2 The models in action: what counts is what works? As noted at the start of Session 1, the models of change can be both explanatory and normative. As explanations, each corresponds to a different theoretical tradition. So do you just pick the one that seems most compelling? Or do different theories help explain different kinds of phenomena? The answer suggested here closely follows the work on metaphors by Gareth Morgan (1986), who sets out a number of different models of organisations (some of which map on to those outlined here). Morgan arg
1.1 Policy delivery The question of policy delivery seems to be growing in importance. So, for example, the Blair governments in the UK were, from the outset, preoccupied with ‘delivery, delivery, delivery’ as ministers and prime minister grew increasingly frustrated with what was often viewed as the intransigence of public service professionals. The constant cycle of change, in which new policies and initiatives were introduced in rapid succession, producing what critics described as ‘policy ove
Next steps After completing this unit you may wish to study another OpenLearn Study Unit or find out more about this topic. Here are some suggestions:
6 Summary The aim of the first section was to introduce you to the concept of the market-led approach to marketing (also referred to as pan-company marketing or marketing orientation) and to differentiate it from ‘marketing department marketing’. I used examples and case studies to make you think about the applicability of this concept to commercial (for-profit) and non-profit organisations, and gave you activities to help you apply it in your own organisation. Five of the learning outco
5.5 Relationships in your organisation In this section I have introduced you to case studies and reading that should have helped you understand how market orientation affects an organisation's performance. I have also asked you to look at your own organisation and make judgements regarding its performance. Near the beginning of this session I asked you to consider some questions from Drucker (1992). I have added a few more questions to his list and ask you now to try to answer these questions for your organisation. You probably do
5.4 Activity 8 The M & S case study illustrates the importance of managing relationships. Having read it, try to answer the following questions. On which value discipline has the company 5.3 Wace Burgess: the importance of managing relationships The case study below illustrates the importance of managing relationships. Read the case study, then answer the questions that follow it. Wace Burgess is a member of the Wace Group, a company in the pre-press 5.2 An integrated perspective on relationship management: the six markets model Christopher et al. (1991) developed a complementary model to Piercy's. Based on the idea of stakeholders, the ‘six market model’ of relationship management works equally well in either a commercial or non-profit setting. I have combined the Piercy and Christopher et al. models in the following table to illustrate some of the critical issues in the key relationships that organisations need to address. 5.1 Managing relationships You should now understand that markets and the customers within them are the responsibility of all managers within an organisation. An organisation needs to identify what will create extra value for its customers, and design a value-driven operating system that will concentrate all its efforts on producing it. This process of going to market involves the organisation in managing the relationships between itself and its customers and competitors, and also in the co-ordination of the organisati 4.5 Is M&S market led? Allow half an hour. Read Case study 1 and then use the evidence there to answer the following questions. Do you think that M&S is market led? Whi 4.4 Marks and Spencer: a case study The following case study examines a company coming to terms with market orientation. Marks & Spencer is the latest UK retailer to turn to the web to revive its fortunes. In the week that the company announced a halving in its p 4.3.3 Customer intimacy [Customer-intimate companies] focus on delivering not what the market wants but what specific customers want. [They… ] do not pursue one-time transactions; they cultivate relationships. They specialize in satisfying unique needs, which often only they, by virtue of their close relationship with – and intimate knowledge of – their customer, recognize. The proposition to the customer is: we have the best solutio 4.3.2 Operational excellence Companies that pursue this [value discipline] are not primarily product or service innovators, nor do they cultivate a deep one-to-one relationship with their customers. Instead, operationally excellent companies provide middle-of-the-market products at the best price with the least inconvenience. Their proposition to customers is simple: low price and hassle-free service. (Treacy and Wiersema, 1996) 4.3.1 Product leadership Its practitioners concentrate on offering products that push performance boundaries. Their proposition to customers is an offer of the best product, period. Moreover, product leaders don't build their positions with just one innovation; they continue to innovate year after year, product cycle after product cycle. (Treacy and Wiersema, 1996) For product leaders, competition is not about pric 4.3 Dominating the market
Value disciplines refer to the ways in which organisations can combine value-driven operating models and propositions to dominate their markets. In their discussion of market domination, T&W identify three distinct value disciplines, each of which will deliver a different kind of customer value. They recommend that an organisation chooses one of the value disciplines on which to make its reputation but stress that these value disciplines are not mutually exclusive. The choic Next steps After completing this unit you may wish to study another OpenLearn Study Unit or find out more about this topic. Here are some suggestions: 1.2 The hard side of Glasgow Prior to its currently projected image of dynamism, Glasgow was regarded as the place which best illustrated all that was wrong with the modern industrial city: ‘Once called the “second city of the British Empire” because of its size and industrial might, Glasgow had sunk so low that even the locals disdained it’ (Bryson, 1989). 4.1 National identities and UK politics Why do British people speak ‘English’ and not ‘British’? Why is it easier to travel from London to any British city than to travel from Bedford to Leamington Spa? Why are the National Gallery, the British Museum and Tate Modern all in London? Why does London house the Stock Exchange? This has to do with the pivotal role played by England in the constitution of the UK and by the designation of London as the capital of the UK. Within any given country, we are likely to b 2.1 England England played a dominant role in the medieval history of Britain, and the history of the UK is undoubtedly the history of the political and cultural domination of the English nation over those of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. In the making of the UK, each component nation played a different role: the English and Scottish kingdoms, the incorporation of Wales into the English Crown, and the subjugation of Ireland. The making of the UK was complex and fraught with violent confrontations, particu 7.4 Evaluating your strategy and assessing your work Present a reflective summary that gives details of: A judgement of your own progress and performance in using problem-solving skills, including an assessment of your progress. Discuss your use of criteria and feedback comments to help you assess your progress. Those factors that had the greatest effect on your achieving what you set out to do, including those that worked well to help you improve and those that worked less well.
Activity 8
Case study: Wace Burgess
Background
Activity 7
Case study 1 M&S goes online to reverse crisis
