1

TEMA 2: EL PENSAMIENTO
ESTRATGICO

TOPIC 2: STRATEGIC THINKING


NDICE

1.-Introduccin.

2.-Visin.

3.-Misin.

4.-Objetivos y accin.

5.-El modelo de pensamiento estratgico y
sus dinmicas.

6.-La estrategia bsica y su revisin.

7.-La estrategia en sus distintos niveles:
corporativo, de negocio y funcional.

8.-Caso prctico.

9.-Lectura recomendada.


CONTENTS

1. Introduction.

2. Vision.

3. Mission.

4. Objectives and action.

5. The model of strategic thinking and its
dynamic.

6. The basic strategy and its review.

7. The different levels of strategy:
corporate, business unit, and function.

8. Case study.

9. Recommended reading.


2


1.-INTRODUCCIN


1. INTRODUCTION


Nos referamos en el tema anterior al sentido
contingencial de la estrategia, como consecuencia
de un entorno empre sarial cambiante que
condiciona el contenido de la misma.


Esta relacin entre el ambiente y la estrategia puede
observarse si analizamos, en trminos muy generales,
la evolucin de sus respectivas caractersticas a lo
largo de distintos periodos histricos que se han
sucedido durante el presente siglo, resumidas en el
siguiente cuadro:

PERODO
ENTORNO.
DIMENSIONES
ESTRATEGIA.
CONTENIDO
Era de la
produccin en
masa
-Estable
1

-Homogneo
2

-Algo hostil
-Producto/Mercado
-Precio
-Costes
(racionalizacin)
-Crecimiento en
expansin
Era del
marketing
-Estable
3

-Heterogneo
4

-Poco hostil
-Producto/Mercado
(diferenciado)
-Crecimiento a
travs de la
diversificacin de
productos y
mercados
Era
post -industrial
-Dinmico
-Heterogneo
-Hostil
-Producto/Mercado
(alta segmentacin,
globalizacin)
-Flexibilidad
-Innovacin
-Productividad

In the previous topic we referred to the
contingential nature of the strategy, as the
inevitable consequence of a dynamic, changing
business environment that conditions the content
of the strategy.

This relationship between the company's context and
its strategy can be observed if we analyse, in very
general terms, the evolution of its respective
characteristics over the course of different historical
periods into which the last century can be divided,
summarised in the following chart:

PERIOD
ENVIRONMENT.
DIMENSIONS
STRATEGY.
CONTENT
The era of
mass
production
- Stable
6

- Homogeneous
7

- Rather hostile.
- Product/Market
- Price
- Costs
(rationalisation)
- Growth by
expansion
The era of
marketing
- Stable
8

- Heterogeneous
9

- A little hostile
- Product/Market
(differentiated)
- Growth by
diversification of
products and
markets
The post-
industrial
era.
- Dynamic
- Heterogeneous
- Hostile
- Product/Market
(notable
segmentation,
globalisation)
- Flexibility
- Innovation
- Productivity

1
El futuro es conocido por ser recurrente, los acontecimientos son familiares y esperados, la empresa puede anticipar con facilidad
los cambios del entorno.

2
La demanda se orienta hacia productos bsicos no diferenciados; las empresas, incluso las grandes, limitan su mbito de actuacin
a los mercados nacionales.

3
Los nuevos acontecimientos pueden preverse extrapolando la experiencia anterior, la rapidez del cambio es comparable a la
respuesta de las empresas, la evolucin de la tecnologa es incremental (se mejora la tecnologa existente sin grandes cambios ni
rupturas).

4
Los mercados se expanden, dejan de ser nacionales; aparece una demanda diferenciada; se produce una expansin de las lneas de
productos.

3

Lo estratgico, ciertamente, cambia a lo largo del
tiempo. As, de un periodo inicial en el que las
caractersticas del entorno hacan que el precio y
los costes de produccin fuesen las variables
estratgicas principales, se pasa a una nueva
situacin, marcada por la heterogeneidad de los
productos, en la que el precio y la racionalizacin
de la produccin pierden parte de su importancia en
favor de la definicin precisa del mercado
diferenciado al que la empresa se va a dirigir y de
la diversificacin de productos y mercados. Por
ltimo, el dinamismo y la hostilidad del ambiente
competitivo actual, hace que aspectos como la
flexibilidad, la innovacin y la productividad de
todos los factores adquieran una dimensin
estratgica.


En todo caso, como expresa el cuadro anterior,
siempre hay una decisin que encierra un aspecto
clave de la estrategia, por cuanto condiciona
extraordinariamente el xito o fracaso posterior: se
trata de la eleccin del binomio (o binomios)
producto-mercado, es decir, de la delimitacin del
campo de actividad de la empresa. En cualquier
contexto, la definicin del producto que se va a
ofrecer y del mercado al que se va a dirigir,
constituye el punto de partida de un negocio o
actividad empresarial, y marcar, para bien o para
mal, su futuro. Esto es lo que se conoce como
estrategia bsica, objeto de un mayor abundamiento
en el epgrafe sexto, que ha de emanar directamente
de una definicin previa y clara de la identidad
corporativa de la empresa. Hemos llegado, de esta
forma, a la primera de las fases del proceso de
formacin de la estrategia: el pensamiento
estratgico. Tngase en cuenta que la Direccin
Estratgica de la empresa se fundamente en tres
preguntas bsicas acerca de la misma:


- Dnde estamos hoy?, qu somos?, para lo
cual deber realizarse un anlisis situacional,
tanto externo como interno.


- Hacia dnde vamos?, qu queremos ser?, es

The issues companies consider strategic certainly
change over time. Thus, from an initial period
when, due to the characteristics of the
environment, selling price and the costs of
production were taken to be the principal strategic
variables, companies entered a new situation,
marked by the heterogeneity of products, in which
price and the rationalisation of production lost
some of their importance in favour of the precise
definition of the differentiated market to which the
company was going to direct its efforts, and in
favour of diversification in both products and
markets. Lastly, due to the dynamism and hostility
of the current competitive situation, issues such as
flexibility, innovation and the productivity of all
the factors acquired a strategic dimension for most
companies.

In any case, as shown in the previous chart, there
is always a decision to take that encapsulates a key
aspect of the strategy, in that it has an
extraordinary determining effect on the subsequent
success or failure: this is the choice of one or more
product-market combinations, that is, the decision
that delimits the scope of activity of the company.
In any context, the definition of the product to
offer, and the market to which the company will
direct its efforts, constitute the point of depart ure
for any business or entrepreneurial activity, and
will mark its future, for better or for worse. This is
what is known as basic strategy, which is the
subject of much more detailed consideration in the
sixth chapter; this basic strategy must emanate
directly out of the prior and clear definition of the
corporate identity of the company. By this
reasoning we have arrived at the first of the phases
of the process of strategy formation: strategic
thinking. Bear in mind that the Strategic
Management of the company is founded on three
basic questions about itself:

- Where are we today? and What are we? To
answer this first point, an honest situational
analysis, both external and internal, must be
carried out.

- Where are we going? What do we wish to

5
Asociacin Espaola de Contabilidad y Administracin de empresas.

6
The future is known because, generally, the past tends to re-occur, events are familiar and expected, the company can easily
anticipate changes in its operating environment.

7
Demand is orientated towards basic, non-differentiated products; most companies, even the very large, limit their scope of
operations to their national/domestic markets.

8
New events can be foreseen by extrapolating previous experience; the rapidity of change is comparable to the response of
companies; the evolution of technology is incremental (the existing technology is improved without major changes or
breakthroughs).

9
Markets expand, and cease to be national; differentiated demands appear; there is an expansion of product lines and types.

4
decir, el proyecto (o modelo) de empresa al
que se aspira.


- Cmo llegar hasta all?, formulando la
estrategia de la organizacin, que, como
veremos, puede tener tres niveles: corporativo,
de negocio y funcional.


Para definir nuestra identidad corporativa
tendremos que dar respuesta a la pregunta de qu
somos?. Otras preguntas que debemos hacernos
para llevar a cabo esta tarea son las siguientes:

Por qu existimos?, cul es nuestra razn de
ser? La respuesta a las mismas delimitar lo
que se conoce como misin de la empresa,
que sirve para dar sentido a la aportacin que
cada individuo hace a la empresa, para que
cada persona sepa a qu est contribuyendo
con su trabajo.



Qu queremos ser?, o sea, nuestra visin de
lo que deseamos para la empresa en el futuro,
que sirve para marcar en el presente el rumbo
que debe seguir sta.


En qu creemos?, es decir, cules son
nuestros valores corporativos. Son tambin
muy importantes, porque marcan la manera de
hacer las cosas en nuestra organizacin.
Habitualmente se incluyen en la declaracin de
la misin. Estos valores se han de concretar en
unas reglas de conducta, que configuran la
llamada filosofa empresarial.




La identidad corporativa, por tanto, estar integrada
por todos estos elementos, que conforman el ser
de la empresa, su personalidad propia, que permite
identificarla y diferenciarla de otras organizaciones.
Esta identidad especfica se concreta en una
identidad visual (marca y logotipo) y en una
identidad conceptual o brandprint (Sanz de
Vicua, 2001).

En suma, el pensamiento estratgico representa
(AECA
5
, 1999) el modelo mental que debe llevar a
la organizacin a reflexionar sobre su proyecto
empresarial, es decir, sobre lo que quiere ser y
hacer: analizar la conveniencia o no de cambiar lo
become? To answer this is to define the
project (or model) to which the whole
company aspires.

- How are we going to get there? This means
formulating the strategy of the organisation
and, as we shall see, it needs to be done at
three levels: corporate, business/operating
unit, and function.

To define our corporate identity we must answer
that first question: Who are we? Other questions to
which we must find satisfactory and meaningful
answers are the following:

Why does this company exist? What is our
reason for being "in business"? The answer to
these questions will define what is known as
the company's mission, which serves to give
direction to the contribution that each
individual employee makes to the company,
so that everyone knows the collective purpose
which justifies their efforts and activities at
work.

What do we wish to become? The answer
represents our vision of what we desire for
the company in the future, which serves to
mark for us in the present time the direction in
which the company must move from now on.

What do we believe in? This question requires
us to make as specific as possible our
corporate values and principles. These are also
very important because they mark our way of
doing things in our organisation, how we treat
each other, and how we deal with people
outside the organisation. They are usually
included in the statement of the mission.
These values then have to be made explicit in
the rules of behaviour that comprise the so-
called philosophy of the business.

The corporate identity, t herefore, will be
composed of all these elements that make up the
company's own personality, which enables it to be
identified and differentiated from other
organisations. This individual identity is made
recognizable in a visual identity (brand, logo, etc)
and in a conceptual identity or brandprint. (Sanz
de Vicua, 2001).

To summarize, strategic thinking represents
(AECA
10
, 1999) the mental model that forces the
organisation to reflect on its underlying (or
overriding) business project; that is, on what it
wants to be and do: to analyze how advisable it is

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Spanish Accounting and Business Administration Association.

5
que se est haciendo en el presente, el tipo de
organizacin a que se ha llegado, con el fin de tener
un futuro mejor.

to change what it is doing at the present time, the
type of organisation that it has become, with the
aim of having a better future.


6


2.-VISIN


2. VISION


La visin (AECA, 1999) representa el propsito
estratgico, la proyeccin mental en el presente de
las expectativas de la empresa, sobre lo que quiere
ser y hacer la organizacin, sobre la naturaleza de
la empresa, sobre su poltica general o sobre la
filosofa que permitir en el futuro saber llevar a
cabo sus actividades y aprovechar sus
oportunidades y soslayar las amenazas.


La visin, en suma, es la creacin del futuro. No
obstante, con el fin de aclarar este concepto se
recogen algunas definiciones de autores conocidos:


Para Hickman y Silva (1984), es un viaje mental
de lo conocido a lo desconocido, la creacin del
futuro a partir de un ensamblaje de hechos reales,
esperanzas, sueos, peligros y oportunidades.

En opinin de Morrisey (1996), es intuicin, lo
que cree que debera ser el futuro de la
organizacin desde el punto de vista de los
clientes, empleados, propietarios y otros
importantes stakeholders.

En definitiva, segn Hamel y Prahalad (1994), es
el propsito estratgico, es la visin realmente
seductora de las oportunidades del futuro. Es un
sueo ampliamente compartido en el que
participan todas y cada una de las personas de la
organizacin.

Piense, por ejemplo, cul ser la visin de Pepsi
Cola: convertirse en el lder del sector
desbancando a Coca Cola.

La tabla siguiente resume la visin manifestada
por los mximos ejecutivos de una serie de bancos
que operan en Internet:

CASO VISIN
1 Ser uno de los bancos ms eficientes
del mundo, tener un modelo multicanal
completo, con cuatro millones y medio
de clientes por Internet en todo el
mundo y tener un peso relevante en el
mundo del e-commerce.
2 Internet es importante. Sabemos que
tenemos que estar en este partido. Estar
en esto puede ser un error, no estar en
esto puede ser un suicidio. Lo que s
queremos es hacer cosas, que tengamos
avances. En Internet no nos van a dejar
atrs. No s si estaremos delante, pero

The vision (AECA, 1999) represents the strategic
purpose, the mental projection in the present of the
future expectations of the company, about what the
organisation wants to be and do, about the nature
of the company, about its general policy and about
the philosophy that will help it to know, in the
future, how to carry out its activities and to take
advantage of its opportunities and to counter the
threats.

The vision, in short, is the creation of the future.
Nevertheless, with the aim of clarifying this
concept some definitions offered by well-known
authors are included below:

For Hickman and Silva (1984), "it is a mental trip
from the known into the unknown, the creation of
the future from an assemblage of real facts, hopes,
dreams, dangers and opportunities".

In the opinion of Morrisey (1996), "it is intuition,
what one believes the future of the organisation
should be, from the point of view of the customers,
employees, owners and other import ant
stakeholders".

To sum up, according to Hamel and Prahalad
(1994), "it is the strategic purpose, it is the really
seductive vision of the future opportunities. It is a
widely-shared dream in which each and every
person in the organisation participates".


Think, for example, what will be the vision of
Pepsi Cola: to become the leader of the sector
unseating Coca Cola.

The following table summarises the vision
manifested by the top executives of several banks
that operate by Internet:

CASE VISION
1 "To be one of the most efficient banks
in the world, to have a complete
multichannel model, with four and a
half million customers by Internet in all
the world, and have a significant weight
in the world of e-commerce".
2 The Internet is important. We know
that we have to be in this game. Being in
it might be an error, but not being in it
might be suicide. What we do want is to
do things, to make advances. In the
Internet we are not going to be left
behind. I don't know if we'll be ahead
7
no atrs.
3 Ya no es un canal ms que ofrecer a
nuestros clientes sino es una entidad
financiera puramente virtual, click and
click. El objetivo es captar clientes
nuevos pese a ser conscientes del riesgo
de canibalizacin. Y el resto se ir
viendo.
4 Nuestra visin pasa por consolidar y
aumentar la oferta que ya tenemos
disponible online.
5 En un momento determinado, una
empresa con aspiracin de liderazgo
como es el banco se da cuenta de que
esto de Internet, que no sabe muy bien
qu es, va en serio y va a cambiar el
mundo. Por tanto, hay que estar ah.
Como proyecto de futuro nuestra
apuesta es ser lderes.

6 En julio del 999 vuelve el Consejero
Delegado de un ao sabtico
(contemplado en la Entidad dentro del
plan de formacin de ejecutivos) y se
produce un momento de inflexin muy
serio en el banco porque se dice que
(Internet) es una oportunidad, que ya
estaba bien de jugar. Tenamos un
volumen de transacciones y de clientes
importantes, por lo que el banco decide
poner toda la carne en el asador.
7
but we won't be behind.
3 "This isn't just one more channel to offer
our customers but a purely virtual
financial entity, 'click and click'. The
objective is to capture new customers
despite being aware of the risk of
cannibalization. And the rest will remain
to be seen.
4 Our vision simply involves
consolidating and increasing the offer
that we already have available on-line.
5 "At a particular moment in time, a
company like this bank, which aspires to
leadership, realises that this
phenomenon of the Internet, which is
something we don't know much about,
is a big thing and is going to change the
world. Therefore, we have got to be
there. As our project for the future, we'll
stake our claim to be leaders.
6 "In July 1999 our Managing Director
returned from a sabbatical year
(arranged under the Entity's executive
development plan) and there occurred a
very serious moment of inflexion in the
bank, because it was said that (the
Internet) is an opportunity whose time
has come. We had a substantial volume
of transactions and customers, so the
bank decided to stake everything on it.

