Chapter 9

1. Chapter 9 Strategic Control and Corporate Governance

2. Two Approaches to Control • Traditional control system • Contemporary control system

3. Traditional Approach to Strategic Control

4. Traditional Approach to Strategic Control • Involves lengthy time lags, often tied to the annual planning cycle • “Single-loop” learning control system compares actual performance to a predetermined goal • Appropriate when • Stable and simple environment • Goals and objectives can be measured with certainty • Little need for complex measures of performance

5. Contemporary Approach to Strategic Control • Relationships between strategy formulation, implementation and control are highly interactive • Two different types of control • Informational control • Behavioral control Informational control Behavioral control

6. Contemporary Approach to Strategic Control • Informational control • Concerned with whether or not the organization is “doing the right things” • Behavioral control • Concerned with whether or not the organization is “doing things right” in the implementation of its strategy

7. Informational Control • Deals with internal environment and external strategic context • Key question • “Do the organization’s goals and strategies still ‘fit’ within the context of the current strategic environment?” • Two key issues • Scan and’ monitor external environment (general and industry) • Continuously monitor the internal environment

8. Traditional approach Understanding of the assumption base is an initial step in the process of strategy formulation Contemporary approach Information control is part of an ongoing process of organizational learning that updates and challenges the assumptions underlying the firm’s strategy Informational Control

9. Update and challenge the assumptions Assumptions Contemporary Control System Premises Goals Strategies Informational Control The Firm’s • Continuously • Monitor • Test • Review

10. Behavioral Control • Behavioral control is focused on implementation—doing things right • Three key control “levers” • Culture • Rewards • Boundaries

11. Traditional approach Emphasizes comparing outcomes to predetermined strategies and fixed rules Contemporary approach A balance between Culture Rewards Boundaries Behavioral Control: Balancing Culture, Rewards, and Boundaries Adapted from Exhibit 9.3 Essential Elements of Strategic Control

12. Control system must focus on Constantly changing information Information identified by managers as having potential strategic importance Changing information Characteristics of Effective Contemporary Control Systems

13. Information Important enough to demand frequent and regular attention from operating managers at all levels of the organization Changing information Important information Characteristics of Effective Contemporary Control Systems

14. Data and information generated by the control system Interpreted and discussed in face-to-face meetings Superiors Subordinates Peers Changing information Important information Interpretation and discussion of information Characteristics of Effective Contemporary Control Systems

15. Control system is a key catalyst for ongoing debate Underlying data Assumptions Action plans Changing information Important information Interpretation and discussion of information Centrality of control system Characteristics of Effective Contemporary Control Systems

16. Building a Strong and Effective Culture • Organizational culture is a system of • Shared values (what is important) • Beliefs (how things work) • Organizational culture shapes a firm’s • People • Organizational structures • Control systems • Organizational culture produces • Behavioral norms

17. The role of culture Building a Strong and Effective Culture • Culture sets implicit boundaries • Dress • Ethical matters • The way an organization conducts its business • Culture acts as a means of reducing monitoring costs

18. The role of culture Sustaining an effective culture Building a Strong and Effective Culture • Effective culture must be • Cultivated • Encouraged • Fertilized • Maintaining an effective culture • Storytelling • Rallies or pep talks by top executives

19. Motivating with Rewards and Incentives • Rewards and incentive systems • Powerful means of influencing an organization’s culture • Focuses efforts on high-priority tasks • Motivates individual and collective task performance • Can be an effective motivator and control mechanism

20. Motivating with Rewards and Incentives • Potential downside • Subcultures may arise in different business units with multiple reward systems • May reflect differences among functional areas, products, services and divisions • Shared values may emerge in subculture in opposition to patterns of the dominant culture • Reward systems may lead to information hoarding, working at cross purposes

21. Motivating with Rewards and Incentives • Creating effective reward and incentive programs • Objectives are clear, well understood and broadly accepted • Rewards are clearly linked to performance and desired behaviors • Performance measures are clear and highly visible • Feedback is prompt, clear, and unambiguous • Compensation “system” is perceived as fair and equitable • Structure is flexible; it can adapt to changing circumstances

22. Setting Boundaries and Constraints • Focus efforts on strategic priorities • Short-term objectives • Specific and measurable • Specific time horizon for attainment • Achievable, but challenging • Provide proper direction, but be flexible when faced with need to change • Short-term action plans • Specific • Can be implemented • Individual managers held accountable for implementation of action plans

23. Setting Boundaries and Constraints • Rule-based controls most appropriate in firms with the following characteristics • Stable and predictable environments • Largely unskilled and interchangeable employees • Consistency in product and service is critical • Risk of malfeasance is extremely high • Guidelines • Can set spending limits and range of discretion • Can specify proper relationships with customers and suppliers

24. Organizational Control: Alternative Approaches Approach Some Situational Factors Culture: a system of unwritten rules that forms an internalized influence over behavior. • Often found in professional organizations • Associated with high autonomy • Norms are the basis for behavior Rules: Written and explicit guidelines that provide external constraints on behavior. • Associated with standardized output • Tasks are generally repetitive and routine • Little need for innovation or creative activity

25. Organizational Control: Alternative Approaches Approach Some Situational Factors Rewards: The use of performance-based incentive systems to motivate. • Measurement of output and performance is rather straightforward • Most appropriate in organizations pursuing unrelated diversification strategies • Rewards may be used to reinforce other means of control

26. Evolving from Boundaries to Rewards and Culture • Organizations should strive to have boundaries internalized • System of rewards and incentives coupled with a strong culture • Hire the right people (already identify with the firm’s dominant values) • Train people in the dominant cultural values • Have managerial role models • Reward systems clearly aligned with organizational goals and objectives

27. Business-Level Strategy and Strategic Control: Overall Cost Leadership • Firms competing on the basis of cost must implement • Tight cost controls • Frequent and comprehensive reports to monitor costs associated with outputs • Highly structured tasks and responsibilities • Incentives based on explicit financial targets, rather than innovation and creativity

28. Business-Level Strategy and Strategic Control: Differentiation • Firms competing on the basis of differentiation must implement • Employ experts who can identify crucial elements of intricate, creative designs and marketing decisions • Support for collaboration and cooperation among specialists and functional managers • Behavioral performance measures and intangible incentives and rewards

29. Corporate-Level Strategy and Strategic Control • Key issue is the need for independence versus interdependence • Cost strategies and unrelated diversification • Less need for interdependence • Reward and control systems focus more on financial indicators • Differentiation or related diversification • Intense need for tight interdependencies among functional areas and business units • Sharing of resources is critical • Synergies are more important than cost leadership • Heavy use of behavioral performance indicators

30. Relationships Between Control and Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies Primary Type Level of Types of Need for of Rewards Strategy Strategy Interdependence and Controls Business-levelOverall cost leadership Low Financial Business-level Differentiation High Behavioral Corporate-level Related diversification High Behavioral Corporate-level Unrelated diversification Low Financial