Strategic Leadership Session 11

PepsiCo

Last week we have reviewed an interesting case study about PepsiCo Company.  It is second largest beverage company in the world with the wide range of products. It generates more than $1 billion in annual retail sales and produces many well known brands like Pepsi, Tropicana, Gatorade and others. Indra Nooyi is the Chairman and CEO of Pepsico and as well one of the top female business leaders in the world.  She has decided to shift company’s portfolio and bring some changes in order to generate more profits.

Company is challenging themselves by trying to think more about the consumer and segmenting products into 'fun-for-you' 'better-for-you' and 'good-for-you' classes. PepsiCo is trying to expand more in healthy products business. As well company is showing their high social responsibility by launching $20m online competition for nomination of worthy causes in 2010, however too much focus on society can be seen as a drawback, as the campaign mentioned above, did not generate increase in company’s product sales. PepsiCo is trying to differentiate itself by adapting to local cultures, it is very important to company as they are trying to get into such growing markets as China. For example making chips with flavours which are poplar just in particular country or region.

Case study shows that there is a clear balance between importance of social responsibility and profits orientation. PepsiCo is trying to balance between them, as being able to respond to customer needs is the key in this competitive market.

PepsiCo strategic leadership style can be compared to IDEO and Madonna case studies as they are always looking for new opportunities and are willing to do changes in the organisation in order to pursue success. As well there are some similarities with NASA management style, as PepsiCo seems to be well organised and following clear plan.

Finally I would recommend PepsiCo not to over focus on social responsibility, as profits are very important in order to survive between the competitors, not to repeat same mistakes, as launching unsuccessful products, and invest more in advertising, as brand awareness can bring a big impact in product sales.

Strategic Leadership Session 10

Managing change at Faslane

This case study showed an example how different approach to the Faslane (HM Naval Base Clyde) management, have changed entire UK submarine fleet. Faslane had been run by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Royal Navy, but by 2000 they decided that changes are needed to take place in the organisation in order to significantly reduce the cost and improve operational effectiveness of their naval bases.

First change was establishing partnering arrangements with industrial firms, it promised great amount of savings during the contracted period. The main drive for contracted firms behind reducing the costs of Faslane was that profit was entirely a share of the savings. The more they save for organisation, the more they get paid.

The big drawback in Faslane was customer support service, as it was seen less important than buildings and fleet. Part of the change, was to change the work ethics and to emphasise more on customer service. This was seen as a challenge as working environment have been the same for years and know had to face dramatic changes.

Other important changes have been made as:

•          Changing the employees mindset
•          Reduced bureaucracy
•          Changing the management structure (from 7 layers to 4)
•          Started working with local councils
•          Encouraged team work and communication between employees and management

Comparing Faslane to Lynch strategic leadership module we can see that:

•          Faslane changed their developing and communicating the organisations purpose by changing the infrastructure, promoting honesty and open discussions, changing the approach to customer service.
•             Improved sustaining competitive advantage over time by changing employee mindsets, cutting down the management layers, building joint business ventures.
•       Defined and delivered to stakeholders by building trust of the organisation, understanding the importance of good allies and proving the good management.
•             Set ethical standards by changing the money spending, bringing new jobs, building trust and honesty in the community.
•          Managed human resource and organisational decisions by changing layers of management and creating 2000 new jobs.

Faslane was very interesting case study and thought us a lot about organisations management and how can smart changes affect everything. It can be compared to IDEO case study as in both organisations team work played a big role. And showed us how keeping employees happy can produce great outcomes. Faslane case study was complete opposite to the NHS, as Faslane saw their drawbacks and took actions to tackle them, where in NHS it was just left how it is. If we look at Madonna’s case study we can see similarities that she made changes at the time they were needed and it helped her to succeed in her career.

