* A basis for preparing program plans and activities
* The formal record of all strategic changes made in response to evolving threat, technology and other environmental factors and the vehicle for building and achieving consensus. Research show that most acquisition do not work, it is reported that most acquisition do not work, it is reported that in today’s business environment, almost every organization is expected to be involved in a merger or acquisition at a certain stage in its life-cycle. Thus from the above it could be deduced that a strategy could be required to embark on an acquisition.
There are basically three strategy-making tasks.

1. Developing a strategic vision
2. Setting objectives
3. Crafting a strategy
An attempt would be made in discussing these strategy-making tasks to show how each of them could be utilize in considering an acquisition.

1. Developing a strategic Vision :
A strategic vision is a view of a company’s future direction and business makeup, a guiding concept for what the company is trying to do and to become. In effect strategic visions chart a company’s future for the next say 5-10 years. Very importantly, strategic visions are company-specific and not generic i.e. to say they must be tailored for the company in question. The vision is not defined in terms of making a profit.

In developing a strategic vision, three main questions are asked.

* Who or what are we now?
* Who or what do we want to become?
* How will we get there from here?

Thus, the vision or strategic intent which is the desired future state of the organization is an aspiration around which a strategist might seek to focus the attention and energies of members of the organization. The strategist must at this stage

1. Define the company’s present business
2. Decide on a long-term strategic path (course) and
3. Communicate the vision in ways that are clear, exciting and inspiring strategist
have come to accept that decisions to merge assume that synergy will develop between two organizations that combine resources and talent and achieve economies of scale, scope and integrated technologies.

Sometimes financial issues overshadow most mergers and acquisitions neglecting other critical aspects of the merger such as vision (mission), planning (strategy) and human resources (i.e. people-factor) making synergies unsuccessful. It would, therefore, be prudent at this stage of strategy-making to tailor the vision in line with intended acquired company. This is development of romance i.e. building a shared vision and commitment. This is to try to forestall any possible future conflict that might emerge should there be a merger or an acquisition. This is done in relation to defining the company’s present or intended business based on satisfying customer needs, target markets and technologies used. It is possible that if the mission of the organization is developed in defining the company’s business as hypothesized. To avoid pitfalls of an intended acquisition the shared vision of the future must be created diagnosing key elements of the vision so as to understand the common and divergent views of the partners. This vision must be tailored to prepare the company for its long-term vision in the wake of any acquisition.

The defined vision must then be communicated to the management and staff providing a means for department management to create their own visions, objectives and strategies and creating enthusiasm among employees must also be repeated often times.

The next task in strategy-making is objective setting. Objectives, usually financial or marketing, are the quantification or more specific statements of the goal. For example “2.5% market share in two months”. Objectives must be-SMART- specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. If these characteristics are inherent in any objective, it has a greater probability to succeed. Thus in considering an acquisition, the objectives must first address when to actually acquire, how must to be spent in the acquisition, specific, measurable and realistic performance targets by a certain time. At this stage, the objectives must be set for both long-term and short-term horizons. The short-term objective focusing on the communication aspect of the vision and the long-term on, staff training and recruitment for the intending acquisition. Nevertheless, as history shows that acquisitions fail to live up to expectations, numerous research over the last 10 years have proven that decisions must be made quickly and often under tremendous pressure as already tight resources are stretched even further. Objectives on this must be timely. Sayewitz (1997) writes that according to recently released survey of 124 USS comp… achieving 80% of their objectives. Firms that took more gradual approach reported a failure rate of close to 50%…. As difficult as this might be, in practice the least management should do is to speed up the acquisition as soon as the opportunities show up after all the necessary analysis has been completed.

The next and final task is crafting the strategy. Crafting a strategy is all about how to reach performance targets set tin the objectives, making the strategic vision a reality, capture market opportunities, achieve sustainable competitive advantage strengthen the firm’s long-term competitive p and out-perform rivals. In effect, it is how managers analyse and think about complex strategic problem and adapting to the challenges inherent in the changing environment. First used by Mintzberg (1887) illustrating with a potter at a wheel molding a lump of clay, his view was that the most productive and real world way to view strategic management is not the strategic planning model, but rather one that merges formulation of strategy with its implementation; in other words have meant that if an organization embarks upon a determined change of strategy, certain aspects of implementation will be changed as it becomes increasingly clear with experience how best to manage the environmental forces even though the basic tools for crating a strategy are SWOT analysis, value chain analysis and scenario mapping, applying Mintzberg’s developing and understanding and commitment to the role M & A strategy involves developing and understanding and commitment to the role M&A activity should play in achieving the company’s strategic objectives.

A good strategy of the acquisition, say fundamental transformation or to just to strengthen certain business units. It must also develop a framework for senior managers to creating potential of various potential acquisitions outlined; substantiate a variety of integration options and how integration plans may vary across potential acquisitions.

Most importantly, the strategy must develop profiles of acquisition candidate(s) consistent with the acquisition strategy and reflects an understanding of realities under M & A market place so as to model the financial implications under a variety of scenarios. The strategy must also developed such that depending on the strategic objectives a relationship is built with the potential acquisition candidates in the areas of marketing integrated supply agreements and possibly accounting practices integrated supply agreements and possibly accounting practices post-Enron era. In addition to building relations, organisations must also establish an external network involving the investment bank and the potential candidates.

