Underpinning the elements of strategy design and execution are assumptions, norms and beliefs which can be broadly characterised as strategic management practices. These strategic management practices are in evidence in all schools of strategy academic theory. Whilst there has been a great deal of work conducted into the processes of strategy design and execution, there is little study of strategic management practices. This research sought to uncover the contemporary strategic management practices in evidence at a select number of leading organisations through qualitative analysis of secondary data in the form of case studies and other publically available material. A nascent content based definition for the concept of strategic management practices was developed from the literature review and tested against the evidence uncovered. Additional themes uncovered from the data were incorporated into the proposed definition and a synthesised version developed based on the strength of the evidence uncovered. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The emerging markets have become a new growth opportunity for multinational corporations (MNCs). This could be attributed to the stagnation of growth within the developed markets and the emergence of strong economic growth within emerging markets. Yet, MNCs have varying levels of success due to overlooking of certain components lacking in emerging markets, such as infrastructure. Furthermore, the strategic planning and execution frameworks utilised by MNCs are based on assumptions that are valid for the developed markets, but not always for the emerging markets.The objective of this research was to determine if there is a link between the application of specific interrelated principles for defining and executing strategy, defined by Raina (2010), and the financial success of MNCs when entering the emerging markets.The research found that there is clear evidence that if certain of the principles are applied by MNCs when entering the emerging markets, there is evidence of greater financial success.The research concluded that the interrelated strategic principles are a valuable framework to deliver financial success for MNCs entering the emerging markets. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Emerging markets (EMs) contribute significantly year-on-year to global gross domestic product (GDP) and continue to offer developed countries huge opportunities such as raw materials and readily available markets for various goods and services produced in developed economies. However, multinational corporations (MNCs) from developed markets operating in emerging countries continue to develop inappropriate perceptions and assumptions influenced by Western imperialist and arrogant attitudes, which carry a very short-term view on the future of developing countries, despite extracting multibillion-dollar profits from these regions. The objectives of the research study were to establish the relationship between strategic management practices (SMPs) and the financial performance of MNCs in emerging markets, by testing, validating the viability and applicability of the SMPs framework and by evaluating SMPs financial contribution to the bottom-line of MNCs. The research study found that for MNCs with comprehensively adopted and implemented the SMPs framework their financial performance continues to improve year on year, depicting a positive relationship between SMPs and overall financial performance of MNCs with business interests in emerging markets. The study, however, concludes that the MNC executives wrong assumptions about emerging countries results in the crafting of strategies within business models that fail to fit in emerging markets. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted