Answer :

Question 1

Socio-cultural and global elements of the general environment are prominent for shaping the future of Starbucks retail snacks and coffee store industry. Global elements like economic, political, advancement of technology, and environmental factors are crucial in changing the course of business direction within the snacks and coffee industry. On the other hand, socio-cultural elements like customers’ preference, the income of customers, and cultural differences can influence the business process of a brand. Both socio-cultural and political elements are impactful for the business operation of Starbucks since it is a luxury beverage dealing company. For instance, high GDP in a region implies a high per capita income which ensures a higher degree of disposable income. This, in hand, facilitates the prosperity of business and ensures a huge growth of revenue for Starbucks. It can also be observed in the manner that customers will be able to buy the products of Starbucks if they have high disposable and excess income for luxury purposes (Masovic, 2018). On the contrary, socio-cultural elements have a significant drive to improve the prominence of the company as well as the work operation of the sector. For instance, customer's preferences for brands and their buying activities are the important criteria based on which the sales of Starbucks depend. If the majority of the customers in a particular region have a minimal preference for high-priced snacks and coffee, the operation of Starbucks in that region will not be preferable and profitable. Thus it is necessary to take customer’s buying behavior and their preferences towards a particular brand into account. 

Question 2

Google is one of the most prominent and renowned multinational technology organizations and has been the key reason for shaping the era of digital information. It has brought innovations via its wide-range of technology-associated and Internet-related services and products that have helped people to change their course of life. Moreover, the business operation conducted by Google has facilitated easy dissemination of knowledge and information. All these have been possible due to the diversification of business strategy implemented by Google. The key strategy includes revenue strategy via online advertising, expansion strategy via product and company acquisitions, product strategy via service and product diversification, and vertical strategy via industry interdependence (Inoue, 2020). Online search has been the key product and service of Google. Initially, the company capitalized on the search technology and started expanding its business in 1986. As an integral part of product strategy, the company diversified to distinct internet-based services and products. The acquisition is the key market entry strategy for Google and it also helped in expanding the business process. One of such instances includes the expansion of Google's online-advertising business after the company acquired DoubleClick in the year 2007 at about USD 3.1 billion. On the other hand, it is estimated that the company's more than 90% of the net revenue is generated from online advertising. There are varied ways through which the Giant Internet platform delivers online advertisement. Through Google Search, the company can monetize online-search concerns by supporting advertisers to buy and place advertisement spots on the search-result pages. One of the prominent business strategies of the company is to create interdependence across multiple sectors via vertical alignment or integration. One such example includes widespread Google search. This implies that Google owns a high level of diversification strategies. 

Question 3

LVMH is the world’s renowned luxury products conglomerate and is prominent for acquiring brands such as Givenchy and Louis Vuitton. The portfolios of the brand also comprise 75 distinct brands including wines, spirits, cosmetics, leather goods, and other luxury goods. The luxury products and assets like the handbag of Louis Vuitton, the champagne of Dom Perignon, Bulgari jeweler, and watches from Hublot have been strategically acquired and selected. Tiffany is a high-end brand dealing with jewelry like bracelets, necklaces, and diamond rings. The key rationale behind LVMH acquisitions with Tiffany is to get hold of the brand recognition and prominence that Tiffany owns (Taplin, 2019). Tiffany brand is a global franchise with about 321 physical shops spread all across the world. LVMH has seen a win-win position during the acquisition of Tiffany. During this process, LVMH did not want to change the infrastructure of Tiffany. However, LVMH wanted to facilitate business growth across the region of Europe. This has been the straightforward strategy for LVMH to create customer value and execute a business expansion strategy. It has also been believed that similar to the context of Bulgari and the profit made by the company through the acquisition of Bulgari, the company can also make huge profits and make business expansion successful by building an association with Tiffany. 