Though not trying to confine the M & A market to rigid objectives, in the best, M & A processes informs strategy as well as being guided by it. Thus, through the process of evaluating candidates and putting deals together, the organization can narrow the acquisition parameters and better envision what the company could become by choosing the right acquisition. The organization must also craft a human resources strategy getting the people-related issues right maintaining employee morale that will retain key employees, despite the usual hiccups after major changes, according to research by mercer outlined in an article ‘making a success of mergers and acquisition’ on their website. It went on to further point out that the people are integrated into the new organization is a key to sustained success. By effectively addressing these people issues earlier on, senior executives can determine the feasibility of a deal sooner than later and also lay the foundation required for the long term success of deals planned ahead.

Invariably, qualitative variables are historically proven as the best estimates to increase firm’s value through liquidity, solvency and profitability. Some of these are: strong mission, objectives, strategies such as strong economic and financial forecasting, project evaluation and decision. Other important variables are: strong human resources, flexibility, transparency and good governance, ethical and legal strengths, division of responsibilities, risks and crisis mgt applications. These areas are such that even a little oversight or miss calculation might produce significant consequences leading to create deterrence in the transition to creating the firm’s value.

Measurement, therefore, starts at the beginning. It must be incorporated into the strategic outline of the communication plan and benchmarks must be set to ensure that specific goals are achieved. In traditional measurement, only output is calculated through content and processes. In many instances, the efficiency of the communication, or impact, is not addressed. It is well established that communication tiers build on themselves: they start by building awareness; with the hope of gaining understanding; which in turn leads to acceptance and to commitment; and only then, to action – which is the unit of measurement.

The traditional measurement techniques are no longer adequate to prove meaningful return. A more robust model must be adopted that addresses business strategy and its key drivers. It requires alignment between the company’s business vision and goals, the business and reputational priorities, and the strategic communication objectives. In other words, aligning the outcome to a tangible business need and measuring cause and effect.

Few would argue that internal communication starts at the top – with the CEO – and is the responsibility of all employees. It is for this reason that when a communications audit is conducted, a heavy score be allocated to management training and buy-in. This is not without reason. With the Sears Roebuck model, the employee-customer-profit chain became a cornerstone of the management decision process – something that required a thorough understanding of the system.

The model further argued that while the processes appeared undemanding from the outside, and a simple communication challenge, the underlying issue was that of trust and of business and economic literacy. It was believed that if the employees did not grasp the purpose of the system, understand it, and have a clear picture of how their own work fits into the model, the processes could not succeed. What this proves is that communication that does not cascade and does not have buy-in from all levels, will not produce a meaningful impact on the business. Communication starts at the top and is championed by management, but if staff do not understand the strategic direction and the behaviours required of them, they will not be able to successfully deliver a quantifiable return.

There would be few who would disagree that internal communication is an essential aspect of organisational development and change. The discipline continues to evolve in a world of new technologies, shifting perceptions, changing workforces and global influences. Management Communication Quarterly reported a study that found a correlation between employees’ satisfaction with communication in their organisations and organisational commitment, productivity, job performance, satisfaction, and other significant outcomes. This is further echoed in information published by the Public Relations Society of America, who report that more than 80 percent of employees polled in the US and UK said that employee communication influences their desire to stay with or leave an organisation. Nearly a third said communication was a “big influence” on their decision.

In principle, effective communication is able to facilitate meaningful engagement and build trust. These are critical factors in sustainable organisations, who enhance business performance through engaged staff who influence customers. Establishing whether the mechanisms being used in a particular organisation are working effectively is a critical contributor to this success.

Board effectiveness, defined as the successful fulfillment of the dual roles of providing strategic insight and management oversight, requires appropriate information, an agenda focused on key strategic issues, healthy discussion and debate, and a commitment to doing the job well. All of these elements are the responsibility of the board chair.

To better understand the chair’s role and responsibility, we need to look at two models of board leadership – the combined Chair/CEO structure and the split structure (where these positions are filled by two distinct individuals).

In the combined model, which was the structure reported by 63 percent of respondents to the board survey conducted for our book, the key to success is ensuring the CEO understands that the Chair role is an important and separate job. Too often, CEOs are so busy running the company that chair responsibilities slide.

Chair responsibilities, regardless of who fills the role, include:

Ensuring information board members need to hold an effective conversation is sent in advance of the meeting;
Setting the appropriate agenda, focused on strategic issues and oversight, with the right amount of time allotted to each issue;
Ensuring appropriate reporting of board activities in the meeting minutes;
Ensuring shareholders are kept adequately informed of affairs of the company and have confidence in the oversight provided by the board;
Developing and maintaining a shareholder relations program for the company;
Ensuring appropriate committee structure, membership and responsibilities;
Actively facilitating board members, promoting a culture of discussion and debate and balanced participation of all members;
Maintaining top-level contact with members of the community to ensure that company is properly recognized, dealt with and appropriately represented in community affairs;
Identifying ethical dilemmas in the company and reporting on those annually to the board;
Ensuring accountability of management for setting and achieving budgets and plans.

This final responsibility, ensuring accountability, is the most difficult to fulfill in the combined structure. In effect, the CEO is responsible for holding himself accountable. To make this structure work, the CEO/Chair must be willing to take feedback from other directors and admit mistakes. He or she must also be willing to let other directors meet in executive session without him or her to discuss issues they may have with respect to the CEO’s performance, as well as any other management issue that may be best handled without management in the room.

In the split structure, the Chair is tasked with the same responsibilities. One concern with this model is it creates a lack of clarity concerning who is in charge. Yet, note that most Chair responsibilities begin with the word “ensure” rather than “do.” The Chair’s job is more to make sure that things happen than to actually do them him or herself. So, his job is not to lead the organization but rather to lead the board. And, leading the board essentially means ensuring that it is fulfilling its designated role and responsibilities.

