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Crafting and Executing Strategy Study Guide

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Chapter 1 What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important? CORE CONCEPTS A company 's strategy consists of the competitive moves and business approaches that managers are employing to grow the business, attract and please customers, compete successfully, conduct operations, and achieve the targeted levels of organizational performance. A company achieves sustainable competitive advantage when an attractive number of buyers prefer its products or services over the offerings of competitors and when the basis for this preference is durable. Changing circumstances and ongoing management efforts to improve the strategy cause a company 's strategy to evolve over time—a condition that makes the task of crafting a strategy a work in progress, …show more content…

An effectively communicated vision is a valuable management tool for enlisting the commitment of company personnel to actions that get the company moving in the intended direction. Strategic visions become real only when the vision statement is imprinted in the minds of organization members and then translated into hard objectives and strategies. A company 's values are the beliefs, traits, and behavioral norms that company personnel are expected to display in conducting the company 's business and pursuing its strategic vision and strategy. Objectives are an organization 's performance targets—the results and outcomes management wants to achieve. They function as yardsticks for measuring how well the organization is doing. Setting stretch objectives is an effective tool for avoiding ho-hum results. Financial objectives relate to the financial performance targets management has established for the organization to achieve. Strategic objectives relate to target outcomes that indicate a company is strengthening its market standing, competitive vitality, and future business prospects. A company that pursues and achieves strategic outcomes that boost its competitiveness and strength in the marketplace is in much better position to improve its future financial performance. A company exhibits

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