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Strategic Competencies in ONGC

Strategic Architecture- Strategic planning is an organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals, establish agreement around intended outcomes/results, and assess and adjust the organization's direction in response to a changing environment. It is a disciplined effort that produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Effective strategic planning articulates not only where an organization is going and the actions needed to make progress, but also how it will know if it is successful. Strategic Plan A strategic plan is a document used to communicate with the organization the organizations goals, the actions needed to achieve those goals and all of the other critical elements developed during the planning exercise. Strategic Management and Strategy Execution Strategic management is the comprehensive collection of ongoing activities and processes that organizations use to systematically coordinate and align resources and actions with mission, vision and strategy throughout an organization. Strategic management activities transform the static plan into a system that provides strategic performance feedback to decision making and enables the plan to evolve and grow as requirements and other circumstances change. Strategy Execution is basically synonymous with Strategy Management and amounts to the systematic implementation of a strategy. Steps in Strategic Planning & Management There are many different frameworks and methodologies for strategic planning and management. While there is no absolute rules regarding the right framework, most follow a similar pattern and have common attributes. Many frameworks cycle through some variation on some very basic phases: 1) analysis or assessment, where an understanding of the current internal and external environments is developed, 2) strategy formulation, where high level strategy is developed and a basic organization level strategic plan is documented 3) strategy execution, where the high level plan is translated into more operational planning and action items, and 4) evaluation or sustainment / management phase, where ongoing refinement and evaluation of performance, culture, communications, data reporting, and other strategic management issues occurs. Attributes of a Good Planning Framework The Association for Strategic Planning (ASP), a U.S.-based, non-profit professional association dedicated to advancing thought and practice in strategy development and deployment, has developed a Lead-Think-Plan-Actrubric and accompanying Body of Knowledge to capture and disseminate best practice in the field of strategic planning and management. ASP has also developed criteria for assessing strategic planning and management frameworks against the Body of Knowledge. These criteria are used for three primary purposes: Ensure that the ASP Body of Knowledge is continuously updated to include frameworks that meet these criteria. Maintain a list of qualifying commercial and academic frameworks recommended for study and training, to prepare participants to sit for the three ASP certification examinations. Provide a resource and “check list” for practitioners as they refine and improve their organization’s systems and for consultants as they improve their product and service offerings. The criteria developed by the ASP are: Uses a Systems Approach that starts with the end in mind. Incorporate Change Management and Leadership Development to effectively transform an organization to high performance. Provide Actionable Performance Information to better inform decision making. Incorporate Assessment-Based Inputs of the external and internal environment, and an understanding of customers and stakeholder needs and expectations. Include Strategic Initiatives to focus attention on the most important performance improvement projects. Offer a Supporting Toolkit, including terminology, concepts, steps, tools, and techniques that are flexible and scalable. Align Strategy and Culture, with a focus on results and the drivers of results. Integrate Existing Organization Systems and Align the Organization Around Strategy. Be Simple to Administer, Clear to Understand and Direct, and Deliver Practical Benefits Over the Long-Term. Incorporate Learning and Feedback, to Promote Competencies- Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, India (ONGC); a mega company with 40,000 plus manpower and involved in exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon resources in India and abroad, launched a major restructuring campaign called Corporate Rejuvenation Campaign (CRC) recently which entails positioning of 47 Key Executives spread over different locations. ONGC carried out an exercise which generated a list of 23 competencies which must be possessed by key Executives. These competencies are- Core values of ONGC 1.       Sense of belonging There should be a sense of commitment loyalty and sense of ownership of the job and company properties. There should be improvements in personal work area as a self-starter.  There should be quality individual work and value addition.  There should be a sense of pride in company. 2.       Integrity Personal / Professional integrity is strictly abiding by rules and regulations.  Processing / deciding cases in an unbiased / dispassionate way.  Sense of ethics in behavior and interpersonal and professional interaction. 3.       Team-spirit Employees should be working in groups, with trust and openness.  There should be proper cooperation, communication between employers and employees, employer and employer, employer and employee. Employees should share knowledge and information there should be collective learning between them.  There should be target consciousness, cost and quality consciousness between employees and employer. 4.       Discipline There should be punctuality, work ethics, dress code and self-discipline.  Enforcing discipline in a fair and firm manner. 5.       Social responsibility Caring of society and environment, projecting a lofty image of ONGC to society. STOP CORRUPTION:  By not accepting / giving bribes in cash / kind.  