That said, the split structure does require strong coordination between the Chair and CEO. In this model, the CEO will often take the lead in setting the agenda and preparing advance and in-meeting materials. While the board’s role is to oversee the CEO, it is also to support the management team and provide expertise and insight. To effectively focus the board’s attention on the appropriate issues, the CEO must have a strong hand in setting the agenda, but not so strong that accountability is compromised.

Beyond preparing agendas and materials, some CEOs even take the lead in facilitating board meetings. Whoever leads the meeting, however, the Chair must take responsibility for ensuring the meeting is well run and should step in if things get off track.

At the highest level, the Chair is responsible for enforcing management accountability and the overall effectiveness of board process. An annual board evaluation is a useful tool to ensure the board is operating effectively.

Typically, corporate by-laws state that the board elects its Chair. In practice, owners have a strong influence in the choice of Chair by stating their preference for a family vs. a non-family chair and their desire for a combined or split model. Regardless of who fills the Chair seat-an independent director, retired CEO or acting CEO-the Chair must remember the important responsibility of shareholder relations. We recommend that the chair write a periodic letter to shareholders summarizing the activities of the board (without disclosing confidential information of course), present it at shareholder meetings and find opportunity to interact with shareholders on a more informal basis. The Chair should also welcome and respond to inquiries from shareholders.

How do family businesses ensure they have a strong Chair? First, the family must clarify its vision concerning how the role should be structured. The family should also insist that a job description for the Chair be developed. Ideally, if the family desires that a family member fill the chair role, it should ensure a development program is in place to build the skills needed in a good Chair. This development plan should encourage leadership opportunities for potential candidates, including participation in other for-profit or non-profit boards. The family should also develop strong ownership education programs and create opportunities for candidates to attend education programs on family business governance.

Chances are you’ve never heard of it. This strategic marketing strategy is not generally taught in business schools. But then again – the best marketing strategies rarely are.

So what is contrast marketing? What is The Dandelion Effect? What does it have to do with strategic marketing? And how can it help your business create an unfair competitive advantage?

Bryson Garbett gets it.

He understands.

He already knows pretty much everything that you need to know about The Dandelion Effect.

You’re probably wondering who this Bryson Garbett fellow is.

And you’re also wonder what in tarnation is “The Dandelion Effect”, and what on earth it has to do with strategic marketing.

Bryson Garbett is the President and CEO of Garbett Homes in Salt Lake City, Utah.

And The Dandelion Effect is an incredibly powerful marketing concept discovered by yours truly. Simply put, its a perfect example of the power of strategic marketing. It’s Contrast Marketing at its finest.

Garbett Homes is a revolutionary home builder that is pioneering the construction of all-green, ultra-energy-efficient and environmentally-conscious homes.

Their business is thriving, and they have created the “Green” model that homebuilders across the Western United States are trying to duplicate (usually unsuccessfully).

More on this exploding small business later.

Now let’s talk about The Dandelion Effect.

I want you to imagine that you have a perfectly manicured, lush, deep green lawn (for those of you in Manhattan this will take an extra dose of imagination). A lawn that you meticulously care for, spending hours trimming, edging, fertilizing, and talking to your lawn. A lawn that your grandfather would be proud of.

A lawn that is so perfect that your neighbors’ lawns are green with envy (pun totally intended).

Now I want you to imagine that one fine summer morning, you step out your front door in your bathrobe (or your underwear – but I’m not here to judge). You yawn, stretch, scratch, try to decide if you should grab the morning paper before or after starting the coffee pot, and then…

…you see it, and are stopped dead in your tracks.

There, sprouting right in the middle of your ridiculously perfect lawn is a mammoth, neon yellow Dandelion.

Your perfect sea of carefully-groomed greenness is ruined by that one stupid yellow weed.

Suddenly you don’t notice the lawn anymore. All that you can see if that DAMN DANDELION!

Guess what, folks – that Dandelion is YOUR BUSINESS.

That lawn is EVERYONE ELSE.

The whole point of the strategic marketing strategy known as The Dandelion Effect is for your business to stand out like a bright yellow Dandelion on an otherwise unbroken field of dark green grass.

So what does this have to do with Garbett Homes? Are they landscaping their yards with dandelions? (I’m almost afraid to suggest this idea to them. I’m sure they’d call it “native vegetation” and run with it…)

In an excellent example proving that they grasp strategic marketing, Garbett Homes recently found a perfect way use The Dandelion Effect.

I was driving down the freeway a few weeks ago, past the same dirty, stinky, nasty oil refinery that decades ago some brilliant city planner decided to allow to be constructed on prime commercial property alongside the freeway just north of Salt Lake City.

Strategy is a set of actions through which an organisation by accident or design develops resources and uses them to deliver services or products in a way which its users find valuable, while meeting the financial and other objectives and constraints imposed by key stake holders (Adrian Haberberg and Alison Rieple: 2008). This definition states that to attain the organisational goals the managers formulate the plans and actions to effectively utilize its resources in the best possible way. It also says the importance of its customer’s value and satisfaction in using their product which has been strategically improvised. Mintzberg defines strategy in terms of five P’s which are perspective, plan, ploy, pattern, and position. Where perspectives are the concepts of the company and the way in which these concepts are achieved, plan is the direction, a guide or a course of action which would lead the organisation from present to the future, ploy is the hard fought means of achieving the competitive advantage, pattern is the ability of an organisation to make decisions, position determines the enterprise location within its external and internal competitive environment.

