Strategy in Action
13: Resourcing Strategies
Learning Outcomes (1)
Analyse the resource management
issues that are important to achieving
strategic success in four key resource
areas:
The management of people
Access to and processing of information to
build capabilities and change business models
and/or managerial processes
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Learning Outcomes (2)
The management of finance to create financial
value, fund strategic developments and
address the differing financial expectations of
stakeholders
The management of technology to address
changing competitive forces on an organisation
and improve strategic capability
Address the integration of resources and
competences across resource areas to
underpin the success of strategy
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Exhibit 13.1 Resourcing Strategies
Information
People
Organisational
strategies
Finance
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Technology
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What are
Resourcing Strategies?
Resourcing strategies are
concerned with the two-way
relationship between overall
business strategies and strategies in
separate resource areas such as
people, information, finance, and
technology.
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Exhibit 13.2 Strategy and People
People
as a resource
Strategy
People
and behaviour
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Organising
people
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Traditional HR Activities Viewing
People as Resources
Audits
Goal-setting and performance assessment
Planning of rewards
Recruitment and retention
Training and development plans
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People and Behaviour
Understanding the need to change
organisational paradigms
Seeing role as ‘shapers of context’
Understanding the relationship between
behaviours and strategic choices
Being realistic about the difficulty and timescales in achieving change
Being able to vary style of managing
change
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Roles of the HR Function
Service provider
Regulator
Advisor
Change agent
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Customer Relations at KLM
 Were KLM’s HR policies adequate for delivering
on the promise of the Reliable Airline?
 How did the behaviour of front-line staff influence
the actual service delivery?
 What could be changed to improve the
consistency of service delivery?
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Exhibit 13.3 Competitive
Advantage Through People
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Exhibit 13.4 Strategy and Information
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Information and
Strategic Capability
Improving product/service features
Competitive performance
Ease/difficulty of imitation
Competitive positioning
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Information and
Product/Service Features
 Lower prices
 Improved prepurchase
information
 Easier, faster
purchasing
 Product or service
reliability
 Personalised products
 Improved after-sales
service
 Shorter
development times
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What is Data Mining?
Data mining is the process of finding
trends, patterns, and connections in
data in order to inform and improve
competitive performance.
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Information and
Competitive Positioning
Routinisation – Cost Reduction
Mass customisation – more Product Features
Customisation – advanced information
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Information and
Business Models
Electronic processing
Extended functions
New functions
Internal changes
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Exhibit 13.5 Changing
Business Models
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ZOPA Leverages DIY Craze
 How has ZOPA changed the business model for
lending and borrowing?
 List the advantages and disadvantages for
lenders and borrowers of dealing with ZOPA
instead of a bank.
 How could the banks respond?
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Exhibit 13.6
Strategy and Finance
Managing
for value
Strategy
Funding
strategies
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Financial
expectations
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What is Managing for Value?
Managing for value is concerned
with maximising the long-term
cash-generating capability
of an organisation.
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Value Creation
Funds from operations
Investment in assets
Financing costs
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Exhibit 13.7 Financial Aspects of
Value Creation
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Funding Strategies
Sources of funds
Portfolio issues
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Business and
financial risks
Mergers and
acquisitions
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Exhibit 13.8 Balancing Business
and Financial Risk
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Exhibit 13.9
Strategy and Technology
Technology and the
competitive situation
Strategy
Technology and
strategic capability
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Organising
technology
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Exhibit 13.10 Matching Technology
Strategies to Markets
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Exhibit 13.11 Developing
or Acquiring Technology
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Organising
Technological Development
Location and funding
Global vs local development
Organisational processes
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Exhibit 13.12 Funding
and Location of R&D
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What is a Stage-Gate Process?
A stage-gate process is a
structured review process to assess
progress on meeting product
performance characteristics during
the development process and
ensuring that they are matched with
market data.
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Exhibit 13.13 Resource Integration
in a New Product Launch
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Chapter Summary (1)
 There is a two-way relationship between resource
management and strategic success
 In all resource areas, the critical question is how
resource management systems contribute to the
creation and integration of knowledge
 People affect success both formally and informally
 Information is a key resource of particular
importance given the advances in information
technology
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Chapter Summary (2)
Finance is a resource of central
importance in all organisations
Technology development affects the
competitive forces of an organisation and
its strategic capability
Organisations needs to be able to
integrate resources and competences
across resource areas to support current
and new strategies
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Key Debate:
Resources or Revolution?
Compare the resources of Nestle and
Starbucks in the late 1980s and early
1990s. Why didn’t Nestle lead in the
creation of the coffee bar fashion?
What implications does the failure of
Nestle have for other powerful
incumbents in their present markets?
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Case Example: Video Games
Identify how the ‘business model’ for the
industry changed as information
technology capability improved. Where
might the next changes of business model
be?
What were the human resource
implications of the changing ‘shape’ of the
games industry to the different ‘players’?
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Case Example: Video Games
Use Exhibit 13.8 to undertake a
critique of the extent to which
financial strategies are appropriate to
the industry.
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