UK Managers Fall Back on Familiar Business Tools

LONDON, February 25, 2010 - UK managers use fewer strategy tools than those in the emerging
economies, opting for familiar approaches valued by colleagues rather than
the most relevant for the task, according to new research from the Advanced
Institute of Management Research (AIM Research) and Aston Business School.

"Strategy tools are vital for plotting the growth of an organisation, and
for using resources effectively and efficiently," says Paula Jarzabkowski who
led the research. "But, although tools are being increasingly used by both
public and private sector organisations, there has been little research,
until now, on how they work and which are most effective."

Managers typically have ten strategy tools in their core toolkit
according to the report. However, UK firms tend to use between three and
five. This number can still provide adequate strategic input, but companies
based in Asia and elsewhere benefit from using a greater range of tools.

In emerging economies, firms are likely to have to perform more elaborate
analysis of their environments and their organisational fit with them. Value
chains - the process whereby value is added to a product or service - may be
more complex here and require more extensive analysis. Companies in Asia and
elsewhere face a more dynamic environment and their increased use of strategy
tools may reflect the challenge of dealing with the pace of growth and
change.

In the UK, managers tend to restrict their use of strategy tools to
facilitating analysis. Few use tools for decision-making or for the
implementation process.

Furthermore, managers do not choose tools because of their relevance to
the topics they want to address, but because they are easy to understand and
have legitimacy with their peers. SWOT analysis, for example, is by far the
most popular tool, although it is not the most valuable for every stage of
the development process.

"The greatest challenge is knowing which tools to use and when to use
them," says Professor Jarzabkowski. "And this is where education can play an
important role." Indeed, the study found that managers with postgraduate
education, who attend management training at least once a year, use a wider
variety of strategy tools.

The study argues that to help managers broaden their range of strategic
tools, business schools and training courses should focus more on
implementation and how particular strategic tools can facilitate that
process.

Contact: Media only- Colin Hallmark, 3:nine Communications, Tel: +44(0)207-736-1888; +44(0)7745-914170; email: colin at 3nine.co.uk