Abstract:At present, the competitive environment of Chinese enterprises has shown typical dynamic competition characteristics, and in order to better participate in global competition, enterprises must correctly handle the problem of corporate strategic governance. This paper argues that the problem of enterprise strategic governance is a systemic problem, and proposes a framework of strategic governance from a systematic perspective, that is, to be familiar with the strategic governance of an enterprise from the four perspectives of enterprise organization, corporate culture, entrepreneurial ability and core competence.
Key words: strategic governance, model: business organization, corporate culture, entrepreneurial ability, core competency
1. The evolution of strategic governance theory
In the early 60s of the 20th century, Chandler, a well-known American governance scholar, published his book "Strategy and Structure: A Study of the History of Industrial Enterprises", which was the first to study the issue of corporate strategy. On this basis, two similar schools of thought have been formed in the study of strategic construction: the "design school" and the "planning school". Scholars during this period had different research methods and specific propositions, but fundamentally, the core idea was the same, and the starting point of corporate strategy was to adapt to the environment. The essence of a classic corporate strategy is the process of adapting an organization to its environment and the resulting changes in the internal structure of the organization. Therefore, in the implementation of the strategy, it is inevitable that the organizational structure of the enterprise should be compatible with the enterprise strategy.
In the early 80s of the 20th century, the competitive strategy theory, represented by Michael Porter of Harvard Business School, achieved the mainstream position of strategic governance theory. To sum up, the basic logic of Porter's competitive strategy theory is that industrial structure is the key factor that determines the profitability of an enterprise, and that an enterprise can influence the five forces in the industry (i.e., industrial structure) by selecting and implementing a basic strategy, so as to improve and strengthen the relative competitive position of the enterprise and obtain a competitive advantage in the market (low cost or differentiation); Value chain activities are a source of competitive advantage, and firms can implement their basic strategies through the adjustment of value chain activities and value chain relationships, including between activities within a value chain and between two or more value chains.
In 1990, Prahalad and Hammer published "Core Competencies of Enterprises" in the Harvard Business Review. This theory emphasizes the decisive role of internal conditions in maintaining competitive advantage and obtaining excess profits. In the mid-90s of the 20th century, with the increasingly dynamic industrial environment, the acceleration of technological innovation, the globalization of competition and the increasing diversification of customer needs, enterprises should cultivate development-oriented collaborative economic groups. In this context, surpassing competition through innovation and creativity has begun to become a new focus of corporate strategic governance research.
From the early development of strategic thinking to today's enterprise ecosystem theory, the following laws are implied behind the evolution of enterprise strategy theory: from the perspective of the content of strategic theory, there is such a development trajectory, that is, pay attention to the internal enterprise (emphasizing that strategy is a process of planning and analysis) - pay attention to the outside of the enterprise (emphasize the analysis of industrial structure) - pay attention to the internal enterprise (emphasize the combination of the construction and maintenance of core competencies and the analysis of the industrial environment) - pay attention to the outside of the enterprise (emphasize the cooperation between enterprises, From the perspective of the nature of competition, the degree of competition follows the development context from weak to strong, to confrontation, and then to cooperation and even symbiosis; from the perspective of the continuity of competitive advantage, from the pursuit of tangible (product), external and short-term competitive advantages to the pursuit of intangible (future), internal and lasting competitive advantages; from the perspective of the paradigm of strategic governance, the equilibrium and guessable paradigm of strategic governance has begun to be replaced by non-equilibrium and uncertainty.
2. Enterprise strategic governance model
In the process of the development of enterprise strategic governance theory, some scholars have proposed a variety of enterprise strategic governance models. Judging from the existing models, they are basically based on the narrow concept of strategic governance, that is, around how to carry out strategic planning, strategy implementation, strategic control and strategic revision, and the various models are only partially different in detail. Such a model certainly has some guiding significance, but it is no longer an appropriate model from the perspective of the broad concept of strategic governance. According to the concept of strategic governance in a broad sense, the implementation of strategic governance for an enterprise requires the entire enterprise as the governance object, which is the whole process and all-round governance of an enterprise. In this governance process, we believe that we should be familiar with the strategy of an enterprise from four aspects: enterprise organization, corporate culture, entrepreneurial ability, and core competence of the enterprise. For visualization, the following model can be built (see Figure 1).
