JAIPUR NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, JAIPUR

School of Distance Education & Learning

Internal Assignment No. 1

Master of Business Administration / PGDM

Paper Code: MBA– 208
Paper Title: Strategic Management
Last date of submission: Max. Marks: 15

Note: Question No. 1 is of short answer type and is compulsory for all the students.
It carries 5 Marks. (Word limits 50-100)

Q. 1. Answer all the questions:

(i) Define the term business policy.
Ans:- Definition of Business Policy. ... Business policies are the guidelines developed
by an organization to govern its actions. They define the limits within which
decisions must be made. Business policy also deals with acquisition of resources with
which organizational goals can be achieved.(i)State the primary activities of a value
chain.Ans:- In Porter's value chains, Inbound Logistics, Operations, Outbound
Logistics, Marketing and Sales, and Service are categorized as primary activities.
Secondary activities include Procurement, Human Resource management,
Technological Development and Infrastructure(ii)What do you mean by strategic
control?Ans:- Strategic control is a term used to describe the process used by
organizations to control the formation and execution of strategic plans; it is a
specialised form of management control, and differs from other forms of management
control (in particular from operational control) in respects of its need to handle
uncertainty and ambiguity at various points in the control process.(iii)Name any two
external environment appraisal toolsAns:- the tools and technique required for
environmental appraisal of transport activities. It starts with an overview of the NATA
(New Approach to Appraisal) and focuses on the tools for environmental assessment
which range from simple screening models to advanced models and techniques.
(iv)Mention any two factors affecting organizational design.Ans:- Environment. The
environment is the world in which the organization operates, and includes conditions
that influence the organization such as economic, social‐cultural, legal‐political,
technological,
(ii) State the primary activities of a value chain.

A value chain is a combination of the systems a company or organization uses to

make money. That is, a value chain is made up of various subsystems that are
used to create products or services. This includes the process from start to
finish.

The first are primary activities which include the five main activities. All five activities
are directly involved in the production and selling of the actual product. They cover the
physical creation of the product, its sales, transfer to the buyer as well as after sale
assistance. The five primary activities are inbound logistics, operations, outbound
logistics, marketing & sales and service. Even though the importance of each category
may vary from industry to industry, all of these activities will be present to some degree
in each organization and play at least some role in competitive advantage.

Porter’s Value Chain Primary Activities

Inbound Logistics
Inbound logistics include the receiving, warehousing and inventory control of a
company's raw materials. This also covers all relationships with suppliers. For
example, for an e-commerce company, inbound logistics would be the receiving
and storing products from a manufacturer that it plans to sell.

Operations
Operations include procedures for converting raw materials into a finished
product or service. This includes changing all inputs to ready them as outputs. In
the above e-commerce example, this would include adding labels or branding or
packaging several products as a bundle to add value to the product.

Outbound Logistics
All activities to distribute a final product to a consumer are considered
outbound logistics. This includes delivery of the product but also includes storage
and distribution systems and can be external or internal. For the e-commerce
company above, this includes storing products for shipping and the actual
shipping of said products.

Marketing and Sales

Strategies to enhance visibility and target appropriate customers—such as
advertising, promotion, and pricing—are included in marketing and sales.
Basically, this is all activities that help convince a consumer to purchase a
company’s product or service. Continuing with the above example, an e-
commerce company may run ads on Instagram or build an email list for email
marketing.

Services
This includes activities to maintain products and enhance consumer experience
—customer service, maintenance, repair, refund, and exchange. For an e-
commerce company, this could include repairs or replacements, or warranty.

Porter's Value Chain Secondary Activities

Now, companies can further improve the primary activities of their value chain
with secondary activities. Value chain support activities do just that, they support
the primary activities. The support, or secondary, activity generally plays a role in
each primary activity. Such as human resource management, which can play a
role in operations and marketing and sales. Here are the four supporting
activities.

Procurement
Procurement is the acquisition of inputs, or resources, for the firm. This is how a
company obtains raw materials, thus, it includes finding and negotiating prices
with suppliers and vendors. This relates heavily to the inbound logistics primary
activity, where an e-commerce company would look to procure materials or
goods for resale.

Human Resource Management

Hiring and retaining employees who will fulfill business strategy, as well as help
design, market, and sell the product. Overall, managing employees is useful for
all primary activities, where employees and effective hiring are needed for
marketing, logistics, and operations, among others.

(iii) What do you mean by strategic control?

Strategic control is the process used by organizations to control the formation and execution
of strategic plans; it is a specialised form of management control, and differs from other forms of
management control (in particular from operational control) in respects of its need to
handle uncertainty and ambiguity at various points in the control process.[1]
Strategic control is also focused on the achievement of future goals, rather than the evaluation of
past performance. Vis:
The purpose of control at the strategic level is not to answer the question:' 'Have we made the right
strategic choices at some time in the past?" but rather "How well are we doing now and how well will
we be doing in the immediate future for which reliable information is available?" The point is not to
bring to light past errors but to identify needed corrections to steer the corporation in the desired
direction. And this determination must be made with respect to currently desirable long-range goals
and not against the goals or plans that were established at some time in the past. [1]
As with other control processes, strategic control processes are at their core cybernetic in nature:
[2]
using one or more 'closed loop' controls to ensure that any observed deviations from expected
activity or outcomes are highlighted to managers who can then intervene to correct / adjust the
organisation's future activities. John Preble noted the need for these controls to be 'forward looking'
when used to control strategy, to give controls that are "future-directed and anticipatory".
Strategic control systems cannot "...wait for a strategy to be executed before getting any feedback
on how well it is working. Since this might take several years..." [3]

(iv) Name any two external environment appraisal tools

Sustainable appraisal

Here the core business is to ascertain whether , the the appraisal procedure is user
friendly and can be put in place to cause no harm , to the environment rather than , the
intended appraisal target.

Environmental assessment

At this point the process is assessed in order to ensurer that , the procedure is potent
and can be put to the next level of implementation.

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(v) Mention any two factors affecting organizational design.
Note: Answer any two questions. Each question carries 5 marks (Word limits 500)
Q. 2. Discuss various steps involved in the process of strategic management.
Q. 3. Explain various types of mergers along with examples.
Q. 4. Describe the procedure of preparing vision and mission statement of an organization.
 JAIPUR NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, JAIPUR
School of Distance Education & Learning
Internal Assignment No. 2

Master of Business Administration / PGDM

Paper Code: MBA – 208
Paper Title: Strategic Management
Last date of submission: Max. Marks: 15

Note : Question No. 1 is of short answer type and is compulsory for all the students.
It carries 5 Marks. (Word limits 50-100)

Q. 1. Answer all the questions:

(i) What were the two dimensions used under BCG matrix?
(ii) What do you mean by turnaround strategy?
(iii) Define core competence
(iv) Distinguish between joint venture and strategic alliance.
(v) What is SWOT Analysis?
Note: Answer any two questions. Each question carries 5 marks (Word limits 500)
Q. 2. Discuss the types of generic strategies given by Michael Porter.
Q. 3. Explain the importance of strategic management in managing today’s organizations.
Q. 4. Critically explain the GE Nine Cell matrix.