Strategic leadership as a potential source of competitive advantage for Namibia Breweries Limited in the face of globalisation.
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Date
2005
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Abstract
The present landscape presents numerous challenges for the firms operating in this 21 st century arena, as it is quite volatile. This landscape is global in nature, as the barriers to competition have been broken down between countries.
The challenges of the global economy are immense. Strategic leadership emerges as the most effective way through which firms can achieve satisfactory performance in this competitive landscape. As companies attempt to sustain competitive advantage so as to maintain strategic competitiveness and earn above average returns, they need to practice effective strategic leadership. The aim of this paper is to establish how firms could use effective leadership to ensure that they are able to deal with the challenging situations facing them. Only through this, can they respond appropriately and quickly in the complex global competitive environment.
The challenges facing companies of the 21 st century will be identified. Namibia Breweries Limited will be used as a case study of a firm in the developing world
currently facing enormous challenges due to globalisation. Various analytical tools will be used to determine the company's competitive position. Also, the company's competitiveness will be evaluated against that of its major competitor, South African Breweries. The role strategic leadership could play to enable Namibia Breweries Limited to maintain competitiveness while facing the challenges of globalization will be established. The model by Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson will be adopted. These authors have come up with a model that highlights six critical components for effective strategic leadership. When a company's leadership effectively complete the activities called for by these components, they can become a source of competitive advantage.
Furthermore, strategic leadership can be a source of competitive advantage for firms when competitors find it difficult to understand and imitate the processes involved with it. This advantage is significant, as it would enable firms to achieve strategic competitiveness. The study will establish how Namibia Breweries Limited could implement these components to achieve effective leadership, given their particular environment and the particular challenges facing them.
Recommendations are made on how Namibia Breweries Limited can implement the components to improve on its competitiveness, using the proposed model.
Suggestions are made with regard to what the company could do to ensure they maintain a good strategic position. The analysis indicates that the company, Namibia Breweries Limited, faces a giant in the industry. The South African Breweries presents major competition to the Namibian breweries and the leadership has a big role to play to ensure that the company maintains strategic competitiveness and is able to earn above average returns despite the major challenges it faces.
Description
Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.
Keywords
Leadership., Strategic planning., Globalisation--Economic aspects., Theses--Business administration.