In the 1970's Kotter wrote an article, Why "Wasting" Time Is More Important Than Ever, in which he described the average manager's day. However, what he described, and what many management texts described was contrastingly different. Texts described highly structured processes whilst Kotter observed the opposite. The interesting insight after revisiting the article, he suggests in a more recent article, What Effective General Managers Really Do, is that he did not think of the word leadership to describe the process he observed. The article, and the more importantly, the language used to describe the process was a function of the era in which the article was written. Surprisingly this was also the period in which strategic planning in organisations was widely used. The language and the times that are characteristic to us today are complexity, discontinuities, uncertainty, rapid change and unpredictability. The 1970's was the era of strategic planning models, the 1980's strategic planning models failed to deliver and so we saw the rise of strategic management, and, in the 21 st century even strategic planning models fail to deal with the current realities so we have strategic leadership. Today we have the language of leadership to describe what most academics and consultants describe as a revolution. This dissertation hopes to build the beginning of a basis for a theory for strategic leadership. Most texts of strategy cover the conceptual models fairly explicitly. However, given that we are in a transition stage from one worldview to another, fundamental assumptions about how we organise, work and hence see the world are questioned and becoming invalid. This therefore calls for a rethinking of the fundamentals that underpin the process of strategy and the models embedded within the various processes. This dissertation highlights the critical concerns for strategy given that there is a shifting worldview. The dissertation covers the basic evolution of organisational design to current practices and thinking. Most importantly the basis for thinking about strategic processes, given that traditional models of organisational design and strategic management fail within the current context. The question for strategic management, is "what next?" • We know that we cannot predict the future. • We understand that there are limits to the speed of growth and more definitely for development. • We can see the limits of management but are still attempting to describe leadership and leadership practices. • We understand the need for the creation of new approaches for organising work in a global context. Such concerns and their relevance for organisational theory, particularly the lack of a general theory of strategy, has led this dissertation to focus primarily on three interrelated areas, viz. strategy, organisational design and systems thinking It was also important to draw on the current failures of strategy in order to inform a position on understanding strategic processes. This dissertation in no way hoped to resolve the above, but rather to begin a process of building new strategic frameworks. Another troubling problem of the strategy field is that there seems to be no deeper consideration given to the problem; that each school seems to further fragment the strategic processes and tends to divide, rather than create a synthesis. It is understood that defining the entire strategic field into one paradigm is not plausible. However, a deeper understanding of the fundamental assumptions that inform the different approaches to strategy will provide insight into the re-conceptualising of strategic processes rather than devising new strategic models. These processes of redefinition involves surfacing of assumptions so as to inform a synthesising (or convergent) process, which follows the divergent creative process. In the strategic field we have witnessed the creative strategic phase, and we now require a convergent approach in order to create new basis of knowledge for strategy. In essence, we need an improved understanding of the nature of the strategic processes rather than creating new tools and models. This requires understanding of complex relationships in interaction. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This research explores the application of scenario planning to an engineering and project management consulting company based in Durban, South Africa. Scenario planning is used to formulate possible scenarios that this company' main client industry/ market may face in the next ten years. This application provides an opportunity for the consultancy to test if it is necessary for it to start pursuing other markets in order to minimize risk associated with its core market and mostly it prepares the consultancy for opportunities and threats that may exist but is currently not aware of. The research takes the following approach and sequence: . Introduction: The section gives a background into Bosch projects and the sugar industry. It also places me in the context of the research. . Literature Survey: In this section I review general thinking around strategy formulation, organizational learning, metaphors and system thinking. I also draw a link amongst these areas of learning. . Research Methodology: This section presents the methodology I followed in conducting the research. The research started with conversations with research participants followed up with questionnaires. The questionnaires were supplemented with one- on- one interviews with the participants in order gain more clarity on their responses. Scenario planning exercises were conducted with Bosch Projects' management team and the sugar industry participants. Three scenarios were developed with BP and another three with the sugar industry. I developed two additional scenarios for each group for my own interest. . Results Analysis: In this section I present the results of the research process. I start off by discussing the environmental scan analysis which describes the external environment within which the sugar industry operates. This discussion is informed by the results of the interviews with the participants. The general consensus was that the industry is faced with many positive possibilities. It also became clear that the industry is not taking full advantage of opportunities already available to them. In the same section I present the scenarios developed which highlight the challenges faced by the country and how they could affect the industry in the long term. . Conclusion: I then close off the research by making a conclusion that Bosch Projects has a positive future when viewed through the sugar industry lens irrespective of which uncertainties materialize but there are key issues which the company must address in order to be prepared for any of the eventualities. . Value: This research eventually revealed itself to be about learning to effectively lead a scenario planning session and what pitfalls to look out for when creating storylines. There is great value for people interested in finding progressive and well informed ways for strategy formulation. This scenario planning research is grounded on the concepts of a learning organization and systems thinking as the core drivers / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