By not harassing anybody.  By taking decisions upon objective reality. Core Competencies and skills in ONGC- The main three internal factors contributing to the growth of ONGC are 1. Technology Upgrades 2. Human Resources Development 3. Financial restructuring 1.       Technology Upgrades: ONGC realized during the late 1990s that outdated and obsolete technologies were not only leading to high operation and maintenance costs but also was acting as an impediment to its high growth plans. To enhance the recovery quantities from basins which were near their maturity phase, they employed technology-enabled measures such as Increased Oil Recovery (IOR) and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). Enhanced Oil Recovery is a generic term for techniques for increasing the amount of oil that can be extracted from an oil field. Using EOR, 30-60 %, or more, of the reservoir's original oil can be extracted compared with 20- 40% using primary and secondary recovery. Another modern technology used was SCADA (Supervisory Control & data Acquisition), which facilitated around-the-clock monitoring and an automated sensory system for each oil well. ONGC also invested in developing Virtual Reality Interpretation Centers with applications in exploration, drilling and engineering. Other measures included horizontal drilling, side- tracks, in-fill drilling, water injection, chemical & thermal methods to enhance oil recovery. Extensive investments were also made in IT, covering Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Control Systems and Communication Networks. 2.       Human Resources Development: As part of ONGC’s Vision & Mission statement, the HR policy was aimed to “Foster a culture of trust, openness and mutual concern to make working a stimulating and challenging experience for our people”. To overcome the problem of overstaffing and procedural delays, ONGC revamped all internal processes to facilitate faster file processing. The main three internal factors contributing to the growth of ONGC are 1. Technology Upgrades 2. Human Resources Development 3. Financial restructuring 1. Technology Upgrades: ONGC realized during the late 1990s that outdated and obsolete technologies were not only leading to high operation and maintenance costs but also was acting as an impediment to its high growth plans. To enhance the recovery quantities from basins which were near their maturity phase, they employed technology-enabled measures such as Increased Oil Recovery (IOR) and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). Enhanced Oil Recovery is a generic term for techniques for increasing the amount of oil that can be extracted from an oil field. Using EOR, 30-60 %, or more, of the reservoir's original oil can be extracted compared with 20- 40% using primary and secondary recovery. Another modern technology used was SCADA (Supervisory Control & data Acquisition), which facilitated around-the-clock monitoring and an automated sensory system for each oil well. ONGC also invested in developing Virtual Reality Interpretation Centers with applications in exploration, drilling and engineering. Other measures included horizontal drilling, side- tracks, in-fill drilling, water injection, chemical & thermal methods to enhance oil recovery. Extensive investments were also made in IT, covering Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Control Systems and Communication Networks. 2. Human Resources Development: As part of ONGC’s Vision & Mission statement, the HR policy was aimed to “Foster a culture of trust, openness and mutual concern to make working a stimulating and challenging experience for our people”. To overcome the problem of overstaffing and procedural delays, ONGC revamped all internal processes to facilitate faster file processing. It also redesigned its appraisal system by introducing a new result oriented incentive and reward scheme like the Productivity Honorarium Scheme, Quarterly Incentive Scheme, Group incentives for Cohesive team working and reward and recognition scheme. ONGC also established the Institute of Management Development (IMD), later named ONGC academy. It had an ISO 9001 certification for designing parameters to measure the performance of human resources, succession planning, work climate and work culture analysis, managing change and other areas of research related to management development. Seminars, Conventions, Workshops, interactive brain-storming sessions were introduced to involve all the employees at regular intervals. In 2001, ONGC launched the SHRAMIK Project (Integrated System of Human Resource Automated management Information). This was an integrated, online HR system where all transactions were done through computers. This new system was expected to help streamline systems and procedures, minimizing processing time and administrative costs, improving level of employee satisfaction and enhancing the quality of decision making 3.       Financial Restructuring: Here again, ONGC strived to improve its operational efficiencies and reduce costs. ONGC had huge cash reserves on the one hand and huge interest outgo due to foreign debt on the other hand. ONGC thus took steps to make itself a zero-debt company. The excess cash was then employed to acquire better technology which would support its growth momentum. ONGC was also entitled to huge tax-concessions after its takeover of loss making MRPL, which was a strategic move to acquire assets which would not only have taken years for ONGC to develop otherwise but also reduce the overall cost for acquisition of such assets. Related functions such as Treasury management, Budget Control, Expenditure Monitoring and Reporting were also streamlined. As a result of all these steps by ONGC and the resultant streamlined operations, production output increased from 24.7 million tons in 2001 to 26 million metric tons in 2003. References- 1.       https://www.slideshare.net/sanjaysafiwala/ongc-case-study 2.       https://www.slideshare.net/shrey2127/strategic-planning-of-ongc