7 We want to dedicate all the resources
and capacities possible, which are those
that will mark the limit: it is a problem
of management between the short and
the long term. We believe in this
because we are aware that the growth is
exponential. It is biological. People take
to it, they play. At this point in time,
with the new channel for securities and
other operations, the consultations have
overwhelmed our expectations... The
objective is not just to do the same but
do it better: it is to do something new.
We are not interested in being second.
The model to be executed is not going to
be similar to that of our competitors, we
are not going to be followers. We want
to be more proactive than reactive. We
think that, in this business, to be a
follower, to take the same route but
following behind, is almost a guarantee
of failure. It is better to chart new
courses and to try to be leaders in that
(which does not mean being more
ambitious nor that the project should be
of greater scope, but rather travelling a
new route), because we have the feeling
that to be second means death, because
you don't get to achieve critical mass.
8
imaginacin es importante. La nueva
economa es la vieja forma de hacer las
cosas pero con una nueva forma de
verlas, una nueva imaginacin, una
nueva visin. Pero si slo ves Internet
como un canal, poco ms vas a hacer.
Esto requiere, en consecuencia, no
mezclarlo con los procedimientos,
sistemas o estructuras convencionales.
8 El objetivo ltimo es que la Entidad se
posicione como primera referencia
virtual en el mercado local, a la vez que
el portal compartido se site como una
de las referencias de mayor notoriedad
entre las finanzas por Internet del pas
en un plazo de dos aos.
9 Esta alternativa representa otro mundo
totalmente distinto. A travs de Internet,
adems de poder llegar a ms
consumidores ms deprisa, permite, si
usted tiene imaginacin, poder vender
ms cosas... Para la entidad esta rea es
un brazo con m sculo. Hacer cosas
que hasta ahora no se han hecho.
Nuevos negocios que si no existiera la
red no se podran hacer. Y es donde va a
estar la parte ms importante. Qu
cosas podramos hacer que antes eran
imposibles sin la red?... Las cosas
cambiarn, pero cambiarn en el sentido
de que hay que empezar a imaginar
nuevos negocios.
Fuente: Salmador Snchez, M.P. El proceso de
formacin de la estrategia de la banca por
Internet en Espaa: enfoques de creacin del
conocimiento y dimensiones de la complejidad.
Tesis Doctoral. Universidad Autnoma de Madrid,
2001.
The role of the imagination is important.
The new economy is the old way of
doing things but with a new way of
seeing them, a new imagination, a new
vision. But if you only see the Internet
as a channel, you are going to do little
more. This consequently requires not
mixing it with the conventional
procedures, systems or structures".
8 "The ultimate objective is for the Entity
to position itself as the first virtual
reference in the local market, and for the
shared portal to be situated as one of the
references of greatest renown among the
finances by Internet of the country, in a
term of two years".
9 "This alternative represents another
totally different world. By means of the
Internet, in addition to being able to
reach more consumers more rapidly,
you can, if you have the imagination,
sell more things... For the entity this
area is an arm with muscle. Doing
things that until now have not been
done. New businesses that could not be
done if the Net did not exist. And that is
where the most important part is going
to be. What things could we do that
before were impossible without the
Net?... Things will change, but they will
change in the sense that it is necessary
to start to imagine new businesses.
Source: Salmador Snchez, M.P. The process of
forming the strategy for Internet banking in Spain:
knowledge creation perspectives and the
dimensions of complexity. Doctoral Thesis.
Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, 2001.


9


3.-MISIN


3. MISSION


La misin (AECA, 1999) representa la funcin que
conceptualiza la organizacin, lo que en concreto
se quiere ser y hacer, la naturaleza del negocio, por
qu existe ste, a quin sirve y los principios y
valores bajo los que se intenta funcionar. En el
origen del proyecto empresarial, la misin es la
forma de concretar la visin del emprendedor,
como ocurre en la banca por Internet (vase el
cuadro que se incluye al final de este epgrafe).

La misin debe ser reconocida y compartida por
todas las personas que integran la organizacin,
con el fin de alcanzar un alto grado de sintona en
la accin conjunta y lograr con la mayor
coherencia y eficiencia en los objetivos planteados.

La misin debe recoger el conjunto de valores que
representan las convicciones filosficas de las
personas de la organizacin. Algunos de estos
valores son fijos en el tiempo, como, por ejemplo,
las posiciones ticas o sobre aspectos relacionados
con la seguridad, la ecologa o la calidad. Otros
pueden modificarse en el tiempo, dependiendo de
la naturaleza del negocio, de la influencia de las
innovaciones, de la responsabilidad hacia los
clientes, de la diversificacin de sus productos y
servicios o de las perspectivas de rentabilidad.

Para Morrisey (1996), la misin constituye una
gua o referencia principal que ha de estar presente
en todo momento, orientando la actuacin y toma
de decisiones, que han de ser compatibles con ella.
Adems, la misin es una referencia muy
importante hacia fuera de la organizacin,
transmitiendo una imagen que genera apoyo y
entendimiento de grupos y personas importantes
para conseguir el xito.



Segn Grant (1995), la misin tiene importancia
cuando el entorno est cambiando continuamente,
ya que la empresa, definida en funcin de sus
recursos y capacidades, puede ser una base mucho
ms slida para establecer su identidad. Por tanto,
una definicin de la empresa en trminos de lo que
es capaz de hacer (misin) puede ofrecer un
soporte ms firme para la estrategia que una
definicin fundada sobre las necesidades que
pretende satisfacer.

Existe quienes entienden la misin desde una
perspectiva filosfica (o ideolgica) de lo que la
empresa es y hace, de su razn de ser. En este
sentido, el concepto de misin "atiende a la

The mission (AECA, 1999) represents the
function that conceptualises the organisation, what
it specifically wants to be and do, the nature of the
business, why it exists, who it serves, and the
principles and values according to which it intends
to operate. In the origin of the business project, the
mission is the form of specifying the goal of the
entrepreneur, as occurs in Internet banking (see the
chart included at the end of this section).

The mission must be accepted and shared by all the
persons who comprise the organisation, with the
aim of synchronising joint action to the maximum
degree and achieving the agreed goals with the
maximum consistency and efficiency.

The mission must embody the set of values that
represent the philosophical convictions of
everyone in the organisation. Some of these values
are fixed in time or permanent, such as, for
example, ethical positions or matters concerning
safety, ecology or quality. Others may be modified
over time, depending on the nature of the business,
on the influence of innovations, on the
responsibility towards the clients, on the
diversification of its products and services or on
the prospects for earnings.

For Morrisey (1996), the mission "constitutes a
guide or principal reference that has to be present
at all times, orientating t he actions and decision-
making, which must be compatible with the
mission. In addition, the mission is a very
important reference of the organisation towards
those people and entities external to it, transmitting
an image that should generate support and
understanding among those external groups and
persons who are important for the success of the
organisation".

According to Grant (1995), the mission has
importance "when the environment is continually
changing, since the company, defined in function
of its resources and capabilities, can be a much
more solid base for establishing its identity.
Therefore, a definition of the company in terms of
what it is capable of doing (its mission) can
provide a firmer support for the strategy than a
definition founded on the needs that it aims to
satisfy.

There are those who understand the mission from a
philosophical (or ideological) perspective, as a
statement of what the company is and does, and of
why it exists. In this context, the concept of
10
finalidad o funcin bsica y permanente que
persigue la organizacin, como justificacin o
razn existencial ante la sociedad en la que acta"
(Bueno, 1987). Es el caso de las llamadas organi-
zaciones "misioneras" (Mintzberg, 1991), que
justifican su existencia por el papel que cumplen
en su entorno social. En este sentido, la idea de
misin se acerca a la de responsabilidad,
entendiendo por tal las obligaciones aceptadas por
la empresa y que implican comportamientos
preestablecidos.

Este sentido "misionero" o de responsabilidad
social es precisamente el que marca la naturaleza
de organizaciones empre sariales como las Cajas de
Ahorro, cuya finalidad es la promo cin econmica
y social de su entorno, compatible, por supuesto,
con la solvencia econmica. Recordemos que los
Montes de Piedad, como antecedentes de las Cajas
de Ahorro, nacen con la "misin" de luchar contra
la usura.



Otro tipo de empresas a las que cabe atribuir un
destacado componente "misionero" o ideolgico
son las cooperativas, impulsadas, al menos en su
origen como movimiento, por unos valores
fundamentales
11
que se proyectan en unos
principios de funcionamiento universalmente
aceptados (adhesin voluntaria y abierta; gestin
democrtica; participacin econmica de los
socios; autonoma e independencia; educacin,
formacin e informacin; cooperacin entre
cooperativas e inters por la comunidad) que
marcan unas claras diferencias respecto a otras
formas societarias (Vargas, 1994).


En cualquier caso, la definicin de la misin de la
empresa "es una base esencial para el desarrollo
organizativo" (Bueno y Morcillo, 1990). Conocida
y asumida la misin, se inicia el proceso de
Direccin Estratgica, como compro miso para
garantizar el seguimiento y satisfaccin de aqulla
a travs de la definicin y cumplimiento de los
objetivos y metas contemplados en los
correspondientes planes.


En esta lnea, el Profesor Bueno (1987) entiende
por estrategia "el modelo de decisin que revela las
misiones, objetivos y metas de la empresa, as
como las polticas y planes esenciales para
lograrlos, de tal forma que defina su posicin
competitiva, como respuesta de en qu clase de
negocio la empresa est o quiere estar y qu clase
de organizacin quiere ser".


mission "concerns the purpose or basic and
permanent function that the organisation pursues,
as its justification or existential reason towards the
society in which it acts" (Bueno, 1987). This is the
case of the organisations called "missionaries"
(Mintzberg, 1991), who justify their existence by
the role that they play in their social environment.
Here the idea of the mission comes close to that of
responsibility, this being understood as the
obligations accepted by the company and that
imply predetermined types of behaviour.

This sense of being a "missionary" or fulfilling
some social responsibility is precisely that which
marks the nature of financial companies like the
Spanish savings banks (Cajas de Ahorro), whose
proclaimed purpose is the economic and social
promotion of their environment, of course being
compatible with financial solvency. It may be
recalled that the "Montes de Piedad", as
antecedents of the Cajas de Ahorro, were
conceived with the "mission" of combating the
usurer or unscrupulous lender.

Another type of company to which a significant
"missionary" or ideological purpose could be
attributed are the cooperatives, which were driven,
at least in respect of their origin as a movement, by
certain fundamental human and social values
13
and
which are projected in principles of universally-
accepted operation (voluntary and open
membership; democratic member control; member
economic participation; autonomy and
independence; education, training and information;
cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for
community) that mark clear differences with
respect to other forms of company (Vargas, 1994).


Whatever the case, the definition of the company's
mission "is an essential basis for organisational
development" (Bueno and Morcillo, 1990). Once
the mission is formulated, known and accepted, the
process of Strategic Management can be initiated,
as the commitment made to guarantee that the
mission will be pursued and implemented; this
involves the definition of and compliance with the
goals and objectives embodied in the
corresponding plans.

On this point, Professor Bueno (1987) understands
strategy to be "the decision model that reveals the
missions, objectives and goals of the company, as
well as the policies and plans essential for
achieving them, in such a way that defines the
company's competitive position, in response to the
questions of what kind of business the company is
or wants to be and what kind of organisation it
wants to be".

11
Por ejemplo, la compaa americana Merk
estableci la siguiente finali dad: "Estamos en el
negocio de preservar y mejorar la vida huma na.
Todas nuestras acciones deben ser medidas por el
xito en lograr esto". Por su parte, Nissan
manifiesta lo siguiente: "En Espaa, como en todo
el mundo, trabajamos para ofrecer lo mejor de
nosotros mismos. Como una de las primeras
compaas automovilsticas del mundo, nuestro
compromiso es aportar la tecnologa ms avanzada
y contribuir con nuestra experiencia y creatividad
al bienestar de la sociedad. Con la mejora continua
de nuestras actividades pretendemos lograr la
mxima satisfaccin de nuestros clientes"
12
.

Pongamos otros ejemplo:

-La misin de una empresa que se dedica al
transporte de viajeros por autobs. Podra ser
alguna de las siguientes, entre otras posibles: trans-
porte discrecional en un mbito local o regional;
dem en un mbito nacional o internacional;
transporte escolar; transporte en lneas regulares
entre pueblos; transporte en lnea regular rpida
entre ciudades; transporte urbano; transporte de
cercanas desde y hacia una gran ciudad. Es
evidente que la empresa ser diferente segn cul o
cules de estas misiones sean asumidas.

-Empresas relativamente pequeas pueden tener
varias UENs. Por ejemplo, una empresa de
ingeniera puede tener varias actividades
diferenciadas: obra civil, centrales elctricas,
industria qumica, gestin de proyectos, etc., que
den servicio a clientes diferentes. En una editorial
igualmente: libros de literatura, libros tcnicos,
enciclopedias, etc. Y en una entidad financiera :
banca al por menor, banca de empresas,
operaciones en divisas, etc.


Con relacin a este ltimo ejemplo, no queremos
concluir este epgrafe sin recalcar cmo la
definicin de la misin de la empresa determina
directamente la delimitacin de su campo de
actividad.

En efecto, pensemos en la compaa nacional de
ferrocarriles (RENFE-Red Nacional de
Ferrocarriles Espaoles). Pensemos en cul fue
probablemente la misin de las lneas frreas
cuando se fueron instalando en Espaa. Los
ferrocarriles espaoles fueron obra de inversores
privados que buscaban oportunidades de negocio
uniendo centros de poblacin importantes, as
como transportando materias primas entre centros
productores (carbn, patatas, trigo, vino, minerales
frricos, etc.) y centros consumidores.

Por tanto, en una primera poca la misin de
For example, the American company Merk
established the following purpose: "We are in the
business of preserving and improving human life.
All our actions should be measured by our success
in achieving this". For its part, Nissan's manifesto
reads as follows: "In Spain, as in all the world, we
work to offer the best of ourselves. As one of the
world's leading automobile companies, our
commitment is to provide the most advanced
technology and contribute with our experience and
creativity to the well-being of society. Through the
continuous improvement of our activities we aim
to achieve the maximum satisfaction of our
customers"
14
.

We can cite other examples:

- The mission of a company dedicated to the
transport of passengers by coach. It could be any of
the following, among several possibilities:
discretional transport of local or regional scope;
discretional transport of national or international
scope; school transport; transport by regular lines
between towns; rapid transport by regular lines
between cities; urban transport; suburban transport
to and from a large city. It is evident that the
company will be different according to which of
these missions it adopts.

- Relatively small companies can have various
strategic business units (SBUs). For example, an
engineering company can have various
differentiated activities: civil engineering, power
stations, chemical industry, project management,
etc., that give service to different customers.
Similarly a publishing company may offer: novels
and classics of literature, technical books, school
text books, dictionaries and encyclopaedias, etc.
And a bank: retail banking, commercial banking,
currency operations, etc.

With relation to this last example, we should not
conclude this section without illustrating how the
definition of the company mission directly
determines the delimitation of its scope of activity.


We are taking here the case of the Spanish national
railway company (RENFE). Let us think of what
might have been the mission of the railway lines
when they were first being established in Spain.
The Spanish railways were built by private
investors who were seeking opportunities for
business by linking important centres of
population, and by transporting raw materials
between producing areas (coal, potatoes, wheat,
wine, iron ore, etc.) and consuming areas.


Therefore, in the initial era, the mission of the
12
diversas compaas ferroviarias era el negocio de
transporte de viajeros y mercancas, entre los
puntos que una y a los que daba servicio. Ms
adelante el Estado nacionaliz la mayor parte de
las compaas privadas creando RENFE. A partir
de ese momento entendemos que la misin sera,
probablemente:

Dar un servicio de transporte de pasajeros y
mercancas al mayor nmero posible de centros de
poblacin y de centros comerciales a nivel estatal.


Ntese que cambi la idea de negocio por la idea
de servicio, ya que precisamente la mayora de las
compaas privadas no eran rentables.


Pasaron los aos, el dficit econmico de RENFE
era muy importante, y han aparecido nuevos
mtodos de transporte que compiten con el ferroca-
rril y que en algunos casos lo superan: as el
transporte areo, los transportes de mercancas y de
pasajeros por carretera, los automviles privados, y
los oleoductos han cambiado el panorama y han
vaciado de sentido la necesidad de mantener una
retcula de vas frreas. Es evidente que urga la
necesidad de definir una nueva misin de RENFE,
que podra ser:


Dar un servicio de transporte de pasajeros y
mercancas entre aquellos puntos en los que el
ferrocarril pueda competir en precio y en calidad
de servicio con los dems medios de transporte.


