Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalisation 7th ASIA Pacific Edition by Hanson Test ban

mission.
The strategic mission is a statement of a firm’s unique purpose and the scope of its operations in product and
market terms. The mission provides the general description of the products a firm intends to produce and the
market(s) it will serve. The mission should establish the unique nature of the firm and give employees a
general direction that the firm should pursue.
An organisation’s vision and mission are critical aspects of the strategic inputs required to engage in strategic
actions that help to achieve strategic competitiveness and earn above-average returns. Therefore, organisations
must accept the challenge of forming effective vision and mission statements
62. Describe an organisation’s various stakeholders and their different interests.
ANSWER: Stakeholders can be separated into at least four groups. They are the individuals and groups who can affect
and are affected by the strategic outcomes achieved and who have enforceable claims on a firm’s performance.
There are three principal types of stakeholders and the natural environment
(as represented by activist groups). First, there are the capital market stakeholders, which include the
shareholders and the major suppliers of capital to the firm. They are most interested in the return on capital
and the firm’s profitability. The second group of stakeholders are the product market stakeholders, which
include customers, suppliers, host communities and unions representing workers. The customers seek a
reliable product at the lowest possible price. The suppliers seek assured customers willing to pay the highest
sustainable price. Host communities want companies willing to be long-term employers and providers of tax
revenues. Union officials want secure jobs with good working conditions for the workers they represent. The
final group of stakeholders are the organisational stakeholders. This group includes the employees (both
managerial and non-managerial). These stakeholders expect a firm to provide a dynamic, stimulating and
rewarding work environment.
63. Who are strategic leaders and what determines the effectiveness of their work?
ANSWER: Strategic leaders are people located in different parts of a firm who use the strategic management process to
help the firm reach its vision and mission. Successful strategic leaders are decisive and committed to nurturing
people around them. CEOs and other top-level managers are not the only strategic leaders; there are many
people in today’s organisations who help choose a firm’s strategy and then determine the actions to be taken to
successfully implement it. Hard work, thorough analysis, a willingness to be brutally honest, a desire for the
firm and its people to accomplish more, and common sense are prerequisites of a successful strategic leader.
Effective strategic leaders set an ethical tone in their firms.