Universidade Federal do Cearà / Esta dissertaÃÃo analisa o processo de elaboraÃÃo e implementaÃÃo de estratÃgias, e, em particular, a formulaÃÃo e implementaÃÃo de estratÃgia pela RB Distribuidora, empresa do ramo de DistribuiÃÃo, que comercializa produtos de higiene, limpeza e alimentos no estado do CearÃ. Os resultados alcanÃados demonstram que um processo formal e estruturado de elaboraÃÃo e implementaÃÃo de estratÃgias pode agregar valor ao gerenciamento estratÃgico de qualquer empresa. Este processo dà direcionamento à elaboraÃÃo do planejamento estratÃgico e incrementa a capacidade da empresa para enfrentar as forÃas competitivas do mercado. Neste sentido, a RB Distribuidora realizou seu planejamento estratÃgico e formulou suas estratÃgias de longo prazo. Estas estratÃgias deram direcionamento à definiÃÃo de metas estratÃgicas anuais da Empresa. Contudo, existem barreiras e mudanÃas do mercado que influenciam o processo de implementaÃÃo das estratÃgias e da concretizaÃÃo das metas. De fato, a RB Distribuidora enfrentou barreiras e mudanÃas ocorridas no cenÃrio dos negÃcios, que influenciaram o nÃvel de implementaÃÃo das suas estratÃgias e metas estratÃgicas. Em face do que, sugere-se a adoÃÃo de um programa de acompanhamento e ajuste das suas estratÃgias e do seu planejamento estratÃgico, ao longo da sua implementaÃÃo, como forma de enfrentar as barreiras impostas pelas forÃas competitivas do mercado, manter o foco no gerenciamento estratÃgico, adequar-se Ãs mudanÃas do mercado e assegurar a efetiva implementaÃÃo das suas estratÃgias e metas. / This dissertation analyzes the process of creating and improving strategies, in particular, the strategy formulation and implementation by RB Distributor. This company is a wholesale distributor of groceries and health care products in the state of CearÃ. The study shows that a formal and structured process of strategic planning can add value to the strategic management of any company. This process gives direction to the formulation of strategies and goals which may increase their capacity to face the competitive forces in the market place. As such, RB Distributor has formulated its plan, its strategies and goals with a look into the future and its competitors. However, barriers and market changes influence the process of implementation of strategies and the attainment of its goals. In fact, RB Distributor faced those problems and this influenced adversely its results. A systematic feedback system of information and monitoring is recommended as a tool to reduce the negative impact those variables could have on the desired results.

This research examines the relationship between places and firms and how this contributes to competitive advantage. This is a vitally important topic at present, as businesses are adjusting to the dislocations of Brexit, trade wars, nationalism and other reactions to globalisation. Firms need a place strategy more than ever. How should resources be located in relation to markets, suppliers, skilled workers, laws, incentives, infrastructure, quality of life and the myriad other factors affecting business? Global connectivity presents so many options but also so many threats. Despite its importance, this is a subject that is relatively poorly served by existing literature and theory. A review of strategic management work relating to competitive advantage, including reflections on Chandler, Ansoff, Porter, Barney, Mintzberg, and many other authors, reveals an emphasis on management and organisation but a virtual blindness to the role of place. A review of economic geography literature related to competitive advantage, including consideration of work from Marshall to Maskell, Storper, Sassen, Glaeser, Florida and many others, shows an emphasis on place but a relative neglect, with only a few significant exceptions, for the view from the firm and the role of individuality in organisation and management. The two disciplines show a striking complementarity in their omissions. This interdisciplinary study draws on the wide range of existing material to build a new and comprehensive model of the place-firm relationship (the PFR) that brings convergence to the thinking around competitive advantage. This model is then tested and adjusted through empirical research leading to recommendations for firm strategy, government policy, academic theory and future research. The empirical study is based on the most important business sector in the UK in terms of size, growth and impact, namely financial services, and is set in the top two centres of activity in the UK for this sector outside London, namely Edinburgh and Glasgow. At the heart of the work is a series of 29 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with senior executives in these cities investigating how firms see the contribution of place to their competitive advantage, a necessarily qualitative methodology to unravel the complexity and contradictions inherent in the existing theory. The interviews have been transcribed and coded and analysis of the feedback has been used to both refine the new model and to derive insights about how it works in practice. The results of the application of the model show that the PFR is highly complex but also that it can be rigorously assessed and the key factors contributing to competitive advantage can be identified and prioritised. These factors can be grouped under the main themes of the ease of doing business, talent, quality of life, local networks and legacy. It is clear that every business enjoys a unique PFR but that the individual organisational profiles can be aggregated in line with the main themes to show agglomeration and cluster effects around places, industry sectors, types of business and other groupings. In the case of the financial services businesses tested here, the availability of talent stands out as the most important contribution to competitive advantage firms receive from places, but this is closely linked to other factors in a web of connections. Also evident is the pragmatic co-existence of competition and collaboration in firm strategies and practice and the emergence of different but overlapping cluster types, particularly one underpinned by legacy in Edinburgh and the other underpinned by government intervention in Glasgow. This research gives business managers a tool and methodology with which to assess and compare how place contributes to their competitive advantage. It thus gives an added vital dimension to most strategic decisions and particularly to considerations about relocation, expansion, off-shoring, and geographical dispersal and diversification. The agility necessary for businesses to respond to the current turbulent political and economic environment must extend to managing place and place-firm relationships in the more systematic way proposed in this work in order to maintain and extend competitive advantage. This model can also help development agencies and national and local government to interpret the competitive advantages of places as seen by firms and to make comparisons with other places. It can give an informed basis for discussion with businesses and point to where improvements can be made in line with the place objectives and overall development plans. The new model gives a common framework for different parties to reconcile their objectives to mutual benefit. Last but not least, the research presents academics with possibilities for more interdisciplinary work to address gaps in theory about one of the most pressing issues of the day. The model opens the door to new research opportunities to test its applicability in different combinations of places, businesses and industry sectors, for different types of agglomeration and cluster formation. This is an opportunity for the academic research community to furnish the objective, sound and informed view necessary to support potentially controversial decision making in these uncertain times.