De esta definicin se deduce el campo de actividad
que ha de cubrir la empresa, y que probablemente
estar integrado por:

-Transporte de cercanas para viajeros que se
desplazan diariamente desde el centro de las
ciudades a las zonas residenciales y viceversa.


-Transporte de viajeros a medias-grandes
distancias a gran velocidad o con alta velocidad
(AVE). Por ejemplo, los corredores
Madrid-Sevilla, Madrid-Zaragoza-Barcelona,
Madrid-Valencia, Madrid-Valladolid-La Corua,
Barcelona-Valencia, etc.

-Transporte de mercancas en un nmero muy
reducido de lneas.

Esta reduccin de los productos-mercados
conducir al cierre de numerosas vas frreas que
tienen un trfico marginal y a la creacin de varias
compaas especializadas cada una en un tipo de
various railway companies was the business of
transporting passengers and merchandise, between
the points that they linked and on the routes where
they provided service. Later the State nationalised
most of the private companies to create RENFE.
From that time we can conjecture that the mission
might have been:

To provide a service for the transport of
passengers and merchandise to the maximum
number of centres of population and of commercial
centres, throughout the state of Spain.

Note that the notion of business is replaced by that
of service, specifically because most of the private
companies were not sustainable profitable
businesses.

The years passed, and the financial deficit of
RENFE became very serious; new methods of
transport have emerged that compete with the
railway and that can, in some cases, beat them on
price and service: thus air transport, the transport
of merchandise and passengers by road, the private
automobile, and pipelines have changed the entire
panorama and have undermined the economic
logic of maintaining a comprehensive network of
railway lines. It is evident that there is a pressing
need to define a new mission for RENFE, which
could be:

To provide a service for the transport of
passengers and merchandise between those
geographic points where the railway has the
potential to compete on price and quality of service
with other means of transport.

It can be deduced from this definition that the
scope of activity that the company should aim to
cover will probably consist of :

- Suburban transport of passengers who need to
travel daily between their residential zones and
their places of work, shops, offices, etc, in or near
the centres of major cities.

- Transport of passengers over medium to long
distances at high and very high speed (AVE). For
example, the major routes of Madrid-Seville,
Madrid-Zaragoza -Barcelona, Madrid-Valencia,
Madrid-Valladolid-La Corua, Barcelona-
Valencia , etc.

- Transport of merchandise on a selected, small
number of routes with heavy, regular traffic.

The reduction of the product-market combinations
implied by such a mission will lead to the closure
of numerous railway lines that have a marginal
level of traffic, and to the creation of several
13
transporte.


Como aclaracin final, pueden establecerse
algunas diferencias entre visin y misin (Sanz de
Vicua, 2001):

Lo normal es que la misin sea ms
intemporal o estructural, y la visin ms
coyuntural o temporal.

La visin es un objetivo ambicioso que hay
que perseguir, mientras que la misin es algo
que debe ser acometido.


ANEXO:
LA BANCA POR INTERNET EN ESPAA

VISIN MISIN
Internet es
importante. Sabemos
que tenemos que estar
en este partido. Estar
en esto puede ser un
error, no estar en esto
puede ser un suicidio.
Lo que s queremos es
hacer cosas, que
tengamos avances. En
Internet no nos van a
dejar atrs. No s si
estaremos delante,
pero no atrs.
No tenemos misin, no
sabemos en qu se va a
ir concretando.
Entendiendo por Internet
desarrollo tecnolgico
globalizado, esto es tan
abierto!. Qu me diga
alguien donde vamos a
estar dentro de tres
aos!. Nadie es capaz de
describir, en un rango de
tres aos, cul es el
punto de llegada. No lo
sabes. Tal y como dice
Paul Valery: Es que
vais pero no sabis
donde. Slo aquellos
marineros que son
capaces de salir con su
barco perdiendo de vista
la costa son capaces de
descubrir mundos
nuevos. Es imaginacin
basada en anlisis y
experiencia.

Nuestra visin pasa
por consolidar y
aumentar la oferta que
ya tenemos disponible
on line,
mejorando los servicios
de las distintas Webs
que ya tenemos en
marcha, y lanzando
nuevos portales.

En un momento
determinado, una
empresa con
aspiracin de
liderazgo como es el
banco se da cuenta de
que esto de Internet,
Entras en un mundo
nuevo del que sabes
poco a priori, y te
introduces en l por
todas partes, a ver por
dnde sale... Estamos
ante una revolucin
companies each specialising in one type of rail
transport.

As a final clarification, certain differences can be
established between the vision and the mission
(Sanz de Vicua, 2001):

It is normal for the mission to be more
permanent or structural, and the vision to be
more conjunctural or temporary.

The vision is an ambitious objective that must
be pursued by all members, while the mission
must inspire and secure commitment from all
members of the organization.

ANNEX:
INTERNET BANKING IN SPAIN

VISION MISSION
The Internet is
important. We know
that we have to be in
this game. Being in it
might be an error, but
not being in it might
be suicide. What we
do want is to do
things, to make
advances. In the
Internet we are not
going to be left
behind. I don't know if
we'll be ahead but we
won't be behind.
We haven't got a
mission, we don't know
what we'll be getting
involved in.
Understanding the
Internet to mean
globalised technological
development, it's that
open! Can anyone tell
me where we are going
to be in three years time!
No one is capable of
describing, in a range of
three years, what is the
point of destination. You
just don't know. As Paul
Valery says: You are
going but you don't
know where to. Only
those sailors who can set
sail and lose sight of the
coast can discover new
worlds. It is
imagination based on
analysis and
experience.
Our vision simply
involves consolidating
and increasing the
offer that we are
already making on-
line.
improving the services
of the various Web sites
that we already have in
operation, and launching
new portals.
"At a particular
moment in time, a
company like this
bank, which aspires to
leadership, realises
that this phenomenon
of the Internet, which
"You are entering a new
world of which you
know little a priori, and
you get in everywhere,
to see where to get out ...
We are facing a
technological revolution
14
que no sabe muy bien
qu es, va en serio y
va a cambiar el
mundo. Por tanto, hay
que estar ah. Como
proyecto de futuro
nuestra apuesta es ser
lderes.
tecnolgica de resultado
incierto, incierto no
porque vaya a fracasar,
sino porque no se sabe
muy bien por dnde va a
ir. Cul es el camino?
Estamos recorriendo los
caminos que nos parecen
ms prometedores y
revisndolos de forma
constante....
Tenemos dos objetivos
bsicos cualitativos a
corto plazo: a) participar
en inversiones (propias o
de terceros), es decir,
hacer una especie de
cartera de
participaciones; b)
fomentar toda la
internetizacin de la
Entidad.
is something we don't
know much about, is a
big thing and is going
to change the world.
Therefore, we have
got to be there. As our
project for the future,
we'll stake our claim
to be leaders.
of uncertain outcome,
uncertain not because it's
going to fail but because
you don't really know
where you will be going.
What is the route? We
are going down the
routes that seem to us
most promising, and
constantly reviewing
them....
We want to dedicate
all the resources and
capacities possible,
which are those that
will mark the limit: it
is a problem of
management between
the short and the long
term. We believe in
this because we are
aware that the growth
is exponential. It is
biological. People get
into it, they play. At
this point in time, with
the new channel for
securities and other
operations, the
consultations have
overwhelmed our
expectations... The
objective is not just to
do the same but do it
better: it is to do
something new. We
are not interested in
being second. The
model to be executed
is not going to be
similar to that of our
competitors, we are
not going to be
followers. We want to
be more proactive
than reactive. We
think that, in this
business, to be a
follower, to take the
same route but
following behind, is
almost a guarantee of
failure. It is better to
chart new courses and
to try to be leaders in
that (which does not
mean being more
ambitious nor that the
project should be of
greater scope, but
"We have two basic
qualitative objectives in
the short term: a) to
participate in
investments (our own or
those of third parties),
that is, to put together a
kind of portfolio of
participations; b) to
promote the full
Internet-ization of the
Entity.
15
sino recorrer un
camino nuevo),
porque tenemos la
sensacin de que ser
segundos es morir, ya
que no llegas a tener
la masa crtica. El
papel de la
imaginacin es
importante. La nueva
economa es la vieja
forma de hacer las
cosas pero con una
nueva forma de verlas,
una nueva
imaginacin, una
nueva visin. Pero si
slo ves Internet como
un canal, poco ms
vas a hacer. Esto
requiere, en
consecuencia, no
mezclarlo con los
procedimientos,
sistemas o estructuras
convencionales.
El objetivo ltimo es
que la Entidad se
posicione como
primera referencia
virtual en el mercado
local, a la vez que el
portal compartido se
site como una de las
referencias de mayor
notoriedad entre las
finanzas por Internet
del pas en un plazo de
dos aos.
El proyecto contempla
una doble dimensin.
Por un lado, como
proveedor de contenidos
puede ser considerado
como una fbrica web al
servicio de la Entidad,
cuyo objetivo ser el
desarrollo de mdulos
abiertos flexibles para su
reubicacin. Por otra
parte, se contempla
como un canal con
entidad propia en la red
como portal financiero
del conjunto de la
Entidad, que promocione
la marca y facilite la
consecucin de
alianzas... En lnea con
el objetivo estratgico de
participar en negocios
electrnicos, el proyecto
facilitar el e-business,
tanto el B2B como el
B2C, a travs del
desarrollo de
plataformas y
herramientas que
contribuyan al desarrollo
de la economa digital,
as como mediante la
consecucin de alianzas.
Con ello, se potenciar
rather travelling a new
route), because we
have the feeling that to
be second means
death, because you
don't get to achieve
critical mass. The role
of the imagination is
important. The new
economy is the old
way of doing things
but with a new way of
seeing them, a new
imagination, a new
vision. But if you only
see the Internet as a
channel, you are not
going to do much.
Consequently this
requires not mixing it
with the conventional
procedures, systems or
structures".



"The ultimate
objective is for the
Entity to position
itself as the first
virtual reference in the
local market, and for
the shared portal to be
situated as one of the
references of greatest
renown among those
of finance by Internet
of the country, in a
term of two years".
The project has two
dimensions. On the one
hand, as a supplier of
content, it can be
considered as a web
factory at the service of
the Entity, whose
objective will be the
development of flexible
open modules to be
relocated. On the other,
it is seen as a channel
with its own identity on
the Net as the financial
portal of the whole
Entity, which is to
promote the brand and
facilitate the formation
of alliances... In line
with the strategic
objective of participating
in electronic businesses,
the project will facilitate
e-business, both B2B
and B2C, through the
development of
platforms and tools to
contribute to the
development of the
digital economy, and by
means of the negotiation
of alliances. This will
strengthen the
community effect
16
el efecto comunidad
entre las empresas y los
usuarios, aprovechando
economas de red... As,
en primer lugar, se
define nuestra pgina
como una herramienta
de comunicacin de
nuestra oferta de
productos y servicios,
fundamentalmente de
aquellos relacionados
con Internet, ocupando
un lugar privilegiado
mediante banners
publicitarios. Asimismo,
y de acuerdo con lo
anteriormente
comentado, entendemos
Internet como una
herramienta de
relacin con nuestros
clientes. De esta forma,
tratamos de acercarnos a
ellos a travs de
contenidos de
informacin financiera y
de otros contenidos de
gran proximidad con los
clientes (noticias
regionales, actividades
culturales, ldicas,
actuaciones de la Obra
Social de la Entidad,
etc.). Por ltimo,
pretendemos que
Internet sea una
herramienta de
fidelizacin, facilitando
el acceso de nuestros
clientes a una serie de
productos y servicios de
alto valor aadido a
travs de ofertas y
promociones propias.
Fuente: Salmador Snchez, M.P. El proceso de
formacin de la estrategia de la banca por Internet
en Espaa: enfoques de creacin del conocimiento
y dimensiones de la complejidad. Tesis Doctoral.
Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, 2001.
among companies and
users, taking advantage
of net economies ...
Thus, in the first place,
our page is defined as a
'tool of communication'
in respect of our offer of
products and services,
basically those related to
the Internet, which will
occupy a privileged
place by means of
publicity banners. At the
same time, and in
accordance with what
was previously said, we
understand the Internet
as a tool of relationship
with our customers. In
this way, we try to get
close to them by
contents of financial
information and other
contents of immediate
relevance for the
customers (regional
news, cultural and
leisure activities, Social
Work activities
undertaken by the
Entity, etc.). Lastly, we
intend that the Internet
should be a loyalty-
building tool, which
provides access for our
customers to a series of
high value-added
products and services,
by our own offers and
promotions.





Source: Salmador Snchez, M.P. The process of
forming the strategy for Internet banking in Spain:
knowledge creation perspectives and the
dimensions of complexity. Doctoral Thesis.
Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, 2001.

17


4.-OBJETIVOS Y ACCIN


4. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIONS


El objetivo es la expresin concreta y operativa de
lo que la empresa pretende alcanzar. Segn Bueno
(1996), es la gua en la consecucin de los
propsitos de la organizacin, materializando,
segn la dinmica convencional del emprendedor,
la misin definida.


De otra parte, la accin es la concrecin final de
los objetivos, es decir, cualquier propsito al
alcanzar en un horizonte determinado, definido en
un momento y un espacio especficos. Esta accin
evidencia los resultados pretendidos por el proceso
estratgico, consecuencia de determinada forma de
entender la funcin ltima del sistema de direccin
estratgica


The objective is the specific and operational
expression of what the company aims to achieve.
According to Bueno (1996), it is "the guide for the
achievement of the organisation's purposes", and
gives material form, according to the conventional
dynamics of the entrepreneur, to the mission
defined.

For their part, the actions are the final specification
of the objectives; they refer to any specified
outcome to be achieved in a particular area or
context, defined by a specific time horizon and
space. The evidence that these actions have been
satisfactorily carried out will be the results
intended by the strategic process, and will be the
consequence of a particular way of understanding
the ultimate function of the system of strategic
management.


18


5.-EL MODELO DE PENSAMIENTO
ESTRATGICO Y SUS DINMICAS


5. STRATEGIC THINKING MODEL AND
ITS DYNAMICS


Las relaciones secuenciales entre visin, misin,
objetivo y accin, al igual que ocurre con las
distintas fases del proceso estratgico, son de
naturaleza dinmica, presentando diferentes
opciones, segn la etapa en que se encuentra el
proyecto empresarial, la situacin del entorno, la
influencia de las fuerzas competitivas del sector o
la propia naturaleza y evolucin de los
componentes internos de la organizacin. Todo
ello implicar una interaccin especfica de los
conceptos que integran el modelo de pensamiento
estratgico, generando diferentes dinmicas,
explicativas del comportamiento de cada situacin
empresarial. Veamos las ms importantes (AECA,
1999):

-Dinmica 1. La secuencia del emprendedor. Es la
relacin caracterstica que se produce bien cuando
se crea y pone en marcha un proyecto empresarial,
o bien cuando se establece la estrategia en un
sector emergente o altamente competitivo, como es
el caso actual del sector de las telecomunicaciones
y de la banca por Internet. Esta dinmica presenta
la siguiente secuencia:




-Dinmica 2. La secuencia del organizador. Es la
relacin que se origina a partir de la definicin de
la misin por un agente externo, por lo que el
estratega tiene que establecer, en consonancia con
aquella, la visin o el proyecto de empresa. Es el
caso de los sectores regulados o de las concesiones
administrativas, en los que el regulador fija la
misin, como es lo que sucede, entre otros, en el
sector de la energa elctrica. La secuencia que
presenta esta dinmica es:




Este es tambin el caso de RENFE, estudiado ms
arriba.

-Dinmica 3. La secuencia del innovador. Es la
relacin que se origina cuando el estratega revisa
los objetivos y los procesos de accin seguidos,
buscando recuperar estrategias anteriores o
reinventar el proceso estratgico, tal y como
sealan Prahalad y Hamel (1996). Este es el caso
de las empresas IBM y Coca Cola, que han
redefinido y efectuado una reinvencin de su
pensamiento estratgico a partir de la recuperacin

The sequential relationships between the vision,
mission, objective and action, as happens with the
various phases of the strategic process, are by
nature dynamic, and present various options
according to the stage which the company's project
has reached, the situation of the environment, the
influence of the competitive forces of the sector,
and the intrinsic nature and evolution of the
internal components of the organisation. All this
will involve the specific interaction of the concepts
that make up the model of strategic thinking, and
will generate different "dynamics" that explain the
behaviour of each company's situation. Let us
consider the most important (AECA, 1999):


-Dynamic 1. The sequence of the entrepreneur.
This is the characteristic relationship that takes
place either when a business project is created and
put into action, or when the strategy is established
in an emerging or highly competitive sector, as in
the current case of the telecommunications sector
and that of Internet banking. This dynamic
presents the following sequence:




-Dynamic 2. The sequence of the organiser. This is
the relationship that is originated when the mission
is effectively defined by an external agent, and
therefore the strategist has to establish the vision
or the project of company in consonance with that
relationship. This is the case of the regulated
sectors or of the administrative concessions, in
which the regulator sets the mission, as happens in
the sector of electrical energy, among others. The
sequence that this dynamic presents is:




This is also the case of RENFE, studied above.