IQDM SLIDES

IQDM SLIDES

Introduction to Probability and Stats Material

Introduction to Probability and Stats Material

TATA group and Singur land case

The SEZ Act, 2005 was a much-needed boost to the ailing manufacturing and export sector. Even though the projects were formally approved and notified, getting the land for them was a massive issue. Taking help of the government was also not effective as it often turned into a political controversy. It was unfortunate that the governments succumbed to vote bank politics despite a successful track record of SEZ’s in India. The existence of middlemen complicated the issue and they often coerced people to sell their land at throwaway prices and profited greatly from it. The ambiguous meaning of ‘just compensation’ and ‘public purpose’ was a controversy in India. The interpretation of those words was always a grey area after the amendment in 1984. The government was fundamentally wrong in interpreting ‘just compensation’ as to suitably reimburse the landlord as said by the director of Ministry of Commerce’s SEZ division. Despite the government being aware that actual transaction price was higher than the registered amount, corrective actions fell flat to tackle this issue. With regards to the TATA group and Singur land case, it was unfortunate that the public refused to trust the state government that they would keep their word of increasing the compensation by 50%. This case was a stark reminder as to how vote bank politics took preference over development of the state and in the end, it was the private sector which suffered millions of dollars of losses. Even a High Court ruling which stated that the land acquisition process was legal did not seem to pacify the protestors. This incident was certainly an eye opener as to how politics trumped the judicial system and growth and development of the country.

Porter's Analysis Example

Porter's 5 Forces Analysis: Since Porter’s 5 Forces model covers virtually all aspects of strategy, it is one of the most powerful tools to understand company’s competitive position in the market. 1.      Intensity of existing rivalry (Very High) a.       Competitors engage in price competition:  Pizza Hut competes with some global pizza chains such as Domino’s and Papa John. They all engage in fierce price discounting and coupons to increase their sales. b.      Advertising expenditures are high and expected to grow: With such huge opportunity in the industry and high competitiveness, big global chains are spending hugely on advertising. c.       Menu differentiation: Each of these pizza chain/outlets is trying to come up with innovative menus every now and then to attract new target markets. d.      Competition from local pizza restaurants: Local pizza restaurants offer low prices and faster delivery to take competitive advantage. 2.      Threat of New Entrants (Low) a.       Major players in the industry (Dominos & Pizza Hut) have created a very strong brand loyalty. Though capital costs required to enter the industry are not very high, it’s really difficult for new entrants to compete with major players since existing firms are deterring entry by creating brand value and loyal customer base. 3.      Threat of Substitutes (Moderate) a.       There are many possible fast-food alternatives to pizza. The current trend of “healthier alternatives” to fast food also kicks in as a threat. But there will always be a certain segment of society who will only go for pizza. 4.      Bargaining Power of Customers(Moderate) a.       Customers rarely buy in volume: Every single customer is unlikely to purchase in large volume and thus contribute to a small proportion of sales. b.       Pizza customers are more sensitive to price fluctuations and hence providers have less price controlling powers. 5.      Bargaining Power of Suppliers (Low) a.       Many competitive suppliers: Raw materials for this industry are commodity products such as flour and cheese and power of suppliers is weak. b.      Vertical integration with suppliers: In order to maintain low costs and high-quality products.

