Baubls, Bangles, Beads and Beliefes of Backwater Shire - Case Study Example

Bаublеs, Bаnglеs, Bеаds & Bеliеfs University Names: Submitted by Names: Tutor: Date: Introduction Located approximately 20 Kilometers Northwest of central Melbourne Victoria, Backwater Shire seeks to implement a strategic plan that would help the town grow into a town with unlimited opportunities and resources. This enshrined in its vision, which is to “to establish a place with unlimited opportunities for families and businesses.” The town is also committed towards embracing globalism, diversity and economic sustainability. Backwater Shire seeks to implement a growth plan, which focuses on economic development, creating share and value and sustainability as well as good quality services. The following paper presents the town’s situational analysis, corporate strategy and Kotter 8 steps. Additionally, it discusses the growth plans and the implementation and evaluation processes. Strategy implementation for Backwater Shire Council For the strategy implementation process to be successful, Backwater Shire leadership has to ensure that the council’s initiatives are aligned and that the budgets and performance are aligned. Another key area that the leadership has to be keen about for the strategy implementation process to be successful is the transformation to structure. The leadership structure should allow the identified strategies to flow down the leadership hierarchy as well as across the community that makes up Backwater Shire council. Since the current strategies are transformational, then there is need for transformation to structure. Another important element of the strategy implementation process is engaging the council’s staff members as well as the community at large. The community as well as the council’s staff members in different departments will play a crucial role in the success of the strategy implementation strategy. The council should ensure that all the proposed strategies are supported by the community and staff members. Monitoring and adapting is also necessary for the strategy implementation process to be a success. The strategies should be closely monitored in order to ensure that they are adaptable and flexible to changes in the community. It is also important for Backwater Shire Council to evaluate the current infrastructure and analyze how this infrastructure can be aligned with the proposed strategies. New infrastructure that supports the strategies should be developed and care should be taken to ensure that development process is aligned with the council’s budget. The council should hold regular meetings to assess the initiatives and discuss the direction for performance and strategic relevance. It is important or the council to review the strategies and their implications at least once a year in order to check whether they are aligned to the budget and whether they are having the intended impact. The council should also engage the community members, including individual citizens and business in the strategy implementation process. This would be achieved through training and skill development as well as offering of opportunities for business expansion and investment. Backwater Shire council also needs to come up with a vision for the implementation of the strategic plan. The vision should include a series of items that the council hopes to accomplish within a certain period of time as well as the different goals that need to be attained. The leadership has to ensure that every department, staff members as well the community at large knows the desired end results for the strategy. The council should also set up a team made up of experienced individuals to aid in the implementation of the strategic plan. The team should be visionary and focused on the goals of the strategic plan. Additionally, the team should have a clear understanding of the purpose as well as the steps involved in executing the strategic plan. Apart from that, it is important for the council to involve upper levels of the administration in the implementation process. This is important, as it will keep the upper levels of administrators informed about the ongoing project. It would also make it possible for Backwater Shire to get external support from the state administration as well as the national administration whenever necessary. Effective implementation of the strategic plan will largely depend on areas such as budgeting, information systems as well as the reward schemes. The council should ensure that the results of the strategic plan are integrated into the daily routines. The council should also ensure that common mistakes associated with implementation of a strategic plan are avoided. Such mistakes include lack of communication, losing sight of the long-term strategic goals as well as utilization of wrong scoreboards to measure the effectiveness of the strategic plan. Population growth There is the need for measures to be in place to address the high level of poverty and population increase. The increasingly high population is one the major problem that the mayor should address. The population is rapidly rising at a rate of 1.5 percent per annum globally and as a result of this increase, there is pressure on the scarce available resources (Vörösmarty et al., 2000, p. 286). With this increased population, the dependence on the finite available resources for energy and water is also threatened. Further, the potential exponential population makes the matter even worse. Therefore, improving the wellbeing of the residents of the local region, the mayor will make sure the following are in place: Building School It is important to ensure that schools are constructed within the region and can be accessed by every citizen. With the high population of citizens, it would imply that the current resources allocated to schools will be strained hence there is the need to increase the allocation to facilitate infrastructural development to enhance education. It is therefore necessary that at least one school be set up in every region where the children could access them easily. Education enhances the level of awareness of the citizens hence the approach will ensure the illiteracy level is managed. This development will take place immediately and