***Strategic management

“Strategic management is an ongoing process that evaluates and controls the business
and the industries in which the company is involved; assesses its competitors and sets
goals and strategies to meet all existing and potential competitors; and then reassesses
each strategy annually or quarterly [i.e. regularly] to determine how it has been
implemented and whether it has succeeded or needs replacement by a new strategy to
meet changed circumstances, new technology, new competitors, a new economic
environment., or a new social, financial, or political environment.”
Strategic management refers to the art of planning your business at the highest
possible level. It is the duty of the company’s leader (or leaders). Strategic
management focuses on building a solid underlying structure to your business that
will subsequently be fleshed out through the combined efforts of every individual you
employ.
Strategic management hinges upon answering three key questions:

1. What are my business’s objectives?

2. What are the best ways to achieve those objectives?
3. What resources are required to make that happen?

**mission statement

Organizations legitimize themselves by performing some function that is valued by

society. A mission statement defines the basic reason for the existence of that
organization. Such a statement reflects the corporate philosophy, identity, character,
and image of an organization. It may be defined explicitly or could be deduced from
the management’s actions, decisions, or the chief executive’s press statements. When
explicitly defined it provides enlightenment to the insiders and outsiders on what the
organization stand for. In order to be effective, a mission statement should possess the
following seven characteristics

Characteristics of good Mission Statements:

--Effective mission statements should be:
. Broad in scope
. Generate range of feasible strategic alternatives
. Not excessively specific

. Finely balanced between specificity & generality

. Arouse positive feelings and emotions

.Reconcile interests among diverse stakeholders

. Motivate readers to action
. Generate the impression that firm is successful, has direction, and is
worthy of time, support, and investment
. Reflect judgments re: future growth
. Provide criteria for selecting strategies
. Basis for generating & screening strategic options

Or

1. It should be feasible
2. It should be precise.
3. It should be clear.
4. It should be motivating.
5. It should be distinctive.
6. It should indicate major components of strategy.
7. It should indicate how objectives are to be accomplished.

Or

1. It defines who you are.

2. It is independent of time, space, people, form or situation.

3. It is short and simple.

4. It anchors the central principles in your life.

5. It is action oriented.

6. Hearing it makes people go "WOW"!

7. It is simple to live, yet is a life-long journey that is never finished.

8. It projects confidence and gives you energy.

portfolio analysis

Definition

Analyzing elements of a firm's product mix to determine the optimum allocation of its
resources. Two most common measures used in a portfolio analysis are market growth
rate and relative market share.

What is Portfolio Analysis?

Portfolio analysis involves quantifying the operational and financial impact of the
portfolio. It is vital to evaluate the functioning of investments and timing the returns
effectively.

The analysis of a portfolio extends to all classes of investments such as bonds, equities,
indexes, commodities, funds, options and securities. Portfolio analysis gains
importance because each asset class has peculiar risk factors and returns associated
with it. Hence, the composition of a portfolio impacts the rate of return on the overall
investment.

*** Strategic Implementation

Implementation is the process that turns strategies and plans into actions in order to
accomplish strategic objectives and goals. Implementing your strategic plan is as
important, or even more important, than your strategy.

The critical actions move a strategic plan from a document that sits on the shelf to
actions that drive business growth. Sadly, the majority of companies who have
strategic plans fail to implement them. According to a Fortune cover story in 1999,
nine out of ten organizations fail to implement their strategic plan for many reasons:

Difference between Policy and Strategy

The term “policy” should not be considered as synonymous to the term “strategy”. The
difference between policy and strategy can be summarized as follows-

1. Policy is a blueprint of the organizational activities which are repetitive/routine

in nature. *While strategy is concerned with those organizational decisions
which have not been dealt/faced before in same form.
2. Policy formulation is responsibility of top level management.* While strategy
formulation is basically done by middle level management.
3. Policy deals with routine/daily activities essential for effective and efficient
running of an organization.* While strategy deals with strategic decisions.
4. Policy is concerned with both thought and actions.* While strategy is concerned
mostly with action.
5. A policy is what is, or what is not done. *While a strategy is the methodology
used to achieve a target as prescribed by a policy.
6. A policy is a rule designed to ensure consistency in governance and to avoid
undesirable outcomes.*A strategy is a plan to do things a certain way to achieve
a desired outcome.

Example: The strategy might be to phone 100 people everyday to meet the sales target.
The policy might be that I am not allowed to phone them after 9 pm.

Strategy is a plan, or method of approach developed by an individual, group, or

organization, in an effort to successfully achieve an overall goal or objective. Policy
refers to a definite course of action adopted by an individual, group, or organization in
an effort to promote the best practice particular to desired results.

