MNG3702: STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION & CONTROL EXAM CASE STUDY GUIDELINES PACK

MNG3702: STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION & CONTROL: EXAM CASE STUDY GUIDELINES PACK 2017 S1 LEARNING UNIT 01 INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION Critically discuss factors that contribute to strategy implementation failure at DaimlerChrysler • Failure to recognise importance of Systems Thinking (the big picture of the internal and external effects) Tip for case study example: “The intention of the merger between the two companies was twofold: (i) to safeguard its long-term competitiveness, mainly by reducing the new company’s production costs; and (ii) to increase the new company’s footprint dramatically, especially in North America.” Tip for case study example: “The merged company also realised the importance of communication with investors when their share price fell more than 40% in 1999, only one year after the merger. Competition in the motor vehicle industry intensified, especially in Chrysler’s home market.” • There are unexpected occurrences or misreading and misinterpreting the external environment Tip for case study example: “We obviously overestimated the potential of synergies," Dieter Zetsche, the chief executive officer of DaimlerChrysler, said at a news conference at the company's headquarters” Tip for case study example: “In return, Daimler had hoped that Chrysler would dramatically increase its footprint in the promised land of auto sales – North America. Owing to increased competition from Asian motor car manufacturers, Chrysler fell short.” • Strategy may fail due to poor alignment between drivers of strategy such as leadership, organisational structure, policies and resources (lack of a cohesive strategy/organisational architecture) Tip for case study example: “American and German managers had different values which drove and directed their work. Different departments were heading in opposite directions. The two companies were never integrated into a cohesive whole and the potential synergies that were identified as reasons for the merger, went unrealised.” • Strategy may fail may also be due to strategy formulation process (objectives too complex, vague, poorly translated or communicated) or due to poor implementation. Tip for case study example: “Mistrust between German and American employees, and between management and their subordinates, was mainly caused by the realisation that the agreed term “merger-of-equals" did not materialise and that it was, in actual fact, a takeover of Chrysler by Daimler.” Tip for case study example: “Poor communication led to sharp decreases in productivity of the merged companies.” •Icarus effect, dominant logic and mental models Tip: What impact would it course if DaimlerChrysler relied on their past successes and failed to learn new insights? Tip: Discuss other factors you think could contribute to strategy implementation failure at DaimlerChrysler LEARNING UNIT 2: STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION AS CHANGE MANAGEMENT Critically evaluate the role of Organisational Architecture at DaimlerChrysler in its strategy implementation SG pg 26-27/TB pg 222 Organizational Architecture- Provide theory discussion Prescribed Architecture: External context and Sensing and sense making-provide theory discussion and find evidence from the case study Tip for case study example: “The intention of the merger between the two companies was twofold: one of them was: to increase the new company’s footprint dramatically, especially in North America.” Tip for case study example: “Time differences between the USA and Germ,.............................CONTINUED