Sectors affected by clean technology

Major sectors affected by clean technology Power Energy is a strategic and a valuable asset to any country, and this is particularly important in the context of India as it aspires to tread on the path of socio-economic development. It is estimated that the annual growth rate of energy requirement in India is an astounding 8.3%. The main roadblock on the path towards India being a powerhouse is to solve the problem of energy security. One of the viable solutions for achieving energy security is to scale the generation of renewable energy in India. Currently, it is seen that only 12% of the entire energy requirement is supplied by this sector. A symbiotic relationship between the government and the private corporations operating in the field of clean technology can go a long way towards improving the renewable energy sector scenario in our country. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy would have to take the lead and reduce the red tape for the various corporations trying to enter this sector. The aim must also be to entice Foreign Direct Investments into this sector and policies like 100% FDI in renewable energy goes a long way in achieving this. The Indian energy market, which is woefully underdeveloped could be the next big thing for the major corporations to tap into. The clean technologies like solar and biomass generators can provide energy to remote locations within the country which are currently not connected to the national grid because of the difficult terrain or economic viability of such locations. Since clean technology is still in its infancy, developing a sound research and development ecosystem within the country would result in massive employment opportunities as and when the innovations in this sector would become viable for large-scale production. In addition to the energy generated, this sector would also be a huge employment generator in the country and as a result, this would be a win-win-win situation for the government trying to secure its energy, the society which would enjoy uninterrupted power supply and secure employment opportunities and for the corporations that could tap into the vast energy market of India and make a hefty profit.     Energy efficiency The rate of electricity transmission and losses in India is said to be around 25%, one of the highest in the world. This has directly resulted in the state electricity boards having a cumulative debt of around 2.09 lakh crores. In order to handle the current and future electricity requirements, the country needs to modernize its grid infrastructure. Smart grids, which use information and communication technologies to achieve a high degree of reliability and efficiency in the grid systems can go a long way in achieving the above-mentioned objective. These grids can also provide real-time data to the consumers with respect to the amount of energy consumed and can help in the detection of electricity theft. The real-time data provided to the consumers can help them to judiciously use power in their homes and thus, reduce their overall payment. These grids can also efficiently integrate the solar and wind farms into the national grid system. The industry is the second largest consumer of electricity after the residential sector. Any improvements in the energy efficiencies would result in significant increase in the corporate profits of these companies. Energy efficiency improvement measure in industries majorly focuses on the promotion of fuel-efficient processes and machinery, abandonment of old and inefficient boilers and other equipment, and technology developments. Therefore, clean technologies would be a huge boon to this energy-intensive sector which would result in the betterment of their bottom lines. Development of energy-efficient buildings would also cut down on the overall operating expenses that a corporation incurs and reduces various overheads like contingency for loss of power. An added advantage for the business community by incorporating clean technologies in its day-to-day running of the firm is the upliftment of that company’s brand image in the eyes of the consumer, and this might also result in a positive tick in the sales number of the said company.    Transport The transport sector in India is growing robustly and also plays a major part in energy-related carbon emissions. It has increased from 6.4% in 1994 to 7.5% in 2007. Broadly, 87% of these emissions can be attributed to road transport, 7% to civil aviation and the rest of railways. Energy usage and CO2 emissions have been predicted to increase by 80% by 2030. Urban areas are major contributors to this predicted increase. Low carbon and resource efficient technologies in transportation are the most sought-after areas of investment in cleantech today. The other major challenge in this sector is that India imports around 80% of its non-renewable fuel requirements, and most of these requirements stem from the transport sector. Given that the world is slowly becoming oil-constrained, the need for the transport sector to become less dependent on petroleum and thus become more energy secure and reduce its carbon footprint has become imperative. The last decade has seen India taking serious efforts in this direction by implementing fuel regulations, upgrading public transport, developing alternative modes of transport etc. National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) is one such major initiative taken by the government. Other initiatives include National Policy on Biofuels that reiterate the importance of clean energy such as the development of biofuels. Mixing of petrol and diesel with 20% biofuel has been made mandatory through these policies. Star labeling of cars (by Bureau of Energy Efficiency), National Auto Fuel Policy introduced Bharat Stage IV and III norms in certain cities across India. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission was set up to implement enhanced planning and management of transport in urban areas. The National Electric Mobility Mission was another such effort to ensure national energy security, mitigate bad effects of vehicles on environment and society. This intervention aims at encouraging the automotive industry towards cleaner technologies. Water Water is a basic necessity for the society. Hence, it’s availability and quality is also fundamental to economic activity, including power generation, mining and other industries, especially water-intensive ones. The water-related issues center on water purification and wastewater treatment. This calls for a highly developed water infrastructure. Clean technology companies can successfully solve all these problems. For example, wastewater treatment is a highly energy-intensive process. These facilities spend between 7% and 25% as operating costs on energy. The development of energy efficient technologies can substantially reduce the cost burden on these facilities and make these wastewater treatment plants economically viable. Changing the current water infrastructure is of utmost importance especially in a developing economy like India. Around 25% to 35% of the current water purification system is older than 45 years. 30% - 60% of treated drinking water is lost through leakage. The decentralized system of delivering water for various activities can greatly reduce this leakage of water and can result in the rapid development of the much-needed infrastructure in the villages.  Water scarcity is a major problem in many parts of India and the world. The ever-increasing population, changing the lifestyle of the middle-class and exponential industrial growth is responsible for this huge scarcity of the resource. Weather patterns have become more erratic due to Global Warming and natural processes like evaporation have aggravated the problem. One possible solution can be to develop off-grid water systems and this is seriously being investigated by many cleantech companies. The various problems mentioned above provide great opportunities for the corporations to successfully capture the market as well as help in the sustainable development of mankind.

