Review bases of Strategy
Reviewing the underlying bases of an organization’s strategy could be approached by developing a revised EFE Matrix and IFE Matrix. A revised IFE Matrix should focus on changes in the organization’s management, marketing, finance/accounting, production/operations, R&D, and computer information systems’ strengths and weaknesses. A revised EFE Matrix should indicate how effective a firm’s strategies have been in response to key opportunities and threats. This analysis could also address such questions as the
following:
1. How have competitors reacted to our strategies?
2. How have competitors’ strategies changed?
3. Have major competitors’ strengths and weaknesses changed?
4. Why are competitors making certain strategic changes?
5. Why are some competitors’ strategies more successful than others?
6. How satisfied are our competitors with their present market positions and profitability?
7. How far can our major competitors be pushed before retaliating?
8. How could we more effectively cooperate with our competitors?
Numerous external and internal factors can prohibit firms from achieving long-term and annual
objectives. Externally, actions by competitors, changes in demand, changes in technology, economic
changes, demographic shifts, and governmental actions may prohibit objectives from being accomplished.
Internally, ineffective strategies may have been chosen or implementation activities may have been poor.
Objectives may have been too optimistic. Thus, failure to achieve objectives may not be the result of
unsatisfactory work by managers and employees. All organizational members need to know this to
encourage their support for strategy-evaluation activities. Organizations desperately need to know as soon
as possible when their strategies are not effective. Sometimes managers and employees on the front line
discover this well before strategists.
External opportunities and threats and internal strengths and weaknesses that represent the bases of
current strategies should continually be monitored for change. It is not really a question of whether these
factors will change, but rather when they will change and in what ways. Some key questions to address in
evaluating strategies are given here.
1. Are our internal strengths still strengths?
2. Have we added other internal strengths? If so, what are they?
3. Are our internal weaknesses still weaknesses?
4. Do we now have other internal weaknesses? If so, what are they?
5. Are our external opportunities still opportunities?
6. Are there now other external opportunities? If so, what are they?
7. Are our external threats still threats?
8. Are there now other external threats? If so, what are they?
9. Are we vulnerable to a hostile takeover?