Sociology Assignment help on : Social Innovation in Global Strategic Management

ABSTRACT

This research paper concentrates on exploring the strategies and finding new ways to scale up the social innovation. Global strategic management refers to activities which help to take advantage from the opportunities that are competitive all around the world. The effective people of the company manage things and create tools and techniques in order to study the environment of their business.        Social innovation is required when it is related to global strategic management. Social innovation is a process that brings changes in the daily working, beliefs, and resources in the social system. These kinds of successful innovation are durable and have a positive impact on the people and the organizations. This paper studies the importance of social innovation in Global Strategic Management. There are a lot of factors that affect the business strategies and hence it is required that there should be some innovation in these strategies so that these strategies become more effective. It is also highlights that it important for people to understand the social factors accurately because if they do not understand them well then they might not be able to produce the desired results.

Defining Social Innovation

All around the world, everyday people come up with ideas; the ideas that are generated to smoothen the existing processes or to improve the working of the people around them. These ideas can be big or small. These ideas may sometime be successful only within the organization and sometimes they might travel to the other organizations and individuals as well. This can be a result of a strategy or through the processes of diffusion. These kinds of innovations have a broad impact and thus these can help in bringing changes in the society. Social innovation is process which is complex where new products and ideas are introduced that profoundly change the normal routine of the social system in which the innovation is actually occurring. These kind of innovations as discussed before have a broad impact and are durable. (Frances Westley and Nino Antadze n.d)

Global strategic management can help an organization to gain competitive advantage if the strategies are well designed and are appropriate. In order to create a perfect global strategy the managers of the organization have to understand the nature of the different global industries and the mechanics of the competition which exists globally. This is necessary because only when the current scenario is known, only then an organization can design strategy for itself which will be beneficial not only for their organization but also the others who will trade with this organization. The global strategy is created by keeping in mind to cover three areas which are global, international, and multinational. The strategy is designed so that an organization is able to achieve the objectives that will help it to expand internationally. When a company is designing a global strategy then it has to distinguish between the different forms of international expansion. They need to study the current position of the company internationally, the resources of the company, and the capabilities of the company. For example a dairy company can sell some of the excess milk or milk products to the other countries but its main focus is on the home market only. Thus it is important to know the objectives of the company and then a global strategy can be designed. (Chron 2012)

Going Global

It is often noticed that a lot of companies say that they are working on or they will be soon going global. It is important to understand what they mean when they say that they are going global. If a company has decided to go global then it does not merely means that it will start selling its products outside the home country by creating a new sales team, making brochures of the product in different languages, and to have an office team that can coordinate with the office back at the home country. It means much more than that. The resources in going global are much larger. The company requires having a manufacturing plant in various countries where the cost of labor is low, branding and advertising the products and the company globally, establishing an effective sales team in every country, intellectual property registration in different countries etc.

It is important to understand that why a company would want to go global if the resources are greater and the risks are also high. This is because the rewards which in attained in return is much greater for a global strategy. If social innovation is brought in the existing strategies then the individuals and the other organizations will be able to benefit from this. Innovation often brings success and thus is will be beneficial if the global strategies are innovated keeping in the social issues accurately. (Global Strategy 2012)

Hitachi: A Global Strategy for Social Innovation

Japan based Hitachi Limited wanted to design a new business strategy to stabilize the performance of the organization and create a base for the long term growth which is based on providing solutions to the various global challenges that are faced. The company has been able to grow into business units that are more than nine hundred, serve diverse sectors, which includes power systems, transport systems, data centers and much more. Eventually, Hitachi wanted to make sure that the new strategy will keep its business aligned to the theme of social innovation. Thus this will help it in providing a platform of innovation and sustained growth. Thus they wanted to get a strategy designed for social innovation so that they can face the global challenges. (BSR 2010)

The main focus was to support the global strategy initiated by Hitachi of increasing its incomes outside Japan, creating a global organization, and setting up innovation in accordance to the current and future needs of the society. This was done by introducing a program that would have given Hitachi a wide range of perspectives on the global environmental challenges so that the focus of the company is sharpened and is only on social innovation. This was broken down into three steps:

• Finding the gaps and doubling the strengths: the principle of materiality was used to make those issues a priority that helped in removing the main risks from the business at both the levels, corporate as well as business. This made Hitachi strategic about addressing other stakeholder issues and at the same time stay focused on the business opportunities that come in the way.
• Aligning management under one mission: the better conversations amongst the senior executives helped the company to define the Corporate Social Responsibility for Hitachi. It also highlighted the opportunities to keep the main focus of the innovation on the critical and social needs.
• Listening to society: they also initiated in creating events where they could directly interact with the opinion leaders and hear their opinions and also their expectations so as to how Hitachi will address the challenges present in the global environment.