A policy is what is, or what is not done- it thus implies a rule or some kind of a guide
whereas a strategy is the methodology used to accomplish a target as prescribed by a
policy! Strategy works and policy doesn't.

Definition of Business Policy

Business Policy defines the scope or spheres within which decisions can be taken by
the subordinates in an organization. It permits the lower level management to deal
with the problems and issues without consulting top level management every time for
decisions. Business policies are the guidelines developed by an organization to govern
its actions. They define the limits within which decisions must be made. Business
policy also deals with acquisition of resources with which organizational goals can be
achieved. Business policy is the study of the roles and responsibilities of top level
management, the significant issues affecting organizational success and the decisions
affecting organization in long-run.

**SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths,

Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business
venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and
identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to
achieve that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a
convention at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500
companies.

A SWOT analysis must first start with defining a desired end state or objective. A
SWOT analysis may be incorporated into the strategic planning model. Strategic
Planning, has been the subject of much research.[citation needed]

• Strengths: characteristics of the business or team that give it an

advantage over others in the industry.
• Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the firm at a
disadvantage relative to others.
• Opportunities: external chances to make greater sales or profits
in the environment.
• Threats: external elements in the environment that could cause
trouble for the business.

Identification of SWOTs are essential because subsequent steps in the process of

planning for achievement of the selected objective may be derived from the SWOTs.

First, the decision makers have to determine whether the objective is attainable, given
the SWOTs. If the objective is NOT attainable a different objective must be selected
and the process repeated.

The SWOT analysis is often used in academia to highlight and identify strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats.[citation needed] It is particularly helpful in
identifying areas for development.

**The Nature And Value Of Strategic Management

*Strategic management is a process which determine whether an organization excels,

survives, or dies.

All organizations engage in the strategic management process either formally or

informally. Strategic management is equally applicable to public, private, not-for-
profit, and religious organizations. An attempt is made in this thesis to show the
applicability of strategic management to all types of organizations, but the emphasis is
on private-enterprise organizations.

Organizations usually employ one of the three general decision-making processes:

1. Managers want to resolve current problems. Firms often face problems

resulting from falling sales, low profit rates, or production inefficiencies.
Managers try to identify the sources of those problems and resolve them as best
they can.
2. Managers want to solve current problems and prevent future problems. For
example, faced with rising production costs, managers may apply statistical
techniques to create an optimal solution.
3. Managers want to design or create a better relationship between the firm and
its operating and general environments. That involves the firm in strategic
decision making.
Three factors distinguish strategic decisions from other business considerations:

1. Strategic decisions deal with concerns that are central to the livelihood and
survival of the entire organization and usually involve a large portion of the
organization's resources.
2. Strategic decisions represent new activities or areas of concern and typically
address issues that are unusual for the organization rather than issues that lend
themselves to routine decision making.
3. Strategic decisions have repercussions for the way other, lower-level decisions
in the organization are made.

To summarize, there are two essential areas of management tasks: strategic

management and operating management. Operating management deals with the
ongoing, day-to day "operations" of the business. However, my concern here is with
the strategic management alone.

The term strategic management is used to refer to the entire scope of strategic-
decision making activity in an organization. Strategic management as a concept has
evolved over time and will continue to evolve. As result there are a variety of meanings
and interpretations depending on the author and sources. For example, some scholars
and practitioners the term strategic planning connote the total strategic management
activities. Moreover, sometimes managers use the terms strategic management,
strategic planning, and long-range planning interchangeable. Finally, some of the
phrases are used interchangeably with strategic management are strategy and
policy formulation, and business policy.
To purpose of this thesis I use the terminology strategy management, as opposed
to the more narrow term business policy.
The following statements serve as a number of workable definitions of strategic
management:
Strategic management is the process of managing the pursuit of
organizational mission while managing the relationship of the
organization to its environment (James M. Higgins).
Strategic management is defined as the set of decisions and actions
resulting in the formulation and implementation of strategies designed to
achieve the objectives of the organization (John A. Pearce II and Richard B.
Robinson, Jr.).
Strategic management is the process of examining both present and future
environments, formulating the organization's objectives, and making,
implementing, and controlling decisions focused on achieving these
objectives in the present and future environments (Garry D. Smith, Danny R.
Arnold, Bobby G. Bizzell).
Strategic management is a continuous process that involves attempts to
match or fit the organization with its changing environment in the most
advantageous way possible (Lester A. Digman).