be accomplished within a period of one year to ensure that the educational needs of the children are addressed adequately and immediately. Building Hospital Increased population implies that the medical facilities in the region are not enough to take into consideration the ever-increasing population of the region. Medical facilities are key to enhance the healthy well-being of the citizen in the region. There is the need to ensure that a well-equipped hospital is set up where it can be accessed by every citizen (Parker et al., 2003, p. 149). Additionally, clinics that are well equipped with facilities and trained medical professionals and practitioners are available in every region at a local level. The construction of the main hospital will take a period of 2-3 years, and it will commence immediately. However, to address the increasing need for the citizens in terms of medical facilities, the existing hospital will be equipped while the construction of clinics across the region will commence and expected to be accomplished within a period of 6 months. Residential buildings With a high population in the area, there is the serious problem of the supply of the residential properties that has led to increased price inflation. Housing shortage is therefore one of the major problem that the residents are facing and if not measures are not in place, the residents will be forced to love in slums an environment that is not conducive to human survival and wellbeing. To address the challenge of the housing problem, the mayor will focus on the following strategies. The mayor will introduce a Builders fund that will be at supporting the small and medium enterprises builders. The strategy will help to reduce the development contribution for about two years. There will also be the streamlining of the planning process to speed up the decisions and to reduce the possible delays. Further, there will be measures to reduce the VAT on the new homes construction from approximately 13.5 percent to about 5 percent for two years. Further to make this process a success, there will be the deduction of a windfall tax on the land from approximately 80 percent to about 33 percent to bring it in line with the capital gains tax. Additionally, there will also be the introduction of the vacant site levy on all the sites of strategic importance in a manner that is targeted and transparent. The introduction of a revolving infrastructure fund will be undertaken to enhance the financing of infrastructure provision upfront prior to development. Lastly, there will be the need for the greater action that will focus on cutting the total number of all the mortgages in arrears especially in the purchase to let sectors (Parker et al, 2003, p. 148). Economic Development Transport and communication development This infrastructural development is key both for the economic development and for growth. Transportation and communication are the backbones for the economic development (Lin, 2003, p. 281). The construction of major tarmac roads will take place within a period of five years. The major roads will connect the local region to the main urban centers to ease transportation. On the other hand, the communication network will commence together with the commencement of roads. Communication network will be installed in every main center of the local area. Telephone networks and internet connectivity will be installed to enhance communication both for the local and the international communication. Electricity supply The supply of power both for the industrial and domestic use is a key feature for the economic development. Most of the regions in this local area are not supplied with electricity, and most people have turned on alternatives particularly the use of other sources of energy such as firewood and paraffin. The mayor will ensure that the supply of electricity reaches all the residential areas. The supplier of the electricity will be invited to come up with a strategy that will ensure the cost of the power supply is reduced significantly to ensure that every local citizen can access electricity. This process of electricity supply will take off immediately and will run for about two years. The local government will pay half of the price required for the installation of electricity in every home, and the residents will have to pay the other half. This will ensure that electricity becomes the best source of energy for the residents since it is one of the clean sources of energy hence preserving the environment. Business strategy According to Singh et al. (2011, p. 213), the business strategies will be concerned with strategies that will enhance business growth. To encourage business transaction and exchange, the mayor will ensure there is the construction of the market that will bring the locals to buy and sell their products. This will facilitate the exchange of goods and services among both the locals and the visitors. To encourage transaction and business exchange, the tax on the goods transacted will be evaluated and reduced considerable to encourage the locals to exchange goods freely. The process of acquiring the licenses and the procedure to be followed for one to start a given business activity will be taken into consideration. Measures will be put in place to ensure that the process of starting a business and acquiring licenses of operation will be much easier. The locals will be allowed to continue their business while the processes of acquiring the licenses are still ongoing. The process will be reviewed to take a maximum of two weeks for all the process and requirements to be in place. For the external investors, the process of setting up a business in the local area will take about 4-5 months to ensure that all the requirements are inline and in order. Corporate social responsibility and sustainable The corporate social responsibility and sustainability major is concerned with the preservation of the environment. Every company and manufacturing firms within the local area will be required to develop their own cooperate social responsibility. This strategy will be required to be in place immediately a business is set to prevent pollution and enhance environmental conservation. Further, measures will be in place to ensure that every