Abstract Science Construction’s business is in planning, developing and building road projects. The major of its clients are municipalities, city governments, and other public sector entities. While the bankruptcy rates for these clients is very low, when economic downturns happen, their ability to pay in a timely fashion also suffers. This leads to businesses such as Science Construction needing to take on additional debt and to find creative methods in order to stay afloat during times of recession. Methods such as selling accounts receivables at discounted rates and taking larger lines of credit through banks and other lending institutions are some of the ways organizations can remain viable when their cash inflows have turned into a trickle. Science Construction is asking the Turkish Courts to postpone their bankruptcy proceedings for a year while they attempt to restructure. Through this, suggestions such as forcing shareholders to pay their debt to the organization, gaining credi
Strategic management can be defined as an inclusive process that requires the ability to manage change (Ketchen, 2012). Each word is important. First thing first, this is a process. This means that different steps are undertaken over a period of time to set and plan the strategy for the year to come or for the coming years. This also means that year after year, the process serves as a framework to guide the thinking, to set milestones or to sort roles within the organization. Moving to inclusive, this means that several stakeholders should be involved in the process. This would of course change from an organization to another. Yet, all functions are generally incorporated in the planning process. There might have a business planning or strategy & insights department that leads and coordinates the process. Alternatively, someone may be assigned and should engage and energize the different functions behind the strategic process. Whichever option, many functions are engaged. Top management plays an important role at key milestones to decide which option to choose or which target to set.
Change management requires to have a deep understanding of the internal and external environment. Consumers’ voice is often considered through surveys or reports from the customer service. This enables to identify major drivers and restraining factors of satisfaction, together with appeal for potential new solutions. Suppliers and customers’ dynamics are often tracked as important forces (Porter, 2008). What ‘s the dynamic? Have they strengthened or weakened their position? Should the organization diversify its set of retailers or suppliers to diminish the risk? Another stakeholder to take into account when setting or updating strategy is competition. For instance, the organization should consider how its share of market has evolved, whether there are new entrants or alternative segments. Employees should be also considered through the HR and culture angle. Concretely, does the organization have the right people and skills to deliver its strategic goal? Should it invest in specific training or develop specific behavior? As part of the external environment, the legislation, activists and local communities should be carefully analyzed to understand whether it may threaten the business. Last but not least, shareholders’ interests should be also considered when setting financial targets and growth plan to rightly balance short-term earnings and sustainable results. The board of directors would be involved in the process.
CCEP Sweden case
I used to work at Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) Sweden as category strategy manager. CCEP is the leading bottler in Sweden commercializing the beverages from different companies, namely The Coca-Cola Company, Monster inc (energy drinks), Capri-Sun AG (juices). In my role, I have been a contributor to the year-to-come strategy. The process was led by the head of strategy within CCEP Sweden and the kick off was early March. A feature team was designed covering different functions within CCEP. A RACI approach (responsible, accountable, consulted, informed) was used to define who does what (Kantor, 2018). Milestones were set with specific deliverables. Ideation session were also set. Overall, we did not start from scratch but used the process of the previous year and stepped back to decide what to keep and what to change to make the process more efficient. Also, we reviewed the strategy aligned for the actual year. Analyzes about the external environment using tools such as SWOT and about the internal environment were conducted. We also considered the innovation pipeline and how it fit with the local business needs either to set priorities or to spot the gaps. I found really interesting to connect with peers from the different European countries to better understand what worked and did not work in their country and to better understand how they handled the business planning process.
Once the landscape was assessed (external and internal factors) together with the status on current strategies and the identification of top opportunities and major vulnerabilities, an important effort was to get alignment with the different brand owners about the joint strategic plan for the year to come. This was carried out through different sessions during which the focus was on how to close the potential gap between CCEP and a specific brand. This could lead to the identification of specific actions to be taken such as mitigation or stretch plans. Once an agreement was set, the strategic plan was not only deployed in the right and crisp format to the different teams but more importantly was used through the year as a reference. Team and individual objectives were also in line with the strategic plan.
