The Mintzberg Debate Buchkatalog

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 2, 1, Griffith College Dublin (Griffith College Dublin), course: Marketing Strategy, 8 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This assignment is a critical review of the strategic management theory of nowadays business, based on the business article "Musings on Management" by Henry Mintzberg. He meets a hard criticism on today's management values and claims a huge lack of understanding of on-going processes within an organisation due to hierarchical structures, no transparency and a wrong application of strategic thinking. As a result of this error, he argues numbers and costs being put over core assets such as qualified employees and that strategic approaches are not being applied correctly. But what is strategic management? Businesses can not do business without the right strategy. It is an indispensable tool, which builds the foundation for every single operational activity of the company. Every step is based on decisions that have been evaluated and made in the past. Defining strategic management, it can be outlined as the process that focuses on achieving and maintaining a strong competitive advantage in the future and on meeting the customer's needs and demands. Furthermore, it implies the application of corporate strategy to all aspects of the organisation. With greater empowerment, strategy not only affects CEO's but also employees in any organisational department. In this context, the author believes that the mass firings Mintzberg is animadverting in his article are not the right strategy to generate long-term success for a company. Since today's customers have an almost unlimited assortment of products and services, one better and fancier than the other one, the perceived distinction towards a brand can guarantee a stable market position. In order to achieve this, the customer must be provided a superior service and, more importantly, a company must make a connection to the customer and develop long-term relationships. However, this will be difficult to achieve, if positions are being rationalised and employees lose motivation. (...)