Strategic management is a process that includes top managements analysis of the environment in which its organisation operates prior to formulating a strategy as well as the plans for implementation and control the strategy (John Parnell: 2008). In providing a strategy the management plays a vital role. In simple words we can define managers as a person who manages the workforce. These managers craft the strategies that are required for achieving the organisation goal. The managers are classified into three they are the corporate level managers, business level managers and the functional level managers. The corporate level managers are the individuals who hold the top most position in an organisation they include the chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO), chief operational officer (COO), chief information officer (CIO), chairperson of the board, president, vice president and corporate heads. The top level managers take strategic decision when they are aware of the current issues that affect their company as well as the global market. Regardless of the profit and non profit status of the CEO’s of an organisation they should understand the environment and its ability to survive and then develop strategies that would enable the organisation to attain its goal.

The business level managers are also known as the middle level managers. They come under the corporate level managers. They hold job titles such as general managers, plant managers, regional managers, and divisional managers. The main function of the middle level managers is to carry out the goals set by the corporate level managers by motivating the employees and giving the proper feedback to the top level managers. The functional level managers are the bottom level managers who carry out the operational functions of the organisation. They are the frontline managers and supervisors who are responsible for the daily management of the workers. They have job titles such as office manager, shift supervisors, department managers; fore person crew leader etc. strategies are formulated at all levels of the management and depending on the level it is originated strategies are classified into corporate level strategy, business level strategy and functional level strategy. For a large organisation, with more than one business areas will have the top level management known as the corporate who makes decision that does not relate directly to service users, but for the development of the organisation. Sony was a small company that manufactured rice cookers, voltmeters and other basic electronic equipment. One corporate strategic decision has allowed it to diversify into wireless audio and telecommunication equipments. This strategic decision has only favored Sony to be one of the best electronic manufactures in the world. Functional level strategies are short termed. They happens at all level individual functional level of the organisation. Business level strategies are those decisions taken by the management at business level for proper functioning. The organisation would choose their partners who would serve them in their business activities efficiently. The strategies that are formulated are not always the one that is implemented by the management. According to Henry Mintzberg there are two varieties of strategies, intended strategy (the strategy actually formulated by the management) and realized strategy (the strategy that management implements). This variation may happen as a result of better understanding of the environment; an improvement in the top management’s access to the environment, vital information received which was not available when the strategy was formulated. The managers are those who take the right choice of strategy for the growth of the organisation.

A good strategy is, when it is implemented, is by knowing its ability to fit in the organisational environment, its distinctiveness or uniqueness, and sustainability in the market. Strategy formulated is considered to be fit when it fits into the environment. The environment may be fast changing than others are dependable on government regulation. For example Sony has a market environment where technological innovations are very prominent. To fit into this environment they have very skilled workers as strategy which quickly allows them to incorporate these technology and are therefore not driven out by the competitors such as Samsung and LG. strategic fit also implies that any product of the same company should be fit that is every product by the company should make the customers privileged.

Distinctiveness is that quality of strategy that gives the organisation its competitive advantage. This will provide uniqueness for the product manufactures and will have a distinct position in the market place. Distinctiveness also depends on the customer choice, what he ants or what he finds so unique in the product. It can also be hidden such as its external partners, its division etc which are not accessible for its competitors, therefore they cannot be copy it. Sustainability is the ability for the organisation to remain in the market. Some of the sustainable factors are culture, architecture, organisational learning and knowledge management.

The initial stage of strategic planning is realizing the mission, vision, values, and goals. Mission statement of an organisation gives an account of the purpose of the organisation. The mission statement of Kodak is to provide “customers with the solution the need to capture, store, process, output and communicate images anywhere anytime” (Charles W L Hill, Steven L Mc Shane 2008) this statement proves that the mission statement of Kodak is customer oriented and not product oriented. A good mission statement focuses on customer need, and then only they can realize the market environment and produce products that would satisfy them. If the organisation is product oriented it will give quality products to customers but it will not sustain for long as it does not care for the customer needs. Vision is the future of the organisation, what it should produce next, how to expand etc, are the vision of an organisation. For example the vision of ford is to be the leading company in automobile products and service which would be a stretch for the company who is positioned third behind general motors and Toyota. That is the point of vision statement; it enables the organisation to achieve it by bringing new strategies, skilled employees, technologies etc.

Values are the philosophical priorities a manager is committed to. These values help the managers to build an enterprise that would satisfy the organisations missions and visions. Goal is a set of objectives that the organisation desires to achieve in future. Goals of an organisation specify what is to be done so that it can achieve its mission and vision. Most of the organisation establishes goals to attain profit growth.

While formulating a strategy the top level management should analysis the environment in two major analyses taken by the organisation they are PESTEL analysis and SWOT analysis. PESTEL is the acronym for political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal. PESTEL analysis is a macro environmental analysis. Political factors that affect the business are the actions taken by local and national administrations, political parties, and international organisations such as European commission, world trade organisation and United Nations. Economic factors related to the customers ability to spend on a particular product manufactured or sold by the company. When the inflation rate increases then the organisation would increase its productivity and innovations in product happens because the consumers have money and are ready to spend. Social and cultural factors depend on the consumer taste which will determine the demand of product ultimately. Technological factors are the ways in which the organisation and the whole society have changed tremendously. The use of bar codes and electronic point of sales has enabled the markets to expand. Environmental factors are the factors that affect the society such as diseases, global warming etc. these factors affect the spending power of the society. Legal factors are the laws and regulations that rule the particular nation. The organisation has to consider the legal factors that exist.