Quite recent article about Faslane: http://www.defencemanagement.com/news_story.asp?id=18698

Strategic Leadership Session 8

IDEO case study taught us about an innovation inside the company and how can it be managed in an imaginative way. Ones more IDEO showed the importance of creativity and innovation in the strategic leadership. The clear example of that are employees enjoying they work and as well producing better product. The fun working environment is the key to motivate workers, especially in such a business where main aspect is to sell creativeness. All employees know why they are in the company, how important they are and what do they need to do for organisation to be part of its success.  Openness and communication is as well very important in the IDEO. Employees can communicate with their boss or colleagues when they want, share their ideas and suggestions. IDEO company structure and management style is complete opposite to NASA or NHS. NASA and NHS have adopted high hierarchical working environment (IDEO- flat hierarchy), where everything is stricter, there is a clear lack of communication and ethics. These were the main issues behind the failure NASA’s ‘Challenger’ mission.

However IDEO can be compared to Madonna, as the creativity and innovation are the key driving factors behind her successful career. Madonna’s new ideas let her stay on the top and be one step ahead of other artists.

Strategic Leadership Session 5

Challenger Case Study

The Challenger case study shows not just effective strategic leadership things in an organisation, but more importantly opposite, the ineffective strategic leadership and its outcomes. The collaboration, moral obligation, two way communication between staff and management and etc are the key things going towards effective strategic leadership. As case study shows these were the tools NASA and Morton Thiokol were missing and as a result it lead to the failure of the mission.

This is the link to the one of the articles available online with clear, short description of the Challenger launch. http://www.aerospaceguide.net/spaceshuttle/challenger_disaster.html

Another intersting article emphasizing on mistakes of the shuttle launch program.  http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1694/1

Strategic Leadership Session 4

Using strategy models to analyse organisations 

      Main focus of this lecture was to take into consideration range of models and frameworks that can be used to analyse the organisation and adapt them to the case study.

Analysing the Madonna case study let us understand the different frameworks and strategies she has used during the period of time to keep her at the peak of her carrier and continue to grow in different sectors as not just the artist, but as a successful business woman.

Case study shows how important is an effective strategic leadership for a company or even a person. From the facts of Madonna career we can see how incorporation of different strategic leadership tools can lead to being always aware of the market position and needs, staying at the top during different times and finding the ways to continuously expand in such a competitive environment. 

Strategic Leadership Session 3

Rhetoric and Persuasion 

The main object of the lecture was discovering and analysing influencing techniques and how important it is for manager to know and apply them.

“A leader inspires others to join them on the road; so leadership involves 

communication and influencing skills.” 

                                                               Joseph O’Connor (1998, p.ix)

Quite few influencing techniques are described in this article. http://www.theelementsofpower.com/index.cfm/how-influence-works/

Case Study 2 "Gerry Robinson and the NHS"

We have watched the video about the Gerry Robinson and his attempt to fix the NHS. The case study was highly related to the effective strategic leadership. There were shown the different leadership styles used by management to run the hospital. 

Gerry Robinson mainly used the bridging style of effective leadership, moving from employees to managers.

The main lesson I learned from this case study was the importance of persuasion and influence in the organisation management.

Strategic Leadership Session 2

Session started with previous week recap. Understanding the definition of Strategic Leadership and where it is used (see previous post).


What is interesting that it has been suggested to pay more attention to real world examples, case studies, classroom debates to make up our understanding about the module, instead of just reading the text book.


We have been introduced with our first assignment, where we will need to produce a HBR article. I have never done it before, so will be interesting to get some new skills. As well we did our first case study about Carrefour. http://www.economist.com/node/21542804


The Carrefour case study showed the lack Strategic Leadership  processes in the company, where they have been not able to identify market position and opportunities and threats on the right time.

Strategic Leadership Introduction

Strategic Leadership definition: ‘Strategic leadership is the ability to shape the organisation's decisions and deliver high value over time, not only personally but also by inspiring and managing others in the organisation’*

*Lynch, R (2009) 5th Ed. Strategic Management, FT Prentice Hall, pg599 

Strategic Leadership: Common Themes

Strategic leadership has quite few definitions and to understand it better I researched the internet. This is one of the articles I found is easy to read and understand. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-strategic-leadership.htm