The Stages of Business Strategy Applied by Tim Hortons - Assignment Example

1. Analyzing the logic of the case The main purpose of the case is to describe the story of Tim Hortons as the company that created the brand withthe highest popularity in its own country, Canada. In other words, the author tended to represent the main stages of business strategy applied by Tim Hortons in Canadian market. 2/ The key question the author is addressing is the ability of local company to create popular brand in globalized competitive environment. In the case, Tim Hortons Company recognized coffee as the main product it sells, which in the circumstances of other companies’ popularity made it hard to achieve the aim of becoming top brand in Canada. Thus, it was crucial for the author to reveal the main tools that enabled this achievement for Tim Hortons. 3/ The most important kinds of information in this case concern the history of company’s development. At the very beginning, Tim Horton opened his coffee and doughnut shop in order to gain income in the off-season. Then, this business attracted Ron Joyce, who became the owner of Tim Hortons after the previous owner’s death. Furthermore, the company became the property of American fast-food chain, Wendy’s. Nevertheless, the ability of Tim Hortons to create an attractive national Canadian brand evoked the willingness to make ownership again Canadian. 4/ The main inferences (and conclusions) in this case are about the key achievements of corporate management throughout the history of Tim Hortons. In particular, the company managed to “sell itself not only as a destination, but also a part of typically Canadian experiences outside its doors.” In other words, Tim Hortons is an example of the company that pays attention to the national component within its brand. By creating a certain type of popular culture between the Canadians, it gained popularity in different dimensions of its activity, both in outdoor and indoor segments. Thus, corporate overall strategy reveals its effectiveness in Canadian business environment. 5/ The key concepts we need to understand in the case are market share, best-managed and influential brand, organization’s positioning, organizational goal, and company’s overall strategy. In fact, all these concepts are deeply interconnected in the case of Tim Hortons. In particular, the market share is the amount of market the company owns. In this context, the growing amount of market share, or “gradual expansion into adjacent areas,” is the definition of this company’s overall strategy. Then, case discusses in detail the attractive traits of corporate brand. In this context, ‘best-managed’ refers to the ability of organization to create the best, or ‘influential,’ brand in the market it appears. Finally, the activity of organization has different dimensions. In addition to above-mentioned company’s overall strategy, author discusses organization’s positioning and organizational goal. On the one hand, positioning is “establishing goals and strategies that can help company be competitive.” On another hand, organizational goal has a clear definition as “a desired state of affairs that the organization attempts to reach.” Another explanation is “a result or end point toward which organizational efforts are directed.” 6/ The main assumption underlying author’s thinking is that attention to the brand appearance helped Tim Hortons to become successful. For this aim, he not only discusses the manifestations of company’s popularity through consumer culture, original slang and high sales but also writes about the influence of organizational structure on this process. In other words, the overall company’s strategy in terms of clear positioning and realized organizational goal of creating popular brand enabled the success of Tim Hortons. 7/ a) If people take the case seriously, the implications are working for any business environment. The story of Tim Horton’s store started in the non-preferable circumstances of narrow market. Notwithstanding this challenge, the ability to find the place for company’s brand and appropriate management of this organizational goal helped Tim Hortons chain to become so successful. B) If people fail to take the case seriously, the implications are unfavorable for any company. In contemporary branded world, it is crucial to realize the power of attractiveness and the type of identity that company creates. Thus, unserious dealing with Tim Hortons leaves the place to any other company that cares of its brand to become also successful. 8/ The main point of the presented in this article is that Tim Hortons created best-managed and influential brand and became successful in Canada. 