SWOT analysis is an internal analysis always done after PESTEL analysis. SWOT is the acronym for strength, weakness, opportunity and threats. All these elements are considered within an organisation. The management determines the organisation strength and weakness and work on its strength, how to improve the strength, and to reduce its weakness. Threats and opportunities referred to the external environment such as its competitors and their competitive advantage. A successful strategy will lead to the success of the organisation, as seen in the case of Wal Mart (CEO Sam Walton), Apple computer (CEO Steve Jobs) etc.

Strategic formulation is done depending on the size of the organisation the formulation of strategies varies. For a large organisation the formulation of strategies happen in two variables they are corporate strategy and business strategy. In corporate strategy the formulation of strategy is done taking into consideration that these strategies will be dealing with the issues of the management as a whole. The issues that are considered are the capability and competence of the organisation, basic character, the areas in which it should develop its activities, nature of its management, its governance and structure, nature of relationship with sector, its competitors and the wider environment. Business strategy is formulated keeping in mind that these strategies set are utilized by the organisation for specific organisational activities, for specific market environment, and for a particular division of the unit where the operations are allocated. Strategic formulation in a large organisation will happen with two interrelated components that is corporate and business strategy. Corporate strategy deals with the issues of the management as a whole. The issues that are included in corporate strategy are capability and competence of the organisation, basic character, the areas in which it should develop its activities nature of its management, its governance and structure, nature of relationship with sector, its competitors and wider environment. Business strategy formulated by which the organisation sets strategies for specific organisational activities, for specific market environment, and a particular division or unit where the operations are allocated. In Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) the basics of strategic formulation is forced or self imposed, required, rationalistic, deliberate, logically incremental, emergent and opportunistic. Self imposed strategies are those strategies which are formulated by force or pressure on the decision makers who are the managers, or imposed on them due to certain external and internal conditions. The internal condition include lack of leadership and resulting managerial continuity, unstabilised turnover of senior managers, no specific strategic decisions and direction, more focus on short term goals, lack of competitive advantage. The external condition include the rapid changing environmental developments, change in the existing competitive policy or competitive strategies, technological innovations, political factors, pressure from environmental groups, change in the consumer behavior, ethical values etc.

Required strategies are formulated by knowing the need for a plan that that would meet the needs of the stakeholders, enterprise capability and competencies, mission of organisation etc. Rationalistic approach to strategic formulation is also known as centralized approach where the CEO and colleagues are the pioneers in the process of strategic management. The strategic plans are always thrown over the wall from the corporate centre to subordinates for its implementation. The subordinates or low level employees may be consulted but they are not involved in making strategic decisions.

Logically incremented strategy formulation is said to be dynamically evolved over time and responding to both the internal and external conditions the company had to face. Strategies are evolved when the decision makers decide that the plan or strategy they have chosen would be applicable for achieving the organisational goal, and would prevail the business. It is a step by step approach to strategy formulation where it analyses the risk, uncertainty, unpredictability of instances.

Strategic formulation can be explained with the help of two models, the positioning and resource model also called the industrial organisation model and resource based model respectively. The sequence of industrial organisation model is analyses the environment, identify alternate industry, procure a reasonable alternative competitive advantage, develop and gain adequate resources and implement strategy by utilizing the firms resources. In this model the organisation initially examines the environment and therefore they get an idea about the kind of strategy needed to be formulated, as strategy will depend on the external and the internal environmental conditions. Decisions about the positioning of enterprice are given more importance than the capacity to implement such positioning. The organisations ability to perform will enable it to position itself in the peak of business. In the resource model the steps involved are to determine the organisation resources, understanding the capability of the organisation, determine the key competencies and competitive advantage of the organisation, determining an alternative industry, formulate the appropriate strategy and implement it. In this method the managers should give more importance to what the company can do rather than what it should do. The managers make use of any one of these plans to formulate the strategy.

Once a possible strategy is formulated the next step for the top level management is to successfully implement these strategies. Strategic implementation consists of putting these strategies into effect. The crucial stage of strategy is its implementation. Two main reasons why implementing strategy is difficult is firstly due to the existence of a number of departments in the organisation, and different stake holders associated and secondly due to the nature of hierarchy that exist in the organisation, the different level of decision and strategy making. Some of the weaknesses of strategic implementation are tokenism, bureaucratization, considering strategy for a short term profits etc which needed to be avoided before implementing the strategy. To make the separate departments of the organisations working together while implementing strategy is by analyzing the five C’s which are coordination, communication, command, control and conflict.

Coordination should happen at every step of strategy making mainly in formulation and implementation between the different stakeholders, organisation levels, between cooperating enterprises etc. coordination is a two way interaction between any two strategists. Coordination can only happen through effective communication. Communication is the exchange of ideas, knowledge, thought etc by means of a transmission medium. It plays a key role in implementing strategy. Communication happens at all levels of the organisation.

* A basis for preparing program plans and activities
* The formal record of all strategic changes made in response to evolving threat, technology and other environmental factors and the vehicle for building and achieving consensus. Research show that most acquisition do not work, it is reported that most acquisition do not work, it is reported that in today’s business environment, almost every organization is expected to be involved in a merger or acquisition at a certain stage in its life-cycle. Thus from the above it could be deduced that a strategy could be required to embark on an acquisition.
There are basically three strategy-making tasks.

1. Developing a strategic vision
2. Setting objectives
3. Crafting a strategy
An attempt would be made in discussing these strategy-making tasks to show how each of them could be utilize in considering an acquisition.

