Business Environment and Strategic Managment Essay

Business Environment and Strategic Managment - Essay Example Indeed, after the completion of the installation process, the business strategy needs to be periodically monitored as of its performance (Harrison 2012). In this way, weaknesses and failures can be identified early so that major risks in regard to all business operations are avoided. According to Herzog (2010) the strategic management process can be also completed in just three phases: â€Å"a) situation assessment, b) strategy development and c) strategy implementation† (Herzog 2010, p.17). The development of the phases of strategic management process, as described above, is based on a series of tools, also known as strategic tools. The key role of these tools is to ensure that the decision-making process is adequately supported (Herzog 2010). Certain of these tools are quite popular. Reference can be made, for example, to SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, Benchmarking, Forecasting and Financial Ratios (Herzog 2010). Each organization chooses the stra tegic tools that most respond to its needs taking into consideration the existing resources and the risks involved, both in the short and the long term (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson 2010). Also, the type of industry in which each firm operates is expected to influence the firm’s strategic management process, meaning also the strategic management tools that will be used for achieving the business objectives ((Daft, Kendrick and Vershinina 2010). The business model is another important criterion taken into account by strategic managers when having to choose the strategic tools employed in the achievement of business goals ((Daft, Kendrick and Vershinina 2010). Qatar Petroleum (QP) is the most powerful competitor in Qatar’s oil and gas sector; the company... This paper approves that the strategic management process incorporates a series of phases, aiming to help businesses to keep their value at high level. According to the literature, four are the most common phases of strategic management process: at a first level, the â€Å"vision and mission of the organization are reviewed† then, â€Å"the internal and external organizational environment needs to be analyzed† using the information retrieved through the research and the analysis developed in the previous two phases, the strategic manager proceeds to the identification of strategy that is most appropriate for supporting business goals, the â€Å"implementation of the chosen strategy† can be completed; at this level, the strategic management process should not be considered as terminated. Indeed, after the completion of the installation process, the business strategy needs to be periodically monitored as of its performance. This essay comes to the conclusion that strategic management tools can be used in both planning and evaluation of a company’s strategy or direction. According to Henry Mintzberg’s strategy can be defined as â€Å"a pattern in a stream of decisions†; based on the above definition it can be claimed that strategic tools can be effectively used for the evaluation of the performance and the strategic objectives of an organization. The specific approach to strategic management has been used in order to explore and evaluate the business strategy of Qatar Petroleum. Three widely used strategic tools have been employed: SWOT, PEST and benchmarking analyses.

Art History- Comparing Renaissance and Baroque art Essay

Art History- Comparing Renaissance and Baroque art - Essay Example The Virgin with the Canon van der Paele is an outstanding painting of Virgin Mary. In the painting, Jesus is sitting on Mary’s lap. Mary is not the only person represented in this painting, there are other significant persons. An interesting aspect of the painting is the articulate and accurate coloration. In general, the painting is more real, representative of life and provides immense detail. On the other hand, The Swing (1766) is a depiction of has guarding statues of the garden swing. In this drawing, the colors are muter and it is mainly characterized with some kind of darkness and shadowy effect. However, the darkness is non-sinister, but rather is a result of illumination effect of the trees that provide privacy to the two lovers in the painting. There is therefore a bright effect emanating from the tree breaks, from where the sun’s rays maneuvers its way to illuminate the woman who is wearing a pink dress which is one of the bright spots in the picture. The two paintings bear some level of similarity. Firstly, both represent a scene characterized by multiple persons. Van Eyck’s painting shows immense detail with regard to painting backgrounds just as much as is the case in Fragonard painting (Gardner and Kleiner 571). However, as much as the details in Fragonard paintings are substantial, they are much smaller and rather it is the leaves and trees that take much of the focus instead of the swinging lady. There is also some level of contrast in the paintings. While van Eyck’s painting is more serious, more religious and sacred.