A review of an article titled “Exemplary strategy for corporate competitiveness and wealth creation: Implications for sub-Saharan African business leaders and managers”

This paper offers a review of an article titled “Exemplary strategy for corporate competitiveness and wealth creation: Implications for sub-Saharan African business leaders and managers” by Ashford Chea. The International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences published the article in 2012. Overall, the article offers a brief look into the history and nature of the concept of strategy from the perspectives of the corporate world and as a scholarly field. A general review of the information shows that the piece achieves the professional capacities of an elaboration that is swift and satisfactory at the same time. 

I agree with Chea on the point that in the complex and dynamic world of today, organizations are not in a good position of knowing whether their strategies are appropriate or if the outcome of adoption of the strategies will be desirable. According to the author, such forms the basis of a constant need for good industry analysis, which is also a significant step in the process of strategy development. The article also points out that strategic leadership is another important component in the process of strategic development. I agree with the author since he bases the information on facts of a literature review on that matter. The article goes ahead to discuss the point of how management systems may be employed in the processes of strategic management by enterprises. It points out that the systems have a capacity of being leveraged for purposes of facilitating enhanced execution of set strategies by organizations. 

Thus far, I do not agree with the ideologies of some few points put forward in the article. However, I find the idea of the role of corporate headquarter in strategy process to be somewhat of little worth on the grounds that it has a negative impact on aspects of innovation at the organizational level. Still, it makes some sense in regard to the challenges facing economies in the regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Major challenges, for instance, lie in the perspective of financial and human resources of the organization. Chea is of the opinion that the quality of the strategy process is enhanced in practice by having the corporate headquarters align the corporate and business unit strategies. I believe that the local competitive situations can be dealt with at the local level by functions of knowledge management and innovation. Instead of measuring overall performance and allocating responsibilities, the headquarters ought to evaluate and support the business units in their innovative needs and proposals that arise in efforts of meeting specific needs in the respective niches. It is for this reason that I disagree with the corporate-level map outlined in the article. I believe the approach establishes some sense of restrictions on the scope and capacities of the business units. As such, there is a need for good leadership that is based on management by objectives, paying attention to the concerns, interests, and input of all members of the organization. 

On the other hand and for purposes of improving the quality of the article, Chea would better have shown more focus on aspects of management systems on the platform of information communication systems used in the corporate world. It is well understood that aspects of globalization and Knowledge Management have brought about the development of sophisticated information systems that are used today in place of the principles of conventional management systems. Instead of focusing on the conventional tools of planning and procedures, trends in the global environment of today call for the good use of technological advancements as tools of management. Despite the fact that the article has a special focus in sub-Saharan Africa, globalization has grown and developed to levels of reaching all regions of the world.