Enterprise strategy is an overall plan for the future development of the enterprise, which determines the development direction of the enterprise, involving the relationship between the enterprise and the environment, the determination of the corporate mission, the establishment of the enterprise goal, the formulation of the basic development policy and the competitive strategy. Today, the environment is increasingly complex and changeable, in the face of economic globalization and the serious challenges of the knowledge economy, for any enterprise, regardless of whether to make a written strategic plan, enterprise strategy is no longer dispensable, at present, the mainland has joined the WTO, in the face of the unstoppable tide of economic globalization, through strategic alliances to participate in international competition, is an important strategy for the global operation of enterprises, is an effective means for enterprises to seize the market and reduce competitors through resource sharing and complementary advantages.
Enterprise organization refers to the structure of the enterprise as a system, which is the sum of all the relationships within the enterprise, which determines the operational efficiency of the enterprise. Specifically, the organizational structure of an enterprise includes the basic relationship between the three aspects of corporate governance structure, enterprise organizational structure and enterprise business process. The corporate governance structure reflects the relationship of checks and balances in the decision-making power in the enterprise, and the rationality of this relationship determines the scientific nature and decision-making level of the enterprise's decision-making. The organizational structure of the enterprise is the implementation carrier of the enterprise decision-making, and the rationality of this relationship determines the timeliness and effectiveness of the implementation of the enterprise decision-making. Enterprise business process refers to the flow of information, control flow, personnel flow, capital flow and material flow in the enterprise system, through which the various parts of the enterprise are connected into an organic whole, so that the enterprise system presents dynamic characteristics, and its smoothness is the comprehensive embodiment of the rationality of the enterprise structure relationship.
Nowadays, with the globalization of the economy, it has brought about a new form of enterprise organization——— virtual enterprise. A virtual enterprise refers to a temporary enterprise consortium in which several independent enterprises are connected by IT technology, share technology and market, and share costs in order to respond to rapid market changes. The change of enterprise organizational structure, so that the original enterprise incentive and restraint mechanism can not play its due role, for the new enterprise organizational structure, the original incentive and restraint mechanism needs to be innovated, the virtual enterprise is based on human capital, self-governance as the core of the incentive constraints, can make flexible responses to changing market conditions, and use the opportunity of entrepreneurship as a motivational force.
Enterprises enter the market under the impetus of entrepreneurs, and the quality of business performance depends to a large extent on the quality of entrepreneurs' human capital and its utilization. Entrepreneurs' behavioral choices play a crucial role in the performance and development of a business. This role is mainly reflected in several aspects. The behavior of entrepreneurs directly restricts the behavior choice of enterprises, in a sense, the choice or adjustment of the business field and direction of the enterprise is mainly the business of entrepreneurs; the behavior of entrepreneurs not only affects whether the behavior of employees can be transformed into effective contributions to the enterprise, but also their behavioral tendencies also directly affect the choice of employees' behavior mode and behavior strength; therefore, through the improvement of the incentive system, such as the introduction of stock options and other incentive mechanisms, so that the long-term interests of the operators can be fully realized through the sustainable development of the enterprise. In order to induce the operators to closely follow the changes in the internal and external environment of the enterprises, constantly analyze the external adaptability of the enterprises' operations, and adjust the development strategies of the enterprises in a timely manner, it is necessary to exercise effective control and restraint over the operators and their behaviors by improving the corporate governance structure. The corporate governance structure mainly solves the problem of the allocation of decision-making power between the owners and operators of the enterprise. When mainland entrepreneurs want to develop themselves, they must pay attention to solving problems in three aspects: improving their own credit and credibility level; intensifying the maintenance of their relationship networks; and guiding social values and shaping group paradigms.
As a result of the choice of enterprise or entrepreneur behavior, the decision to adjust the strategy of the enterprise is inevitably influenced by the corporate culture. The influence of culture on the business performance and strategic development of an enterprise is mainly reflected in its three basic functions: guidance, motivation and coordination. The guiding function of culture refers to the common acceptance of values to guide the employees of the enterprise, and the extraordinary is the strategic governor of the enterprise to consciously choose the decision-making in line with the long-term interests of the enterprise, and consciously show the daily behavior in line with the interests of the enterprise in the process of organizing and implementing the decision-making; The incentive function of culture mainly refers to the fact that employees consciously adjust their behavior according to the values and codes of conduct advocated by the corporate culture in their daily business activities.