-Dynamic 3. The sequence of the innovator. This is
the relationship that originates when the strategist
revises the objectives and the processes of action
to be followed, when there is the need to renew
previous strategies or to re-invent the strategic
process, as described by Prahalad and Hamel
(1996). This is the case of the companies IBM and
Coca Cola, which have redefined and effectively
re-invented their strategic thinking based on the
Visin Misin Objetivos Accin
Misin Visin Objetivos Accin
Vision Mission Objectives Action
Mission Vision Objectives Action
19
de los valores tradicionales, actualizndolos desde
una concepcin inquebrantable de la naturaleza del
negocio y de sus valores principales.

En definitiva, es la dinmica del cambio, referente
del estratega que reinventa el negocio, la empresa
y recrea su entorno, para lo cual ha de revisar sus
objetivos y procesos de accin.


En este caso la secuencia es la siguiente:




-Dinmica 4. La secuencia del reestructurador.
Representa la relacin que se produce cuando s e
pretende revisar el modelo de comportamiento a
partir de un nuevo diseo y estructuracin de la
empresa, redefiniendo todo el proceso estratgico
como consecuencia de la existencia de malos
resultados o del incumplimiento de los objetivos.
Es el caso caracterstico de las empresas en crisis o
que tienen que superar dificultades importantes
que ponen en peligro la supervivencia de la
organizacin, por lo que es fundamental
replantearse la misin y la visin establecidas. La
dinmica presenta la secuencia siguiente:





recovery of their traditional values, updating them
from unshakeable convictions regarding the nature
of the business and its core values.

In short, it is the dynamic of change, marked by
the strategis t who re-invents the business, re-
shapes the company and recreates its environment,
which then requires the overhaul of its objectives
and processes of operation.

In this case, the sequence goes as follows:




-Dynamic 4. The sequence of the restructurer.
This represents the relationship that is produced
when the intention is to revise the model of
behaviour on the basis of a new design and
restructuring of the company, redefining the entire
strategic process in consequence of the impact of
bad results or of a manifest failure to meet
previous objectives. It is the characteristic case of
a company in crisis or which has to overcome
serious difficulties that put the survival of the
organisation at risk, which makes it essential for
the fundamental mission to be regenerated and a
new vision to be established. The dynamic
presents the following sequence:





Objetivos Accin Visin Misin
Accin Objetivos Misin Visin
Objectives Action Vision Mission
Action Objectives Mission Vision
20


6.-LA ESTRATEGIA BSICA Y SU
REVISIN


6. THE BASIC STRATEGY AND ITS
REVISION


En todo negocio existe una idea clave, un concepto
central que est en la gnesis del mismo y que,
como se ha dicho, condiciona en gran medida su
xito o fracaso posterior. Se trata de definir:


- a qu mercado nos vamos a dirigir, en
referencia al tipo de consumidores o usuarios y
al rea geogrfica a la que se extender la
actividad de la empresa; y

- qu clase de producto se va a ofrecer en ese
mercado, en funcin de la necesidad que
pretende satisfacer y de la tecnologa que se
va a utilizar.

Este eje central de los negocios ha recibido
distintas denominaciones, como estrategia
producto-mercado, estrategia bsica o nicho
competitivo de la empresa. En su significado e
importancia profundizaremos seguidamente.

La misin corporativa es la definicin de la propia
empresa y de su(s) negocio(s), que debe perfilar
tanto la lnea del negocio (limitada o amplia)
15

como la extensin del mismo (geogrfica,
productos, mercados).

Por ejemplo, Antena 3 (Nueva Empresa, n 305) es
una empresa espaola de medios de comunicacin
(lnea de negocios amplia), una de cuyas activi-
dades es la radio, definida por la direccin de la
siguiente manera:

- En cuanto al producto, se trata de ofrecer un
producto radiofnico moderno, joven, crtico,
que se sustenta fundamentalmente en tres
puntos de apoyo: unos informativos de
planteamientos novedosos, donde se valora la
noticia y producen una cierta conformacin de
la opinin, con el consiguiente liderazgo; unos
deportivos, entonces con Jos Mara Garca al
frente, que atiendan no slo al ftbol sino a
otros deportes complementarios; y finalmente
una programacin de entretenimiento, dirigida
a una audiencia de un determinado perfil.

- En cuanto al mercado, su objetivo es captar
una audiencia de clase media-alta, de una edad
entre 25 y 55 aos, por entender que
consiguiendo este tipo de oyentes se
arrastrara hacia la emisora un tipo de
publicidad de productos de lujo que raramente
utilizaba este medio.

In every business there exists a key idea, a central
concept that inspired the genesis of the business,
and which to a large extent conditions its
subsequent success or failure. This core idea
necessarily leads the entrepreneur to define:

- What market are we going to target, in reference
to the type of consumers or users and to the
geographic areas in which the activity of the
company will be extended; and

- What class of product are we going to offer in
that market, in function of the customer needs
that the product is intended to satisfy and of
the technology that will be utilized.

Several terms have been coined to describe this
central axis of a business, such as: product-market
strategy, basic strategy, the competitive niche or
the core business of the company. We will next
examine in depth its meaning and importance.

The corporate mission is the definition of the
company itself and of its(s) business(s), which
must profile both the line of the business (broad or
narrow)
17
and its scope or coverage (geographic,
products, markets).

For example, Antena 3 (Nueva Empresa, n 305) is
a Spanish communications media company (broad
line of businesses), one of whose activities is radio
broadcasting, defined by its management in the
following way:

- In respect of the product, we will provide
modern, youthful, critical radio programmes,
founded basically on three points of support:
news programmes with novel approaches,
where the news is respected and evaluated and
which produce a certain degree of opinion-
forming, with the consequent leadership;
sports programmes, then fronted by Jos
Mara Garca, that attend not only to football
but to other complementary sports; and finally
a schedule of entertainment programmes,
aimed at an audience of a particular profile.

- In respect of the market, its objective is
capture a middle-to-high class audience, aged
between 25 and 55 years, since it is
understood that acquiring this type of listener
would attract to the broadcaster a class of
advertising for up-market products that in the
past has rarely utilized this medium.
21

- Desde el punto de vista tecnolgico Antena 3
apost por la Fre cuencia Modulada (FM),
pese a que en aquellos momentos (1982) la
audiencia de Onda Media (OM) se encontraba
en una proporcin de 80 a 20 frente a la FM.
Pensaban que este procedimiento tcnico (la
FM) producira frente a la OM el mismo
efecto que la televisin en color frente al
blanco y negro. Pocos aos despus qued
patente el acierto de esta decisin.

- Por ltimo, su vocacin geogrfica de mbito
nacional. Sin embargo, en el reparto de
emisoras efectuado en aquel momento por el
Gobierno, Antena 3 no sali bien parada.
Necesitaban muchas ms licencias para
cumplir su objetivo de implantacin en todo el
territorio. En este sentido fue fundamental la
adquisicin de Radio 80 en diciembre de
1984.

El hecho de que una determinada estrategia
producto-mercado tenga vigencia y proporcione
buenos resultados durante aos, hace que el
empresario, sumido en la preocupacin de dar
respuesta a los problemas operativos del da a da,
no le preste atencin, asumindola como un dato
de la empresa, como algo sobre lo que no hay que
reflexionar.


Sin embargo, sabemos que la supervivencia y el
desarrollo de la misma pasan necesariamente por
una combinacin producto-mercado que se ajuste
en cada momento a las exigencias de los
consumidores o usuarios potenciales. Si este pilar
fundamental falla, todas las dems medidas que
tomemos no darn el resultado apetecido, por el
desajuste que subyace entre la empresa y su
entorno. Por tanto, y dado el carcter cambiante de
ste, una "idea clave" exitosa durante mucho
tiempo puede dejar de ser viable como
consecuencia de este dinamismo exterior, de ah la
importancia de conocer (y anticipar si es posible)
los cambios que se estn produciendo en el medio
en que se desenvuelve la empresa y de reflexionar
acerca del impacto que pueden causar en ella, por
si fuese necesario revisar lo que constituye su
propia esencia, esto es, la naturaleza de sus
explotaciones econmicas. Lgicamente, la
necesidad de llevar a cabo esta revisin es mayor
en pocas de turbulencia ambiental como la actual.


En palabras de Bengt Karlf (1993), "las misiones
empresariales tienen la particularidad de perder
vigencia, lo cual a menudo causa incertidumbre
acerca del producto y de los recursos para
competir". Y contina ms adelante, "las misiones

- From the technological perspective, Antena 3
backed Frequency Modulated (FM)
transmission, despite the fact that at that time
(1982) the audience for Medium Wave (MW)
accounted for 80% against 20% for FM. They
thought that the FM technology would have
the same effect against MW as colour
television had earlier had against black and
white. A few years later the correctness of this
decision was evident.

- Lastly, its geographic vocation was of national
scope, not international or regional. However,
Antena 3 was not well served in the
distribution of broadcasting licenses decided
at that time by the Government. They needed
many more licences to meet the objective of
transmission in all the national territory. This
is why the acquisition of Radio 80 in
December 1984 was fundamental.

The fact that a particular product-market strategy
is being applied and giving good results over a
period of years tends to lull the entrepreneur with a
false sense of security; the entrepreneur is usually
absorbed responding to the day-to-day operating
problems and pays no attention to the strategy,
taking it as a given characteristic, a set datum of
the company, something there is no need to reflect
upon.

However, we know that the survival and the
development of the company necessarily depend
on a product-market combination that is
continually adjusted to the changing demands of
the consumers or potential users. If this
fundamental pillar fails, all the rest of the measures
that we may take will not give the desired results,
because of the misfit that emerges between the
company and its context. Therefore, given the
changing character of the business context, a "key
idea" that has been successful for a long time can
cease to be viable as consequence of this external
dynamism. hence it is vitally important to be aware
of (and if possible to anticipate) the changes taking
place in the areas in which the company operates,
and to reflect on the impact that these change may
have on the company, to see if it is necessary to
revise its ideas about what constitutes the essence
of the company, that is, the nature of its economic
role and justification. Logically, the need to
undertake this review is more urgent in times of
environmental turbulence, like now.

In the words of Bengt Karlf (1993), "corporate
missions have the particular tendency to lose
relevance or validity, and this often causes
uncertainty about the product and the resources for
competing". And he continues later, "corporate
22
empresariales, como las ideologas polticas, estn
referidas a un periodo de tiempo, y tarde o
temprano deben morir o cambiar ms all de todo
reconocimiento. En tales circunstancias el capital
es el nico vnculo entre el viejo negocio y el
nuevo".

Un ejemplo que resulta ilustrativo es el de la
empresa J. Garca Carrin, popularmente conocida
por sus vinos Don Simn, que "despus de
inventar el vino en brick a principios de los
ochenta y haberse convertido en uno de los tres
primeros productores de zumos, se lanza estos das
a promocionar una frentica sucesin de nuevos
productos, des de el gazpacho y la sangra a los
nctares y a los vinos con bajo contenido en
alcohol, lo que lleva a muchos a preguntar qu es
realmente J. Garca Carrin, si una empresa
vincola o un grupo de bebidas"
16
.

Para ilustrar la necesidad de revisin de la estrate-
gia bsica, en la lectura recomendada se explican
las transformaciones del mercado del automvil en
Estados Unidos en los aos 20 y su impacto en la
situacin competitiva de las dos principales empre-
sas del sector: Ford y General Motors (Sloan,
1995).

Como cualquier decisin estratgica, la eleccin de
la estrategia bsica es, por supuesto, un problema
de anlisis, de utilizacin de las tcnicas
adecuadas, pero tambin, y queremos subrayarlo,
un problema de imaginacin, de creatividad.
Todos los exp ertos coinciden en que el futuro ser
de los ms creativos, de los ms innovadores. Es
un requisito para alcanzar el xito, de ah el alto
valor que tienen para las empresas los individuos
con creatividad y las tcnicas que ayudan a generar
ideas. Aclaremos que la creatividad es el paso
previo a la innovacin: creatividad es la funcin de
generar ideas, sean o no aplicables; innovacin es
la capacidad de ponerlas en prctica.


Pero es, igualmente, un problema de razonamiento,
para anticipar las posibles consecuencias de los
cursos de accin alternativos, y de conocimiento
del entorno y la competencia.


Esto ltimo factor nos invita a preguntarnos por las
posibles fuentes de informacin estratgica. El
cuadro siguiente ofrece una clasificacin de las
mismas.

ORIGEN EXTERNAS INTERNAS
Personal -Clientes,
proveedores,
bancos.
-Sindicatos,
asociaciones de
-Superiores, otros
directivos del
mismo nivel y
subordinados
(alta direccin,
missions, like political ideologies, belong to a
particular period of time, and sooner or later must
die or change beyond of all recognition. In such
circumstances the capital employed may remain
the only connection between the old business and
the new".

An illustrative example is that of the company J.
Garca Carrin, popularly known for its Don
Simn wines, which, "after inventing the wine in
the tetra-brick pack at the beginning of the 1980's
and having become one of the top three producers
of fruit juices, in the next decade threw itself into
launching a frenetic succession of new products,
from gazpacho and sangra to nectars and wines
with low alcohol content. This led many to ask
what sort of company J. Garca Carrin really is,
whether it is wine producer or a drinks group."
18
.


To illustrate the need to review the basic strategy,
in the recommended reading the transformations
that were taking place in the US automobile
market in the 1920's are explained, and their
impact on the competitive situation of the two
principal companies of the sector: Ford and
General Motors, is described (Sloan, 1995).

Like any strategic decision, the choice of the basic
strategy is, of course, a matter of analysis, of using
the correct techniques, but it is also, and
importantly, a question of imagination, of
creativity. All the experts coincide in the view that
the future will belong to the most creative, the
most innovative entrepreneurs. It is an essential
requirement for achieving success, hence those
individuals with creativity and the techniques that
help to generate ideas are extremely valuable to
companies. We should be quite clear that creativity
is the prior step to innovation: creativity is the
function of generating ideas, whether they are
applicable or not; innovation is the capacity to put
them into practice.

But it is, equally, a problem of reasoning, to
anticipate the possible consequences of the
alternative courses of action, and a matter of
knowing and understanding the environment and
the competition.

This last factor leads us into asking about the
possible sources of strategic information. The chart
below gives a classification of sources.


ORIGIN EXTERNAL INTERNAL
Personal - Customers,
suppliers, banks.
- Trades unions,
company
associations,
- Superiors, other
directors of the
same level, and
subordinates (top
management,
23
empresas,
organizaciones
representativas de
intereses pblicos,
...
-Consultores
externos.
-Organizaciones
gubernamentales.
mandos
intermedios,
staff, ncleo de
operaciones).
-Por lo general,
todas las formas
de comunicacin
oral que implican
contactos
interpersonales.
Impersonal -Prensa, revistas
especializadas,
libros, ...
-Conferencias y
publicaciones de
carcter cientfico.
-Informes de
sindicatos,
organizaciones
empresariales o
gubernamentales,
asociaciones, etc.
-Encuestas de
opinin.
-Legislacin
nacional e
internacional.

-Reuniones,
informes
elaborados por la
empresa, etc.
-Por regla
general, todas las
formas de
comunicacin
escrita.

Sin embargo, pese a su trascendencia, ese
planteamiento estratgico inicial, esa "idea clave",
no basta, no es suficiente para competir con xito,
excepto cuando se trate de un segmento del
mercado no explotado por ninguna otra empresa,
es decir, de un monopolio. Se necesita, por tanto,
algo ms, se necesitan ventajas competitivas.


Veamos si no el caso de la empresa Euro parking y
los expendedores de carritos de compra en los
supermercados (El Pas, 27-8-95):

El problema que supone para los supermercados
habilitar espacios donde colocar las largas filas de
carritos de la compra, y el hecho de que en Espaa
exista un parque de un milln de estos carros, ha
llevado a tres bilbanos -Mikel Saralegui, Manu Lpez y
Peri Segurola- a desarrollar una mquina que los
almacena y entrega de forma automtica y en un
reducido espacio. Los tres son propietarios de una
empresa de venta de mobiliario y equipamiento para
grandes superficies, por lo que conocen bien las
necesidades del sector.

