Strategic Management

Diplomas International Conferences

PhD In strategic Management
from Paris Saclay – France
Dr. Imane
BOUTERFAS Master. In Organisational
Transformation from University of
Research Topics Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines
- Strategic management
- Corporate social responsibility
- Sustainable innovation Professional Experiences
- Dynamic Capabilities

Methods of Teaching
workshop method
Case-study method
Course Overview

This course focuses on the business as a whole and the inter-relationship

between its various activities; we will introduce you to the strategic challenges
faced by CEOs, especially those running multi-business companies, as well as
an appropriate toolkit that can be useful in analyzing and addressing these
challenges.
 History and
definitions of strategy
Introduction to Business Strategy
Foundations of

Strategy 1
strategy (Strategy 1)

This first part of the course will be

Dynamic Capabilities devoted to an introduction to business
strategy to familiarize you with the main
concepts of strategy and the main tools
Pyramid of strategies that will allow you to carry out a strategic
diagnosis in the company.

Strategic diagnosis
 goal planning

the strategic

Strategy 2
From Analytical to Strategic management process
Approach (Strategy 2)
portfolio matrices
Part Two presents concepts and strategies
for creating a sustainable advantage in
difficult competitive environments. Portfolio strategies

Transition
management
Case Studies :

Kodak and the digital revolution: the walt Disney company

A misunderstanding of the market the entertainment king case

Toyota’s strategic transformation Mattel and the Challenges of

of the Mobility Sector Influence: Barbie in China
… and more
 Task (2)
Constitute the groups (4 to 5 students per group)
Choose a Company
(the name of the company + the names of the
group members )
Some Examples !
•Microsoft •Walmart
•Disney •Starbucks
•Zara (Inditex) •Toyota
•SpaceX •Airbnb Production Problem solving
•Alibaba •Unilever
•IKEA •Coca-Cola
•Spotify •IBM
•Procter & Gamble •McDonald's
•Nike •Facebook (Meta) Platform/network
•Salesforce •Sony
•Amazon •Nestlé
•Tesla •Samsung
•Apple •Adidas
•Netflix •Uber
•Google (Alphabet) •L'Oréal Diversify your Choices !
•…
Source: Fred R. David, “How Companies Define Their Mission,”
Strategy formulation includes developing a vision and mission, identifying an organization’s external
opportunities and threats, determining internal strengths and weaknesses, establishing long-term
objectives, generating alternative strategies, and choosing particular strategies to pursue.

Strategy-implementation activities affect all employees and managers in an organization. Every

division and department must decide on answers to questions, such as “What must we do to implement
our part of the organization’s strategy?” and “How best can we get the job done?” The challenge of
implementation is to stimulate managers and employees throughout an organization to work with pride
and enthusiasm toward achieving stated objectives.

Strategy evaluation is the final stage in strategic management. Managers desperately need to know
when particular strategies are not working well; strategy evaluation is the primary means for obtaining
this information. All strategies are subject to future modification because external and internal factors
are constantly changing
What does strategy mean ?
 Strategy Definitions

1. For Chandler ("Strategy and 2. Johnson, Scholes, and Whittington (2008)

structure", 1989), strategy is "the state:
determination of the long-term goals "Corporate strategy is concerned with the
and objectives of an enterprise and the overall purpose and scope of an organisation
choice of actions and allocation of and how value will be added to the different
resources necessary to achieve them". parts (business units) of the organisation."

3. Collis and Montgomery (1997) 4. “The key to investing

define it as: is...determining the competitive
"Corporate strategy is the way a advantage of any given company and
company creates value through the above all, the durability of that
configuration and coordination of its advantage” Warren Buffett, Fortune,
multimarket activities." 1999
• History of strategy (military)

Ancient Greece
Strategy comes from the Greek Word Stratos Agein
Strategos: the function of strategist

Sun TZU and the "Art of War" - 5th century BC

Strategèmes, "Soft Power"
”The best strategy is the one that allows you to
achieve your goals without having to fight”

the emergence of non-military strategies,

Concept of "grand strategy" by the British Basil
Liddell Hart
General strategy as "the art of leading, in times of
war and in times of peace, all the forces and
means of struggle of a nation" - Castex
Whats the difference between (Strategy) and (Tactics) ?

