Strategy and Management - Case Study Example

ANALYSIS OF EQUITY AND FIXED INCOME INVESTMENT Student’s Name Course Professor’s Name University City State 11 Cases Strategy and Management Case 1: Robin Hood Q1: Robin Hood’s dilemma started when his followers grew enomously. His campaign attracted even those with different intentions since quantity was more precious to quality. As a result, the group grew to an uncontrollable extent thus prone to the disciplined forces of the Sheriff. Most of the finances collected were used to feed the army thus minimising the amount distributed to the poor as it was intended. The demand for resources outweighed the supply. Robin Hood has a number of alternatives, but all had risks. First, he would change the strategy from outright confiscation and stealing to a safe transit levy through the Sherwood Forest. The risk was that it would risk losing support. Second, Robin Hood had the alternative of killing the Sheriff. However, he would risk provoking Regent, Prince John thus creating a stronger enemy. Third, Robin Hood would join the barons to grant him amnesty in case the campaign was successful. The risk was that he would risk losing all if considered a threat to the Kingdom. Q2: Things were going wrong to Robin Hood due to poor planning. He lost focus of his objective. Robin Hood has poor strategic plan the moment he considered quantity over quality. Q3: Robin Hood should consider making the large following that he had more productive. That is, he should divide the group into mini-groups and distribute them in the kingdom to avoid restraining of resources. The groups should also be independent through implementation of devolved administrative system. In such a scenario, the group membership per unit will be small thus back to the circumstance in which the goals of the movement was achievable. Case 2: Human Resource Strategies at Hewlett Packard The specific changes that Hewlett-Packard should make to its performance management framework to support its move into e-services can be summarised using the ‘plan,' ‘do,' ‘review’ cycle. Hewlett Packard must change its plan. In explanation, it must change what it does to accommodate the e-services. E-services should be integrated into its strategic direction and vision. The e-services should be shown in the strategic plan as one of the activities of Hewlett Packard. Effective leadership should also be put in place so as to ensure that e-services adhere to the goals of the company. A framework should also be put in place to ensure sustainable engagement among the stakeholders. In explanation, the leadership should be able to engage to its e-services staff and customers in an efficient and effective way. Hewlett Packard must also change the things that it does. In explanation, e-services should be added to the activities of the company. Methods should be put in place to ensure that the e-services are delivered effectively and efficiently. Performance management systems and service planning database should be in place to ensure sustainability. Structure must also be put in place that determines who delivers the services. Lastly, Hewlett Packard must change the review process to include the e-services segment. In explanation, structure should be set in place to determine how the e-services segment performs. The performance assessment should focus on the on customer satisfaction and targets that are reviewed using the performance management tools. Structure should also be put in place to ensure that the review outcome is communicated to the relevant stakeholders. The action after the review should be a proactive approach to ensure sustainability in the issuance of the services. Case 3: Organisational Purposes for a Social Services Department Q1. The “statement of purpose” gives the general acts as a guideline giving the general objective of the strategic plan. It entails the goals to which the rest of the purposes are embedded on. It is meant to ensure that the lives of the most vulnerable in Sheffield City Council community are improved. The purpose also aims to ensure that the locals are involved at all communal level to ensure sustainability. I do feel that it does the purposes it is meant to do. However, the number of people involves should be increased to include the institutions and outside professionals. The “primary objectives” are meant to determine the specific activities that are meant to be achieved in the period 2000 to 2003. I do feel like it is doing its purpose. However, the activities set to be done on the period are ambiguous and without specific set timelines. I would suggest that the objectives be precise and have a specific set timeline for each. The “service priorities” indicates the group of most vulnerable people that the strategy will focus on and gives the duration. I do feel it does its services. However, I would suggest that efforts were made on capacity building the public. The “targets” give the set goals to which the success or failure of the project is determined. It achieves its purpose but should also take consideration of the number of mental cases received in the period compared to the previous ones. Q2. The levels of purpose are greatly consistent to each other. They link to each other to achieve the main goals of the program. Case 4: Diversification in Agriculture Some of ideas that would entail utilisation of skills and sparing of the resources for farming business include engaging in alternative agricultural products such as fish farming, livestock production, and non-food crops. Fish farming is not a new farming activity in Wales and England. Farming of salmon has also been witnessed in the northern and western islands of Scotland and west coast region. In the United Kingdom, there are several farms that conduct freshwater fish farming. However, fish farming is classified under the ‘Aquaculture Production Businesses’ and must be authorised and licensed or registered in prior. The Food Standards Agency also handles the hygiene issues on shellfish and fish. Alternative livestock markets means less application of conventional livestock options. The farmers could, therefore, engage in the production or raring of species of angora rabbits or cashmere for their wool or goat for mohair. Goats and sheets can also be kept for the cheese and milk production potential as opposed to meat. The new world camelids such as vicunas, guanacos, alpacas, and llamas can be kept for