business has a strategy for their disposal of waste product and to encourage recycling of waste material to conserve the environment and for the sustainability purposes (Moon, 2007, p. 296). All these measure will be put in place for one year to encourage the potential investors to start arranging and preparing for the business development. Additionally, there will be penalties in place for all the companies and businesses that will not develop their corporate social responsibility and in the process pollute the environment (Porter & Kramer, 2006, p. 281). The resident who will be affected in the process of production by pollution either water and land pollution will have to be compensated fully by the responsible companies. This will enhance the culture of conservation and sustainability within the local area. Creative culture Creative culture is very important because it will bring about diversity, and the people will have to appreciate each other’s culture. The mayor will ensure that there is the [policy in place to ensure that there are cultural exhibition shows that will be held after every six months. According to Sherman (2006, p. 46), this exhibition will ensure that that every community in the region is well represented. At the exhibition show, the local community will exhibit their traditional held values and customers including, dressing codes, meals, and traditional weapons. In addition to this, within a period of 5 years term, there will be the construction of a museum that will be equipped with every culture in the community. At this exhibition room there will be every kind of culture that will be the face of the entire community. This will enable people learn other cultures and understand them as a unique diversity that should be viewed and considered as the community strength. Charges will be applied to facilitate maintenance, but the rates will vary for the locals and for the visitors who are not the members of this community. Income employment Employment is very important for the purposes of improving the well-being of the citizens within the area. Unemployment is a major problem that the residents have had to live with hence increased rates of poverty. There will be specific measures in place to ensure that the local government comes up with short term and long-term job opportunities for the youths and the entire energetic adult in the community (Goldin, 2006, p. 94). The locals will be given the first priorities in terms of employment especially when the government projects are concerned. The local government will therefore ensure that that there is the creation of approximately 2000 job opportunities every year for the locals to fight the high rates of employments. Within a period of five years, a higher percentage of all the population will be able to have employment with a steady income. Financial resources To enhance the financial resources, the mayor will ensure that measure are in place to attract both the local and international investors to invest in the financial sector such as banks and other financial institutions and microfinance (Jeucken, 2010, p. 69). To make this strategy a success, the mayor will ensure that there is the construction of the financial building for the investors to set up their business. This construction will take place within a period of five years. The local citizens will therefore have the opportunity to access these financial institutions for loans and other financial aids to facilitate their own business and wellbeing. There will be a massive promotion and advertisement both domestically and at the international level to create awareness to the potential investors of the available opportunities for investment in the local area. Global strategy To enhance global interaction and transaction, the measure will be put in place to ensure that that international relationship with the local government is enhanced. International trade will be encouraged, and this will be facilitated by encouraging the locals to invest in the production of cash crops for export. The local government will take a step within a period of two years to create awareness of the local products in the international market. The quality of products will be taken into consideration to ensure that the products meet the threshold required to compete favorable on the international market. Importation and exportation will be structured in such a way to ensure that the groups involved in the transaction benefit equality. The procedure to ensure that the local products are assembled or transportation to the international markets will be carried out with transparency. Further, the locals will be involved to make the process a success for the wellbeing of the residents (Yip, 2001, P. 56). References List Goldin, C. 2006. The quiet revolution that transformed women's employment, education, and family (No. w11953). National Bureau of Economic Research. Jeucken, M. 2010. Sustainable finance and banking: the financial sector and the future of the planet. Routledge. Lin, J. Y. 2003. Development Strategy, Viability, and Economic Convergence*. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 51(2), 277-308. Moon, J. 2007. The contribution of corporate social responsibility to sustainable development. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT-BRADFORD-, 15(5), 296. Parker, R. M., Ratzan, S. C., & Lurie, N. 2003. Health literacy: a policy challenge for advancing high-quality health care. Health affairs, 22(4), 147-153. Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. 2006. The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Harvard business review, 84(12), 78-92. Shayne Gary, M. 2005. Implementation strategy and performance outcomes in related diversification. Strategic Management Journal, 26(7), 643-664. Sherman, A. 2006. Toward a creative culture: Lifelong learning through the arts. Generations, 30(1), 42-46. Singh, S., Sharma, G. D., & Chahal, G. 2011. Corporate Social Responsibility or Bussiness Strategy. Available at SSRN 1846187. Vörösmarty, C. J., Green, P., Salisbury, J., & Lammers, R. B. 2000. Global water resources: vulnerability from climate change and population growth. science, 289(5477), 284-288. Yip, G. S. 2001. Total global strategy. Prentice Hall PTR. Read More