1. Developing a strategic Vision :
A strategic vision is a view of a company’s future direction and business makeup, a guiding concept for what the company is trying to do and to become. In effect strategic visions chart a company’s future for the next say 5-10 years. Very importantly, strategic visions are company-specific and not generic i.e. to say they must be tailored for the company in question. The vision is not defined in terms of making a profit.

In developing a strategic vision, three main questions are asked.

* Who or what are we now?
* Who or what do we want to become?
* How will we get there from here?

Thus, the vision or strategic intent which is the desired future state of the organization is an aspiration around which a strategist might seek to focus the attention and energies of members of the organization. The strategist must at this stage

1. Define the company’s present business
2. Decide on a long-term strategic path (course) and
3. Communicate the vision in ways that are clear, exciting and inspiring strategist
have come to accept that decisions to merge assume that synergy will develop between two organizations that combine resources and talent and achieve economies of scale, scope and integrated technologies.

Sometimes financial issues overshadow most mergers and acquisitions neglecting other critical aspects of the merger such as vision (mission), planning (strategy) and human resources (i.e. people-factor) making synergies unsuccessful. It would, therefore, be prudent at this stage of strategy-making to tailor the vision in line with intended acquired company. This is development of romance i.e. building a shared vision and commitment. This is to try to forestall any possible future conflict that might emerge should there be a merger or an acquisition. This is done in relation to defining the company’s present or intended business based on satisfying customer needs, target markets and technologies used. It is possible that if the mission of the organization is developed in defining the company’s business as hypothesized. To avoid pitfalls of an intended acquisition the shared vision of the future must be created diagnosing key elements of the vision so as to understand the common and divergent views of the partners. This vision must be tailored to prepare the company for its long-term vision in the wake of any acquisition.

The defined vision must then be communicated to the management and staff providing a means for department management to create their own visions, objectives and strategies and creating enthusiasm among employees must also be repeated often times.

The next task in strategy-making is objective setting. Objectives, usually financial or marketing, are the quantification or more specific statements of the goal. For example “2.5% market share in two months”. Objectives must be-SMART- specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. If these characteristics are inherent in any objective, it has a greater probability to succeed. Thus in considering an acquisition, the objectives must first address when to actually acquire, how must to be spent in the acquisition, specific, measurable and realistic performance targets by a certain time. At this stage, the objectives must be set for both long-term and short-term horizons. The short-term objective focusing on the communication aspect of the vision and the long-term on, staff training and recruitment for the intending acquisition. Nevertheless, as history shows that acquisitions fail to live up to expectations, numerous research over the last 10 years have proven that decisions must be made quickly and often under tremendous pressure as already tight resources are stretched even further. Objectives on this must be timely. Sayewitz (1997) writes that according to recently released survey of 124 USS comp… achieving 80% of their objectives. Firms that took more gradual approach reported a failure rate of close to 50%…. As difficult as this might be, in practice the least management should do is to speed up the acquisition as soon as the opportunities show up after all the necessary analysis has been completed.

The next and final task is crafting the strategy. Crafting a strategy is all about how to reach performance targets set tin the objectives, making the strategic vision a reality, capture market opportunities, achieve sustainable competitive advantage strengthen the firm’s long-term competitive p and out-perform rivals. In effect, it is how managers analyse and think about complex strategic problem and adapting to the challenges inherent in the changing environment. First used by Mintzberg (1887) illustrating with a potter at a wheel molding a lump of clay, his view was that the most productive and real world way to view strategic management is not the strategic planning model, but rather one that merges formulation of strategy with its implementation; in other words have meant that if an organization embarks upon a determined change of strategy, certain aspects of implementation will be changed as it becomes increasingly clear with experience how best to manage the environmental forces even though the basic tools for crating a strategy are SWOT analysis, value chain analysis and scenario mapping, applying Mintzberg’s developing and understanding and commitment to the role M & A strategy involves developing and understanding and commitment to the role M&A activity should play in achieving the company’s strategic objectives.

A good strategy of the acquisition, say fundamental transformation or to just to strengthen certain business units. It must also develop a framework for senior managers to creating potential of various potential acquisitions outlined; substantiate a variety of integration options and how integration plans may vary across potential acquisitions.

Most importantly, the strategy must develop profiles of acquisition candidate(s) consistent with the acquisition strategy and reflects an understanding of realities under M & A market place so as to model the financial implications under a variety of scenarios. The strategy must also developed such that depending on the strategic objectives a relationship is built with the potential acquisition candidates in the areas of marketing integrated supply agreements and possibly accounting practices integrated supply agreements and possibly accounting practices post-Enron era. In addition to building relations, organisations must also establish an external network involving the investment bank and the potential candidates.

Though not trying to confine the M & A market to rigid objectives, in the best, M & A processes informs strategy as well as being guided by it. Thus, through the process of evaluating candidates and putting deals together, the organization can narrow the acquisition parameters and better envision what the company could become by choosing the right acquisition. The organization must also craft a human resources strategy getting the people-related issues right maintaining employee morale that will retain key employees, despite the usual hiccups after major changes, according to research by mercer outlined in an article ‘making a success of mergers and acquisition’ on their website. It went on to further point out that the people are integrated into the new organization is a key to sustained success. By effectively addressing these people issues earlier on, senior executives can determine the feasibility of a deal sooner than later and also lay the foundation required for the long term success of deals planned ahead.

Invariably, qualitative variables are historically proven as the best estimates to increase firm’s value through liquidity, solvency and profitability. Some of these are: strong mission, objectives, strategies such as strong economic and financial forecasting, project evaluation and decision. Other important variables are: strong human resources, flexibility, transparency and good governance, ethical and legal strengths, division of responsibilities, risks and crisis mgt applications. These areas are such that even a little oversight or miss calculation might produce significant consequences leading to create deterrence in the transition to creating the firm’s value.