The Downside of Work-Life Balance

One way to think about work-life balance is with a concept known as The Four Burners Theory. Here's how it was first explained to me: Imagine that your life is represented by a stove with four burners on it. Each burner symbolizes one major quadrant of your life. The first burner represents your family. The second burner is your friends. The third burner is your health. The fourth burner is your work. The Four Burners Theory says that “in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two.”  Three Views of the Four Burners My initial reaction to The Four Burners Theory was to search for a way to bypass it. “Can I succeed and keep all four burners running?” I wondered. Perhaps I could combine two burners. “What if I lumped family and friends into one category?” Maybe I could combine health and work. “I hear sitting all day is unhealthy. What if I got a standing desk?” Now, I know what you are thinking. Believing that you will be healthy because you bought a standing desk is like believing you are a rebel because you ignored the fasten seatbelt sign on an airplane, but whatever. Soon I realized I was inventing these workarounds because I didn't want to face the real issue: life is filled with tradeoffs. If you want to excel in your work and in your marriage, then your friends and your health may have to suffer. If you want to be healthy and succeed as a parent, then you might be forced to dial back your career ambitions. Of course, you are free to divide your time equally among all four burners, but you have to accept that you will never reach your full potential in any given area. Essentially, we are forced to choose. Would you rather live a life that is unbalanced, but high-performing in a certain area? Or would you rather live a life that is balanced, but never maximizes your potential in a given quadrant? What is the best way to handle these work-life balance problems? I don't claim to have it figured out, but here are three ways of thinking about The Four Burners Theory. Option 1: Outsource Burners We outsource small aspects of our lives all the time. We buy fast food so we don't have to cook. We go to the dry cleaners to save time on laundry. We visit the car repair shop so we don't have to fix our own automobile. Outsourcing small portions of your life allows you to save time and spend it elsewhere. Can you apply the same idea to one quadrant of your life and free up time to focus on the other three burners? Work is the best example. For many people, work is the hottest burner on the stove. It is where they spend the most time and it is the last burner to get turned off. In theory, entrepreneurs and business owners can outsource the work burner. They do it by hiring employees.  In my article on The 3 Stages of Failure, I covered Sam Carpenter’s story about building business systems that allowed him to work just 2 hours per week. He outsourced himself from the daily work of the business while still reaping the financial benefits. Parenting is another example. Working parents are often forced to “outsource” the family burner by dropping their children off at daycare or hiring a babysitter. Calling this outsourcing might seem unfair, but—like the work example above—parents are paying someone else to keep the burner running while they use their time elsewhere. The advantage of outsourcing is that you can keep the burner running without spending your time on it. Unfortunately, removing yourself from the equation is also a disadvantage. Most entrepreneurs, artists, and creators I know would feel bored and without a sense of purpose if they had nothing to work on each day. Every parent I know would rather spend time with their children than drop them off at daycare. Outsourcing keeps the burner running, but is it running in a meaningful way? Option 2: Embrace Constraints One of the most frustrating parts of The Four Burners Theory is that it shines a light on your untapped potential. It can be easy to think, “If only I had more time, I could make more money or get in shape or spend more time at home.” One way to manage this problem is to shift your focus from wishing you had more time to maximizing the time you have. In other words, you embrace your limitations. The question to ask yourself is, “Assuming a particular set of constraints, how can I be as effective as possible?” For example: Assuming I can only work from 9 AM to 5 PM, how can I make the most money possible? Assuming I can only write for 15 minutes each day, how can I finish my book as fast as possible? Assuming I can only exercise for 3 hours each week, how can I get in the best shape possible? This line of questioning pulls your focus toward something positive (getting the most out of what you have available) rather than something negative (worrying about never having enough time). Of course, there are disadvantages as well. Embracing constraints means accepting that you are operating at less than your full potential. Yes, there are plenty of ways to “work smarter, not harder” but it is difficult to avoid the fact that where you spend your time matters. If you invested more time into your health or your relationships or your career, you would likely see improved results in that area. Option 3: The Seasons of Life A third way to manage your four burners is by breaking your life into seasons. What if, instead of searching for perfect work-life balance at all times, you divided your life into seasons that focused on a particular area? The importance of your burners may change throughout life. When you are in your 20s or 30s and you don’t have children, it can be easier to get to the gym and chase career ambitions. The health and work burners are on full blast. A few years later, you might start a family and suddenly the health burner dips down to a slow simmer while your family burner gets more gas. Another decade passes and you might revive relationships with old friends or pursue that business idea you had been putting off. You don't have to give up on your dreams forever, but life rarely allows you to keep all four burners going at once. Maybe you need to let go of something for this season. You can do it all in a lifetime, but not at the same damn time. In the words of Nathan Barry, “Commit to your goal with everything you have—for a season.” Furthermore, there is often a multiplier effect that occurs when you dedicate yourself fully to a given area. In many cases, you can achieve more by going all-in on a given task for a few years than by giving it a lukewarm effort for fifty years. Maybe it is best to strive for seasons of imbalance and rotate through them as needed. For the last five years, I have been in my entrepreneurship season. I built a successful business, but it came with costs. I turned my friends burner way down and my family burner is only running halfway. What season are you in right now? Work-Life Balance: Which Burners Have You Cut Off? The Four Burners Theory reveals a truth everyone must deal with: nobody likes being told they can't have it all, but everyone has constraints on their time and energy. Every choice has a cost. Which burners have you cut off? Comment on Facebook | Discuss on Twitter FOOTNOTES I first heard about The Four Burners Theory from Chris Guillebeau, who heard about it from Jocelyn Glei, who read about it in this New Yorker article by David Sedaris, who was told about it by an Australian woman named Pat, who heard about it at a management seminar she attended. If you’re keeping score at home and trying to figure out where The Four Burners Theory originated from, well, good luck. The above quote comes from the New Yorker article by Sedaris. In practice, the opposite usually occurs. In most cases, entrepreneurs spend at least their first five years in business working longer hours and making less money than they would as an employee.

