Issues in strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Issues in strategic management - Essay Example However, it is essential to distinguish the two basic differences in the strategic management research - while one focuses on the research of the content of the strategic management ideas, the other makes the process of strategic management its object, and also examines the factors, which influence this process. It is interesting to note the expression, which can give and explain the principal roots of the strategic management decision making: Thus, the aim of the research is not only to make the taxonomy of the decision making knowledge in strategic management, but to make it simple, understandable and practical for the use in the further similar researches. Taxonomy is the science of classification of any knowledge, and can be applied to any theoretical or practical field of science. (Porac & Thomas, 1990) Applying taxonomy to the area of strategic decision making has become popular in the recent years, though attempts to systematize the schools of the strategic decision making has been attempted earlier. It was a difficult task to accomplish, as strategic decisions have been described, as being unclear, complex, unpredictable and messy. (Schwenk & Dalton, 1991) The first attempt to create at least approximate taxonomy of the strategic decision making was performed in 1976 by Mintzberg and Theoret, who were able to define the three major phases in this process, and described them as the identification phase, the development phase and the selection phase. (Goodstein et al, 1994) Hart (1992) has also created his own system of strategic decision making processes, and has divided them into five different types - the command mode, the symbolic mode, the rational mode, the transactive mode and the generative mode. The systematization of the knowledge in the area of strategic management decision making is a difficult process, but we will here attempt to create a table on the basis of the existing theoretical schools and to describe them in more detail, which will assist in further application of the knowledge found in literature in future researches and the solution of the practical issues. Taxonomy of the strategic management decision making Name of the theoretical school The author The basic knowledge used The design school model Learned, Christensen, Andrews and Guth SWOT analysis; defines strategy as simple and informative process The planning school Ansoff Makes little emphasis on the concept of strategy as it is; is more concentrated on the detailed plans elaboration The entrepreneurial school Schumpeter Focuses on the CEO role in strategic decision making process The extended design school model Prescribes the CEO's vision to the building of consensus and commitment in the decision making The detailed discussion of the theoretical schools In the light of the abovementioned information and in the view of the table created on the basis of the already existing schools of strategic management thinking and decision making, it is interesting to note, that some strategies use the role of the

Real Estate Investment Trusts Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Real Estate Investment Trusts - Research Paper Example The conceptual framework of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) in the UK has been characteristically shaped against the backdrop of an evolving unique property market investment paradigm vis--vis the diversity and complexity of non-property market investment vehicles that have hitherto dominated the UK investment scenario (Wyatt, 2007, p. 143). While still there is a considerable amount of confusion as to what REITS are able to accomplish on their own in a highly competitive strategically diverse highly risk-prone property investment market, there is an equally formidable quantum of hope on the part of the average property investor and the market analyst that the UK property market has the potential for growth and sustainability despite a global downturn and rising pessimism among investors in general. This conceptual framework underlies the very organizational structure of the REIT industry and thereby influences its evolving strategic shape. Though the average REIT is structured in the same way as a private or a public company according to the British law, there is a significant amount of variance in its capital structure and composition. For instance in the process of distribution of profits the REIT is obliged under the Finance Act of 2006 to withhold tax from profit distributions made to shareholders out of property-related investment profits. While REITS elect themselves to be rewarded with the privilege of being tax-exempted on profits made from certain property-related investments, they have little freedom by way of diversification of assets or portfolios.Real estate investment vehicles as initiated under REITS have been noted also for their strategic emphasis on tradable shares whose prices are determined by free market forces - demand and supply. Another inherent feature associated with them is the tax transparency. Indeed the latter characteristic influences both demand for and supply of such assets despite a negative corollary associated with such declarations. For instance the demand for such investment vehicles as that of properties could be attributed to a variety of causal factors ranging from constantly rising real returns to tax-exemptions. On the other hand supply factors include REITS' ability to divert and channel risk-prone investments away from potential collapse into an attractive investment proposition that fetches real returns.Although a number of investment vehicles exist in the non-property sector of the economy, there is very little strategic freedom for the average REIT to channel funds into diverse investments thus expecting a real but constantly growing return (Acharya and Dimson, 2007, p.176). While the company is a normal corporate entity with a listing on a stock exchange there is something unusual about its strategic focus , viz. the way and manner in which it conducts itself in distributing profits. Potential investors would have the assurance of getting some profits but nevertheless how much profit is determined by