Este problema de espacio es especialmente costoso para
los establecimientos situados en los cascos urbanos,
donde los locales son pequeos y los metros cuadrados
de superficie son muy caros, lo que les ha impulsado a
crear una sociedad, Europarking, para fabricar y
comercializar el invento, que consiste en un mueble con
tres niveles superpuestos en los que se almacenan los
carros. Igual que ocurre con los sistemas tradicionales,
stos se extraen depositando una moneda. Cuando la
plataforma inferior se queda vaca descienden las
superiores, y viceversa. El aparato, del que se han
organisations
representing
public interests,
...
- External
consultants.
- Governmental
organisations.
middle
management,
staff, nucleus of
operations).
- In general, all the
forms of oral
communication
that involve
interpersonal
contact.
Impersonal - Press, specialist
journals, books,
...
- Conferences
and publications
of scientific
character.
- Reports issued
by trades unions,
business or
governmental
organisations,
associations, etc.
- Opinion
surveys.
- National and
international
legislation.
- Meetings, reports
prepared within
the company, etc.
- As a general
rule, all the forms
of written
communication.

However, although it is an absolute prerequisite,
that initial strategic proposition, that "key idea", is
not enough; it is not sufficient to enable the
company to compete successfully, except in the
case of a market segment not exploited by any
other company, that is, in the case of monopoly
situation. Something more is needed, and that extra
something must be real competitive advantages.

Let us consider this point in the case of the
company Europarking and the dis pensers of
supermarket shopping trolleys (El Pas, 27-8-95):

Recognising the problem faced by supermarkets in
providing suitable spaces where to park the long rows of
shopping trolleys, and the fact that Spain now has a fleet
of one million of these trolleys, three entrepreneurs from
Bilbao, Mikel Saralegui, Manu Lpez and Peri
Segurola, developed a system based on a machine that
stores these bulky accessories vertically and delivers
them automatically, and in a reduced floor space. The
three are proprietors of a company selling furnishings
and equipment for very large stores, so they know the
needs of the sector very well.

This problem of space is particularly costly for those
stores situated in town centres, where the premises are
small and each square metre of floor space is very
expensive; this situation was the impulse behind them
forming a company, Europarking, to manufacture and
market the invention, which consists of a free-standing
unit of three levels stacked one above the other in which
the trolleys are housed when not in use. As happens with
the traditional systems, the trolley is extracted by the
shopper depositing a coin. When the lower platform has
been emptied, the one above descends, and vice versa as
24
diseado tres modelos segn su volumen de carga,
funciona con cualquiera de los tipos de carros que
existen en el mercado. Su capacidad es de hasta 100
unidades y cuenta con medidas de seguridad para evitar
que un nio o un perro se introduzca en su interior.
Cada mquina expendedora cuesta dos millones de
pesetas.

Para hacerlas ms rentable y conseguir su amortizacin
en poco tiempo, sirven tambin como soporte
publicitario. Disponen de un panel luminoso de
publicidad esttica y un carrusel que muestra 20
imgenes de forma rotatoria. Asimismo, cada vez que se
extrae un carro se deposita en su interior un cartel con
las ofertas y promociones del supermercado.


Europarking ha contado con la ayuda de la Diputacin
Foral de Vizcaya, que ha realizado un estudio de
viabilidad del proyecto y ha aportado 7'5 millones de
pesetas a fondo perdido. La empresa ha llegado a un
acuerdo con una importante cadena de distribucin
para instalar de forma experimental su sistema en una
de sus tiendas.

Para sus promotores, el que no haya en el mercado un
invento parecido, junto con el hecho de que slo en
Francia y Alemania existan tres y cinco millones de
carritos, respectivamente, les asegura el xito, tanto en
el mercado nacional como en el extranjero.


6.1.-EVALUACIN DE UNA OPORTUNIDAD
EMPRESARIAL

Una nueva empresa nace siempre de una idea, de
la percepcin de un determinado binomio
producto-mercado en el que el promotor de la
misma cree firmemente. Pero para que esa idea,
fruto en muchos casos de la intuicin del
empresario, pueda tener xito, ha de
corresponderse con una oportunidad real existente
en el mercado; en caso contrario fracasar, por
carecer del soporte indispensable.


Nace una idea, nace una empresa. Con esta frase
ilustran los Profesores Bueno y Morcillo (1990) el
caso de Chupa Chups, que pasamos a relatar
seguidamente:

Enrique Bernat Fontlladosa naci en Barcelona en
1924, en el seno de una familia de pasteleros. Su abuelo
tena una fbrica de caramelos y su padre y sus tos
tenan pasteleras y confiteras en la ciudad condal.
Desde pequeo trabaj en el negocio familiar y tuvo que
despertar su imaginacin, como el resto de su familia,
para hacer pasteles sin harina y azcar durante los aos
de la guerra civil espaola, ya que ambos productos
eran de los ms escasos. Parece ser que su abuelo, uno
de los primeros fabricantes de caramelos de Espaa,
logr la frmula del azcar cristalizado, que tambin
supo explotar el nieto.

Ante las dificultades familiares, al inicio de los aos
they are filled with returned trolleys. Three models of
the device, of different capacities, have been designed,
and they function with any of the types of trolley that
exist in the market. Its maximum capacity is 100 units
and it is fitted with safety measures to prevent children
and animals from getting trapped inside the device. The
price of each dispensing machine is 12,000 euros.

To make them more profitable and thus reduce the
length of time required to amortise the expenditure, the
device also serves as a publicity display. The device is
fitted with a static luminous display panel and a rotating
carousel that shows 20 images in sequence. Also, each
time that a trolley is extracted a flyer or leaflet
promoting the products of the supermarket on offer is
deposited in the trolley.

Europarking has received help from the Provincial
Government of Vizcaya, which has made a study of
viability of the project and has provided 45,000 euros in
non-returnable financing. The company has reached an
agreement with an important retail distribution chain to
install its system experimentally in one of its stores.


For its promoters, the fact that there is no similar
invention on the market, together with the knowledge
that in France and Germany alone there are three and
five million trolleys, respectively, makes them very
hopeful of success, in both the national and foreign
markets.

6.1. ASSESSMENT OF A BUSINESS
OPPORTUNITY

A new company is always born from an idea, from
the perception of a particular product-market
combination in which the new company's promoter
firmly believes. That idea is, in many cases, little
more than an intuitive or "gut" feeling of the
entrepreneur, so in order to stand any chance of
success, it must correspond to a real, provable
opportunity existing in the market; if not, it will
surely fail for lack of the indispensable supporting
arguments and data.

An idea is born, a company is born. With this
sentence Professors Bueno and Morcillo (1990)
illustrate the case of Chupa Chups, which will be
described next:

Enrique Bernat Fontlladosa was born in Barcelona in
1924, into a family of confectioners. His grandfather
had a sweets and candy factory and his father and
uncles had cake shops and sweets shops in the city.
Since he was small he had worked in the family business
and had to use his imagination, like the rest of his
family, to make cakes without flour and sugar during the
years of the Spanish civil war, since both products were
really scarce. It seems that it was his grandfather, one of
the first manufacturers of sweets and candy of Spain,
who obtained the formula for crystallised sugar, which
the grandson also knew how to exploit.

Given the difficulties faced by the family, at the start of
25
cuarenta el joven Bernat tuvo que simultanear sus
estudios de peritaje mercantil con el trabajo de aprendiz
y de dependiente. Ms adelante, en 1955, acepta la
gerencia de una mediana empresa del sector en Oviedo,
que atravesada por una delicada situacin: Granja
Asturias, S.A., en la que monta una fbrica de jaleas,
peladillas, turrones y caramelos. Al cabo de un ao y
medio su gestin se hace notar, ya que logra superar la
crisis y la empresa comienza a obtener beneficios.


Es el momento de plantear al Consejo de
Administracin de Granja Asturias una idea que vena
madurando en los ltimos aos: por qu fabricar
tantos productos para un solo mercado y no un solo
producto para muchos mercados? Haba que encontrar
un producto, un caramelo, que sustituyera a los casi tres
centenares de productos distintos que se estaban
fabricando. Pero adems el nuevo producto deba ser
realmente innovador y estar orientado al cliente. El
principal consumidor de caramelos es el nio, pero el
comprador es la madre u otro familiar. Enrique Bernat
recuerda las veces que reciban bofetadas nuestros
principales clientes, los nios, por ensuciarse las
manos, la cara y el vestido con los caramelos. Naci
as la idea del caramelo con palo o del caramelo
con tenedor.


La idea fue presentada al Consejo de Administracin,
junto a un plan de eliminacin paulatina de los otros
productos, hasta quedarse slo con el propuesto. La
iniciativa fue juzgada como una locura de un joven
ambicioso, pero l tena fe en sus ideas y para poder
llevarlas a cabo fue comprando las acciones de Granja
Asturias hasta convertirse en el nico propietario. El
proceso termina en 1959, cuando se crea Chupa Chups,
S.A.

Realmente el nombre inicial del caramelo con palo
fue Chups, marca que registr de inmediato en un pas
en el que casi no existan marcas registradas de
caramelos, para ms adelante convertirla en la actual:
Chupa Chups.

El nuevo producto comenz a fabricarse en 1959,
teniendo que importar la madera para los palitos de
Europa Central, al no encontrar una calidad suficiente
en Espaa, con el fin de lograr la mxima seguridad y
durabilidad del tenedor a utilizar por el cliente.


La creacin del nuevo tipo de caramelo llev consigo la
necesaria educacin del cliente, para lo cual se realiz
una campaa televisiva en la que se enseaba a la gente
a tomar un Chups. Como el anuncio se basaba en una
cancioncilla que reiteraba chupa un chups, se cay en
la cuenta de que el nombre ms comercial sera el de
Chupa Chups.


Los resultados hablan por si solos, ya que pronto se
estaban fabricando 3.000 kilogramos de caramelos
diarios, con un nmero creciente de puntos de venta. La
nueva empresa comienza a vislumbrar, aunque an en
la lejana, las mieles del triunfo.

the 1940's, the young Bernat had to combine his
commercial studies with work as an apprentice and shop
assistant. Later, in 1955, he took on the management of
a medium-size company in Oviedo, that was active in the
sweets sector but was going through a difficult period,
Granja Asturias, S.A., in which he set up a factory
making jellies, sugared almonds, candy bars and sweets.
After a year and a half, his management began to show
results, for the company overcame the crisis and began
to make profits.

That was the moment to propose to the Board of Granja
Asturias an idea that had been taking shape in his head
for several years: Why manufacture so many products
for one single market rather than one single product for
many markets? The idea was to look for a product, one
form of sweet or candy, which could take the place of
the three hundred or so different products that were
being made. But the hypothetical new product also had
to be really innovatory and be orientated to the
customer. The principal consumer of sweets and candy
is the child, but the purchaser is the mother or other
family member. Enrique Bernat remembered the times
that our principal customers, children, were smacked for
getting their hands, face or clothes sticky and messy
from sweets. Thus was born the idea of the sweet on a
stick or the candy on a fork, now known generically
as the lollipop.

The idea was presented to the board, together with a plan
for the gradual elimination of the other products, until they
would be left with only the one "winner" proposed. The
initiative was considered as the mad idea of an ambitious
young man, but he had faith in his ideas, and to be able to
put them into effect, he began purchasing the shares of
Granja Asturias until he acquired complete ownership.
That stage of the process ended in 1959, when Chupa
Chups, S.A. was created out of the original company.

Really the initial name of the sweet on a stick was
Chups, a brand that he registered immediately in a
country where there were hardly any registered brands
of sweets and candies, and later this was converted into
the current name: Chupa Chups.

The new product began to be manufactured in 1959, and
the company had to import the wood for the little sticks
from Central Europe, since wood of sufficient quality
could not be found in Spain; there was a clear need to
ensure the maximum hygiene, safety and durability of
the fork that the consumers would put in their mouth.

An essential part of the creation of the new type of sweet
was the education of the customer, so the company
invested in a television advertising campaign to show
people how to enjoy a Chups. As the advert was based
on a musical ditty that reiterated the instruction, in
Spanish, to chupa un chups ("suck a chups"), it was
soon realised the most obvious commercial name would
be "Chupa Chups".

The results speak for themselves, since they were soon
making 3,000 kilograms of the sweets daily, with a
rapidly growing number of sales outlets. The new
company began to glimpse in the distant future the
rewards of success.

26
Tras crear el caramelo con palo, Bernat decide
desarrollar su propia tecnologa, actitud muy alejada
del comportamiento de un pas que haba dado la
espalda a la modernizacin, y para ello compra en
1960, cerca de Barcelona, una empresa del sector
metal-mecnico, Construcciones Mecnicas Seuba, a la
que da como razn social Confipack, S.A.


De esta fbrica sale la primera mquina de hacer
caramelos esfricos, despus saldr una troqueladora
para inyectar los palitos en las bolas de caramelo y as
hasta lograr, al cabo de los aos, la ms difcil, la de
poner la envoltura (el papel de celofn) al caramelo. La
dulce innovacin es ya una realidad.


Ahora bien, antes de implementar una idea es
necesario estudiar su viabilidad. Para ello, y
siguiendo al Profesor Vecia na Vergs (Nueva
Empresa, n. 275), proponemos los siguientes
criterios para evaluar una oportunidad empresarial:


1.-Necesidad que satisface el producto.
2.-Posibilidad de identificar los clientes
potenciales.
3.-Tamao del mercado.
4.-Tasa de crecimiento del mercado.
5.-Cuota de mercado que puede conseguirse.
6.-Situacin competitiva: grado y estructura de la
competencia.
7.-Respuesta esperada de los competidores.
8.-Grado de control sobre precios, costes, canales
de distribucin.
9.-Costes de produccin, marketing y distribucin.
10.-Margen de beneficio.
11.-Rentabilidad.
12.-Plazo para alcanzar el umbral de rentabilidad.
13.-Plazo de recuperacin de la inversin.
14.-Posibilidad de proteger la idea, el producto,
etc.
15.-Caractersticas del empresario y de su equipo
directivo.

Es claro que el primer y principal criterio de
evaluacin de una oportunidad empresarial es la
identificacin, la definicin y la importancia real
de la necesidad que se va a satisfacer. Pero realizar
una estimacin cuantitativa no es tarea fcil. El
problema radica en obtener las informaciones
necesarias. Cuando estn disponibles o existe la
posibilidad de comprarlas, se puede contar con que
muchos otros competidores tambin las tendrn. Si
no existe informacin, podemos intentar
conseguirla mediante una investigacin de
mercado, pero la experiencia ensea que estos
estudios aportan datos muy poco fiables cuando se
trata de productos con un alto grado de novedad y
que an no existen en el mercado. Por tanto, en
esta fase inicial de identificar y enjuiciar una
nueva oportunidad, lo ms importante es la
After creating the sweet on a stick, Bernat decided to
develop his own technology, displaying an attitude very
different from the typical behaviour in a country that
had turned its back on modernity; for this venture he
purchased, in 1960, a company located near Barcelona,
Construcciones Mecnicas Seuba, in the metals and
mechanical engineering sector, to which he gave the
registered name Confipack, S.A.

This factory produced the first machine to make
spherical sweets, and then a punch pressing machine to
insert the sticks into the balls of candy; development
work continued over the years until the most difficult
task was mechanised, that of wrapping the individual
lollipop in its cellophane packaging. "Sweet innovation"
is now a reality.

It should now be clear: before implementing an
idea it is necessary to study its viability. For this,
borrowing from Professor Veciana Ve rgs (Nueva
Empresa, n. 275), we put forward the following 15
criteria for evaluating a business opportunity. You
should be able to define or describe::

1. The need that the product satisfies.
2. The potential customers you have identified.
3. The size of the market.
4. Rate of growth of the market.
5. The market share that can be secured.
6. The competitive situation: degree and structure
of the competition.
7. The expected response of the competitors.
8. The degree of control over prices, costs,
distribution channels.
9. Costs of production, marketing and distribution.
10. Profit margin.
11. Return.
12. Period of time until the threshold of
profitability is reached.
13. Period of time for recovery of the investment.
14. The possibility of protecting the idea, the
product, etc.
15. The characteristics required of the entrepreneur
and his management team.

