projects. There is a need for performance measurements during project making. Performance measurements help in knowing whether the people working in the project can finish such task at the fastest time possible. There are different methods used to measure performance this includes GANTT, PERT and CPA. Gantt charts can be understood by a wide audience because it makes use of a common technique for representing the phases and activities of a project. Gantt charts show little information per unit area of display. It can be said that projects are considerably complex than can be communicated effectively with a Gantt chart. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is known as a method that helps in analyzing the involved tasks in completing a given project. PERT focuses on the time needed to complete a task. Pert charts require the minimum time needed to complete the total project. The limitation for PERT chart involves human errors. Creators of PERT charts may omit certain activities; PERT chart creators may also organize the activities in the wrong order. Critical Path Analysis (CPA) calculates the longest path for planned activities until it reaches the end of the project. CPA takes a look at the earliest and latest instances that a certain activity can start and finish without making the project longer. There are instances wherein a schedule made using CPA is not realized accurately, this results to change in analysis and failure of the project.
E. Project Selection
The NPV is known as a method that uses the time value of money to increase long-term projects. NPV measures cash flows particularly the excess or shortfall of cash flows. The problem with NPV is it is not flexible for any issues after project decision. NPV also has a weakness in dealing with intangible benefits
Five stage plan
First stage
The first stage of the implementation will take around 1 to 2 weeks. The first stage focuses on the initial stages of the implementation. This part focuses on the initial preparation for the new strategy. The resources for this activity includes different sources that can provide information on how the business can grow and achieve its goals; the other resource for this stage includes different notes and information that will provide the different changes that needs to be done with regards to the employees and the initiation process. In this stage Sony Ericsson will gather the needed resources.
Second Stage
The second stage of the implementation of the new strategy includes the planning stage. The second stage of the implementation stage will take one week so that proper planning, testing and analysis of the new strategy can be made. In this stage the effects of the new strategy have been known and are ready for implementation in the company.
Third stage
The third stage of the implementation stage will take three to four weeks for proper adjustments. In this stage the focus is on the full implementation of the new strategy. In this stage everyone concerned has been informed of the change in strategy and they start to feel the changes brought about by the new strategy. The resources for this stage are proper information and training tools for employees about the new strategy.
Fourth stage
The fourth stage of the implementation will involve the control, validation and evaluation of the new strategy. The resource for this stage included informative materials that will be used to understand the changes the new strategy has done to the company and what are the current problems of the initiated project. The fourth stage will check how the project succeeded in its goal and how Sony Ericsson should change. The fourth stage of the project will take around one to two weeks.
Fifth stage
The fifth stage will feature the evaluation of the implementation of the new strategy. To avoid failure, the implementation of the new strategy should be constantly checked and evaluated to see if it still performs according to standards. Evaluation will focus on checking how the firm has adjusted to the new strategy and how the firm has grown after changing its strategies. Evaluation will be used to determine the things or issues that should be changed within the new strategies and determine the next courses of actions that should be taken to achieve success. This stage will use one to two weeks.
The need for globalization
Professor George Yip once mentioned that whether to globalize and how to globalize have become burning issues for managers all over the world. This generalization contributed to creating the new strategies out of ideas that are competitive to the global economy. The new strategy was created by determining the global situation and determining what actions can be used to compete in a global economy.
Recommendation
General Gavin once said that nothing chastens the planner more than the knowledge he/she must carry to implement the plan. This statement helped in creating one of the recommendations for the implementation of the new strategy. Those who will implement the new strategy need to be properly informed of the new strategy and how it will be implemented. Those who will implement the new strategy need to be well informed and they need to understand fully the new strategy. Those who will implement the new strategy need to be prepared for the negative effect of the new strategy. They need to be prepared for the negative effects of the new strategy and know what actions should be taken. Sony Ericsson needs to make sure that they will identify newer strategies that are globally competitive. The newer strategies should help the company bolster its status and should be simple so that it would be easily implemented. The newer strategies should meet the goals of the organization.
References
Culpan, R 2002, Global business alliances: Theory and
practice, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.
Dewar, JA 2002, Assumption-based planning: A tool for
reducing avoidable surprises, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, England
Dunning, J (eds.) 2003, Making globalization good: The
moral challenges of global capitalism, Oxford University
Press, Oxford, England.
Scott, J 1997, Corporate Business and Capitalist Classes,
Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Shiomi, H & Wada, K (eds.) 1995, Fordism transformed: The
development of production methods in the automobile
industry, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Tabb, WK 2004, Economic governance in the age of
globalization, Columbia University Press.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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