In your professional judgment, what is an example of an outstanding Term Paper

In your professional judgment, what is an example of an outstanding strategic decision or what is an example of a failed strateg - Term Paper Example Include the source(s) of your information within your contribution in the sentences. Be very specific. Use  single  space block form for your contribution with double spacing between paragraphs.   In explaining the strategic approach that you consider a success or a failure, you should answer the following questions:   1. Which of the stages of strategic management in action (page 30 of Coulter) initiated the success or failure of the strategy? Was it a good/bad idea from the beginning?   2. What does the organization perceive as its competitive advantage (page 31 of Coulter)? How was this affected by the strategy in question?   3. What driving force or which driving forces of the new business environment (pages 36-44 of Coulter) assisted or helped defeat the strategy in question?   4. How did external opportunities and threats affect the success or failure of the strategy in question (Chapter 3 of Coulter)?   You may decide to choose a public organization (e.g. unive rsity such as Northwest or a public hospital center). Whether you choose a for-profit organization or a not-for-profit organization, explain the situation clearly and completely as possible. Refer to the Coulter text in your explanation.   This particular instance, the focus was on to find inquisitive insight about a strategy decision that a company had to implement in order to survive in the fast-paced environment of the corporate world. One of the interesting issues relating to this was the decision of Blue Cross Blue Shield demanding a hospital to cut its overhead cost. Without prior knowledge and being subjective, one would think that the insurance company is at fault. However, one cannot make that judgment without understanding the complexity of the issue at hand. Blue Cross Blue Shield was faced with a dilemma. As an insurance business, the company must made essential strategy decisions that impact its future growth. In this particular scenario, the company did benchmark tes ting and determined that the rate the hospital charges the company is too high within the hospitals at its region. Blue Cross determined that the hospital should cut its cost by 10% through any means possible. This is partly due to the fact that the company was losing money as it had an obligation to pay its patient’s premiums. Undoubtedly, the hospital responded by adequately cutting its costs. This was beneficial for both companies as it not only build a solid relationship and enabled the companies to diminish unnecessary costs. Moreover, it enabled Blue Cross Blue shield to give better discount rates to hospitals, doctor groups, members and enabled them to compete in a very competitive environment. If the company did not make the strategic decision, it would have given hospital the leverage to go in a market and attract another insurance company. Since Blue Cross Blue Shield targets large groups, it seemed sufficient for the company to challenge the traditional rates of th e hospital. If it failed to do so, it would have lost a small majority of its members in the network which would have made the company suffer in overall long-term profits. Strategic decision making is defined as set of alternate decisions that affect key factors which impacts the success of an organization’s strategy. Strategic decisions differ from Tactical decisions because tactical decisions are based on day to day implementation which requires several steps to reach a particular strategy. Blue Cross Blue s