Thesis (MPA.) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / The importance of achieving governmental goals within the spheres of government is a valuable dimension of service delivery through which communities realise the fulfilment of promises made by government. The strategic management process is one of the tools to be used to achieve governmental goals. This study shows the importance of using strategic management process in achieving governmental goals: A case study of Limpopo Department of Agriculture. The problems and challenges identified during the process are highlighted for probing. There is a need for the department to acknowledge and recognise the strategic management function by fully utilising the process thereof in order to see its positive contribution to service delivery. The following areas were investigated by the researcher; demographics profile of therespondents; the challenges in the development, implementation and evaluation of strategy; the importance of proper management of strategy; the role of strategy in achieving governmental goals, the mechanisms of communicating departmental strategies. The collected data was categorised into themes and subthemes to accommodate proper analysis and interpretation. In conclusion the study gave recommendations on how strategic management processes can be improved through proper consultations both internally and externally, effective communication processes, and bottom-up approach as part of the consultation processes. It also indicated the importance of management team taking ownership of the strategic management processes. However, the recommendations given are not cast in stone towards improving strategic management process. The senior management team of Limpopo Department of Agriculture should consider recommendations in this study together with other solutions to improve service delivery to the citizens of Limpopo in the agricultural sector.

Organisational ambidexterity is considered a key to company survival and performance. Despite this, organisational ambidexterity is still a poorly understood phenomenon, especially in an SME context. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate how the compliance with ambidextrous elements is perceived at different levels in manufacturing SMEs, to increase the understanding of organisational ambidexterity in this context. The empirical data was collected through a combination of questionnaire and interview. The case companies in this report perceive that they comply stronger with contextual elements than with structural elements. The strong compliance with contextual elements is motivated by the lack of hierarchies, flexibility in the company, different management structure and low number of employees. This allows employees to perform the contextual elements such as initiative-taking, cooperating, brokering and multitasking. The structural elements including e.g. vision, values, strategies, senior team responsibility and alignment are perceived differently at different  hierarchal levels, indicating that there are subcultures within the hierarchal levels within a company. The biggest difference can be found between the middle managers and the top managers,. Workers perceive that they are not included in explorationb within the company, and that the exploration occur more sporadically than those for exploitation. The definitions of exploration and exploitation vary between the companies which results in a lack of consensus. This makes it difficult for the companies to perform the changes necessary in order to develop and achieve long-term sustainable growth i.e. economical sustainability. The managerial implication of this report concerns four actions: (1) create a common definition for exploration, (2) develop goals for exploration, (3) communicate for buy-in and (4) involve all employees.

In today’s world information and knowledge is the most valuable asset and an increasing number of people are working with selling their specialized knowledge. In this knowledge economy professional services are increasing in importance and consultants play an increasingly important role. This master thesis investigates the interplay between management control and the strategizing process in IT-Consultancy firms. With the purpose of gaining an understanding on how management control systems are being sed in IT consultancy firms and to identify the role it plays within the strategic dimension a case study approach was utilized. The method is based on a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews as the mean for data collection. A total sample of 7 respondents from two IT-consultancy firms and one Management Consultant participated. The interviewees possess different positions within the two organizations ranging from top management down through the organizational levels in order to achieve a triangulation of the studied phenomenon. A framework consisting of different perspective on strategic management accounting, performance measurement in professional services, Levers of control and IT-Consultancy was built and used in order to analyze the collected data. The data shows that the strategizing process is for the main part conducted in the front line of the organization where the consultantsinteract with the customer on a daily basis. The conclusion drawn is that the interaction between strategizing process and management control systems is that the management control is designed in a way that not only allows for a clear strategizing activity to take form in the lower levels of the organization, but to constantly assure that this is what is done throughout the organization.

University of Macau / Faculty of Business Administration / Department of Management and Marketing

University of Macau / Faculty of Business Administration / Department of Management and Marketing

University of Macau / Faculty of Business Administration / Department of Management and Marketing

University of Macau / Faculty of Business Administration / Department of Management and Marketing

University of Macau / Faculty of Business Administration / Department of Management and Marketing