| Hapeslagh and Jamison presented the first comprehensive, theoretical and practical
account of the strategic management academics. They highlighted the following: - The need to carry out a thorough strategic analysis of the acquiring company's own position, capability and opinions before commencing the acquisition search process
- The acquisitions fall into different categories, such as domain protection or extension and that a variety of integration strategies may be appropriate, depending upon the particular acquisition context - for example relative autonomy versus absorption.
- Acquisition appraisal needs to be conducted with reference to how the two value chains of the acquirer and the acquired interrelate and potentially complement (or duplicate) one another.
- Integration is a crucial phase of the acquisition process and one where there is considerable chance of economic value being destroyed.
Their book 'Exploring Corporate Strategy' gives a comprehensive overview of strategic management concepts, techniques and approaches, right through from the analysis, choice and to the implementation phase. The book also contains extensive case material (which is continually being updated). Kanter is an early practitioner of strategy implementation. She was a major exponent of empowerment and highlighted the need to increase total power in the organization (to actually implement a strategy as a positive sum game) where all players are better off, than they would otherwise be after collaborating. Her main books are comprehensive and contain prescriptive case studies. Her main ideas are: - that major corporations need to be lean, and able to do more with less and to be proactive in seeking change, rather than resisting it.
- the individuals in the organization needs to be empowered so that they can implement strategy, rather than have intrusive interventions from on high.
- the structure of individuals' careers is more likely to be fluid - with more portable careers than previously.
Lewis introduced the force field analysis technique that splits between the 'enablers' : the things that make things easier and 'constraining forces' the things that make change more difficult. 'Enablers' and 'constraints' might include for example: leadership, culture, resources, context, project management and existing workload. |