**Elements Of Strategic Management**

Strategic management, as minimum, includes strategic planning and strategic

control. Strategic planning describes the periodic activities undertaken by
organizations to cope with changes in their external environments (Lester
A. Digman) It involves formulating and evaluating alternative strategies, selecting a
strategy, and developing detailed plans for putting the strategy into practice.
Strategic planning consists of formulating strategies from which overall plans for
implementing the strategy are developed. Strategic control consists of ensuring that
the chosen strategy is being implemented properly and that it is producing the desired
results.
Based on Robert Anthony's framework, three types of planning and control are
required by organizations:
* Strategic Planning and Control - the process of deciding on changes in
organizational objectives, in the resources to be used in attaining these objectives, in
policies governing the acquisition and use of these resources, and in the means
(strategies) of attaining the objectives. Strategic planning and control involve actions
that change the character or direction of the organization.
* Management Planning and Control - the process of ensuring that resources are
obtained and used efficiently in the accomplishment of the organization's objectives.
Management planning and control is carried on within the framework established by
strategic planning and is analogous to operating control.
* Technical Planning and Control - the process of ensuring efficient acquisition
and use of resources, with respect to those activities for which the optimum
relationship between outputs and resources can be accurately estimated (e.g.,
financial, accounting, and quality controls).
Another important term in the study of strategic management is long-range planning.
Long-range planning, planning for events beyond the current year, is not
synonymous with strategic management (or strategic planning). Not all long-range
planning is strategic. Certain strategic actions and reactions can be relatively short
range and may include more than just planning aspects. It is perfectly reasonable to
have long-range operating or technical plans that are not strategic. However, it should
be noted that most strategic decisions have long-term ramifications.

Objectives

The term objective is often used interchangeably with goal but usually refers to
specific targets for which measurable results can be obtained. Organizational
objectives are the end points of an organization's mission. Objectives refer to the
specific kinds of results the organizations seek to achieve through its
existence and operations (William F. Glueck, and Lawrence R. Jauch) Objective
define what it is the organization hopes to accomplish, both over the long and short
term.

In this paper the terms "goals" and "objectives" are used interchangeably. Specifically,
where other works are being referred to and those authors have used the term goal as
opposed to objective, their terminology is retained.

--------

Goals

A goal is a desired future state that the organization attempts to realize

(Amitai Etzioni).
Mission

The mission of an organization is the unique reason for its existence that
sets it apart from all others (A. James, F. Stoner, and Charles Wankel) The
organization's mission describes why the organization exists and guides what it
should be doing. Often, the organization's mission is defined in a formal, written
mission statement. Decisions on mission are the most important strategic
decisions, because the mission is meant to guide the entire organization. Although the
terms "purpose" and "mission" are often used interchangeably, to distinguish between
them may help in understanding organizational goals.
***Goal

A goal or objective is a projected computation of affairs that a person or a system

plans or intends to achieve—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some
sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite
time by setting deadlines.

It is roughly similar to purpose of aim, the anticipated result which guides reaction, or
an end, which is an object, either a physical object or an abstract object, that has
intrinsic value.

Objective (military),
to achieve a final set of actions within a given military operation

Functional strategy- selection of decision rules in each functional area. Thus,

functional strategies in any organization, some (eg, marketing strategy, financial
strategy, etc.). It is desirable that they have been fixed in writing.

In particular, functional strategies are as follows:

Production strategy( "make or buy") - defines what the company produces itself,
and that purchases from suppliers or partners, that is, how far worked out the
production chain.

Financial Strategy- to select the main source of funding: the development of their
own funds (depreciation, profit, the issue of shares, etc.) or through debt financing
(bank loans, bonds, commodity suppliers' credits, etc.).

1. Environmental Technology Opportunities Portal-ETOP

2. ETOP- Enhanced Training Opportunities Program

**integration

Show me everything on Data integration

definition -

Integration (from the Latin integer, meaning whole or entire) generally means
combining parts so that they work together or form a whole. In information
technology, there are several common usages:

1) Integration during product development is a process in which separately produced

components or subsystems are combined and problems in their interactions are
addressed.

2) Integration is an activity by companies that specialize in bringing different

manufacturers' products together into a smoothly working system.
3) In marketing usage, products or components said to be integrated appear to meet
one or more of the following conditions:

A) They share a common purpose or set of objectives. (This is the loosest form of
integration.)

B) They all observe the same standard or set of standard protocol or they share a
mediating capability, such the Object Request Broker (ORB) in the Common Object
Request Broker Architecture (CORBA).

C) They were all designed together at the same time with a unifying purpose and/or
architecture. (They may be sold as piece-parts but they were designed with the
same larger objectives and/or architecture.)

D) They share some of the same programming code.