The above functions of corporate culture affect the employees of the enterprise, and the extraordinary is to affect the behavior choice of the senior governance of the enterprise, thereby affecting the choice of the direction of corporate strategic adjustment and its organization and implementation, so the corporate culture should follow the strategy. Strengthen the construction of material culture, consolidate the foundation of enterprise strategic governance, and provide effective means for enterprise strategic governance; shape the behavior of entrepreneursEnterprise strategy, improve the level of enterprise strategic governance, cultivate corporate heroes, give full play to their exemplary role in strategic governance, build the code of conduct of employees, and form a huge joint force for the implementation of strategic governance; cultivate and innovate institutional culture, and provide institutional guarantee for enterprise strategic governance. Institutional culture is a normative culture that restricts the behavior of enterprises and employees. It mainly includes three aspects: enterprise leadership system, enterprise organizational structure, and enterprise governance system. The enterprise leadership system is the core content of the enterprise system culture, which can affect the setting of the organizational structure of the enterprise, restrict the strategy and corporate governance, transform the corporate culture, and promote organizational learning. The development of core competencies requires organizational knowledge innovation, which is the result of organizational learning, and organizational learning is carried out in a certain cultural atmosphere. Therefore, in order to promote the development of the core competencies of enterprises and overcome the characteristics of path dependence in strategic adjustment, it is necessary to shape a learning corporate culture.
With the emergence and development of enterprise resource base theory, the research in the field of strategic governance pays more attention to the advantages and disadvantages of enterprises than external opportunities and threats. On the basis of resource heterogeneity and incomplete mobility, the core competency theory puts forward a theoretical model for analyzing the sustainable competitive advantage of enterprises: the competitive position depends on the resources controlled by the enterprise in the final analysisThe enterprise strategy refers to the fact that in order to create a sustainable competitive advantage, the resources of an enterprise must have four properties, namely, value, scarcity, non-simulability and non-substitution. Value, only those resources that help to formulate and implement enterprise strategies and improve enterprise performance are valuable; scarcity, as long as the number of enterprises with unique valuable resources in an industry is less than the number of enterprises required to form a state of perfect competition, then this resource is scarce, and it may produce a sustainable competitive advantage; non-simulatory, only when valuable and scarce resources can not be simulated by other enterprises at the same time, the competitive advantage generated by the new strategy can be sustained; irreplaceable, there are two forms of substitution, one is similar substitution, such as different governance teams may be strategically equal, and the other is differential substitutionIf the two strategies are equal, then it can be considered that the resources of the leader's ability and the resources of the planning system are replaceable. When enterprise resources have four characteristics: valuable, scarce, non-simulable, and irreplaceable, enterprises with such enterprise resources can generate sustainable competitive advantage.
In the above model, the corporate strategy is located at the top of the diamond, implying the tension of upward development, and the corporate culture, entrepreneurial ability, core competence and corporate structure are located at the four vertices at the bottom of the diamond, indicating that the corporate strategy plays a supporting role and generates the driving force. Although the environment is uncontrollable by the enterprise, the choice of the environment will be affected by the corporate culture, entrepreneurial ability, core competence and organizational structure of the enterprise, thus affecting the choice of corporate strategy. Therefore, the five must adapt and promote each other, and each is indispensable.
3. Conclusion
The enterprise strategic governance model proposed here is a new attempt. Taking the enterprise as a system, we explore the relationship between system units and their relationship with the system environment from the perspective of the system, and try to study the process of its development and change from the perspective of system dynamics, so as to seek the way of governance and evolution process, so that it can develop in the direction that people expect.
Using the above model, we can clearly grasp that an enterprise, no matter how many problems it has, can be attributed to five aspects: enterprise strategy, corporate culture, enterprise organizational structure, entrepreneurial ability and enterprise core competence. On the basis of grasping the connections, we will explore the main problems and their connections respectively, and finally find a way to solve them. This attempt has important and positive guiding significance for the practice of enterprise strategic governance.
Enterprise strategic cooperation agreement, service provider + platform + financing to empower Sanshui enterprises in an all-round wayIn order to further accelerate the pace of digital transformation and upgrading of manufacturing enterprises and enhance their market competitiveness, on the morning of May 30, the Economic and Scientific Bureau of Sanshui District held a signing ceremony for the landing operation of digital service providers and project cooperation. The chief engineer of the Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology and the relevant leaders of the District Government and Digital Bureau attended the event to witness a series of achievements in the digital transformation and upgrading of Sanshui District.
