Stretch or fit? (unit1s3.2.3 p22)

Today I have been...

Comparing Strategy Stretch and Strategy Fit.

Why?

Worthwhile reflection based on unit 1s3

So What?

In the reader p29 there's an interesting article from Hamel and Prahalad "Strategy as Stretch and Leverage". It's an optional article but I have skim-read it.

Their conclusions are similar to Porter in that they recommend strategic thinking should be "stretched", meaning more ambitious objectives, as this will yield new opportunities. "Leveraging..." (yuck, I hate that word) "...resources is as important as allocating them".

Why do some companies redefine the industries in which they compete? H&P suggest that existing managerial frames of reference can only deliver existing types of strategies. They talk about "breaking the managerial frame". Managerial aspirations should drive resources, not vice versa. Competition between rivals is viewed by them as "mindset-vs-mindset"

How will I use it?

Thinking about the OU, probably the biggest change faced by the them in recent years has been technological, and that is the development of digital media and delivery methods. Prior to the developments, they made little use of IT in teaching, and most adults in the UK can remember the old OU programming on late at night on the BBC.

Those programmes are no more. The OU uses broadcasting as a means of attracting customers now (Bang Goes the Theory, Coast) and teaching, while it continues to use print media heavily, has moved onto digital media. The OU has a virtual learning environment which it uses to deliver teaching and interaction between students over the internet. Most printed material is also available electronically to students. Lots of interactive material is delivered via DVD rather than broadcast. Some material has even been made available FoC (google for openlearn). The OU has definitely embraced this technology.

The technology itself has made it easier for competitors to enter the OU's marketplace, however. Many other institutions are also able to use it in a very similar way. At the moment, no-one has the OU's expertise at distance teaching even if they do have the ability for distance delivery. Uploaded lectures are not the same thing as uploaded teaching.

The OU is having to adapt to cope with the new threats brought about by the technology as well as the advantages it brings. The hypercompetition has not yet arrived for the OU, but it may be any day now...