Discussion of
KM Most-Cited 1-3
by Yan An
Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage
What is formal and informal strategic planning?
Formal
• Not rare
• Valuable
• Imitable
• Not a source of sustained
competitive advantage
informal
• Rare
• Valuable
• Not imitable
• Is a source of sustained
competitive advantage
5 Components of Formal Planning
Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Setting of objectives
Generating strategies
Evaluating strategies
Monitoring the process
Commitment to the process
Is Formal Strategic Planning Beneficial
for Small Businesses?
• Researchers draw conflicting conclusions:
– Formal is beneficial
• Provides structure for decision making
• Create long-term view
– Formal is NO potential payoff
• Heady
• High-level
• Conceptual activity suited solely to large firms
Informal Strategic Planning
• To exchange ideas on how to perform each
member’s job better and more effectively
• Provide professional development training
• Refine day-to-day organizational operations
• Generate useful knowledge for decision
making
• Derive sustained competitive advantages
Information Processing Systems and Sustained
Competitive Advantage
•
How to let IS become a useful resource?
–
–
Process quickly
Share effectively
» Codification
» Personalization = Tacit Knowledge
(What ‘s your strategy for managing knowledge?
& The Knowledge-Creating Company)
– Avoid eleven deadliest sins of knowledge
management
References
• Effects of formal strategic planniing on
financial performance in small firms: a metaanalysis (1993) –by Sharader, Charles B.
– www.library.arizona.edu
• Formal and informal mandates—by the
Sanford Consulting Group
– http://www.fgca.org/about_strategic_plan_formal
.asp