9/ The implications of the material presented in the case are actual above all for local business organizations. In particular, Tim Hortons’ business strategy revealed its effectiveness in the environment dominated by global brands. Thus, flexibility of corporate management in selling ownership to fast-food chain of America can be considered as an unusual but good solution for the company that tries to compete with giant international corporations. In addition, the material is the lesson for any other stakeholder, because the topic of brand works in any dimension of contemporary business environment and in this case it shows that it is possible to succeed with its help. 2. General, task, and internal environment model General environment, as an outer layer of the model, shows the presence of factors that exist in the environment but do not have a direct effect on daily activity of Tim Hortons. Among its main illustrations of its influence, the role of international system is crucial for the company. In other words, the influence of foreign countries is an essential part of the company’s story. On the one hand, among the main competitors of Tim Hortons’ corporate brand, there are international companies, like Google, Apple, Visa, Facebook, and Microsoft. On another hand, the company was the part of American fast-food chain. Moreover, when Canadians claimed the company must come from Wendy’s’ ownership back to Canada refers to sociocultural dimension in general environment. Thus, the notion that each company competes both in external globalized and internal social worlds is working in the case of Tim Hortons. As for the task environment, competitors play the key role in Tim Hortons’ business story. From the very beginning, the case states that the company competed with “narrowly defined market typical of Krispy Kreme.” In other words, it worked on its corporate brand in order to show how different they are in contrast to their competitors. Nowadays, Tim Hortons also has to compete with other companies for Canadian consumers, especially with Starbucks. In the given circumstances, it also emphasizes on being different from the others. While Starbucks creates friendly and attentive atmosphere in cafes, Tim Hortons sticks to its national element and out-of-home coffee drinking. Recently, the company announced that it already competes with not only coffee shops but also fast-food chain like McDonalds. Thus, it is reasonable to state that Tim Hortons is growing and expecting the new challenges from its competitors. Finally, internal environment appears in analyzed case in the part where the author discusses management of Tim Hortons. In this part, the case shows that company needed ambitious and responsible people who comprehend how to behave to achieve their goals. In particular, the activities and outstanding personalities of Tim Horton and Ron Joyce played their part in company’s establishment. Even these days, it is possible to rely on their views and decisions as the basis for contemporary corporate culture within the company. In other words, management of Tim Hortons influences overall company’s behavior on market. In Tim Hortons’ case, appropriate setting of organizational goal and overall company’s strategy serve as an example of effective management. Because of this, company manages to maintain its influential brand in Canadian market. 3. Michael Porter’s material Based on the Michael Porter’s classification, Tim Hortons behaves more like differentiated organization. Precisely, the case does not mention anything connected with the price of its products but recognized lots of evidences that show how this company differs from its competitors on market. Among them, the roles of original slang, community building, and national context of Tim Hortons brand are the crucial elements of the success of its differentiation strategy. Firstly, company created its own slang. In the text of case, there appeared “double double” term that reflects the style customers order coffee in Tim Hortons’ shops. To use Porter’s term, better point-of-sale service is the background of differentiation strategy for Tim Hortons in case of original slang. In particular, Tim Hortons had recognized the most frequent type of order in its shops and used it as a new language marker. As a result, this market helps company’s customers to recognize each other in all the situations when they order coffee. Secondly, community of ‘Timmies’, or people holding a cup of coffee-to-go bought in Tim Hortons, is another indicator of creating community between company’s customers. In Porter’s model, this fact is also the part of differentiation strategy. In his words, it refers to the better after-sales service and support. However, the emphasis is rather on support than on sales in case of Tim Hortons. Actually, it managed to turn its products into ‘Tims’ people recognize long after the person goes out of the shop in ordinary situations. Hence, Tim Hortons helps to improve communication between the people by creating a common trait between them, because they all are loyal to company’s activity. Finally, in globalized business environment the fact that Tim Hortons is Canadian brand is the powerful tool for creating differentiation strategy. For Porter, nationality refers to better branding of corporate products. In this context, stressing on making Canadian coffee is a universal claim that helps to become popular in one country. While the other coffee and fast food chains have ambitions to enter several markets, Tim Hortons creates value by caring only of Canadian citizens. In fact, it supports this claim with actions. Among them, it organizes different activities like free swimming, holiday skating or summer camping for unprivileged children. In sum, by creating original language and using ‘Tims’, Tim Hortons managed to create differentiation strategy in Porter’s terms. In this case, sense of community within the corporate brand serves as the most powerful tool of its differentiation strategy in terms of creating attractive and universal solely Canadian brand. Read More