To do the right things To do things right

Whats the difference between (Strategy) and (Tactics) ?
The foundations of strategy (Part 1)
• Strategic management is the set of decisions and actions aimed
at creating a sustainable competitive advantage.

• Competitive advantage is not necessarily being number one, it

is in fact about positioning oneself in relation to the competition
in order to create added value.
The goal of the strategy is not to make a passing action, opportunism,
but to build the survival of the company in a competitive world.
For this purpose, there must be two inseparable creations:

• A formula of differentiation compared to competitors.

• The protection of this differentiation

In other words, without competitive advantage, there is no creation

of value. And without protection of this advantage, there is no
sustainability.
Creating a competitive advantage with sustainable profitability
requires finding compromises between often contradictory
requirements:

• Standardize or adapt products to markets.

• Invest alone or share risks and gains in an alliance
• Reward individual initiative or team spirit
• Stand out from the competition or copy the competition.
Business strategy consists of defining objectives and the means to achieve them,
but in a complicated and difficult situation where the objectives are shared
between several competing companies, and/or the means are difficult to control
and conquer in an environment where these resources are often rare and difficult
to acquire.

In other words, in defining the strategy, the definition of the competitive

advantage intervenes. It is considered that the strategy consists of determining the
competitive advantages that the company will be able to acquire through its
investments in order to maintain a sustainable lead over its competitors.

In the strategy, we will look for the way to achieve a competitive advantage that
will allow the company to distance itself from its competitors and this in a
sustainable way over the long term.
• Evolution of strategic thinking

Positioning Movement

Competitive Resource-Based Permanent

SWOT
Advantage Strategies Transformation

Strategic Fit Strategic Intent

Strategy involves adapting to the environment In this case, the strategy aims at the permanent
to acquire and defend a dominant position. transformation of the competitive game as well as of
the company.
 Task (3)
Look at the diagram below and explain what it tells you
Dynamic Capabilities and Strategy
(WHAT?) “Dynamic capabilities are a set of intentional
organizational and managerial capabilities that enable a firm
to resolve mismatches between its resource base and changes
in the environment, with the aim of increasing its resilience”
(Labrouche 2014).

(WHY?) Dynamic capabilities are crucial for an

organization's survival and success in a rapidly changing
environment (Eisenhardt & Martin 2000, Teece 2007, Teece
2017)

(HOW?)
• Adapt to changing circumstances
• Seize new opportunities
• Adjust strategies accordingly, while transforming
resources and competences to align with the evolving Labrouche Model 2014
environment.
Source: Fred R. David, “How Companies Define Their Mission,”
Value propositions

Novelty: Some value propositions provide a response to a completely new set of needs that
customers had not perceived because there was no similar offer. Technology often, but not always,
plays an important role. Cell phones, for example, have given rise to an entire industry around
mobile telecommunications. There is also the example of ethical investment funds.

Performance: Improving the performance of a product or service is a common way to create value.
The personal computer industry, for example, has long used this by regularly releasing more
powerful machines.

Personalization: Adapting products or services to the specific needs of customers or customer

segments creates value. This is why the concepts of mass customization or co-creation with the
customer, for example, continue to gain in importance. This approach allows for personalization
while retaining the benefit of economies of scale.
Value propositions
Design is important but difficult to measure. A product can be differentiated by its design. In the
fashion and consumer electronics industries, it is not uncommon for design to be a major
component of the value proposition.

Brand/Status: Consumers can find value in simply using and wearing a given brand, to show that
they are “hip.” Wearing a Rolex, for example, is a sign of wealth.

Price: Offering similar value at a lower price is a classic way to satisfy the needs of customer
segments that are sensitive to this aspect. But value propositions based on low prices have
significant implications for other components of the business model.