Strategy-A Brief Introduction

Strategy has been studied for years by business leaders and by business theorists. Yet, there is no definitive answer about what strategy really is. One reason for this is that people think about strategy in different ways. For instance, some people believe that you must analyze the present carefully, anticipate changes in your market or industry, and, from this, plan how you'll succeed in the future. Meanwhile, others think that the future is just too difficult to predict, and they prefer to evolve their strategies organically. Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes, authors of "Exploring Corporate Strategy," say that strategy determines the direction and scope of an organization over the long term, and they say that it should determine how resources should be configured to meet the needs of markets and stakeholders. Michael Porter, a strategy expert, and professor at Harvard Business School emphasizes the need for a strategy to define and communicate an organization's unique position and says that it should determine how organizational resources, skills, and competencies should be combined to create competitive advantage. While there will always be some evolved element of strategy, planning for success in the marketplace is important; and that, to take full advantage of the opportunities open to them, organizations need to anticipate and prepare for the future at all levels.  For instance, many successful and productive organizations have a corporate strategy to guide the big picture.  Each business unit within the organization then has a business unit strategy, which its leaders use to determine how they will compete in their individual markets. In turn, each team should have its own strategy to ensure that its day-to-day activities help move the organization in the right direction. At each level, though, a simple definition of strategy can be: "Determining how we are going to win in the period ahead." Strategy can be classified into 3 components:  Corporate Strategy  Business Unit Strategy  Team Strategy Corporate Strategy In business, corporate strategy refers to the overall strategy of an organization that is made up of multiple business units, operating in multiple markets. It determines how the corporation as a whole supports and enhances the value of the business units within it; and it answers the question, "How do we structure the overall business so that all of its parts create more value together than they would individually?" Corporations can do this by building strong internal competencies, sharing technologies and resources between business units, by raising capital cost-effectively, by developing and nurturing a strong corporate brand, and so on. So, at this level of strategy, we're concerned with thinking about how the business units within the corporation should fit together, and understanding how resources should be deployed to create the greatest possible value. Tools like Porter's Generic Strategies, the Boston Matrix, the ADL Matrix, and VRIO Analysis will help with this type of high-level analysis and planning. The organization's design is another important strategic factor that needs to be considered at this level. How you structure your business, your people, and other resources – all of these affect competitive advantage and can support your strategic goals. Business Unit Strategy Strategy at the business unit level is concerned with competing successfully in individual markets, and it addresses the question, "How do we win in this market?" However, this strategy needs to be linked to the objectives identified in the corporate level strategy. Competitive analysis, including gathering competitive intelligence, is a great starting point for developing a business unit strategy. As part of this, it's important to think about your core competencies, and how you can use these to meet your customers' needs in the best possible way. From there you can use the USP Analysis to understand how to strengthen your competitive position. You will also want to explore your options for creating and exploiting new opportunities. Porter's Five Forces is a must-have tool for this process, while a SWOT Analysis will help you understand and address the opportunities and threats in your market. Team Strategy To execute your corporate and business unit strategies successfully, you need teams throughout your organization to work together. Each of these teams has a different contribution to make, meaning that each team needs to