Obviously the first and principal criterion for
evaluating a business opportunity is the
identification, definition and the true importance of
the need that is going to be satisfied. But making a
quantitative estimation is not an easy task. The
problem lies in obtaining the many various kinds
of information necessary. If such information is
readily available or can be purchased, probably all
the competitors will already have it, too. If
information does not exist, we can try to obtain it
by market research, but experience shows that
these studies often provide very unreliable data
when the subject is a product or service with a
high degree of novelty, that may not even exist in
the market yet. Therefore, in this initial phase of
identifying and judging a new opportunity, what is
most important is the intuition, the vision, the
27
intuicin, la visin, la capacidad de juicio y la
experiencia del empresario. Ningn estudio puede
reemplazarlas. Las informaciones, cuando existan,
tendrn siempre lagunas, inconcreciones ,
contradicciones y, por tanto, su significado ser
siempre impreciso, ambiguo. Al empresario no le
queda otro remedio que orientarse y actuar en base
a lo que Ansoff ha denominado seales dbiles,
estableciendo relaciones, sacando conclusiones e
identificando oportunidades all donde una mente
analtica slo ver incertidumbre, vaguedad y
confusin.

En segundo lugar, la posibilidad de identificar a
los futuros compradores es fundamental a la hora
de valorar una oportunidad empresarial. Hay
grupos de compradores, segmentos o "nichos" del
mercado que son perfectamente identificables y a
los cuales se puede llegar sin dificultad, pero en
otros no ocurre igual. Por regla general, los
compradores de productos industriales (empresas)
o clientes institucionales son ms fciles de
identificar que los compradores de productos de
gran consumo. A veces la idea o el prototipo del
nuevo producto genera entusiasmo entre los
futuros compradores, hasta el punto de realizar
pedidos, anticipar pagos o firmar contratos antes
de que el producto est en el mercado. En otros
casos, sin embargo, los consumidores o usuarios
potenciales del nuevo producto estn satisfechos
con los productos actuales y poco predispuestos al
cambio. En tales circunstancias hay que estimar
con la mxima prudencia el grado de resistencia
con que se va a encontrar el nuevo producto y el
tiempo que necesitar para vencerla. Muchos
nuevos negocios o productos han fracasado por
subestimar esta barrera inicial.


Otro criterio, el tercero, es el tamao del mercado,
si bien ste tiene una importancia relativa frente al
carcter imperativo universal de los dos anteriores.
El valor del tamao del mercado estar en funcin
de los objetivos personales del empresario, del tipo
de producto, de la situacin de la competencia en
el sector, etc. Por ejemplo, si se trata de un
producto que requiere inversiones muy fuertes
porque slo puede fabricarse a costes competitivos
si se hace a gran escala, el volumen del mercado es
esencial. No obstante, los mercados de gran
tamao no siempre ocasionan consecuencias
positivas, ya que atraen con mayor fuerza a las
grandes empresas, dando lugar al llamado efecto
del cazador: el nuevo empresario (pequeo)
levanta la liebre, pero otra empresa (grande) la
caza.


Una alta tasa de crecimiento, en cuarto lugar,
facilita la entrada de nuevas empresas en el
capacity of judgment, and the experience of the
entrepreneur. No study can replace these qualities.
The information, when it does exist, will always
have gaps, vagueness, contradictions, and so its
meaning will be always imprecise, ambiguous.
The entrepreneur is left with no other option than
to be alert to and to act on the basis of what Ansoff
has termed weak signals, establishing possible
connections and relationships, drawing likely
conclusions and identifying opportunities in
circumstances where an analytical mind will only
see uncertainty, vagueness and confusion.

Secondly, the possibility of identifying the future
purchasers is fundamental when evaluating a
business opportunity. There are groups of
purchasers, segments or "niches" of the market
that are perfectly identifiable and which can be
reached without too much difficulty, but are not
seen as such by others. As a general rule, the
prospective purchasers of industrial products
(companies) or institutional customers are easier to
identify than the prospective purchasers of mass
consumer products. Sometimes the idea or the
prototype of the new product generates enthusiasm
among the future purchasers, to the extent of
placing orders, making advance payments or
signing contracts before the product is even on the
market. In other cases, however, the consumers or
potential users of the new product believe that they
are satisfied with the existing products and not
very likely to change. In such circumstances the
newcomer must estimate as carefully as possible
the degree of resistance that the new product is
likely to meet, and the time and techniques that
would be required to overcome it. Many new
businesses and products have failed by
underestimating this initial barrier.

Another criterion, the third, is the size of the
market, although this has only relative importance
compared with the universal imperative character
of the first two criteria. The value of the size of the
potential market will be a function of the personal
objectives of the entrepreneur, of the type of
product, of the competitive situation in the sector,
and other factors. For example, if the product is
one that requires very substantial investment
because it can only be manufactured at a
competitive cost if done on a large scale, then a
large volume market will be essential. However,
large-volume potential markets do not always have
positive consequences, since they are more likely
to attract the competitive attention of large
companies, giving rise to the so-called "hunter
effect": the new (small) entrepreneur raises the
hare, but other (large) company hunts it.

A high rate of growth, in fourth place, facilitates
the entry of new companies into the market. In a
28
mercado. En un sector con elevado crecimiento,
los competidores estn ms ocupados en atender la
creciente demanda y aumentar la capacidad
productiva que en adoptar medidas defensivas
contra posibles nuevos y pequeos competidores.
La fase de crecimiento del ciclo de vida del
producto o del sector es el momento ms adecuado
para identificar nuevos segmentos o nichos
desatendidos y entrar en el mercado.

Igualmente, un mercado en crecimiento permite
con mayor facilidad hacerse de una participacin
interesante, sin que, por los mismos motivos antes
indicados, haya que esperar acciones defensivas de
la competencia. La participacin que obtiene la
nueva empresa no es a costa de los competidores
existentes, sino gracias al crecimiento global del
mercado. En cambio, en sectores de bajo o nulo
crecimiento, es decir, en su fase de madurez o
declive, los competidores lucharn al mximo de
sus posibilidades para anular cualquier intento de
arrebatarles cuota de mercado, pues ello les
supondra tener desocupada parte de su capacidad
productiva y unos costes unitarios ms altos.

La situacin competitiva, es decir, el grado y la
estructura de la competencia en un sector, puede
facilitar u obstaculizar la entrada de nuevas
empresas y su posterior desarrollo: este es el sexto
criterio. As, cuando un sector est dominado por
una empresa que posee el 60 o el 70 por ciento del
mercado y el resto est en manos de unos pocos
competidores, cualquier intento de entrada de uno
nuevo ser combatido con contundencia. En
cambio, si el mercado est repartido entre muchas
empresas su acceso ser ms fcil.


La respuesta esperada de los competidores en
cuanto a tecnologa, productos, marketing, etc.,
puede reducir el atractivo de una oportunidad
empresarial (sptimo criterio). Esta respuesta
depender, por un lado, de la fase del ciclo de vida
en que se encuentre el sector y de la estructura
competitiva del mismo, factores ya sealados, y
por otro del grado en que la nueva idea, producto,
procedimiento,... sea susceptible de proteccin
legal mediante una marca o patente, o imitable
fcilmente por los competidores.


La estructura competitiva del sector determina
tambin el grado de control que sobre precios,
fuentes de suministros y costes de las materias
primas, canales de distribucin, etc. ejerce la
empresa dominante y, en consecuencia, el grado de
libertad de la nueva empresa al respecto (octavo
criterio). Por ejemplo el hecho de estar copados los
canales de distribucin por la empresa lder o por
los competidores actuales suele ser subestimado y
sector with high growth, the existing competitors
are more occupied in meeting the growing demand
and increasing their productive capacity than in
adopting defensive measures against possible new
and small competitors. The growth phase of the
life cycle of the product or sector is the most
appropriate time to identify a new segment or
available niche and to enter the market.


Similarly, a growing market will allow a new
entrant to gain a useful market share without
expecting, for the same reasons given before,
defensive actions by the competitors. The share
obtained by the new entrant is not seen to be at the
cost of the existing competitors, but rather thanks
to the overall growth of the market. On the other
hand, in sectors of low or zero growth, that is, in
their mature or declining phase, the competitors
will often fight to the death in the face of any
attempt to rob them of their market share, since
loss of share would mean loss of volume, leaving
them with surplus productive capacity and
consequently higher unit costs.

The competitive situation, that is, the degree and
the structure of the competition in a sector, may
work to facilitate or block the entry of a new
company and its subsequent establishment: this is
the sixth criterion. Thus, when a sector is
dominated by a company that holds 60% or 70%
of the market, and the rest is disputed by only a
handful of competitors, any attempted entry by
another is likely to be fiercely resisted. However,
if the market is more equally shared between many
companies, access to it will be easier for a
newcomer.

The response to a newcomer that may be exp ected
from competitors, in respect of technology,
products, marketing, etc., can reduce the
attractiveness of a business opportunity (seventh
criterion). This response will depend, on the one
hand, on the phase of the life cycle which the
sector has reached, and on the sector's competitive
structure, factors already considered, and on the
other hand, on the degree to which the new idea,
product, procedure, ... is susceptible to legal
protection by means of a brand or patent, or can be
easily copied by the competitors.

The competitive structure of the sector also
determines the degree of control over prices,
sources of supply and costs of the raw materials,
and over channels of distribution, etc. that the
dominant company can exert, and this
consequently determines the degree of freedom for
the new company to operate effectively (eighth
criterion). For example the effective
monopolisation of the distribution channels by the
29
perjudica el aprovechamiento de una oportunidad
existente, pudiendo verse obligados, incluso, a
abrir un nuevo canal.




Un margen bruto elevado da una gran seguridad al
nuevo empresario. Constituye una garanta ante
posibles errores en las estimaciones, situaciones
imprevistas o reducciones drsticas de precios de
los competidores. Es notorio que en la fase de
crecimiento del mercado se producen a menudo
recortes de precios por parte de los competidores
con curvas de experiencia ms favorables; por ello,
si el margen bruto es pequeo, la nueva empresa
corre el riesgo de dejar de ser competitiva.


Un margen elevado, adems:

debe tener como consecuencia lgica un
elevado volumen de beneficios y una alta tasa
de rentabilidad;
acorta el plazo para alcanzar el umbral de
rentabilidad y para recuperar la inversin.

Por ltimo, disponer de un plan bien elaborado y
detallado es necesario, pero no suficiente para
asegurar el xito del nuevo proyecto. Las
dificultades de su puesta en prctica son mucho
mayores, siempre surgen imprevistos, de ah la
trascendental importancia de la capacidad
empresarial y directiva del empresario y su equipo.
La puesta en marcha de una nueva empresa es un
acto creativo por excelencia, que significa saber y
querer actuar en situaciones no estructuradas,
que exigen intuicin, visin de conjunto, espritu
de riesgo, entusiasmo, flexibilidad y capacidad de
adaptarse a las circunstancias. Requiere, en
definitiva, la personalidad y el talante propios del
autntico empresario, de ndole muy distinta a las
formas de actuacin habituales de un directivo en
una empresa en funcionamiento, es decir, en
situaciones ms estructuradas. Por ello, las
oportunidades no pueden ser valoradas per se, sino
primordialmente en funcin de la personalidad y la
experiencia del empresario que la ha identificado,
definido y valorado y que, por tanto, cree en ella.
Esto explica que las empresas de capital riesgo
siten este factor (las caractersticas del
empresario y de su equipo directivo) en el primer
lugar de la lista de criterios que utilizan para
decidir si apoyan financieramente un proyecto.

leading company or by the current competitors is
usually underestimated by a newcomer, and this
can severely restrict the commercial advantage that
can be taken of the new opportunity; the
newcomer may even be forced to open a new
channel to reach potential users.

A potentially high gross margin gives great
security to the new entrepreneur. It constitutes a
guarantee against possible errors in the
estimations, unforeseen situations or drastic
reductions in prices made by competitors in
response. It is notorious that, in the growth phase
of the market, price cuts are often made by the
competitors with more favourable experience
curves; for this reason, if the gross margin is likely
to be small, the new company runs the risk of soon
ceasing to be competitive.

As a logical consequence, a high margin must also

have a high volume of profits and a high rate
of return;
this will shorten the term for reaching the
threshold of profitability and for recovering
the investment.

Lastly, it is necessary, but not sufficient, to have a
well-prepared and detailed plan, to ensure the
success of the new project. There are always more
difficulties in putting the plan into practice than in
making the plan; unforeseen events always arise,
which underscore the vital importance of the
business and leadership capacity of the
entrepreneur and his or her team. Putting a new
company into operation is a creative act par
excellence; it involves knowing how to act, and
wanting to act, in unstructured situations that
call for intuition, a global view, spirit of risk-
taking, enthusiasm, flexibility and capacity to
adapt to the circumstances. In short, it requires the
personality and talent intrinsic to the authentic
entrepreneur, which are qualities very different in
nature from the regular ways of acting of the
managing director in an established company in
operation, that is, in more structured situations.
Hence the prospective opportunity for a new
company cannot be evaluated per se, but
predominantly in function of the personality and
experience of the entrepreneur who has identified,
defined and evaluated it and who, therefore,
believes in it. This explains why the risk capital
companies place this factor (the characteristics of
the entrepreneur and the proposed management
team) at the top of the list of criteria that they use
to decide whether to support a project financially.


30


7.-LA ESTRATEGIA EN SUS DISTINTOS
NIVELES: CORPORATIVO, DE NEGOCIO
Y FUNCIONAL


7. THE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF
STRATEGY: CORPORATE, BY
BUSINESS/OPERATING UNIT, AND BY
FUNCTION


Dentro de una misma empresa pueden coexistir
varios negocios, cada uno de ellos con su propia
estrategia producto-mercado. En estos casos es
preciso distinguir tres niveles estratgicos:

1.-Estrategia corporativa.
2.-Estrategia de negocio.
3.-Estrategia funcional o poltica.


Esta jerarqua revela que antes de establecer las
estrategias funcionales es necesario determinar la
estrategia de negocio, y que la estrategia
corporativa, a su vez, debe ser previa a las
estrategias de los distintos negocios.


7.1.-ESTRATEGIA CORPORATIVA

Como su propio nombre indica, es la estrategia de
una corporacin, de ah que antes de entrar en su
contenido sea conveniente definir este concepto.

Entendemos por corporacin un conjunto de
negocios ligados entre si por relaciones de poder.
En este sentido, la estrategia corporativa es la que
corresponde a una empresa diversificada: debe
decidir sobre su cartera de negocios, hacia dnde
van los fondos obtenidos por la totalidad de la
cartera, dnde invertir y dnde desinvertir.

7.2.-ESTRATEGIA DE NEGOCIO

Es la dirigida a cada unidad estratgica
individualmente, pertenezcan o no a una
corporacin (de hecho los negocios constituyen la
base mayoritaria del colectivo empresarial).


Interesa que nos detengamos en explicitar las
caractersticas que determinan la existencia de un
negocio, por cuanto la correcta identificacin de
estas unidades constituye el punto de partida para
la posterior formulacin de su estrategia. Dichas
caractersticas son las siguientes:

-Actividad independiente, con objetivos propios.
-Se enfrenta a los problemas con su propia
estrategia.
-Se corresponde con un solo rea
producto-mercado.


Within one single company several (but usually
not many) businesses can coexist, each with its
own product-market strategy. In these cases it is
essential to distinguish three levels of strategy:

1. Corporate strategy.
2. Strategy of the business unit.
3. Strategy in terms of a particular function or
policy.

This hierarchy reveals that, before establishing the
functional strategies, it is necessary to determine
the strategy of the different businesses in which
the company is engaged; the corporate strategy, in
turn, must be determined before the strategies of
the various business units.

7.1. CORPORATE STRATEGY

As its very name indicates, this is the strategy of a
corporation, so before examining its content, it
may be appropriate to define this concept.

By corporation we understand a set of businesses
bound together by relationships of power and
control. In this sense, the corporate strategy is that
which corresponds to a diversified company: For
its portfolio of businesses, it must decide where to
allocate the funds obtained for the whole portfolio,
where to invest and where to disinvest.

7.2. STRATEGY OF THE BUSINESS UNIT

This is the process applied to each strategic unit
individually, whether or not the business unit
belongs to a corporation (in fact, for the majority
of companies as a collective, the business is
synonymous with the company).

It is relevant to devote some time to explaining the
characteristics that determine the existence of a
business, since the correct identification of this
unit constitutes the point of departure for the
process of formulating its strategy. These
characteristics are the following:

- Independent activity, with its own objectives.
- It confronts its problems with its own strategy.
- Its activity corresponds to one single product-
market combination.


31
En consecuencia, nunca debe considerarse como
un solo negocio actividades que abarquen dos
reas producto-mercado distintas y sin conexin,
con la nica excepcin de que dichas reas estn
conectadas verticalmente (por ejemplo, la
produccin de malta y la fabricacin de cerveza).

