Super group

Super group

Super group

Strategic decision

The first step in strategic decision is to identify the current position of the organization. It is difficult to plan your future courses of action without knowing one current position. This step involves a thorough investigation of the organization and its environment. This is also called a situational analysis.

Numerous decisions are made at different levels in an organization. Different people have their own roles in every level of decision making. Top management should lay their emphasis on the strategic decision making. If they focus too much on the daily operation and decisions, on one hand the company will be run without a clear direction, on the other hand the middle level managers and employees will be confused. That is one of the key reasons why Greenbury failed to lead M&S. The decisions he had made in the context of the organizational structure and culture proved ineffective or even wrong. His management style and personal perception is definitely an important attribute to his failure.

The traditional way of management in SUPER GROUP had seemed to work successfully, but in today's rapidly changing environment, its ignorance of changes invited risks. The disadvantages of its highly centralized hierarchy and autocratic management style emerged and hindered effective decision making and thus affected its management; while its competitors reacted quickly to the changes and improved their performance to become competitive. The centralized structure didn't allow the store managers and employees to participate in the decision-making process. There was only one-way flow of communication.

Employees' opinions on a strategy or plan and customers' feedback were barely received to the top management. Although Greenbury visited stores frequently to supervise the operations, he could only get false message due to the fear of him among the staff. This unhealthy phenomenon stimulated the growth of a vicious circle: a poor decision was made based on the poor perception of the internal and external environment; false feedback or no feedback convinced the decision maker, in this case Greenbury, believe that the decision was sound and right and then another decision was made based on such assumptions.

The centralized structure, autocratic management style together with the inward-looking culture isolated SUPER GROUPfrom the outside world. The company overly concentrated on its operations without examining the external stakeholders' attitudes, expectations and actions. When niche competitors offered fashionable products at similar price and discount stores competed with low ...