E) They share some special knowledge of code (such as a lower-level program

interface) that may or may not be publicly available. (If not publicly available,
companies have been known to sue to make it available in order to make
competition fair.)

Strategy

Strategies are the means by which long-term objectives will be achieved. "A strategy
is a unified, comprehensive, and integrated plan that relates the strategic
advantages of the firm to the challenges of the environment. It is designed
to ensure that the basic objectives of the enterprise are achieved through
proper execution by the organization" (William F. Glueck, and Lawrence R.
Jauch). The role of strategy is to identify the general approaches that the organization
utilize to achieve its organizational objectives. Therefore, the choice of strategy is so
central to the study and understanding of strategic management.

Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and

performance metrics to industry bests and/or best practices from other industries.
Dimensions typically measured are quality, time, and cost. Improvements from
learning mean doing things better, faster, and cheaper.

Benchmarking involves management identifying the best firms in their industry, or

any other industry where similar processes exist, and comparing the results and
processes of those studied (the "targets") to one's own results and processes to learn
how well the targets perform and, more importantly, how they do it.

The term benchmarking was first used by cobblers to measure people's feet for shoes.
They would place someone's foot on a "bench" and mark it out to make the pattern for
the shoes. Benchmarking is most used to measure performance using a specific
indicator (cost per unit of measure, productivity per unit of measure, cycle time of x
per unit of measure or defects per unit of measure) resulting in a metric of
performance that is then compared to others.

Also referred to as "best practice benchmarking" or "process benchmarking", it is a

process used in management and particularly strategic management, in which
organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice
companies' processes, usually within a peer group defined for the purposes of
comparison. This then allows organizations to develop plans on how to make
improvements or adapt specific best practices, usually with the aim of increasing some
aspect of performance. Benchmarking may be a one-off event, but is often treated as a
continuous process in which organizations continually seek to improve their practices.

ROLE OF Personal Selling IN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.

-here the marketing communication is used
*to inform the customers/ prospects
*to create awareness
*to present the product
*to influence the customer
*to sell benefits
*to help the customer to make the buying decision
*to seek commitment
*to help to close the sale.

**Method of evaluating a salesforce and creating tailored training

programs description/claims

The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application
20080120169, Method of evaluating a salesforce and creating tailored training
programs.

Patent Application Claims

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.
60/860,945 filed Nov. 22, 2006.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method of evaluating a sales team during real-time
sales situations and creating a tailored training program for each member of that team
taking into account the team member's individual capabilities and weaknesses, while
minimizing the member's time out of the sales field and providing a more efficient way
to measure success and return on investment.

BACKGROUND

Each year companies spend vast amounts of money on training for their sales force.
Traditional methods of sales training generally offer a “one size fits all” approach for
every company and their sales people. These traditional methods fail to take into
account the differences between companies and more importantly, the individuality of
each sales person. By presenting the same training program to the entire sales team,
traditional methods fail to recognize that each individual member of the sales force
has different capabilities and skill gaps.

In addition, it is difficult to measure the impact and effectiveness of the training

program on each sales member. Therefore, a company's return on investment for
traditional sales training is also hard to quantify.

Traditional sales training methods do not generally evaluate the individual members
of the sales team and therefore can not provide feedback to the member, which would
allow them to see the relevance of the sales training program. As previously stated, the
individuality of each sales member is important. Some may not acknowledge a need
for training. Seeing the training as unnecessary, these sales people may not utilize the
techniques and information provided during the training program.

When sales training programs are not used by a company's sales force, the company
has not only wasted money, but also valuable sales time. One of the most important
flaws of traditional training methods is that it flies in the face of the old adage—“time
is money.” Traditional training programs tend to be time intensive and require the
individuals to attend lengthy seminars and lectures. This approach takes the sales
person away from the field where they could be using that time to generate sales and
earn commissions. Cutting into their money making time could explain why sales
people are reluctant to go to traditional training programs. It is also understandable
why they would fail get the most out of that training.

Accordingly, there has been a long felt need in the sales training industry to provide a
cost effective, tailored approach that takes into account the individual competencies
and skills gaps of each sales person while minimizing the time out of the sales
environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a method of evaluating a client company's salesforce and

creating tailored training program specific to real competencies and needs for said
salesforce while minimizing salespeople's time out of the field.

This method seeks to improve upon traditional training programs by observing the
sales team and their members in real-time sales situations with their prospective
customers whereby cutting down on time out of the field and allowing for a tailor-
made training regimen to be produced in a cost effective manner.

