While in the pits, let's think about strategic control...

According to Chapter 6 of our book, strategic control can lead to the prevention of crises, as well as soften their impact should they occur. One thing that managers can do to drive and direct strategic control is to identify certain factors. It is important to recognize "internal factors that can serve as effective measures for the success or failure of a strategy, as well as outside factors that could trigger responses from the organization" (Crandell 120). It is important to assess the firm's missions and goals and see how these determinants line up with them.

So first, it would be necessary to acknowledge the overall mission of Joe Gibbs Racing Team. The mission for JGR, like most racing teams, is to win! However, also included in the mission would be the safety of both drivers and teams, a good reputation, and the furthering of the NASCAR mission and sport in general.

Now it's on to some influencing factors. Internally, what factors can determine the success or failure of the organization? If the strategy is to be a competitive racing team, one factor could be the talent of the drivers. If JGR wants to be sucessful overall, then Hamlin, Busch and Logano all need to be successful individually.

Another influencing factor can be the amount of sponsors that the team has. More sponsors mean more money, which means more strategic control in the long run. So, the strategy will be to have enough sponsors to race effectively. The measure of success will be how many sponsors that the team can obtain and then retain.