Top Down Strategy (Pros and Cons)

Top Down Strategy (Pros and Cons)

1. Advantages

   • Avoids short-term behaviours
   • Helps identify strategic issues
   • Gives goal congruence
   • Improves stakeholder perception
   • Provides basis for strategic control
   • Develops future management potential

2. Disadvantages

   • Too infrequent, business cannot be dynamic
   • Prevents radical or innovative strategies
   • Harder to implement as non-participative
   • Loss of entrepreneurial spirit
   • Expensive and complicated for small businesses
   • Impossible to use in uncertain environments

3. Strategy & small businesses

   • Birely (1982)
     • Internal stakeholder interests
       • Owner managed, family shareholders
     • Limited market choice
       • Fewer products/services, narrower range of strategic options
     • Limited resources
       • Insufficient capital to pursue strategy
     • Organisational strcuture
       • No infrastrcuture or management skills to deliver strategy