MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

The active vocabulary of the unit

Pre-reading task:s

Pick up adjectives out of the words supplied below and make the list of their suffixes.

1) strategic, 2) planner, 3) efficient, 4) analysis, 5) examine, 6) indicator, 7) financial, 8) human, 9) public, 10) external, 11) specific, 12) concentrate, 13) objective, 14) excellent, 15) value.

2. Some of the adjectives you picked up can also be nouns. Which are they? In the text, find the sentences they are used in. Analyse the sentences and comment on what indicators help you to work out their meaning. Translate the sentences.

Text A.

Top management – planning and strategy

The top management of a company have certain unique responsibilities. One of their key tasks is to make major decisions affecting the future of the organisation. These strategic decisions determine where the company is going and how it will get there. For example, top managers must decide which markets to enter and which to pull out of; how expansion is to be financed; whether new products will be developed within the organisation or acquired by buying other companies. These and other such decisions shape a company’s future.

Before doing any kind of strategic planning, the management must be sure of one thing. They must decide what the mission and purpose of their business is. They also need to decide what it should be in the future. In other words, they must know why the business exists and what its main purpose is. Deciding the mission and the purpose is the foundation of any planning exercise.

Two examples will make this point clear – one British, the other American. Most people have heard of Marks and Spencer, one of the biggest and most successful retailers in the world. Michael Marks opened his first penny bazaar in 1884, in Leeds, England. Ten years later there were nine market stores, and Marks had taken into partnership Tom Spencer, the cashier of one of his suppliers. In 1926 Marks and Spencer became a public company. At that time they developed a clear idea of Marks and Spencer’s mission and purpose. Their later success was founded on this idea. They decided that the company was in business to provide goods of excellent quality, at reasonable prices, to customers from the working and middle classes. Providing value for money was their mission and purpose. One of the strategies they used was to concentrate on selling clothing and textiles. Later on, food products were added as a major line of business.

The second example concerns the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. They decided on their mission some sixty or so years ago. The head of the organisation at that time, Theodore Vail, realised that a privately-owned telephone and telegraphic company might easily be nationalised, if it didn’t perform well. To avoid this fate, it had to give efficient service to its customers. So giving service became the overall objective of the company, and has remained ever since.

Having decided on its mission and purpose, an organisation will have worked out certain more specific objectives. For example, a car firm may have the objective of producing and marketing new models of cars in the medium-price range. Another objective may be to increase its market share by 10% in the next five years. As soon as it has established its more specific, medium-term objectives, the company can draw up a corporate plan. Its purpose is to indicate the strategies the management will use to achieve its objectives.

However, before deciding strategies, the planners have to look at the company’s present performance, and at any external factors which might affect its future. To do this, it carries out an analysis, sometimes called a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats).

Having completed the SWOT analysis, the company can now evaluate its objectives and perhaps work out new ones. They will ask themselves questions such as: Are we producing the right products? What growth rate should we aim at in the next five years? Which new markets should we break into?

The remaining task is to develop appropriate strategies to achieve the objectives. The organization decides what actions it will take and how it will provide the resources to support those actions. One strategy may be to build a new factory to increase production capacity. To finance this, the company may develop another strategy, the issuing of new shares to the public.

Company planning and strategic decision-making are key activities of top management. Once they have been carried out, objectives and targets can be set at lower levels in the organization.

3. Translate the following phrases with to be + to (infinitive) into Ukrainian.

Example: how expansion is to be financed -1) як планують фінансувати розширення

2) як треба фінансувати розширення

3) як розширення повинно бути профінансоване

1) how the company is to get there, 2) which markets are to be entered, 3) what new products are to be developed, 4) what products are to be acquired, 5) what mission is to be decided on, 6) what mission is to be in the future

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