Measurement, therefore, starts at the beginning. It must be incorporated into the strategic outline of the communication plan and benchmarks must be set to ensure that specific goals are achieved. In traditional measurement, only output is calculated through content and processes. In many instances, the efficiency of the communication, or impact, is not addressed. It is well established that communication tiers build on themselves: they start by building awareness; with the hope of gaining understanding; which in turn leads to acceptance and to commitment; and only then, to action – which is the unit of measurement.

The traditional measurement techniques are no longer adequate to prove meaningful return. A more robust model must be adopted that addresses business strategy and its key drivers. It requires alignment between the company’s business vision and goals, the business and reputational priorities, and the strategic communication objectives. In other words, aligning the outcome to a tangible business need and measuring cause and effect.

Few would argue that internal communication starts at the top – with the CEO – and is the responsibility of all employees. It is for this reason that when a communications audit is conducted, a heavy score be allocated to management training and buy-in. This is not without reason. With the Sears Roebuck model, the employee-customer-profit chain became a cornerstone of the management decision process – something that required a thorough understanding of the system.

The model further argued that while the processes appeared undemanding from the outside, and a simple communication challenge, the underlying issue was that of trust and of business and economic literacy. It was believed that if the employees did not grasp the purpose of the system, understand it, and have a clear picture of how their own work fits into the model, the processes could not succeed. What this proves is that communication that does not cascade and does not have buy-in from all levels, will not produce a meaningful impact on the business. Communication starts at the top and is championed by management, but if staff do not understand the strategic direction and the behaviours required of them, they will not be able to successfully deliver a quantifiable return.

There would be few who would disagree that internal communication is an essential aspect of organisational development and change. The discipline continues to evolve in a world of new technologies, shifting perceptions, changing workforces and global influences. Management Communication Quarterly reported a study that found a correlation between employees’ satisfaction with communication in their organisations and organisational commitment, productivity, job performance, satisfaction, and other significant outcomes. This is further echoed in information published by the Public Relations Society of America, who report that more than 80 percent of employees polled in the US and UK said that employee communication influences their desire to stay with or leave an organisation. Nearly a third said communication was a “big influence” on their decision.

In principle, effective communication is able to facilitate meaningful engagement and build trust. These are critical factors in sustainable organisations, who enhance business performance through engaged staff who influence customers. Establishing whether the mechanisms being used in a particular organisation are working effectively is a critical contributor to this success.

Board effectiveness, defined as the successful fulfillment of the dual roles of providing strategic insight and management oversight, requires appropriate information, an agenda focused on key strategic issues, healthy discussion and debate, and a commitment to doing the job well. All of these elements are the responsibility of the board chair.

To better understand the chair’s role and responsibility, we need to look at two models of board leadership – the combined Chair/CEO structure and the split structure (where these positions are filled by two distinct individuals).

In the combined model, which was the structure reported by 63 percent of respondents to the board survey conducted for our book, the key to success is ensuring the CEO understands that the Chair role is an important and separate job. Too often, CEOs are so busy running the company that chair responsibilities slide.

Chair responsibilities, regardless of who fills the role, include:

Ensuring information board members need to hold an effective conversation is sent in advance of the meeting;
Setting the appropriate agenda, focused on strategic issues and oversight, with the right amount of time allotted to each issue;
Ensuring appropriate reporting of board activities in the meeting minutes;
Ensuring shareholders are kept adequately informed of affairs of the company and have confidence in the oversight provided by the board;
Developing and maintaining a shareholder relations program for the company;
Ensuring appropriate committee structure, membership and responsibilities;
Actively facilitating board members, promoting a culture of discussion and debate and balanced participation of all members;
Maintaining top-level contact with members of the community to ensure that company is properly recognized, dealt with and appropriately represented in community affairs;
Identifying ethical dilemmas in the company and reporting on those annually to the board;
Ensuring accountability of management for setting and achieving budgets and plans.

This final responsibility, ensuring accountability, is the most difficult to fulfill in the combined structure. In effect, the CEO is responsible for holding himself accountable. To make this structure work, the CEO/Chair must be willing to take feedback from other directors and admit mistakes. He or she must also be willing to let other directors meet in executive session without him or her to discuss issues they may have with respect to the CEO’s performance, as well as any other management issue that may be best handled without management in the room.

In the split structure, the Chair is tasked with the same responsibilities. One concern with this model is it creates a lack of clarity concerning who is in charge. Yet, note that most Chair responsibilities begin with the word “ensure” rather than “do.” The Chair’s job is more to make sure that things happen than to actually do them him or herself. So, his job is not to lead the organization but rather to lead the board. And, leading the board essentially means ensuring that it is fulfilling its designated role and responsibilities.

That said, the split structure does require strong coordination between the Chair and CEO. In this model, the CEO will often take the lead in setting the agenda and preparing advance and in-meeting materials. While the board’s role is to oversee the CEO, it is also to support the management team and provide expertise and insight. To effectively focus the board’s attention on the appropriate issues, the CEO must have a strong hand in setting the agenda, but not so strong that accountability is compromised.

Beyond preparing agendas and materials, some CEOs even take the lead in facilitating board meetings. Whoever leads the meeting, however, the Chair must take responsibility for ensuring the meeting is well run and should step in if things get off track.

At the highest level, the Chair is responsible for enforcing management accountability and the overall effectiveness of board process. An annual board evaluation is a useful tool to ensure the board is operating effectively.