Como acabamos de ver, la empresa (corporacin)
se puede considerar como un conjunto de varias
unidades estratgicas de negocio, cada una
ofreciendo oportunidades de rentabilidad y de
crecimiento distintas, y/o requiriendo un
planteamiento competitivo diferente. De ah que
estas unidades se conviertan en los centros de
desarrollo del plan de la empresa, con sus
respectivos objetivos, estrategias y medios.

Por tanto, cabe definir una unidad estratgica de
negocio (Menguzzato y Renau, 1991) como un
conjunto de actividades homogneo desde un
punto de vista estratgico, o sea, para el cual es
posible formular una estrategia comn y a su vez
diferente de la estrategia de otras unidades
estratgicas. La estrategia de cada unidad es as
autnoma, pero no independiente de las dems
unidades, al estar integradas en la estrategia de la
empresa (corporativa). De esta forma, la unidad
estratgica "ser siempre una interrelacin de tres
variables: producto, mercado (segmento o grupo
de competidores) y tecnologa, en ntima rela cin
con el entorno en el que acta" (Bueno, 1987).


7.3.-ESTRATEGIA FUNCIONAL

En todo negocio existen una serie de actividades
esenciales a nivel funcional: aprovisionamiento,
produccin, marke ting, financiacin, etc. El
problema estriba en la coordinacin de las mismas
y su integracin dentro de la estrategia de negocio.
Como solucin se propone el establecimiento de
estrategias funcionales o polticas, que constituyen
la respuesta especfica del negocio, el camino a
seguir o la gua de accin, ante un tipo de
problema determinado.


Cuando la dimensin de la empresa y su
complejidad hacen inviable la coordinacin
informal y la supervisin directa por parte del
empresario, el mtodo para conseguir la
integracin de las diversas reas funcionales
consiste en el establecimiento de polticas. De esta
forma la organizacin conoce cul ha de ser su
comportamiento y las acciones que debe
emprender, permitiendo la "direccin por
excepcin", en el sentido de que la alta direccin
slo se ver obligada a intervenir en casos
"excepcionales", es decir, en aquellas situaciones
que, por su magnitud o trascendencia, han quedado
In consequence, activities that straddle two or
more different and unconnected product-market
areas should never be considered as one single
business, the only possible exception being those
areas that are related vertically (for example, the
production of malt and the manufacture of beer).

As we have just seen, the company (corporation)
can be considered as a grouping of several
strategic business units, each offering different
opportunities of profitability and growt h, and/or
requiring a different competitive approach.
Consequently these units become the centres of
development for the plan of the company, with
their respective objectives, strategies and
resources.

Therefore, a strategic business unit may be defined
(Menguzzato and Renau, 1991) as a set of
activities that are homogeneous from a strategic
perspective, for which it is possible to formulate a
common strategy that in turn is different from the
strategy of other strategic units. The strategy of
each unit is thus autonomous, but not independent
of the rest of the units, because they are all
integrated in the strategy of the whole company
(the corporate strategy). In this way, the strategic
unit "will be always an interrelationship of three
variables: product, market (segment or group of
competitors) and technology, in intimate
relationship with the context or environment in
which it operates" (Bueno, 1987).

7.3. FUNCTIONAL STRATEGY

All businesses perform a series of essential
activities at the functional level: purchasing,
production, marketing, financing, human resources
management, etc. But problems arise in the
coordination of these and their integration within
the business strategy. As the solution, the
establishment of functional strategies or policies is
proposed; these constitute the specific response of
the business, the route to follow, or the guide for
action, in the face of any particular type of
problem.

When the dimension of the company and its
complexity make it impossible or impractical for
the entrepreneur to coordinate them informally and
to supervision them directly, the method for
achieving the integration of the diverse functional
areas consists in the establishment of company
policies. In this way, the organisation knows how
it should behave and what actions it should
undertake; this enables the practice of
"management by exception", which means that the
boss or the top managers need only intervene in
"exceptional" cases, that is, in those situations
which, by their magnitude or significance, fall
32
fuera del mbito decisional del responsable de la
unidad o rea correspondiente. Por tanto, el
establecimiento de polticas permite delegar tareas
sin poner en peligro la consecucin de los
objetivos organizacionales.


Lgicamente, estas polticas tienen que ser
consistentes con la estrategia producto-mercado y
los objetivos generales que se persigan. En la
medida en que aqulla sea revisada y stos
cambien, las polticas de las distintas reas
funcionales debern ser modificadas y acomodadas
a la nueva situacin. No obstante, hemos de tener
presente que toda poltica se disea con una
vocacin de permanencia, tarda en calar en la
organizacin, y una vez implantada sta se resiste
a su cambio. Como indica Steiner (1979), nunca se
deben formular polticas si no van a ser ms que
una gua efmera para las actividades de la
empresa.

Queremos insistir en la diferencia entre estrategia
y poltica, por tratarse de dos trminos que tienden
a confundirse. El concepto de estrategia es ms
amplio, ms global que el de poltica, entendiendo
por este ltimo la respuesta especfica a una
categora dada de situaciones concretas, el camino
a seguir o la gua de accin para la solucin de un
tipo de problemas determinado.

7.4.-LOS COMPONENTES DE LA
ESTRATEGIA EN SUS DISTINTOS
NIVELES

En trminos generales, segn indicbamos en el
tema anterior, los elementos o componentes de la
estrategia son cuatro: campo de actividad,
capacidades, ventajas competitivas y sinergia. Para
profundizar en el contenido de los distintos niveles
de la estrategia, veamos ahora cules son los
componentes ms importantes en cada uno de ellos
(Menguzzato y Renau, 1991):

(1) Estrategia corporativa: se trata de acotar el
mbito de actividad de la empresa y asignar las
capacidades entre los distintos negocios. El efecto
sinrgico se busca mediante la complementariedad
de stos.



(2) Estrategia de negocio: se trata de establecer
cmo desarrollar lo mejor posible las actividades
correspondientes a la unidad estratgica, o sea
cmo competir mejor en un determinado negocio
(ventaja competitiva). La sinergia viene dada por
el acierto en la integracin de las distintas reas
funcionales.

outside the scope for decision, outside the terms of
reference, of the manager responsible for the
corresponding unit or area. Therefore, the
establishment of policies allows tasks to be
delegated without putting at risk the achievement
of the organisational objectives.

Logically, these policies must be consistent with
the product -market strategy and the general
objectives that are pursued. Whenever the strategy
is revised and the objective change, the policies of
the different functional areas will need to be
modified and adjusted to the new situation.
However, it should be borne in mind that every
policy is designed to be permanent, takes time to
be absorbed by the organisation, and once
implanted is resistant to being changed. As Steiner
(1979) states, policies should never be formulated
if they are not intended to be more than a general
or passing guide for the activities of the company.


We want to highlight the difference between
strategy and policy, which are two distinctive
terms that tend to be confused. The concept of
strategy is broader, more global than that of policy,
and the latter should be understood as a specific
response to a given category of concrete situations,
a route to follow, or an action guide for the
solution of problems of a particular type.

7.4. THE COMPONENTS OF STRATEGY AT
DIFFERENT LEVELS


In general terms, as indicated in the preceding
topic, there are four elements or components of the
strategy: scope of activity, capacities, competitive
advantages and synergy. For a deeper
understanding of the content of the different levels
of strategy, let us now consider what are the most
important components in each level of strategy
(Menguzzato and Renau, 1991):

(1) Corporate strategy: sets out to delineate the
scope of activity of the company and to assign the
capacities and resources among the various
businesses operated by the corporate entity. The
benefits of synergy are sought by taking advantage
of the complementary aspects of these distinctive
businesses.

(2) Strategy of the business unit: involves
establishing how optimally to develop and
implement the activities corresponding to the
strategic unit, how to compete as effectively as
possible in a particular business/market
(competitive advantage). Synergy is sought by the
optimum integration of the various different
functional areas.
33

(3) Estrategia funcional: la cuestin es cmo
utilizar y aplicar los recursos y habilidades dentro
de cada rea funcional a fin de maximizar su
productividad. El efecto sinrgico se deriva de la
coordinacin de las distintas polticas y acciones
de un rea funcional.


(3) Functional strategy: the question here is how to
utilize and apply the resources and capabilities
within each functional area with the object of
maximising their productivity. Synergy is derived
from the coordination of the different policies and
actions of a functional area.


34


8.-CASO PRCTICO: SARGON


8. CASE STUDY: SARGON


SARGON es un grupo empresarial que se est
diversificando hacia los sectores ms variados. Para
ello usa los beneficios de una de sus compaas,
ARCELL. El presidente de esta firma, sin embargo,
no est muy de acuerdo con este trasvase de
capitales.

Jack Marlowe, presidente de SARGON, se
enfrentaba a uno de los principales problemas de
su carrera. SARGON, en otro tiempo una pequea
empresa contratista dedicada a la defensa, era
ahora un grupo diversificado en el que destacaba
ARCELL, una empresa del sector de
electrodomsticos. El plan del presidente era forjar
un nuevo posicionamiento como un fabricante
mucho ms diversificado, listo para aprovecharse
de las nuevas y crecientes economas que surgan
en el mercado internacional.

El negocio de SARGON no relacionado con la
defensa abarcaba, adems de las secciones de
electrodomsticos, sistemas de frenado para la
industria automovilstica, componentes para los
equipos de telecomunicaciones y sistemas de
reconocimiento de voz. El gran dilema de
Marlowe era qu hacer con ARCELL, la filial de
electrodomsticos de SARGON. Y, por lo tanto,
qu hacer con el presidente de ARCELL, Charlie
Crescent.

La situacin

Tanto Marlowe como el director general de
SARGON, Hal Hestnes, haban pensado que, para
llevar a cabo esta estrategia de crecimiento y
diversificacin, ARCELL deba proporcionar una
parte del dinero que SARGON necesitaba. El
problema radicaba justo en este punto, ya que
Crescent no acababa de asumir este papel de
ARCELL dentro del grupo, que chocaba en gran
medida con su idea de empresa y sus planes de
futuro.

Nueva adquisicin

La situacin se complicaba ya que, entre tanto, la
reciente adquisicin por parte de SARGON de
CYBERAM, un productor de mapas para
empresas, no haba recibido ningn aplauso fuera
de los cuarteles generales del grupo. CYBERAM
tena un gran potencial, pero una cuota de mercado
todava pequea.

Supona tambin un esfuerzo para SARGON, ms
all de las actuales capacidades de produccin de

SARGON is a business group that has diversified
into a wide variety of different sectors. To finance
this strategy, it uses the profits of one of its
companies, ARCELL. The president of ARCELL,
however, is not very happy with this transfer of
capital.

Jack Marlowe, president of SARGON, was facing
one of the biggest problems of his life. SARGON,
in earlier days, was a small contractor company
serving the defense sector, but was now a
diversified group in which ARCELL, a company
in the electrical domestic appliances sector, was
one of the star performers. The group president's
plan was to forge a new positioning as a much
more diversified manufacturer, ready to take
advantage of the emerging, fast-growing
economies in the world market.

The business of SARGON that is not related to
defense included not only domestic appliances but
also braking systems for the automobile industry,
components for telecommunications equipment
and voice recognition systems. The great dilemma
for Marlowe was what to do with ARCELL, the
domestic appliances subsidiary of SARGON. And,
therefore, what to do with the president of
ARCELL, Charlie Crescent.


The situation

Both Marlowe and the Managing Director of
SARGON, Hal Hestnes, had though that, to
implement this strategy of growt h and
diversification, ARCELL should provide part of
the money that SARGON needed. This point was
the root of the problem, since Crescent did not
agree that ARCELL should play this role within
the group; that proposal very much ran counter to
his idea of company and his plans for the future.


New acquisition

The situation was further complicated because the
recent acquisition by SARGON of CYBERAM, a
producer of maps for companies, had not received
any plaudits outside the Head Office of the group.
CYBERAM had a great potential, but its market
share was still small.


The acquisition also represented an effort for
SARGON, beyond the current production
35
la empresa. Tanto la prensa como Wall Street
haban expresado dudas sobre la habilidad de
Hestnes para alcanzar el xito.

SARGON contaba con que ARCELL
proporcionara la parte del len de la inversin.
Algo en lo que no estaba totalmente de acuerdo el
presidente de la compaa.

La insistencia en la calidad de Crescent era una
tnica habitual. Estaba realizando innumerables
peticiones para reinvertir sus beneficios en
maquinaria nueva y en un sistema informtico
actualizado, as como para expandirse en el
mercado chino y en pases del este de Europa.
Adems, quera invertir mucho ms dinero en
investigacin.

Aunque ARCELL era una empresa rentable, que
ganaba mucho dinero, sus beneficios no eran
suficientes para destinarlos a sus planes de
crecimiento y, al mismo tiempo, cubrir las
aportaciones que se le exigan desde SARGON.

La duda

Marlowe, en definitiva, no saba qu hacer con
Crescent y ARCELL. Sus puntos de vista eran
irreconciliables con el papel que Marlowe y
Hestnes haban pensado para esta empresa en el
interior de la organizacin. Hestnes, incluso, ya
haba pensado en Pat Jameson como sustituto de
Crescent. Jameson fue quien realiz la mayor parte
de los preparativos para incorporar a ARCELL en
el grupo SARGON. Pero Marlowe no estaba
seguro de que tuviera el temperamento y la
paciencia necesarios para dirigir un negocio como
el de los electrodomsticos. Adems, Crescent era
an muy respetado por su gente.

Crescent tena un gran ego. Le resultaba muy duro
asistir a las reuniones en las que se abordaba la
estrategia de SARGON. Sola durar en esas
reuniones unos diez minutos, justo el tiempo
necesario para que Hestnes escuchara que
ARCELL estaba obteniendo los resultados
previstos. Crescent siempre se iba con mala cara.

Y otra cuestin: dnde colocara a Crescent si
finalmente le reemplazaba? Era demasiado valioso
como para dejarle marchar. Quizs lo mejor sera
tranquilizar a Hestnes y no hacer nada.


Marlowe volvi a pensar en la conversacin que
sobre este tema haba tenido con Hestnes. Hemos
estado hablando de esto hasta la extenuacin durante
las ltimas semanas, Jack, dijo Hestnes. Dejamos
ir a Crescent? Le mantenemos pero frenamos los
planes que tiene para ARCELL? Le trasladamos a
capacities of the company. Both the press and Wall
Street had expressed doubts on the ability of
Hestnes to make a success of it.

SARGON was counting on ARCELL to provide
the lion's share of the investment required. This
was something that the president of ARCELL was
by no means fully in agreement with.

Crescent habitually insisted on the importance of
quality for his business. He was always making
requests to the group to be allowed to re -invest his
profits in new machinery and in an up-to-date
computer system, as well as to spend money on
expansion in the Chinese market and in the
countries of Eastern Europe. On top of that, he
wanted to invest much more money in research.

Although ARCELL was a profitable company,
which was earning a lot of money, its profits were
not sufficient to cover both his plans for growth
and, at the same time, the contributions to group
investments that SARGON was demanding.

The doubt

In short, Marlowe did not know what to do with
Crescent and ARCELL. Crescent's views were
irreconcilable with the role that Marlowe and
Hestnes had in mind for this company within the
group. Hestnes had even been thinking, already, of
putting in Pat Jameson to replace Crescent. It was
Jameson who did most of the preparatory work for
incorporating ARCELL in the SARGON group
originally. But Marlowe was not sure that Jameson
had the temperament and patience necessary to run
an international domestic appliances business. In
addition, Crescent was still very much respected
by his employees.

Crescent also had a big ego. He found it very hard
to attend the board meetings at which the group
strategy of SARGON was considered. He usually
only stayed in those meetings for ten minutes, just
enough time for Hestnes to be told that ARCELL
was obtaining the results forecasted. Crescent
always left in a bad mood.

And other question was: Where could Crescent be
relocated in the group if he were finally replaced?
He was too valuable to be allowed to leave the
group. Perhaps the best thing for Marlowe to do
would be calm down Hestnes... and do nothing.

Marlowe recalled the conversation on this topic that
he had had with Hestnes. We have worn ourselves
out talking about this issue in the last few weeks,
Jack, said Hestnes. Shall we let Crescent go? Shall
we keep him or put the brakes on his spending plans
for ARCELL? Shall we transfer him to another part
36
otra seccin dentro del grupo? O, si la respuesta no
es ninguna de las anteriores, qu demonios
hacemos?


Ttulo original: The pitfalls of parenting mature
companies. Harvard Business Review, enero
1997. Tomado de la Revista EMPRENDEDORES
(Los casos de la HBR proceden de experiencias
reales, aunque los nombres son ficticios).

of the group? Or, if the answer is none of those, what
the hell do we do?