have its own team-level strategy, however simple. This team strategy must lead directly to the achievement of business unit and corporate strategies, meaning that all levels of strategy support and enhance each other to ensure that the organization is successful. This is where it's useful to define the team's purpose and boundaries using, for example, a team charter; and to manage it using techniques such as Management by Objectives and use of key performance indicators. You need to be working efficiently to achieve the strategic objectives that have been set at higher levels of the organization; so, an important element of your team strategy is to implement best practices to help your team to meet its objectives. Activities that optimize supplier management, quality, and operational excellence are also important factors in creating and executing an effective team strategy.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis of Pizza Hut Strengths: a.       Brand name: It has been around for more than 50 years now and is a well-known brand. Pizza hut has a Premium positioning in customers’ mind because it was the first entrant to start pizza franchise in India. b.      Flexible and big menu: Pizza Hut has a large pizza menu providing customers with many options. Apart from pizzas, it serves a variety of food such as pasta, wings etc. c.       Sustainable advantage: Pizza Hut maintains excellent ambience in the outlets and serves high quality of food, due to which it charges higher prices. This, in turn, helps them earn good margins. d.      Sound financial situation and international turnover: It is a part of the largest restaurant chain in the world with over 20000+ franchises. Weaknesses: a.       High price: People like to eat low-cost pizzas and look for cheaper options available. b.      No presence in small cities: In order to maintain its brand image, pizza hut is losing the turnover that it can generate by being present in small towns. Opportunities: a.       Increase digital presence: Pizza Hut does not have a very strong presence on digital platforms. It should spend more on online/ social media marketing. b.      Expansion: Get into Tier II cities where it can serve more customers. Threats: a.       Too many competitors: Threat from the competition can decline the market share for Pizza Hut

OYO - An Ace in Hospitality Industry

OYO started its journey in January 2013 under the vision of Ritesh Agarwal to improve the hospitality and hotel business. In 2016, OYO brought the concept of early check-in called sunrise check-in at 6 am, and also recently rolled out OYO Captain, a personalised concierge service in the budget hotel category. It expanded its presence to more than 22 cities in India so that customer can set OYO as their preference, no matter which city they travel to. OYO introduced the new concept of short-term homestays, a model similar to Airbnb and has its presence in more than 10 cities under this segment like Udaipur, Goa and Shimla that attract innumerable tourists. OYO has been constantly keeping a check on customer needs and preferences by gathering insights and feedback from the customers. Customers feel their opinion heard when they see OYO making changes accordingly. Customers have the privilege of getting easy hotel bookings on arrival as well and do not have to preplan. Most of the customers have been recorded to book hotels either just before arrival or on arrival by the Data Science Team of OYO. Data Science team has been working mainly on segmenting its customers, identifying their needs, How OYO can cater their needs and finally why customers will prefer OYO over its competitors. This has helped OYO create a customer-centric image amongst its customers and has also succeeded in gaining their trust. OYO has been working hard on gaining customer attention through various strategies like it has not only expanded to every corner of the nation but it's marketed itself well by big hoardings with OYO trademark placed almost on every partner hotel, making its presence and market share felt very well. Providing services like complimentary breakfasts, early check-ins, free quality toiletry kits and discount coupons to new customers have not only maintained its existing customer base but gathered new customers as well. Easy cancellation and on arrival bookings on mobile app access is also contributing to winning customers for OYO.

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Strategy Management SM Material

Strategy Management SM Material