Typically, corporate by-laws state that the board elects its Chair. In practice, owners have a strong influence in the choice of Chair by stating their preference for a family vs. a non-family chair and their desire for a combined or split model. Regardless of who fills the Chair seat-an independent director, retired CEO or acting CEO-the Chair must remember the important responsibility of shareholder relations. We recommend that the chair write a periodic letter to shareholders summarizing the activities of the board (without disclosing confidential information of course), present it at shareholder meetings and find opportunity to interact with shareholders on a more informal basis. The Chair should also welcome and respond to inquiries from shareholders.

How do family businesses ensure they have a strong Chair? First, the family must clarify its vision concerning how the role should be structured. The family should also insist that a job description for the Chair be developed. Ideally, if the family desires that a family member fill the chair role, it should ensure a development program is in place to build the skills needed in a good Chair. This development plan should encourage leadership opportunities for potential candidates, including participation in other for-profit or non-profit boards. The family should also develop strong ownership education programs and create opportunities for candidates to attend education programs on family business governance.

Chances are you’ve never heard of it. This strategic marketing strategy is not generally taught in business schools. But then again – the best marketing strategies rarely are.

So what is contrast marketing? What is The Dandelion Effect? What does it have to do with strategic marketing? And how can it help your business create an unfair competitive advantage?

Bryson Garbett gets it.

He understands.

He already knows pretty much everything that you need to know about The Dandelion Effect.

You’re probably wondering who this Bryson Garbett fellow is.

And you’re also wonder what in tarnation is “The Dandelion Effect”, and what on earth it has to do with strategic marketing.

Bryson Garbett is the President and CEO of Garbett Homes in Salt Lake City, Utah.

And The Dandelion Effect is an incredibly powerful marketing concept discovered by yours truly. Simply put, its a perfect example of the power of strategic marketing. It’s Contrast Marketing at its finest.

Garbett Homes is a revolutionary home builder that is pioneering the construction of all-green, ultra-energy-efficient and environmentally-conscious homes.

Their business is thriving, and they have created the “Green” model that homebuilders across the Western United States are trying to duplicate (usually unsuccessfully).

More on this exploding small business later.

Now let’s talk about The Dandelion Effect.

I want you to imagine that you have a perfectly manicured, lush, deep green lawn (for those of you in Manhattan this will take an extra dose of imagination). A lawn that you meticulously care for, spending hours trimming, edging, fertilizing, and talking to your lawn. A lawn that your grandfather would be proud of.

A lawn that is so perfect that your neighbors’ lawns are green with envy (pun totally intended).

Now I want you to imagine that one fine summer morning, you step out your front door in your bathrobe (or your underwear – but I’m not here to judge). You yawn, stretch, scratch, try to decide if you should grab the morning paper before or after starting the coffee pot, and then…

…you see it, and are stopped dead in your tracks.

There, sprouting right in the middle of your ridiculously perfect lawn is a mammoth, neon yellow Dandelion.

Your perfect sea of carefully-groomed greenness is ruined by that one stupid yellow weed.

Suddenly you don’t notice the lawn anymore. All that you can see if that DAMN DANDELION!

Guess what, folks – that Dandelion is YOUR BUSINESS.

That lawn is EVERYONE ELSE.

The whole point of the strategic marketing strategy known as The Dandelion Effect is for your business to stand out like a bright yellow Dandelion on an otherwise unbroken field of dark green grass.

So what does this have to do with Garbett Homes? Are they landscaping their yards with dandelions? (I’m almost afraid to suggest this idea to them. I’m sure they’d call it “native vegetation” and run with it…)

In an excellent example proving that they grasp strategic marketing, Garbett Homes recently found a perfect way use The Dandelion Effect.

I was driving down the freeway a few weeks ago, past the same dirty, stinky, nasty oil refinery that decades ago some brilliant city planner decided to allow to be constructed on prime commercial property alongside the freeway just north of Salt Lake City.

Employee Development and Talent management are essential elements of any strategic human capital management program that merely can’t be overlooked.

If you do not understand the unique training and development needs of the team members you simply are not getting the greatest return on your training dollars possible Period.

When done strategically and executed effectively investments in employee development will pay huge dividends which will take your organization to the next level

Why employee development and talent management?

Employee development encourages employee engagement that is necessary to a high performance workplace

Strategic talent management raises the skills and talents of your associates and increases the performance of the team

Team members enjoy the sense of personal growth and satisfaction which comes from the chance to develop their skills and better bring about their team

Employee development can have a dramatic impact on the level of employee retention in your firm. To put it simply, engaged employees using the opportunity for personal and professional growth are more likely to stick with your business

Employee Training and development is definitely an purchase of your business that can give a significant Return on Investment when tailored to the unique needs of your individual team members

Talent management is a vital part of any effective succession plan designed to ensure the health and vitality of your organization for many years.

Talent Management Consulting – How We Might help…

We’ve powerful talent assessment tools at our disposal to determine a team member’s weaknesses and strengths and can identify the kinds of training which are most appropriate for each individual team member.

Our talent management strategies and services are never “boxed” programs. We’ll make a customized employee development and coaching strategy for your own associates to reach their unique growth opportunities.

Using the knowledge gained from our assessment tools, we can assist you to identify individuals ideal for advancement inside your organization. With this particular knowledge in hand customized development programs can be crafted to organize team members for advancement in your firm.

We will help make sure that workers are involved in their day to day activities within your organization to make sure an advanced of organizational commitment.

We offer the type of employee training and development that sticks. We avoid feel good training that actually works for a day and is forgotten. Our talent management programs are made to produce real and lasting change.