Question 4

Alliance, if formed strategically can be successful for business. A strategic alliance is an agreement and contract between two and more than two parties. It takes certain sets of agreed objectives under consideration which the involved parties have to follow. Besides, it also allows the independence of the associated parties. In a similar context, the brand Samsung Electric can conduct and manage their business operations through an effective and strategic alliance. However, they have to follow the strategic steps which will initiate from the selection or identification of potential partners. The operational team of Samsung electric has to conduct thorough market research to conclude a partner for ensuring their consistent growth. (Pargar et al., 2019) Negotiation is one of the key components of a strategic alliance. On this note, after selecting a potential partner, the managerial team of Samsung has to make the first approach and present their business criteria for further negotiation. Regular meetings with the alliance partners have to be included within the process for maintaining transparency. The hierarchy of Samsung, while conducting meeting sessions, has to consider the discussion of potential alliances, discussion about the mutual niche market, talking about the expectation, and communicating about the long-term vision and mission. Besides, the meeting session must also include a thorough understanding of their potential alliance and terminating the session with a mutual decision. Identifying specific opportunities, establishing profit and revenue goals, developing an agenda, presenting the business plan, implementing the plan, abiding by the aforesaid commitment, and evaluating the plan through a regular follow-up session are the steps that Samsung electronics have to take into account to manage their framed strategic alliance. This way, Samsung electronics can manage and gain success in their present alliance with brands like Microsoft and Bharti Airtel. 

Question 5

The competitive strategy adopted by Zara has helped the company to build and defend its market position and also improve the prominence level of the brand. As per the competitive behavior response of Zara, the brand stresses on pulling people and avoiding pushing products out. The company is backed up with a productive and engaging workforce who, in hand, helps it to make an effective interaction and engagement with potential customers (Forbes.com, 2021). Besides, the company has brought an experience of reality in all of the stores. The Spain-based clothing and apparel brand has implemented technological advancement to maintain the competitive advantage and stay ahead of its competitors (Jiang, 2020). Now, customers can utilize their smartphones to see models wearing particular fashions by clicking on sensors in the AR-enabled shop windows. This irresistible technological drive that the brand has implemented helped to flourish and strengthen its ground in the operating market. Moreover, they have also aimed at applying the most strategic pull marketing approach via building customers' curiosity. Unlike its strong competitor H&M, Zara has managed to improve its brand position by pulling and retaining customers into the brand. It is observed that H&M prefers pushing products and brands out to the consumers (Forbes.com, 2021). The other key factor that has allowed Zara to be renowned in the highly competitive market is their urge to be and incorporate the advanced 4Es of marketing strategy in their business process. As per the 4Es marketing strategy, Zara takes Experiences, Exchange, Evangelism, and Every Place under consideration while framing their marketing strategy. According to the market positioning strategy of Zara, the customer is at the center while the brand and company revolve around it. 

Question 6

An effective leader is always strategic in their thought process, similar to that of the current CEO of QANTAS Alan Joyce who is regarded to be one of the strategic leaders. There are certain characteristics that an effective leader must always possess. These include positivity, vision, independent thinker and optimism. Besides, a sense of integrity within a leader reflects enthusiasm and endurance. A leader must always empower and motivate their followers. Although different headers have their approach, the key or objective is the same and focused. A leader must have self-confidence and be accountable for every action they undertake. This implies a sense of responsibility from the leader's end. For being an effective leader it is necessary, to be honest, and possess good moral character. Besides these ethical characteristics, intelligence is the key to emerge as an effective leader. Intelligence is related to the competencies of leaders to interpret and follow the mission and vision of the organization. They also have to take effective communication and smart decision-making criteria under consideration. This is mandatory since a leader has to interpret, communicate and synthesize information to meet their professional as well as personal goals (Sayyadi, 2019). Effective and strategic leaders must always show the urge to influence others. These traits and actions are considered as the willingness of accrediting authority. A leader is given the responsibility of improving and increasing the productivity of the work process. These mentioned actions and traits have helped the CEO of QANTAS Alan Joyce to be a successful strategic leader.