Strategic Resource Management of IMAX - Essay Example

?IMAX Contents Contents 2 Strategic Resource of IMAX 3 Critical Analysis 4 Evaluation of IMAX’s Decision Regarding Its Value Chain 5 Influence of Culture and Architecture on IMAX’s Ability to Compete 6 Partnerships and Alliances to Increase Scale and Scope 7 Reference 7 Strategic Resource of IMAX Every organisation uses different type of recourses like human resource, technological resource, intellectual resource etc. But, all recourse are not strategic in other words all the resources does not help the organisation to implement its strategies and maintain its strategic position. The resource will be considered as strategic if it is valuable (V), inimitable (I), rare (R) and unsubstitutable (US) (Haberberg and Rieple, 2008, p.285). As per the case the strategic resource of IMAX is its technology. The technology which it use and develop helps the company to attain its strategic position. The technology of IMAX satisfies the VIRUS criteria in the following ways:- The technology of IMAX is valuable in many ways. Firstly it gives the organisation an edge over its competitors. IMAX was the first company who initiated the larger format films. It also made light weight 3D camera. The technology of IMAX also helped the company to achieve the scientific and technical achievement Oscar Award in 1997. The technology of IMAX cannot be imitated easily. The technology which was used by IMAX was developed by its research and development section. The organisation incurred huge costs in order to generate the advanced and superior technology. More over the development of the technology was a time taking process and the organisation has to do research for years to develop the technology. Anything which requires huge cost and time to generate cannot be copied by any other organisation very easily. The strategic resource should be rare in the industry in other words it should not be easily accessible to the other organisation. The technology of IMAX was not assessable to the other organisation. Strategic resource should be such which cannot be substituted by any other alternative resource in order to imitate any strategic decision. The technology used by IMAX for 3D images was very unique which was developed by the research and development wing. This type of technology is very difficult to be substituted. In this case, as per IMAX its main advantage is having a good brand image, a brand of for making larger format film. As IMAX latter has to face a rival Iwreks in larger format film category therefore its claim of being a brand of larger format film is not a strategic resource. Critical Analysis IMAX is a huge company which is involved in film production, photographic equipments, film distribution and theatre operations. This company was the first one to be to operate in large format film in the world. The main strength of IMAX is the technical aspect which gives it a unique identity and differentiates in the film and photographic industry. IMAX has implemented various strategies to expand and grow. The options which IMAX considered for its growth and expansion strategy were all strategic options which mean it satisfied the RACE criteria that is the recourses for the option were available, it were acceptable, coherent with other existing plans and efficient to achieve the objective. For expansion and growth the company chose to locate itself in multiples theatres, converting the Hollywood movies in its format and installing its projectors and other theatre equipments in different multiplexes. These options were all strategic because:- The resource which were needed for these options that is the hi-tech theatre equipments were already available to the company. They did not have to arrange it separately. These options were aimed at increasing the customer base and the revenue therefore it was also acceptable to the stake holders. IMAX was already working in making movies in larger formats. Hence converting Hollywood movies in their format and shifting their location did not hamper their existing work. The objective of the organisation was to expand their customer base. These options not only helped the organisation to expand but also help them to grow, hence the objective was achieved. Evaluation of IMAX’s Decision Regarding Its Value Chain Each operational activity adds value to the product. By analysing the value chain one can which organisational activity is not adding value to the product. The value chain is basically aimed to add value to the product without incurring additional expenses (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2009, p.84). Several decision of IMAX regarding its value chain differentiates from its rival. First of all the research and development activity of the organisation in which the company spent a huge sum of money added value to the technological aspect of the organisation and help it to differentiate from its rivals. Secondly the decision regarding the transformation of the Hollywood movies into its own format not only helped it to expand itself but also gave an edge to the organisation over its rival. The decision regarding the locating its theatre in multiplexes helped the organisation to expand its customer base. In this way the decisions regarding the various activities of the organisation differentiate it from its rivals. Influence of Culture and Architecture on IMAX’s Ability to Compete The organisational culture and the architecture of the structure of the organisation influence the organisation’s ability to compete or its efficiency to maintain the level of competition. The organisational structure of IMAX helped it to compete and sustain in the market. The organisational structure of IMAX is based on its functions. There are seven directors and one chairman of directors. The different functional heads report to the chief executive officer Rich Gelfond. The functional heads comprises of the chief financial officer, chief operating officer, chief quality officer, chief administrative officer, executive vice president technology etc (IMAX, 2011). The film entertainment, theatre development and theatre operation are treated as separate functions of the organisation. This helps the organisation to control and monitor theses operation more accurately. Moreover this type of hierarchy helps in effective reporting and controlling of activities. This type of structure helps to focus more on its organisational goals and hence it enables the company to compete. If it had followed a matrix form of organisational structure which is generally followed by the IT companies, where a number of projects are done, the organisation could have lost its focus because unlike IT companies IMAX does undertake a number of projects. Therefore a functional organisational structure is the most suitable one for IMAX. IMAX also has a strong value system. Employees of IMAX maintain the ethical code of conducts. They try to avoid these situations where their interest clashes with the organisational interest (IMAX, p.5, 2005). Thus the employees work as a team for the organisation which enables the company to achieve its organisational goals. Partnerships and Alliances to Increase Scale and Scope It often found that in order to increase the scale of operation and tap the opportunities, companies often form tie ups and enter into partnership agreements with other organisations. Suppose, if one organisation is having advantage of wide client base and other organisation in a particular area and another organisation which is new in that geographic area but have higher expertise compared to other organisation that are operating in that sector can tie up with the former organisation and use its client base to have a market share. On the other hand, the former organisation can tap the expertise of the latter to increase the quality of its products and add value to its brand. Companies also use partnership to increase its volume of sales. Like Iwreks merged with Simex to expand itself in animation and also increase its volume of sales. Companies use partnerships to penetrate in the new markets. Reference Haberberg, A. And Rieple, A. (2008). Strategic Management: Theory and Application. Spain: Oxford University Press. Hitt, M. A. Ireland, R. D. and Hoskisson, R. E. (2009). Strategic management: competitiveness and globalization : concepts & cases. Canada: Cengage Learning. IMAX. (2005). Code of ethics. [Pdf]. Available at: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/11/118725/Code_of_Ethics_new.pdf. [Accessed on: August 22, 2011]. IMAX. (2011). Executive Officers. [Online]. Available at: http://www.imax.com/corporate/management/. [Accessed on: August 22, 2011]. Read More