Week 4

         a)      Who is strategist? Describe the main types of jobs that have strong strategy element?

     

     A strategist is a person who can create a "game plan" which consists of competitive moves and business approaches that management is employing to run the company successfully in competitive environment. A strategist seeks to relate goals of the organization to the means of achieving them. 

     

     Strategist may be positioned at the corporate, divisional and functional level. The main types of jobs that have strong strategy elements are: CEO, Board of Directors, Chairman and executives of the company (Wiley Ireland, R., Hoskisson, R, and Hitt, M, 2013).

       b)      What`s the difference between strategic planners and a strategy consultant? (Use your own words or referenced quotes)

Strategic Planners	Strategy consultant
They work as an employee of an organization.	They work as an independent contractor.
They coordinate with other employees in strategy making process.	They give advice, suggestions and feedbacks during the process.
They have responsibility of achieving organizations goal.	They are not obliged to any type of organization goal.
They work as per organizations system and follow hierarchy.	They give advice based on their expertise and past experiences.
For example: CEO and managers of an organization.	Example: A consultant firms some information regarding market structure.

Source: (ceoafterlife.com, 2013)

         c)      What were your answer to question 1 and 2 on the group exercise this week?

1.     Name one ‘strategist’ for each of the following five categories, and explain why you consider them to be have strategic ability and strategic impact in their field:

Business Leader: Min Bahadur Gurung (Founder of Bhatbhateni Supermarket)

I consider him one of the business leaders because at the initial stage he started his business from a roadside shop but now he operates around 10 supermarkets in Nepal and 50 more supermarkets are in pipeline to get operated very soon.

Inventor: Mark Zuckerburg (Founder of Facebook)

He is one of the greatest inventors in technology sector because he changed the way people socialize by creating the social networking site. Although he started it as a networking site among colleges, now it is the biggest networking site in the world.

Sport Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson (Manager of Manchester United F.C)

Since his appointment as a manager in 1988, Manchester United has won 48 trophies in various competitions. He is the longest serving manager in whole sports sector and the manager with most trophies with one team.

Civil rights Campaigner: Annuradha Koirala (fights against girl trafficking)

She is in operation of campaign which fights against girl trafficking and women's right violation. She is also a winner of CNN heroes 2011.

Musicians/writer/film maker: James Cameron (Director of Titanic and Avatar)

With the direction of Titanic he had already set a benchmark during the 90s, later on 2010 when he directed Avatar he used latest technologies to make the movie beyond imaginations. Both of these movies were biggest grosser during their time.

2.   What sort of strategy job would you like to do? What skills do you have that would be valuable in a strategy role? What skills do you think you need to work on?

I would like to work as a financial analyst in any financial services institutions. I think I have a good knowledge about financial system of the country and I am acquiring skills required for financial management and financial planning. I think I must work on technical skills required for analyzing and interpreting the financial data. Likewise, communication skills and public speaking skills should also be focused.

Reference

• Johnson G,Whittington R & Scholes K (2011), Exploring Strategy, Ed9, Prentice Hall
• Grant R (2010), Contemporary Strategy Analysis: concepts, techniques,applications Ed 7. Blackwell.
• Grant R and Jordan J (2012 forthcoming) Foundations of Strategy,
• Wiley Ireland, R., Hoskisson, R, and Hitt, M. (2009) The Management of Strategy: Concepts and Cases, 8th Ed. Cengage Learning
• The Difference between Strategists and Strategic Planners | In the CEO Afterlife. 2013. The Difference between Strategists and Strategic Planners | In the CEO Afterlife. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.ceoafterlife.com/leadership/strategists-and-strategic-planners/. [Accessed 15 March 2013].