A. How could Jeff’s attitude toward social responsibility impact Perry’s strategy? Justify your rationale with support from course materials.
Jeff has a poor attitude towards social responsibility that needs to be addressed moving forward. Jeff has made it very clear that he does not believe in the success of “being green”. In addition to a negative attitude, he is adding stress to the situation which employees will notice. He needs to maintain a level-head. Jeff’s approach is similar to the framing bias where information is presented in a way that alters the final decision (Kethchen and Short, 2011, p. 336). Often times, the information will be presented in a more positive light to avoid a poor reaction (Kethchen and Short, 2011, p. 336). In this case, Jeff saw the information on a competitor’s website before anyone else could present the information in a better way. Seeing the raw information from the competitor sent Jeff into a spiral of worry and doubt. If employees were to see this, it could create panic and worry for them as well.
Moving forward, Jeff needs to have a better approach towards social responsibility by utilizing rational decision making. This process includes problem identification, establishment and weighing of decision criteria, generation and evaluation of alternatives, selection of the best alternative, decision implementation, and decision evaluation (Kethchen and Short, 2011, p. 331). By utilizing the process of rational decision making, it can help bring Jeff peace of mind and change the way he is viewing the information he has been presented.
B. Should Perry’s Printing respond to this new strategic plan published by their competitor? Why or why not? Justify your opinion with support from course materials.
In today’s society, it is a must to respond. Often times, a company’s silence is considered a response. Over the past 70 years that Perry’s Printing has been in business, the idea of “going green” has become more popular. Society is more focused on green companies and how a company can have a smaller carbon footprint than they were 70 years ago. Jeff needs to take time to understand the generation differences in today’s society. In doing so, business owners can have a better comprehension of the viewpoints that shape the behaviors of a variety of consumers (Kethchen and Short, 2011, p. 331). This response needs to be filtered through rational decision making as well in order to develop a well-thought-out response.
Jeff needs to look into the idea of going green and look at the positives and negatives. He needs to assess any alternative ideas and the repercussions that may follow. After following the 8 steps of rational decision making, Jeff will need to release a statement that will reflect Perry’s Printing in a positive light to the public that will be deemed acceptable with all generations. When Perry’s Printing releases a statement about their stance of “going green”, other companies may too feel pressured to follow. For competing companies who may not be able to afford these upgrades, they could potentially lose business for not contributing to the idea of “going green”.
C. Porter identified one of the most commonly accepted definitions of strategy as “choosing a unique and valuable position, rooted in systems of activities that are difficult to match.” In other words, differentiation is the key to strategy. If all competitors are choosing sustainability as part of their processes, can sustainability really be a strategy? Support your opinion with course materials.
Sustainability is a strategy and should be included in strategy-making decisions (Czintoka, 2013). If competing companies can afford to constantly upgrade and evolve their business, it will force competing companies to do the same. If a company becomes drastically more advanced than a competitor, the competitor may be forced to close. The idea behind this strategy is to always look for “better” whether that means better sourcing, better pricing, better products, etc. The idea of sustainability is strategy on its own to fuel competition. If a company is worried about differentiation, they can take a step back and look at what they are selling and decide how to add more.
To be sustainable, companies must develop a proper approach to conserve resources and offer sustainable products (Czinkota, 2013). A way to create a unique and valuable position would be to offer on-site recycling for consumers to dispose of products that would otherwise end up in a landfill. Offering this to the public has the potential to bring in new customers. Again, an idea such as this would need to go through the cycle of rational decision making but this would allow the company to be in a unique position compared to its competitors. Given the recent announcement of Donovan’s Printing, Perry’s Printing will need to offer something more than what Donovan’s Printing announced to show uniqueness.
Czinkota, M. (2013, January 13). Global consumerism and Sustainability. Professor Michael Czinkota. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from http://michaelczinkota.com/2013/01/global-consumerism-and-sustainability/
Dave Ketchen and Jeremy Short. (2011). Mastering Strategic Management. Arlington, Virginia: Saylor Academy.