This Q study revealed how dominant coalition members of an Indianapolis, Ind. —based non-profit organization approached and interpreted problems within a strategic management process — a necessary area to study in pubic relations considering the dearth of research of internal publics within the field.The same forty-eight statement Q sort was used in two time periods to track movement of communication behavior among members: a pre-sort before the process and a post-sort at the end.Using a public relations theory, the situational theory of publics, as a framework, the Q sort was aligned with the theory's dependent variables of active and passive communication behavior. The data from the completed Q sorts was then entered into the PQMethod software. Four factors were identified in the pre-sort, and two factors were identified in the post-sort.Findings indicate that the four pre-sort groups lacked consensus in their behavior on how to approach problems. However, the two post-sort groups exhibited a change in behavior, showing consistency in their interpretation of problems. In the context of this research, dominant coalition members can be segmented by their communication behavior, not just by their positions inside an organization. / Department of Journalism

The rationale for this study was the apparent difference between the marketing planning practices of Scottish SME's and the marketing planning practices recommended by management theory. The direction of this study was adaptedf rom two broad objectives: (i) To assess if , how, and why Scottish small and medium sized businesses go about strategic marketing planning; and (ii) To ascertain whether business performance is affected by participation in the marketing planning process. To address the research issues raised regarding marketing planning practice and its link with business performance, a conceptual framework that incorporated elements of the traditional strategic marketing planning process model suggested by the literature and also allowed for the marketing characteristics of SME's was developed. The research design involved a longitudinal survey of 626 Scottish SME's in 1990 and 183 of the same businesses in 1996. This study found that the incidence of marketing planning was significantly linked to business size supporting a number of authors who identify that business size has a direct influence on the nature of marketing and marketing planning practice. The research highlighted differences in the incidence of marketing planning across the three SME size categories. In assessing the planning-performance relationship 4 categories of SME's were defined according to their planning behaviour 1990-1996. These categories were Planners; Non-Planners; Embracers; and Disavowed. Analysis of these groups showed a significant positive relationship between planning and performance providing empirical support to case that marketing planning improves business performance.

This dissertation explores from a post-structural way of thinking how the implementation of business strategy can be seen as a set of practices that has distinctive power effects on organizations and subjectivity effects on individuals. The dissertation is premised on the question: In the pursuit of superior performance, how is business strategy formed and actions aligned to that strategy, and how does this shape managements' subjectivity and understanding of that strategy? / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2007.

Over the next 25 years the world is likely to see the largest shift in economic and political power for more than a century. Many of today's so-called industrial economies will be dwarfed by emerging markets due to the latter's faster economic growth rates. China is by far the most important emerging market, but as a result of its relatively recent opening to western investment, its vastness, diversity and its distinct culture, among other factors, it has been a particularly troublesome market for western companies to enter and succeed in. Companies wishing to invest in China have arguably not been particularly helped by the corporate strategy literature. This literature has been, to a great extent developed upon evidence derived from developed countries which may not relevant for the very different business terrain and context of emerging markets. Moreover, the China strategy literature has tended until recently to focus on the joint venture vehicle as corporate strategy and with much of this literature producing unclear or conflicting findings. Furthermore, there has been considerable corporate dissatisfaction with the investment results achieved by the more traditional forms of China corporate strategy, like the joint venture and the wholly foreign owned enterprise. / This thesis argues that China, by virtue of its particular environment and market characteristics, has generated a corporate strategy which can be defined as multiventuring (the setting up of a cluster of coherent, inter-related set of ventures) to enter and/or develop business in China. This thesis's exploration of an actual case study of multiventuring provides new insight and knowledge on this new form of corporate strategy for China, and possibly for other emerging markets. / This thesis is concerned with how a western company enters and/or develops its business in the large but complex emerging market of China. It examines the new corporate strategy of multiventuring and argues that under certain conditions, it could be an attractive China corporate strategy, and better able to deal wtih China's complex environment and particular market characteristics than the more traditional corporate strategies, which to date have yielded mixed results. / Thesis (MPhD)--University of South Australia, 2007.

In Singapore, employers lack a rational approach to decide whether a position should be externalized or internalized. Employers in Singapore put emphasis on short-term cost management and the minimization of overheads. However, maximizing organizational flexibility to the extreme may not be the best option for these firms in Singapore because they may lose control or even lose sight of core positions that are critical to a firm's success. To address the issue, a model can be developed, which will provide a rational approach to help a firm decide whether a position should be externalized or internalized. The rational approach will prevent firms from externalizing positions in an indiscriminate manner and hurting the firms' long term interests. Statistical analyses indicate that the majority of the hypotheses are supported. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2004.

Thesis (PhDBusinessAdministration)--University of South Australia, 2003.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2002.