Strategy exercise
A company’s strategy is reflected in its actions in the marketplace and the statements of senior managers about the company’s current business approaches, future plans, and efforts to strengthen its competitiveness and performance.
- The slide “Identifying a Company’s Strategy—What to Look For”, shows what to look for in identifying the substance of a company’s overall strategy.
- Once it is clear what to look for, the task of identifying a company’s strategy is mainly one of researching information about the company’s actions in the marketplace and business approaches.
- To maintain the confidence of investors and Wall Street, most public companies have to be fairly open about their actions which can allow us to determine the likely strategy.
- Except for some about-to-be-launched moves and changes that remain under wraps and in the planning stage, there is usually nothing undiscoverable about what a company’s present strategy is.
Task in groups: Pick a company from below. Use the checklist provided (slide titled: Identifying a Company´s strategy – What to look for) and analyze the strategy of the company. You won't find every aspect of the checklist.
Create a document in which you name the company and the industry and list a table with the pillars of the strategy and, next to each one, the reference to the checklist.
Discuss: What do you think is missing? Are the strategic goals credible? What are the risks or gaps?
1. BASF SE
BASF Strategy Page
BASF Integrated
Report
2. Unilever PLC
3. Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft AI for business leaders – Microsoft - Microsoft Corporate Governance Framework
4. Alphabet Inc
Alphabet Annual Report 2022 – Strategy excerpt
5. Amazon .com, Inc