their wool or pelt. In addition, birds such as ostriches, guinea fowl, geese, quail, and ducks can be kept for either meat or eggs. The farmlands can be used as a game in which animals such as wild boar and deer for venison are rared. In addition, worms can be cultivated for bait and compost. Production of non-food crops is another way of diversifying agriculture. Example of non-food crops includes the pharmaceutical crops; energy crops such as miscanthus and coppice; industrial fibre crops such as cereal straw, flax and hemp; and the specialty flowers. Climate change and it impacts also encourages the diversification of agriculture to crops that are used as biofuels, heat generation, and for electricity production purposes. Case 5: Flying Flowers Flying flowers add value for customers through ensuring that the services are of high quality during delivery. In explanation, the packaging of the flowers is done in a neat and a pleasant way. It also ensures that the flowers delivered at the door are fresh. The strategic position of Flying Flowers is sustainable as it is cost effective. It ensures that the profits are maximised. The strategic position of Flying Flowers is made of four main parts. First, the company focuses on buying the actual flowers instead of holding stocks. The strategy helps the business to cope up with the fluctuating demands that peaks twice per annum. That is, during the Christmas Day and Mother’s Day. Second, the company focuses on staff management and staffing. The company uses casual restaurant and hotel staff when they are laid off temporarily during the Mother’s and Christmas Day due to fall in tourists. The strategy allows the company to access labour cheaply. Third, the company uses a glasshouse which is not used to run its noisy machine used to make the polystyrene boxes in each of the annual working days. The boxes are, therefore, made available to serve throughout the season as they are piled in waiting. Lastly, the company has invested in information technology to help support control and marketing. The technology helps it target its specific customers. The acquisition of Gardening Direct makes sense since mail-ordering of bedding plant still falls within the threshold of Flying Flowers activities. However, the acquisition of Stanley Gibbons is somehow not in line with the production process. In explanation, publication and stamp supplies can only be used for marketing and mailing respectively, and the company does not seem to have the capabilities and competences. Same can be said on the acquisition of first-day cover suppliers. Case 6: Information Technology and the Five Competitive Forces Q1. Flying Flowers is a company that specialises in selling flowers via post. An introduction of information technology in its services will greatly impact it Five Competitive Forces. The description of the effects to the forces is described below. New Entrants: In case Flying Flowers integrates information technology in its services completely, the possibility of new entrants getting into the market will be minimised. In explanation, it will be expensive for anyone who wants to get into the business since the starting capital will be high. Power of Suppliers: Integration of information technology will be a threat to some of the intermediaries. For instance, marketing the product will be done online thus eliminating the publication costs. The company will also deal directly with the end user through avenues such as social media. Power of Buyers: Integration of information technology will make the buyers more knowledgeable of the products sold by Flying Flowers. It will also enhance access to the products. Furthermore, transactions will be conducted easily through avenues such as pay-pal. Substitutes Threats: The substitutes for such company with integrated information system will be physical stores. Such threat will be so low as more people enjoy online shopping since it saves money, effort and time. Competitive Rivalry: The rivalry will be lowered as few companies sell flowers online. As a result, the online consumers will have few choices to choose from. Customers will also decide on services such as Cash on Delivery to decide. Q2. The future strategies of Flying Flowers will be more focus on the online retail. It will also have to ensure that its products are lower than those of its competitors to increase sales. The company will also have to employ a relationship market expert who will focus on customer retention as opposed to acquisition. Case 7: Changes in Organisational Routines Q1: Changes in routines can help achieve strategic change. As per example 1, the CEO changes from an anti-social behaviour to social behaviour. Such a change can make the customers and employees feel more appreciated thus increasing the profits. Customer care services are critical in all the businesses. As per example 2, moving from open access to bidding for the resources ensures increases the price tag of the resource at hand. It limits the risky ventures as the projects become more profit oriented. In example 3, change in the strategic routines might help ensure that the health of the public is protected. Change in routines will ensure that the loopholes in which some of the pharmaceuticals use to maximise their profits through tampering with the precautionary processes will be sealed. As a result, the lives of the public will be protected. As per example 4, changes in routines can help empower the staff of a given company. For instance, the change in routine ensured that the staffs are competent and able to handle a lot of jobs through experience gained in team works. Lastly, changing the routines can help iron the differences among the staff members. For example, bringing the members of the operating board together ensured that they interacted daily. As a result, the organisation improved how it handled problems, and the understanding of strategic issues among the staff was improved. Q2. There are several routines that can be changed to affect change in organisations. For instance, companies should ensure that their employees understand the strategy so as to improve productivity. Companies also need to discourage the extra working hours so as to promote work-life balance and encourage productivity. Case 8: Differentiation in the Wine Industry Q1. The Australian wines can be more successful compared to their French counterparts due to a number of additional