Strategy formulation and implementation at AAR group of companies

For a firm to survive and prosper, a strategy is important. Strategy helps a firm create a fit between the organization and its environment in an effort to enable the organization adapt to its turbulent environment. How the strategy is planned, formulated and implemented is therefore important. Strategy is the direction and scope of the organization over the long term, which enables it to achieve advantage through configuration of its resources within the changing environment, to meet the needs of markets and fulfill the expectations of the stakeholders. An organization’s strategy deals with the game plan for moving the company into an attractive business position and building a sustainable competitive advantage. A company’s actual strategy usually turns out to be more or less than the planned strategy as new strategy features are added and others are deleted in response to newly emerging environmental conditions. This study was about the strategy formulation and implementation process at AAR group of companies. The group was started in the year 1984 and operated in a relatively stable environment for 15 years up to year 1999 when adverse environmental challenges started emerging. By year 2003, the environmental factors had become severe and the group realized that it had to review its strategy if it was to survive. The objective of the study was to document the process that AAR group undertook in formulating and implementing the strategy. The study further sought to interrogate any challenges encountered in that process. The study was conducted as a case study by carrying out in-depth interviews with the Chief Executive Officer, The Managing director, five (5) Senior Managers, five (5) middle level managers and ten (10) employees at lower support level. The findings confirmed that the group formulated strategy and has continued to implement those strategies. This study established that key to strategy formulation at AAR Group was a clear identification and formulation of the organizations Vision, Mission, Core Values and