The present invention is a method for evaluating a sales team and each of its
individual members in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses with the
resulting data from these evaluations being used to create a tailored training program
for each individual. The evaluation process begins with a specialist observer being sent
to observe a client company's sales people during “critical sales moments.” These are
real-time sales meetings, telesales, etc. between a company sales person and their
prospects. The observer maintains a discreet profile and never intervenes in the
discussion.

Evaluating the sales person during their critical sales moments is especially valuable
as the basis for a development plan for each salesperson—his or her personal route to
stronger sales performance. It generates a clear plan for each individual, illustrating
exactly what they need to do to improve—and therefore earn more money. This has a
galvanizing effect on their motivation. Prior art training programs do not objectively
evaluate each sales person and therefore only offer generalized training instead of
individualized clear objectives for improvement.

Using electronic/digital scorecards, dozens of objective observations are made during

the critical minutes of a sales meeting or telephone sales call. Over 170 objective
moment by moment observations are noted on the electronic scorecard which
document the sales person's behavior, business practice and selling competency in
order to pinpoint each sales person's strengths and weaknesses. These
electronic/digital scorecards are tailored to match a company's own sales process and
the company's specific needs and objectives such as conformity to particular
regulations or practice in an industry.
Additionally, confidential two-hour interviews are conducted with each member of the
salesforce during the evaluation. These independent interviews produce valuable
insights into the way a client company works and create a context for the findings of
the critical moment observations. Above all, the interviews pinpoint opportunities for
improving sales performance. The interview covers all the factors that influence sales
performance including: Company culture, Motivation, Target Market, Competition,
Resources, Marketing function, Lead generation, Training and Use of Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) systems. This is important in that the “one-size fits
all” approach of the prior art training program does not reflect the uniqueness of each
client company or the way each individual sales person performs.

The result is a detailed, objective and concise picture of each salesperson's

performance in front of a customer. The observation also identifies trends across the
team and barriers in the sales process. With the help of statistical weighting, the
observations generate a detailed quantitative evaluation of each salesperson's abilities.
The resulting data automatically generates a proposed training program. The program
identifies the individual training elements, which are recommended for each sales
person resulting in a tailored development program. The tailored development
program consists of generally short, sharp training sessions of two to three hours.
Therefore, the training programs will not take the salespeople out of the field for days
at a time like standard prior art training programs. This keeps the salespeople
stimulated and does not keep them away from their customers.

CONCLUSIONS, RAMIFICATIONS AND SCOPE

As will be clear to those of skill in the art, the present invention is suitable for use as a
method of evaluating a sales team during real-time sales situations and creating a
tailored training program for each member of that team taking into account the team
member's individual capabilities and weaknesses, while minimizing the member's
time out of the sales field, thus providing a more efficient way to measure success and
return on investment.

Although the detailed descriptions above contain many specifics, these should not be
construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations
of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. Various other
embodiments and ramifications are possible within its scope, a number of which are
discussed in general terms above.

While the invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it should
be recognized that elements thereof might be altered by persons skilled in the art
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the present
invention is not intended to be limited to the specific forms set forth herein, but on the
contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications and equivalents as can
be reasonably included within the scope of the invention. The invention is limited only
by the following claims and their equivalents.

**Major Components Of A Strategic Management Process

1. What are the major components of a strategic management process? Which of these
components is the most difficult for managers to perform. Explain your answer.
The major components of a strategic management process are:
Company Mission, Social Responsibility, and Ethics – defines the organization’s product,
market, and technological areas of emphasis in a way that reflects the values and priorities
of the strategic decision makers. Social responsibility is an important consideration for a
company’s strategic decision makers since the mission statement must express how the
company aims to contribute to the societies that sustain
External Environment (Global and Domestic) – Involves all the conditions and forces that
affect its strategic options and define its competitive situation.
Internal Analysis – When a company analyzes the quantity and quality of the company’s
financial, human, and physical resources; when it assesses the strengths and weaknesses
of the company’s management and organizational structure; when it looks at the
differences of the company’s past successes and traditional concern with the company’s
current capabilities to attempt to identify the company’s future capabilities
Strategic Analysis and Choice – Centers around identifying strategies that will be most
successful with building sustainable competitive advantage based on key value chain
activities and capabilities.
Long-term Objectives – The results an organization searches for over a multi-year period.
Generic and Grand Strategies – Many businesses openly and discreetly adopt generic
strategies that characterizes their competitive orientation in the marketplace. Low cost,
differentiation, or focus strategies define the three fundamental options. Grand strategy is
when companies indicates how objectives are to be accomplished.
Short-term Objectives; Reward System – The desired results that a company seeks over a
period of one year or less, which are.