Convenience/Ergonomics: Making things more convenient or easier to use can create substantial
value. With the iPod and iTunes, Apple has made it unprecedentedly easy for consumers to find,
buy, download, and listen to digital music. Brand rules.
Example

Company Vision
Toyota "Mobility for All"
Patagonia "We are in business to save our home planet"
Danone "Bringing health through food to as many people as possible"
Michelin "A better way forward"
Company Vision Core Values
"Safety, comfort, ease of movement, and
Toyota "Mobility for All"
sustainable development"
"We are in business to save our home "Quality, integrity, environmentalism, and
Patagonia
planet" innovation"
"Bringing health through food to as "Product excellence and their roots, and
Danone
many people as possible" sustainability of commitments"
"Safety, efficiency, environmentalism,
Michelin "A better way forward"
accessibility"
Company Vision Core Values Strategic Objectives related to Sustainability
-Manufacture vehicles with zero environmental impact.
"Safety, comfort, ease -Reduce to zero the CO2 emissions generated throughout a car's
of movement, and life cycle.
Toyota "Mobility for All"
sustainable -Reduce CO2 emissions generated by factories.
development" -Minimize and optimize water usage.
-Establish a recycling-based system.
"Quality, integrity, -Renovate product or service offerings.
"We are in business to
Patagonia environmentalism, and -Align business model with ecological transition.
save our home planet"
innovation" -Introduce green supply chain management in the company.
"Product excellence and -Manufacture products that address environmental and public
"Bringing health through
their roots, and health challenges.
Danone food to as many people
sustainability of -Establish a business model shifted towards social objectives.
as possible"
commitments" -Build inclusive growth.
Michelin's objectives are based on 4 axes: "reduce, reuse, recycle,
and renew".
"Safety, efficiency, -Reduce weight, CO2 emissions, and the number of tires used.
Michelin "A better way forward" environmentalism, -Reuse by repairing.
accessibility" -Recycle tires at the end of their life cycle.
-Renew by using an increasing amount of renewable raw
materials in the production process.
 The foundations of strategy (Part 2)

Planning and controlling objectives

• Budget planning: use of accounting and financial dashboards

• Strategic planning: use of experience curves and portfolio
matrices.
• Soft planning: use of informal non-quantifiable models (decision
trees, DTs), based on the construction of scenarios and the
probability of occurrence of scenarios.
• Strategic vision: intuition of the manager
 The foundations of strategy (Part 2)
Planning and controlling objectives

• Planning is a management tool that is used to motivate actors

and to align actions with the manager’s discourses
• Planning does not eliminate risk and does not serve as a
prediction
• Planning sometimes leads to formalization errors: by wanting to
express and quantify everything, we kill intuition and free will,
sources of progress and innovation.
 The foundations of strategy (Part 2)
Planning and controlling objectives

• Control over Input: the implementation of financial dashboards

in analytical accounting; Significant power of managers.
• Control over Output: control over value creation,
competitiveness and results; Significant power of shareholders.
 The foundations of strategy (Part 2)
The strategic management process

• To implement an effective strategy, the manager must set

objectives following a diagnosis and make an effort to structure
the action implemented.
• There is thus a logical link between the choice of a strategy and
the choice of a structure, since the structure serves the strategy,
but in return it conditions subsequent strategic choices.
 The foundations of strategy (Part 2)
The Strategic Management Process

For the manager, Strategic management is a work that is both:

• Cognitive: the manager must understand the structure in which
he finds himself as well as the culture and history.
• Introspective: this leads to a personal conception of the
manager's role ("What will this bring me?", "How will I go about
it?")
• Communicational: this conception allows the manager to pass
on information to the other actors.
 The foundations of strategy (Part 2)
The strategic management process
The manager is faced with three strategic issues:
• The strategic task: it is building strategies, deciding on
objectives, establishing priorities, seeking adequacy, etc.
• The relationship to the social system: It is ensuring that the
company produces collaboration and action.
• The relationship to power: it is controlling enough resources to
ensure a certain stability in the face of counter-powers.
The foundations of strategy (Part 2)
The stages of the strategic audit.
Environmental analysis: competitive study, value chain analysis

Business analysis: strategic segmentation, definition of DAS, generic strategy, portfolio strategy, value
chain analysis

Business-environment fit SWOT matrix: strength/weaknesses-opportunities/constraints

Strategic recommendations, validate or invalidate strategic positioning to obtain a competitive

advantage

Implementation of recommendations: internal/external growth - refocusing/diversification -

internationalization - strategic alliance.
 Task
Constitute the groups (4 to 5 students per group)
Choose a Company

To analyze your chosen company, please research and identify the

following key elements:

•Vision: What is the company's long-term aspirational goal or purpose?

•Core Values: What are the fundamental beliefs and principles that
guide the company's actions and decision-making?
•Strategic Objectives: What are the specific, measurable goals the
company aims to achieve to fulfill its vision and uphold its values?