1. What are vision and mission statements? What is their value for the strategic management process? In your response, share the vision and mission statement from your current (or past) employer. Are these statement specific enough to guide decision making? Why or why not?
2. What are the elements of the strategic management process? How are they interrelated? How would you describe the work of strategic leaders?
3. What is corporate governance? What factors account for the considerable amount of attention corporate governance receives from several parties, including shareholder activists, business press writers, and academic scholars? Why is governance necessary to control managers' decisions?
4. Here's a critical thinking question to help us delve a little deeper into governance. How is each of the three internal governance mechanisms ownership concentration, boards of directors, and executive compensation--used to align the interests of management and owners? In your experience, how have governance mechanisms succeeded, or failed, in producing the intended results? Support your response with a specific example.
5. Let's add this week's learning objective related to ethics in the discussion. As a strategic leader, what actions could you take to establish and emphasize ethical practices in your firm?
6. What is strategic leadership? Why are top-level managers considered to be important resources for an organization? Do you agree with this claim? Defend your position.
7. You introduce an importance concept that is frequently debated in the public arena and often positioned as a corporate ethics decision. Here are a couple critical thinking question for the class...
1. In your opinion, why are decisions to outsource work to other countries often perceived negatively by a) company employees and b) the public?
2. As a leader, what steps would you recommend to manage these perceptions?
8. In support of the company's commitment to innovation 3M allows its employees time to work on their own projects.
The company not only capitalizes on the successful inventions, but it also capitalizes on failed inventions by allowing the creations to become a new product when feasible. The creation of new products and modifications to current products helped 3M grow by 500% in the 20th century (Innovation, 2014).
It's pure genius for 3M to allow employees in and outside the R&D realm to work on new ideas.
The company reaps the product-based benefits while innovative employees only receive recognition and perhaps a trip. It's also typical for employees not to receive any
of the profits generated by their inventions.
The company gets huge returns by investing in its greatest asset: employees. Embracing employee ideas created the foundation for 3M's ability to market thousands of products while other companies have struggled with
product diversification.
Innovation: Secrets of branding [Video file]. (2014).