After this strategy was adopted Hitachi was able to create a position which was strengthened in businesses that are involved in social innovation like information and communication centers, data centers and cloud computing. Hitachi’s global strategy helped to focus the investments done by Hitachi on social innovation, which resulted to mix the social infrastructure with the information and the systems of communication. (BSR 2010)

Importance of Global Strategic Management

The global strategy is defined to help a company expand itself internationally. The companies do not introduce all their brands globally but only a selected product. For example Pepsi Co dominates the global industry of snacks. However it has its own local brands as well which it has not promoted all over the world. These are line Walkers Crisps that are available only in UK. It has promoted its Lays all over the world but not this brand because the company felt that it has a huge market in the home country only and thus it is not required to take it global. It is very important to know that even if a company has a global strategy it takes the company many years to have substantial resources. The global strategic management is thus very important because if it is seen from the perspective of the company then a good global strategy helps the company to increase its sales. The management of these strategies helps the company to find new and innovative ways to face the global challenges. Global strategic management can help an organization to gain competitive advantage if the strategies are well designed and are appropriate. In order to create a perfect global strategy the managers of the organization have to understand the nature of the different global industries and the mechanics of the competition which exists globally.  It is very important to manage innovation. It is also important to understand that the designing of the global strategy or the whole concept of the global strategy is just one part of the subject strategic management. This can be explained with the example of a Canadian company that has been very successful so far in its global and international strategy. The company is Blackberry. It should be noted that before designing a global strategy, the company used the basic principles of strategic management which were customer focus, competitive advantage rather than anything which was precise to the global strategy. Blackberry initially focused or targeted the business class and slowly they moved on to the other target groups. (Global Strategy 2012)

Discussion

The global strategies are different for different countries. The social innovation helps in bringing a change in the society which has been following the same tradition since long and as it is a social innovation it has a greater impact on the people. The daily routine is changed and new products are introduced. The social innovation can be brought organization so that the diversified culture can be managed and people are able to work in different countries without the fear of being thrown out due to the religion to which they belong. The search should be for the person who can perform better and contribute to the benefit of the society. Innovation plays a great role in preparing a global strategy as this helps the people to upgrade themselves to the new technology and they are aware of the new gadgets that are around them and how their usage has eased their lives. The people have to adapt and introduce these innovations or else they will be left behind in the race. (Chron 2012)

The international trade helps in lowering the prices and thus from the point of view of a customer it is an important thing to create a global strategy and to take the product at a global level. The managers of the company also need to understand that the strategy which they will be initiating should be designed by keeping in mind the nature of their business. This can be explained by the example, when the people who come in the old age group category are not that much conscious about the fitness factor, thus the products that help in getting fit might not be sold in this kind of market. The marketing team of such company should target the young people so that the sales are more. Now it is important to introduce more and more channels of promoting the product worldwide. Using only mediums like newspapers are not sufficient to promote a product in the global market.

Social Innovation helps to bring a change in the way people have been doing things or following from a long time. All around the world, everyday people come up with ideas; the ideas that are generated to smoothen the existing processes or to improve the working of the people around them. These ideas can be big or small. These ideas may sometime be successful only within the organization and sometimes they might travel to the other organizations and individuals as well. This can be a result of a strategy or through the processes of diffusion. These kinds of innovations have a broad impact and thus these can help in bringing changes in the society. Social innovation is process which is complex where new products and ideas are introduced that profoundly change the normal routine of the social system in which the innovation is actually occurring. These kind of innovations as discussed before have a broad impact and are durable. (Stephen Tallman and Torben Pedersen 2011)

Conclusion

Global strategy helps the companies to expand internationally and this strategy should be designed very carefully so that the company benefits from this strategy and is able to set a benchmark. The managers should keep in mind the nature of the business and to have social innovation in the strategy so that the main focus of the company is to focus on how to face the global challenges which are present in the social and the international market. Social innovation has a much deeper and greater impact and thus should be used to enhance the effectiveness of your global strategy so that it is able to attract the people globally. It is important to understand that why a company would want to go global if the resources are greater and the risks are also high. This is because the rewards which in attained in return is much greater for a global strategy. If social innovation is brought in the existing strategies then the individuals and the other organizations will be able to benefit from this. Innovation often brings success and thus is will be beneficial if the global strategies are innovated keeping in the social issues accurately. Innovation plays a great role in preparing a global strategy as this helps the people to upgrade themselves to the new technology and they are aware of the new gadgets that are around them and how their usage has eased their lives. The people have to adapt and introduce these innovations or else they will be left behind in the race. Thus in designing a global strategy social innovation plays a great role as it has a greater effect and will help the company to closely relate with the critical, social and environmental challenges that have been faced by the company in the global market

If you want Sociology management Assignment Help study samples to help you write professional custom essay’s and essay writing help.

Receive assured help from our talented and expert writers! Did you buy assignment and assignment writing services from our experts in a very affordable price.

To get more information, please contact us or visit www.myassignmenthelp.Com