Chen Zhenhao, chief engineer of Foshan Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, said that in recent years, Foshan has accelerated the pace of digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading, and encouraged enterprises to transform and upgrade through policy guidance and supporting support, and has created a total of 48 demonstration factories, 146 demonstration workshops and more than 100 benchmark projects in the city, with a strong atmosphere of digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading. A group of service providers will also have a great future in Sanshui, hoping to continue to make greater contributions to the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of Foshan enterprises and empower the development of a strong manufacturing city.
Chen Yuhu, director of the Sanshui District Economic and Scientific Bureau, pointed out that digitalization has become an inevitable trend in the development of contemporary enterprises, and as a new economic format, the digital economy has a leverage superposition and multiplication effect on the development of the real economy. Accelerating digital industrialization and industrial digitization is a key measure for Sanshui to inject new momentum into the high-quality development of the real economy. In the future, with the joint support of digital transformation service providers, relevant industry associations and financial institutions, Sanshui will actively use new digital technologies to carry out all-round and full-chain transformation of the manufacturing industry, promote more manufacturing enterprises to carry out strategic cooperation agreements on digital and intelligent transformation, solidly promote the construction of digital workshops and smart factories, and strive to create a "Sanshui model" for the deep integration and development of the digital economy and the real economy.
Under the witness of the leaders of the Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, the District Economic and Scientific Bureau, the District Political and Digital Bureau and other departments, Foshan Shugen Internet Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shugen Internet"), Guangdong Xinxin Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Xunan Digital Technology Co., Ltd. held an unveiling ceremony and officially settled in Sanshui, marking the further growth of the team of Sanshui's digital transformation service providers. More high-quality digital technologies will conduct a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of various industries in terms of business processes, system data, key indicators, etc., and customize exclusive digital transformation paths and solutions for manufacturing enterprises.
Three digital transformation service providers, including Tree Root Internet, were inaugurated
At the scene, 4 digital service providers in the region, including Kaos Digital Technology (Guangdong) Co., Ltd., signed strategic cooperation agreements with 8 manufacturing enterprises, among which Tree Root Internet and Foshan Keda Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. reached a transformation cooperation. Zhou Guosheng, general manager of Foshan Keda Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd., said that the cooperation in the construction of Sanshui's digital factory, from the initial planning, design, manufacturing, tree root interconnection all-round intervention, because the two enterprises are mainly based on machinery manufacturing, the same process, similar process, I believe that the road to digital factory construction will go more smoothly.
Sanshui District will cooperate with Foshan Information Association to provide enterprises with diagnosis, intelligent ginseng, talent and other services through "Foshan Smart Ginseng", so as to strengthen technical and information support for the digital and intelligent transformation of enterprises. Next, Foshan Information Association will comprehensively find out the current situation of Sanshui manufacturing enterprises in transformation and upgrading and the strategic cooperation agreement of enterprises in pain points through the combination of online diagnosis and offline research enterprises, provide enterprises with relevant consulting, counseling and various excellent resources required for digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading, empower enterprises to accelerate transformation and upgrading, and promote the high-quality development of Sanshui manufacturing industry. In response to the "pain points" of small and medium-sized enterprises in promoting digital transformation and intelligent transformation, Foshan Rural Commercial Bank granted a financing credit of 10 billion yuan to Sanshui District to escort the smooth development of the digital transformation and upgrading project of the regional manufacturing industry.
The regional pilot launch of the "Foshan Smart Ginseng" service platform was launched
Foshan Rural Commercial Bank provides financing support for enterprises in Sanshui District to transform into digital and intelligent transformation
The complete success of the digital service provider landing operation and project cooperation signing ceremony not only introduced high-quality technical, intellectual and financial forces to the manufacturing enterprises in Sanshui District, but also showed the determination to vigorously carry out the digital transformation work in Sanshui District in the future. Next, with the strong support of the Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology and other departments, the Sanshui District Economic and Technological Bureau will continue to consolidate its work, guide more manufacturing enterprises to understand and participate in digitalization, and jointly create a new situation for the transformation and development of the manufacturing industry.