Case Study 4 ('Challenger, Go for Launch')

 1.Challenger case study is an example of ineffective strategic leadership.  Most of the people see what they expect to see but that is the reason for many failures of the organisations.  If you want to be strategic leader you have to think differently , so you could explore new ideas or doing things in different, better way. It is not easy, especially because people don’t like those who stand out the group, and not agree with their opinions, it is even more difficult and risky when you have to confront  your boss.  Lessons that we learned about effective strategic leadership from this case study are : to be more flexible, to be ethical(not too profit focussed) , we should lead with heart, we should be good listeners, to collaborate as much as possible and the most important to stay independent  and think differently.

2. The underlying reasons why the mission went ahead are that NASA was focussed more on publicity than on launching mission, pressure ( 6 failures before this one , TV alive, government, time, deadlines),  ,,Management Hat`` - for NASA managers it was very important for this launching to happen because of profit and customers, not enough testing guidelines, NASA didn’t want to risk to lose its image in the time of Russia-USA ‘space war’ ... For the catastrophe happened by launching the rocket everyone in NASA and Morton Thiokol  was to blame.

3. Engineers could say:,,I put my manager hat, but I still say no!’’ They should insist on stopping the mission, they shouldn’t give permission. They could use media to spread their findings regarding the mission and inform as many people as possible so they could stand up and protest against launching. With many people involved and protesting it would be much easier to stop mission.

4.And Carrefour and NHS and Challenger ,they all face similar problems caused by intention to earn as much profit as possible ,to keep their customers and to gain new ones.  Actually we cannot say it is a problem because that is the aim of every organisation. But the problems occur when the organisation doesn’t do it in a proper way.  When you set those goals you should take care not just to meet them at all costs, but to do that in a proper way (being ethical ,flexible, collaborative) ‘cause otherwise you will lose your customers and profit anyway.   Madonna is an example of effective strategic leadership , she thinks differently and that is the secret of her success unlike the Challenger case study which is the example of ineffective strategic leadership.

Case Study 3 (Madonna:the reigning queen of pop?)

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1.Madonna has managed to sustain success for so long because she never fails to be relevant, she has ability to change persona and music genre (adaptability) and still be on the top of the show business, and earn a lot of money.  The other resources of her competitive advantage are : collaborations with professionals, forecasting, feminism(stand for more than music) , authenticity , bargaining power, experience, herself, money, focus on drive, wide audience, risk management, versatility ...

2.In order to remain competitive and earn a profit in show business as in any other business it is very important to be  aware  of and to understand  the organisation  that you work in the same as external environment and yourself. That could be achieved by using range of models or frameworks that help you to analyse the organisation. Madonna is one of the examples how well used  strategy models  and analysis of her environment can really help you to remain competitive for a long period.   She is not a queen of pop without reason, you must have a strategy and to know very well what the audience wants, the market is changing all the time and you must catch up with it. Only good voice is not enough, there are many other singers that sing maybe even better than Madonna but they just didn’t succeed to remain competitive, they didn’t have strategy.

3.We could compare this case study with the previous ones in the way that in all of them the most important thing is a strategy.  Good strategy means good business.  The Carrefour and NHS didn’t not have good strategy and that is why they were in a trouble, unlike Madonna who applies really good strategy by using different strategic models  to be aware of the changes in the environment and remain relevant and definitely  queen of pop.

4.It is important to remember that competitive advantage requires resources and competences that are unique or difficult to imitate!  And that having strategic model is not the only thing you should think of ,it is also important to evaluate your strategic choices (its suitability, feasibility and acceptability).