Conclusion
Strategic management is an important task for organizations. This is one way to get strong engagement from teams. This does not mean everything is graved in stone and the realized strategy would somehow differ from the intended strategy by taking into account unexpected opportunities and challenges (Ketchen, 2012). Execution and agility matter too.
References:
Kantor, B. (Jan 30, 2018). The RACI matrix: Your blueprint for project success. Retrieved from :
https://www.cio.com/article/2395825/project-management-how-to-design-a-successful-raci-project-plan.html
Ketchen, D & Short, J. (2012) Strategic Management: Evaluation and Execution. This book is licensed under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 license.
Porter, M (Jan 2008). The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. Retrieved from:
https://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy
Change management requires to have a deep understanding of the internal and external environment. Consumers’ voice is often considered through surveys or reports from the customer service. This enables to identify major drivers and restraining factors of satisfaction, together with appeal for potential new solutions. Suppliers and customers’ dynamics are often tracked as important forces (Porter, 2008). What ‘s the dynamic? Have they strengthened or weakened their position? Should the organization diversify its set of retailers or suppliers to diminish the risk? Another stakeholder to take into account when setting or updating strategy is competition. For instance, the organization should consider how its share of market has evolved, whether there are new entrants or alternative segments. Employees should be also considered through the HR and culture angle. Concretely, does the organization have the right people and skills to deliver its strategic goal? Should it invest in specific training or develop specific behavior? As part of the external environment, the legislation, activists and local communities should be carefully analyzed to understand whether it may threaten the business. Last but not least, shareholders’ interests should be also considered when setting financial targets and growth plan to rightly balance short-term earnings and sustainable results. The board of directors would be involved in the process.
CCEP Sweden case
I used to work at Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) Sweden as category strategy manager. CCEP is the leading bottler in Sweden commercializing the beverages from different companies, namely The Coca-Cola Company, Monster inc (energy drinks), Capri-Sun AG (juices). In my role, I have been a contributor to the year-to-come strategy. The process was led by the head of strategy within CCEP Sweden and the kick off was early March. A feature team was designed covering different functions within CCEP. A RACI approach (responsible, accountable, consulted, informed) was used to define who does what (Kantor, 2018). Milestones were set with specific deliverables. Ideation session were also set. Overall, we did not start from scratch but used the process of the previous year and stepped back to decide what to keep and what to change to make the process more efficient. Also, we reviewed the strategy aligned for the actual year. Analyzes about the external environment using tools such as SWOT and about the internal environment were conducted. We also considered the innovation pipeline and how it fit with the local business needs either to set priorities or to spot the gaps. I found really interesting to connect with peers from the different European countries to better understand what worked and did not work in their country and to better understand how they handled the business planning process.
Once the landscape was assessed (external and internal factors) together with the status on current strategies and the identification of top opportunities and major vulnerabilities, an important effort was to get alignment with the different brand owners about the joint strategic plan for the year to come. This was carried out through different sessions during which the focus was on how to close the potential gap between CCEP and a specific brand. This could lead to the identification of specific actions to be taken such as mitigation or stretch plans. Once an agreement was set, the strategic plan was not only deployed in the right and crisp format to the different teams but more importantly was used through the year as a reference. Team and individual objectives were also in line with the strategic plan.
Conclusion
Strategic management is an important task for organizations. This is one way to get strong engagement from teams. This does not mean everything is graved in stone and the realized strategy would somehow differ from the intended strategy by taking into account unexpected opportunities and challenges (Ketchen, 2012). Execution and agility matter too.
References:
Kantor, B. (Jan 30, 2018). The RACI matrix: Your blueprint for project success. Retrieved from :
https://www.cio.com/article/2395825/project-management-how-to-design-a-successful-raci-project-plan.html
Ketchen, D & Short, J. (2012) Strategic Management: Evaluation and Execution. This book is licensed under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 license.
Porter, M (Jan 2008). The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. Retrieved from:
https://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy
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