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196 PART 2 • STRATEGY FORMULATION

Although developing a QSPM requires a number of subjective decisions, making small
decisions along the way enhances the probability that the final strategic decisions will
be best for the organization. A QSPM can be adapted for use by small and large
for-profit and nonprofit organizations so can be applied to virtually any type of organi-
zation. A QSPM can especially enhance strategic choice in multinational firms because
many key factors and strategies can be considered at once. It also has been applied
successfully by a number of small businesses. 7
The QSPM is not without some limitations. First, it always requires intuitive judg-
ments and educated assumptions. The ratings and attractiveness scores require judgmental
decisions, even though they should be based on objective information. Discussion among
strategists, managers, and employees throughout the strategy-formulation process, includ-
ing development of a QSPM, is constructive and improves strategic decisions.
Constructive discussion during strategy analysis and choice may arise because of genuine
differences of interpretation of information and varying opinions. Another limitation of the
QSPM is that it can be only as good as the prerequisite information and matching analyses
upon which it is based.

Cultural Aspects of Strategy Choice

All organizations have a culture. Culture includes the set of shared values, beliefs,
attitudes, customs, norms, personalities, heroes, and heroines that describe a firm. Culture
is the unique way an organization does business. It is the human dimension that creates
solidarity and meaning, and it inspires commitment and productivity in an organization
when strategy changes are made. All human beings have a basic need to make sense of the
world, to feel in control, and to make meaning. When events threaten meaning, individuals
react defensively. Managers and employees may even sabotage new strategies in an effort
to recapture the status quo.
It is beneficial to view strategic management from a cultural perspective because
success often rests upon the degree of support that strategies receive from a firm’s culture.
If a firm’s strategies are supported by cultural products such as values, beliefs, rites, rituals,
ceremonies, stories, symbols, language, heroes, and heroines, then managers often can
implement changes swiftly and easily. However, if a supportive culture does not exist and
is not cultivated, then strategy changes may be ineffective or even counterproductive.
A firm’s culture can become antagonistic to new strategies, and the result of that antago-
nism may be confusion and disarray.
Strategies that require fewer cultural changes may be more attractive because exten-
sive changes can take considerable time and effort. Whenever two firms merge, it becomes
especially important to evaluate and consider culture-strategy linkages.
Culture provides an explanation for the difficulties a firm encounters when it attempts
to shift its strategic direction, as the following statement explains:
Not only has the “right” corporate culture become the essence and foundation of
corporate excellence, but success or failure of needed corporate reforms hinges on
management’s sagacity and ability to change the firm’s driving culture in time and in
tune with required changes in strategies. 8

The Politics of Strategy Choice
All organizations are political. Unless managed, political maneuvering consumes valuable
time, subverts organizational objectives, diverts human energy, and results in the loss of
some valuable employees. Sometimes political biases and personal preferences get unduly
embedded in strategy choice decisions. Internal politics affect the choice of strategies in all
organizations. The hierarchy of command in an organization, combined with the career
aspirations of different people and the need to allocate scarce resources, guarantees the
formation of coalitions of individuals who strive to take care of themselves first and the
organization second, third, or fourth. Coalitions of individuals often form around key