Strategic planning and why strategies fail

Which one of the following situations is most likely to cause strategic drift?

To what extent does rapid change in the external environment mean that strategic drift is inevitable for a business?

Many businesses use contingency planning to prepare for major threats. Some of these contingency plans work well, but others fail to protect the business.

To what extent is the success of a contingency plan for a major threat more dependent on internal factors than external factors?

OR

Statement 1: ‘An emergent strategy only occurs in response to external change.’

Statement 2: ‘Strategic drift occurs whenever a business changes a planned strategy.’

Read statements 1 and 2 and select the correct option from the following options:

Read the information below and then answer the questions that follow.

Disrupted supply

DT is a UK-based business manufacturing circuit boards which it sells to other businesses. All of DT’s output is exported to Europe. The components that DT uses are sourced in the UK.

The supplier of a vital component closed suddenly in early 2020 disrupting DT’s supply chain. DT’s usual pattern of inventory control for this component is shown in Figure 1.

DT was forced to buy this component from a new and more expensive supplier.

DT stated: ‘We had no contingency plan. It was impossible for us to find alternative supplies quickly enough to fulfil all our existing orders. The new supplies had higher levels of defects.’

Figure 1 Inventory control chart showing DT’s usual pattern before disruption

With reference to Figure 1, calculate the lead time.

With reference to Figure 1, calculate the re-order quantity.

With reference to Figure 1, calculate how much inventory DT uses each day.

Explain one impact of a fall in the value of the pound on DT’s sales.

Analyse how contingency planning might have helped DT maintain its competitiveness.

Reliability is the most important factor in a business’ choice of supplier. To what extent is this true for all businesses?

‘Without strategic planning all businesses are doomed to fail.’

To what extent do you agree with this statement?

The table below shows four possible scenarios.

In which of these scenarios is strategic drift least likely to occur?