reasons. First, the Australian wines are less expensive compared to the French ones in the export markets. Most of the Australian wines in the export market sell at about $10 or less. Second, most of the Australian wines may be user friendly compared to the French ones. In explanation, they preserve the intense flavours of the grapes used in making the wine. Furthermore, the wines are pleasant and soft to drink while still young thus need no years for maturity. Third, Australia has unique wine blends. In explanation, Australia has already invented two original wine blend formulas. These are Semillon with Chardonnay and Shiraz with Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine bottles also have distinct labels that make them outstanding. In explanation, the majority of the grape in the wine is often listed first in the Australian wines and the amount of each of the wines is indicated in percentage format. Q2. There are a number of strategies that the French wine producers could use to counter their Australian counterparts. First, they need to name the wines as per the grapes used as opposed to their area of origin. Marketing a wine as per the grapes used makes it to reach a larger number of consumers so as to minimise the complexity of the products. It will also enable the wines reach even the less informed population. Using the grapes’ types can also make wine have more attractive logos. Second, the French should reduce the prices of the wines named based on their area of origin. Such wines are usually expensive since they mature over year and are of higher quality. Case 9: The Power of the Knowledge Worker According to Exhibit 10.3, human resource strategies can give competitive advantage to knowledge-based organisations in different ways. The strategies can be divided in short and long-term. In short term, the first strategy can be the setting of the objective. This is the setting of the goals that the staff are expected to meet. Setting such goals makes it easier to determine the progress of the strategy. Second, such performance is to be measured through performance metrics. In explanation, the strategies should be put in place to determine the extent to which the goals are met. Third, rewards should be given to the staff members that have met the set goals or have generally excelled. Such rewards can be in form of a simple gift, recognition, salary or wages increase, or even promotion. Such efforts will ensure that the staffs are encouraged to work hard. Lastly, the staff should be taken through a short-term training as a way of capacity building them. Empowerment of the staff members will ensure that they can excel in the dynamic market. The long-term impacts include leadership, workforce, and organisational development. In explanation, the short-term goals will ensure that the leadership skills in the company are improved thus increasing performance. The improved leadership will lead to the improvement in workforce as there will be low turnover rate. The appropriate skills will be retained in the company. As a result, the organisation of the company have developed automatically thus improving the performance and productivity of the businesses. Case 10: Espoused Synergies in Acquisitions Q1. The synergies described in the case study are the revenue and cost synergies. For revenue synergy, the corporate parent should ensure that it sells the products in its own distribution channel minus cannibalising the acquired entity. In explanation, it is expected that the combined outfit to make more sales compared to when the firms were working separately. Such efforts can be ensured through the entity selling more of its products to additional clients, more of the products to the given client base, or both of the two scenarios. In addition, revenue synergies ought to give the new outfit a bigger market share thus enabling it to raise the prices of the products. The corporate parent can also leverage the target’s know-how, geographical presence, or technology to increase its service or product offerings. On the other hand, in the case of cost synergies, the corporate parent should ensure that the combination results into reduction of the operating costs. It also should ensure that the combined entity experiences reduced capital requirements compared to what the distinct entities used. Q2. The realisation of the revenue synergy can be prevented by: when leading corporate entity cannibalise the target sales or its partner. This can be cause by the combined entity selling less or have a smaller market share compared to the distinct entities combined. The realisation of the cost synergy will be prevented when operating costs and capital requirements are not reduced courtesy of the acquisitions. Such shortcomings will see that both the revenue and cost synergies are not achieved. Case 11: Sustaining a Low Price Strategy: easyJet Revisited Q1. I do not think that the easyJet no-thrill strategy is sustainable. First, the acquisition of 30 new Boeing 737s at once was not a good idea. Such move ensured that a lot of capital was captured in the acquisitions and failure to acquire the passengers to fill them would mean waste of resources. Second, the several diversification models that the company engaged in made it risk its profitability. Such a move increased complexity of the business as well as financial costs, time overhead and time. Third, the move of acquiring old aircraft was not a sustainable move. Such outdated machines are not only expensive to repair but also not cost effective. It is also not a good move for easyJet to inflate the charges. Q2. I would recommend that easyJet make acquisition of new fleets in small portions. In such a strategy, they will be able to determine their saturation point and avoid pressure that comes with looking for the passengers. Wastage of resources will, therefore, be minimising thus sustainable. EasyJet should also ensure that diversification is done in stages with a single new business introduced at a time. Such a process would ensure that each of the new entities stabilises and becomes profitable before the next one is introduces thus sustainable. In addition, I would recommend that easyJet focus on buying new aircrafts to ensure that the maintenance costs are minimised. EasyJet management should use its economies of scale so as to address the additional costs since increase in ticket prices will make the company less competitive. Read More