Abstract
M.Com. (Business Management)
The objective of this dissertation is to provide a general, functional and business oriented model for strategic alignment. The development, measurement and
implementation of strategic alignment play a major part during the positioning of an
organisation in order to obtain and maintain a competitive advantage. Business
conditions (internal and external) are now changing and creating new competitive
situations due to factors such as (Beer, Eisenstat & Spector, 1990a:158):
• Increased internationalisation of the entire value chain from vendors and
producers to customers;
• the extended need to measure strategic positioning and alignment;
• increased customer demands for quality, lead times and delivery performance;
• the need to invest in technology and competence development in respect of
both products and processes.
Successful organisations are those that evolve rapidly and effectively. Yet innovative
organisations can not evolve in a vacuum. They must attract resources of all sorts,
drawing in capital, partners, suppliers, and customers to create cooperative networks.
The motivation of this study lies first of all in the economic and strategic importance of
strategic alignment (internal and external) for an organisation. Secondly, it lies in the
importance of network creation, not only for network competition but also to enhance
total quality management (TQM), customer satisfaction and continuous organisational
improvement. There has been much speculation about such networks, under the
rubrics of strategic alliances, virtual organisations, and the like. But these frameworks
provide little systematic assistance to organisations and managers that seek to
understand the underlying strategic logic of change.