Original title: The pitfalls of parenting mature
companies. Harvard Business Review, January
1997. Taken from the Journal
EMPRENDEDORES (The HBR cases originate
from real experiences, although the names are
fictitious).


37


9.-LECTURA RECOMENDADA: MIS AOS
EN LA GENERAL MOTORS (A.P. SLOAN)


9. RECOMMENDED READING: MY YEARS
WITH GENERAL MOTORS (BY A.P.
SLOAN)


Afortunadamente para nosotros, escribe Alfred P.
Sloan de la General Motors, durante los primeros
aos de la dcada de 1920, y especialmente de
1924 a 1926, ocurrieron una serie de hechos en el
mercado automovils tico que lo transformaron
radicalmente. He dicho afortunadamente porque
todo cambio que amenazara la posicin
hegemnica de Ford representaba una oportunidad
para nosotros, y nos dispusimos a aprovecharla lo
mejor posible.

Para dar una idea del contexto global, voy a dividir
la historia del automvil, comercialmente
hablando, en tres periodos:

-Antes de 1908, debido a su elevado precio, exista
un mercado de tipo clasista.

-Desde 1908 hasta mediados de la dcada de
1920-30 triunfaron las teoras de Ford acerca de un
medio de transporte bsico a un precio asequible, y
el mercado se convirti en masivo.

-Despus de este periodo comienza la poca de un
mercado de masas pero con una oferta cuya
calidad y diversificacin aumentan continuamente:
es lo que podramos llamar un mercado
clasista-masivo, valga la paradoja, y creo que es el
que corresponde exactamente a la orientacin de la
General Motors.

Estos tres periodos aparecen insertos en el
desarrollo global de la economa americana y sus
respectivos lmites estn definidos por las varia-
ciones en el ritmo de este desarrollo y por su
progresiva extensin a sectores cada vez ms
amplios de la poblacin. En los primeros tiempos
la industria sobrevivi gracias a unas pocas
personas dispuestas a pagar un precio elevado por
un automvil que no ofreca apenas garantas de
seguridad, al menos comparado con los de ahora.
La produccin de un coche barato, como el modelo
T de Ford, slo fue posible unos aos ms tarde,
cuando un porcentaje apreciable de la poblacin
poda ya permitirse el lujo de disponer de unos
centenares de dlares. A medida que la economa,
y con ella la industria automovilstica, alcanzaba
cotas ms altas de desarrollo, fueron apareciendo
una serie de factores que causaron una nueva
transformacin.

Creo que, en esencia, estos nuevos factores se
reducen a cuatro: las ventas a plazos, la costumbre

Fortunately for us, writes Alfred P. Sloan of
General Motors, during the early years of the
1920's, and especially from 1924 to 1926, a series
of events occurred in the automobile market which
transformed it radically. I have said fortunately
because all change that threatened the hegemonic
position of Ford represented an opportunity for us,
and we set about taking the best possible
advantage of it.


To give an idea of the global context, I am going
to divide the history of the automobile,
commercially speaking, into three periods:

- Before 1908, due to its high price, there was a
class-related or elitist type of market.

- From 1908 until the mid-1920's, the theories of
Ford regarding a basic means of transport at an
affordable price triumphed, and the small elitist
market was converted into a mass market.

- After this period, the era commenced of a mass
market but with an offer whose quality and
diversification (range of choice) continually
increased: it was what we could call a class-related
mass market, a useful paradox, and I believe that it
is what corresponded exactly to the orientation of
General Motors.

These three periods appear to be related to the
global development of the American economy, and
their respective limits are defined by the variations
in the rate this development and by their
progressive spreading to increasingly broader
sectors of the population. In the early days the
industry survived thanks to a few people who were
ready to pay a high price for an automobile that
offered hardly any guarantees of safety, at least
compared with those of today. The production of a
cheap car, like the model T of Ford, was only
possible some years later, when a significant
percentage of the population could then allow
themselves the luxury of spending a few hundred
dollars. As the economy, and with it the
automobile industry, reached higher levels of
development, several factors began to appear that
produced a new transformation.


I think that, in essence, these new factors can be
reduced to four: purchase on credit or "easy terms"
38
de entregar el automvil usado como pago parcial
al adquirir uno nuevo, la carrocera cerrada y el
modelo anual (si quisiera tener en cuenta las
circunstancias externas, aadira la mejora de la
red de carreteras). Estos elementos estn hoy da
tan profundamente enraizados en la propia
naturaleza de la industria que resulta casi
imposible imaginar un mercado sin ellos, pero en
aquellos aos la situacin fue cambiando de un
modo gradual, pues cada uno de los factores
mencionados surgi independientemente y se
desarroll a un ritmo distinto; slo cuando todos
ellos hubieron madurado y ejercieron un efecto
conjunto se produjo una transformacin brusca e
irreversible.

Las ventas a plazos haban aparecido, en pequea
escala, poco antes de la Primera Guerra Mundial,
pero una vez normalizada y generalizada permiti
la entrada en el mercado de un gran nmero de
personas que de otra forma no hubieran podido
adquirir un automvil. Dado el crecimiento de los
ingresos y el carcter optimista de las expectativas
econmicas, lo lgico era suponer que los
consumidores exigiran cada vez automviles de
mayor calidad. El sistema de ventas a plazos
reforzara notablemente esta tendencia.

La costumbre de aceptar los automviles usados
como pago parcial de los nuevos se impuso a
medida que los primeros compradores se decidan
a cambiar de coche y nos entregaban el viejo. Este
hecho signific una autntica revolucin en la
industria, tanto en el mbito productivo como en el
de la distribucin, porque a partir de ese momento
la mayora de los clientes potenciales eran
personas que ya tenan un automvil.

Antes de la Primera Guerra Mundial la carrocera
cerrada slo se fabricaba por encargo, pero de
1919 a 1927 el automvil cerrado fue acaparando
una parte cada vez mayor de las ventas totales,
desde el 10 por ciento del primero de los aos
citados hasta el 85 por ciento del ltimo.

Acerca del modelo anual, a principios de la dcada
de 1920 no era an un concepto formal, tal y como
se entiende hoy da, excepto en la medida en que
estaba expresado negativamente en la doctrina de
Ford sobre un modelo nico e invariable en el
tiempo.

En 1921, cuando se produjo el cambio en la
direccin de la General Motors, no ignorbamos la
existencia de estos cuatro factores latentes, pero
para nosotros no eran ms que incgnitas, meras
tendencias expresadas en cifras que podan
analizarse sobre el papel. No obstante, la estrategia
plasmada en el programa de 1921 se adaptaba
perfectamente a la nueva situacin, a medida que
(hire purchase), the facility of trading in the used
car as part payment for the purchase of a new one,
the enclosed car body, and the annual model
change (if you wanted to take into account the
external circumstances, you would add the
improvement of the road network). These elements
are today so deeply rooted in the essential nature
of the industry that would be almost impossible to
imagine a market without them, but in those years
the situation was changing only gradually, since
each of the factors mentioned arose independently
and developed at a different rate; only when all of
the factors had matured and exerted a combined
effect was it possible to see it as an abrupt and
irreversible transformation.

Purchase on credit had appeared, on a small scale,
shortly before the First World War, but once it
became normal and generalised, it allowed
thousands then millions of people to enter the
market who could not have acquired a car in any
other way. Given the growth of incomes and the
optimistic character of economic expectations, it
was logical to expect consumers to demand cars of
increasingly better quality. The system of sales on
credit terms notably reinforced this trend.


The custom of accepting a used car as part
payment for a new one began to be adopted as the
first purchasers decided to change their car and
return the old one to the dealer. This financial
innovation signified a true revolution in the
industry, in the approach to both production and
distribution, because from that time on, most of the
potential customers were persons who already had
a car.

Before the First World War, enclosed bodywork
was only fabricated at specific customer request,
but from 1919 to 1927 the enclosed automobile
was accounting for an ever increasing part of the
total sales, from 10% in the first of those years
cited to 85% in the last.

Regarding the annual model, at the beginning of
the 1920's this was still not a formal concept, as
understood today, except to the extent that it was
expressed negatively in the doctrine of Ford to
offer only one model that stayed the same year
after year.

In 1921, when the change in the management of
General Motors took place, we were not ignorant
of the existence of these four latent factors, but for
us they were no more than unknowns, mere trends
expressed in figures that could be analysed on
paper. However, the strategy set out in the
program of 1921 was perfectly adapted to the new
situation, as this gradually took shape with
39
sta se iba perfilando con mayor claridad.

Creo que fue precisamente este plan -o poltica, o
estrategia, como se prefiera- el que nos permiti
actuar firme y confiadamente en medio de la
inestabilidad que caracteriz al mercado durante
toda la dcada; conocamos bien el terreno que
pisbamos y por ello nos sentamos seguros;
adems, sabamos que no estbamos avanzando a
ciegas, esperando un golpe de suerte, sino que
seguamos un camino cuidadosamente elegido.


Pero en mi opinin, el factor decisivo en esta lucha
competitiva fue la carrocera cerrada. El automvil
se convirti en un vehculo cmodo y apropiado
para cualquier poca del ao, por lo que su uso se
generaliz; sin embargo, la carrocera cerrada
tambin elev considerablemente su precio.


El auge de los automviles cerrados hizo perder a
Ford el liderazgo en el terreno de los precios bajos,
ya que su poltica estaba centrada en torno al
modelo T, pensado y diseado para ser un coche
descubierto; tena un chasis ligero, totalmente
inapropiado para soportar el mayor peso de una
carrocera cerrada, y por ello en menos de dos aos
el modelo T, cuyo diseo ya resultaba obsoleto, se
qued tambin anticuado en el aspecto tcnico. Sin
embargo, en 1924 Ford decidi fabricar un modelo
T cerrado, pero su participacin en las ventas
totales de la compaa fue muy inferior al que
alcanz este tipo de coches en la General Motors.
De 1925 a 1927, a medida que la reduccin de los
costes permita fijar menores precios, General
Motors fue ganando terreno a Ford. El viejo rey de
la industria no supo adaptarse a la nueva situacin,
y no es fcil explicar las causas de su fracaso.
Dicen que el modelo T era el automvil que mejor
encarnaba el concepto de un medio de transporte
primario y barato; lo cierto es que Ford tuvo que
dejar de fabricarlo porque ya haba otros coches
mejores, incluso desde el punto de vista del
transporte bsico. A pesar del talento y la intuicin
genial que demostr en la primera poca, parece
que Ford fue incapaz de comprender que la situa-
cin haba cambiado radicalmente y que el
mercado ya no era el mismo que l haba
dominado durante tanto tiempo.


Si volvemos por un momento a 1923, ao en que
la industria alcanz por vez primera una
produccin de 4 millones de unidades, observamos
que desde entonces hasta 1929 las ventas de
coches nuevos se mantuvieron a un nivel
prcticamente estable, a pesar de que el nmero
total de automviles en circulacin creca
continuamente; es decir, la demanda total,
increasing clarity.

I believe that it was precisely this plan - or policy,
strategy, if you prefer - that enabled us to act
firmly and confidently in the midst of the
instability that characterised the market during the
whole decade; we had a good understanding of the
territory we were operating in, and so we felt
reasonably secure; also, we knew that we were not
advancing blind, waiting for a lucky break, but
rather that we were following a carefully chosen
path.

But in my opinion, the decisive factor in this
competitive struggle was the enclosed bodywork.
In one step, the automobile became a comfortable
vehicle, suitable for use any time of the year, and
so its use became generalis ed; however, the
enclosed bodywork also raised the price
considerably.

The rise of the enclosed car, known as the saloon,
resulted in Ford losing the leadership on the
strength of their unbeatably low prices, because its
policy was centred on the model T, conceived and
designed as an open, hence exposed, car; it had a
light chassis, totally inappropriate for supporting
the greater weight of an enclosed body; for that
reason, in less than two years, the model T, whose
design was already obsolete, was also revealed as
technically antiquated. However, in 1924, Ford
decided to manufacture an enclosed model T, but
its share of the company's total sales was much
lower than that achieved by this type of car in
General Motors. From 1925 to 1927, as the
reduction of costs allowed lower prices to be set,
General Motors was gaining ground on Ford. The
old king of the industry did not know how to adapt
to the new situation, and it is not easy to explain
the reasons for its failure. It was said that the
model T was the automobile that best embodied
the concept of a primary and cheap means of
personal transport; what is certain is that Ford had
to stop manufacturing it because there were other
better cars, even from the point of view of basic
transport. In spite of the talent and brilliant
intuition that it demonstrated in the initial epoch, it
seems that Ford was incapable of understanding
that the situation had changed radically and that
the market was no longer the same as the one it
had dominated for so many years.

If we return for a moment to 1923, the year when
the industry produced 4 million units for the first
time, we can see that, from then until 1929, the
sales of new cars were maintained at a practically
stable level, even though the total number of
automobiles in circulation was continually
increasing; that is, the total demand, including that
for used cars, increased but the demand for new
40
incluyendo la de coches usados, aument, pero la
demanda de coches nuevos se estabiliz. La
explicacin de esta aparente paradoja reside en el
hecho de que ambos tipos de vehculos pasaron a
desempear diferentes funciones: la produccin de
automviles ya no responda exclusivamente a la
necesidad primaria de transporte, ya que sta era
satisfecha por los coches usados, mucho ms
baratos. Ford no comprendi la importancia
decisiva de este hecho, y por ello a partir de 1923
su concepcin estratgica se aparta cada vez ms
de la realidad.

Cuando los primeros compradores volvan al
mercado y entregaban su coche viejo como pago
parcial del nuevo, lo que estaban haciendo era
ofrecer el medio de transporte bsico para adquirir
algo ms. Los clientes de la clase media, ayudados
por los sistemas de intercambio de coches usados y
de pago aplazado, empezaron a exigir automviles
tcnicamente avanzados, cmodos, seguros,
potentes y con un estilo original y atractivo. Esta
era la tendencia dominante en los Estados Unidos
y nicamente triunfaron los que se adaptaron a
ella.

En cuanto a la evolucin del ltimo de los factores,
el cambio anual de modelo, ste no era uno de los
principios estratgicos de la General Motors ni de
ninguna otra empresa, al menos no explcitamente.
No obstante, la General Motors empez a fabricar
modelos anuales en 1923 y lo ha seguido haciendo
desde entonces. An no habamos formulado el
concepto en la forma en que se conoce
actualmente, pero sabamos que era necesario
cambiar para sobrevivir. Todos los aos
presentbamos alguna novedad, pese a lo cual creo
que Ford nunca se preocup seriamente de esta
idea; continu con la vieja poltica basada en la
produccin de un modelo invariable de automvil
utilitario.

Cuando Ford se vio obligado a cerrar sus factoras
pens que se trataba nicamente de una
emergencia temporal, pero que su poltica, aunque
distinta de la nuestra, era perfectamente viable a
largo plazo; en mi opinin, la crisis quedara
superada tan pronto como empezara a fabricar un
modelo que incorporase los ms recientes
adelantos tcnicos. En otras palabras, en 1927 no
se me ocurri ni por un momento que la poltica de
Ford haba sufrido una derrota definitiva.

cars stabilised. The explanation for this apparent
paradox lies in the fact that the two classes of
vehicle came to fulfil different functions: the
production of automobiles no longer responded
exclusively to the primary need for transport, since
this need was now met by used cars, much more
cheaply. Ford did not understand the decisive
importance of this fact; so, from 1923 on, its
strategic conception grew increasingly more
remote from the reality of the market.



When the first purchasers returned to the market
and traded in their old car as part payment for the
new one, what they were doing was providing the
market with the basic means of transport in order
to acquire something better for themselves. The
middle class customers, with the help of the
systems for used car exchange and for deferred
payment, began to demand automobiles that were
technically advanced, comfortable, safe, powerful
and with an original and attractive styling. This
was the dominant tendency in the United States
and only those who adapted to it triumphed.

In respect of the evolution of the last of the factors,
the annual change of model, this was not one of
the strategic principles of General Motors, nor of
any other company, at least not explicitly.
However, General Motors began to make annual
models in 1923, and it has continued to so since
then Although we had not formulated the concept
in the way that it is currently known, we did know
that it was necessary to change in order to survive.
Every year we presented some novelty but, in spite
of this, I think that Ford never concerned itself
seriously with this idea; it continued with the old
policy based on the production of an unchanging
model of utility automobile.


When Ford found itself obliged to close its
factories I thought that it was only a temporary,
emergency measure; I considered that its policy,
although different from our, was perfectly viable
in the long term; in my opinion, the crisis would be
overcome as soon as Ford began to manufacture a
model that incorporated the most recent technical
advances. In other words, in 1927 it never
occurred to me for a moment that the policy of
Ford had suffered a definitive defeat.