Strategic Plan
A strategic plan is the official, restricted method intended to help a firm to make out and keep the best possible placement with the most important basics of its setting (Rowley, 1997). The following is a strategic plan meant for Horizon, a telecommunication company that has a global presence. In the US, Unilever has a centralized IT department led by the IT manager, who answers directly to the chief executive officer. The vision of the IT department of horizon is to be a world class department that offers practical solutions for the company and support to customers. Therefore, this plan is meant to aid the company offer reliable after sale support to customers, answer to customer complaints, and helps the company employees
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Horizon has a customer care center in every branch that runs a toll free service to customers who may seek more information on the company 's products or general information on the management of the company. Within one year, the firm will develop a customer relationship management system that will offer more automated services to customers. The system will seek to add department options to customers who call the toll free numbers, including, products, human resource department, sales department, and support department. The team that will lead the development will be sourced from the business lead department, including maintenance team, and second level support. The Business leads manager will lead the team.
Within the year, the company will also develop a department that will offer online support to customers who may ask questions regarding the company’s products from the firm’s website. Social media managers will be recruited to tend to customers over the social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. The teams that will overhaul the company’s website by add links where the customers can interact with the social media manager and customer care
For any strategic plan to be successful there should be effective communication between the management and the employees. The department heads and managers should communicate to their subordinates the significance of their input in the development of the strategic plan for the company.The management should engage the staff in all the phases of the strategic plan as their perspective is valuable to the company. Employees will then be allowed to offer their input through different platforms, such as focus groups, surveys or questionnaires. This communication and engagement within the organization will give the management a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the company. For the strategic plan to be successful, both the management and the employees of the company should be involved in the implementation process.
The proliferation of social media helps customers become more empowered and engaged in their brand interactions, while also providing them with new tools in their search, evaluation, choice and purchases of marketing offerings” (Vinerean, 2017). Therefore, it is essential that the former Genaflek employees enhance their skill set to include social media marketing tactics. They have been using more traditional marketing methods such as paper and television ads, focus groups, and press releases. RPZ will invest in an ongoing continuing education program. The program will allow employees to gain and retain the skills to become competitive in today’s market using social media concepts. RPZ will also hire a social media professional, as a consultant, who would be able to start the educational process and the continuing education program. Employees will participate in online courses to sharpen and stay on top of interpersonal, marketing and online skills. Frank Kasimov, of BusinessLenderMatch.com, says, “You can build on the traditional way of marketing and greatly increase your customer base and your company’s bottom line.” The former Genaflek employees would also have a vital role in training. They will introduce the former RPZ Social Media Analytics and new employees to systems and approaches used in traditional
The company has a self-organizing team and uses groupware, emails and blogs to communicate with the customers. 18.
A strategic plan is a tool that delivers guidance in achieving a mission or goal with maximum proficiency and control for an organization. Strategic planning is used to transform and revitalize organizations. The plan helps provide an inclusive understanding of opportunities and challenges both internally and externally for the organization. The plan delivers an assessment of the strengths and limitations that are realistic within the company. A well-developed strategic plan will offer a comprehensive approach and empowerment for the stakeholders involved. It is an opportunity for learning and understanding priorities that will drive the business to succeed. Jones (2010), describes how in health care organizations, strategic plans characteristically concentrate on operational and organizational goals such as when to obtain new technology, how to meet competitive challenges, and what staffing, tools, or facilities are needed to ensure organizational survival. The mission and value statements are significant in determining the quality of a strategic initiative. Forcing the organization to look toward the future creates proactive objectives in which both short-term and long-terms plans and goals are necessary in order to succeed.
At some point it becomes necessary for an organization to undergo changes. If embracing change is truly one of the organizations core beliefs than efforts should be taken to make the necessary transition. A strategic planning structure allows the organization to stay focused on plans, yet be flexible and adaptive and, therefore, able to deal with change effectively (Galbraith, et al., 2001, pg. 38).”
The case looks at prescriptive strategy as applied to multi-product group of companies. Unilever is based in over a hundred countries where multiple products are being made in each. However, the market is mature which means that growth is stagnant and innovation is almost non-existent. In order to improve on growth and sales, the strategies that are needed look at how to come up with new products that have high profit margins and penetrate new markets. The prescriptive approach was used to come with a strategy to improve growth and profit. In order to improve on innovation, both the prescriptive and emergent strategies can be used since both support innovation. From the case study, not much profit was made when the ‘Path to Growth’ strategy was first implemented (2001-2004). The strategy was initially based on cost cutting. There was a need to also build volumes through existing portfolio of branded products through innovation and marketing. By focusing on increasing sales in developing countries where growth prospects were high and increasing investment in personal care products where profit margins were higher, it was possible to improve the profit portfolio.
Strategic planning directs every movement in a business and is very essential to business performance (London 2002, pp.26-33). The strategic plan and operational plan are extracted from Best Buy Form 10K to better clarify the current situation and future direction of Best Buy.
1. Every organisation in both the public and private sector is in varying degrees dependent on materials and services supplied by other organizations (Johnson and Flynn, 2015:36-37). In your view, what role can supply play in determining an organization's strategic growth?
Value chain analyses a firm 's internal activities such as planning, production, and development, packaging and distribution so as to create value for clients. The function of the value chain is to identify the sources for cost reduction along with quality improvement. It means value chain is used to identify the strong and weak points, positive and negative points, the scope of improvement; in a nutshell, the advantages and disadvantages of the activities taking place in the system. The value chain is also called as a strategic analysis tool and it is a well-known concept in business management industry.
...ification as we move towards our destination IT architecture, and further strengthen our global market presence” said Neil Cameron, chief information officer at Unilever.
Strategic planning has a focus on stabilizing the current environment, and it also support the organization's business plans and goals. Strategic planning helps to implement new projects, new technology, consolidation of data centers, data warehouses, exponential data growth, cost of ownership, and resources available in an organization to assess the future requirements. Strategic planning analyzes the business plan, potential blockage or other issues in the current architecture, processes and their implementation in new initiatives, and processes. Strategic planning helps to formulate the ideas about the key factors that are affecting the present and future development of the organization and the opportunities offered by the environment and the competence of the organization.
...c management or planning presents a structure or agenda for dealing with issues and solving problems, therefore, understanding potential risks or pitfalls of strategic management and being prepared to deal with them is critical and vital to success. Strategic management not only permits top leaders and managers to be more proactive than reactive in building or developing their own potential or outlook in an organization, and it also lets them to make the first move and influence activities, consequently, executives and management can control or in charge of the company’s own future, and achieve its main goals and objectives. Overall, increasing cost-effectiveness and efficiency, improving the value for its stakeholders, and advancing customer services and management excellence are the key objectives of strategic management and decision making in an organization.
The strategic planning process is the formulation of the company’s major objectives and execution plans. This process is of particular interest in GE. Strategy formulation is the process of choosing the best methods for a company where customer needs; competitive position and internal capability are the three factors that play the main role in strategic planning. Every manager needs to have at least a simple notion of strategic planning to formulate his strategic plans. Strategic Planning is a wide and complex subject. Strategic Management background is an essential basis of any organization.
Strategic planning is an organizational process in which it looks towards developing and sustaining success or balance in its ever changing environment.
Strategic Planning is looking at where you are now, knowing where you want to be in the future and planning the steps to get you there.