Strategic Management Practice - an Analytic Approach to Business Policy - Research Paper Example

Strategic Management Practice - an Analytic Approach to Business Policy for Growth and Expansion ABSTRACT Wulvern Housing Association is a charitable organization in Crewe and Nantwich. It provides housing for people in need and is a registered social landlord. Since its inception in March 2003, Wulvern has become one of the largest housing associations in the area. Wulvern’s customer satisfaction ratings are high and it focuses on involving its tenants in decision making. Wulvern’s strengths include its gas and repairs services and it focuses on improvements. The strategic issues facing Wulvern are the lack of customised services to diverse tenants, lack of commitment to the Value For Money Strategy, internal process weaknesses and cost reductions. The goals of Wulvern include providing excellent service standards, improving performance and growth. Strategic changes that need to be implemented are introduction of performance measures, total commitment to VFM at every level, utilizing knowledge about diverse customers and decreasing costs. Wulvern has shown great improvement in the past years and it is probable that its weaknesses will soon be rectified. INTRODUCTION Housing associations are non-profit bodies that provide low cost ‘social housing’ for people in need. Any profit achieved is invested back in the form of development and repairs. Housing Associations are also called registered providers (RP). Housing Associations are generally considered as private entities but in recent times many legal rulings have established them as public bodies due to public investments and working with the government. They are regulated by the Tenants Service Authority. Wulvern Housing association was set up in 2003 South Cheshire, UK. Wulvern serves over 11,000 customers across Crewe and is the largest Housing Association in South Cheshire. Wulvern Housing is a charitable Industrial and Provident Society and provides: properties for rent, purchase, shared ownership, sheltered accommodation and homes for disabled persons. Wulvern has been undertaking continuous development and expansion; they were awarded the Investors in Excellence award in 2010. (Congratulations to Wulvern Housing Ltd for achieving IiE Standard, 2010) The board of Wulvern comprises of five tenants, five independents and five local authority nominees. It has an appropriate range of experience and skills, a clear commitment to continuous improvement in governance and is actively involved in determining the strategic direction of the association. In 2006, Wulvern analyzed their progress since 2003 and reinforced their vision, mission and future strategy illuminating of their corporate objectives and goals. (Housing Corporation Assessment, 2007) The vision of the association is 'Excellence through Growth' and the corporate objectives are: • Commitment to customers • Sustaining and regenerating neighbourhoods and communities • Equality diversity and fairness. • Continuous improvement • Staff commitment • Financial strength and growth. The mission statement of Wulvern is to 'constantly seek better standards in everything they do'. Wulvern completed their five year promises in 2008. (TSA, 2009) Wulvern’s vision and objectives are ideologies rather than just the goals for the coming year. They reflect strategic intent as described by Hamel and Prahalad (1989). Wulvern operates in Crewe and Nantwich; it has the largest number of homes and the second lowest rent rate. It has the highest overall rating in the area, as well as the highest tenant satisfaction ratings (whether tenants feel their views were taken into account). It also had the highest tenant satisfaction ratings regarding the provision of repairs and maintenance. These ratings show that Wulvern is fulfilling its commitment to customers and is regenerating communities. (Landlords in Crewe and Nantwich, 2010) The main themes that the Wulvern’s Corporate Plan 2009-2014 revolves around are growth, sustainability and service improvement. These themes are to be incorporated in all actions of Wulvern. Four important priorities have also been identified: equality and diversity, value for money, health and safety, and risk management. All the stakeholders of Wulvern were involved in the corporate plan which states; “We will follow a Lean Systems Thinking approach to implementing the corporate priorities and the new set of customer promises”. (Housing, Corporate Plan 2009-2014) EXTERNAL ANALYSIS Strategic planning is an important step in most organizations (R. Whittington, 2008). To identify issues and weaknesses internal and external analysis should be the first step. (J. Vila, 2008) External factors constitute the institutional context of the organization (Ansoff 1968). Social norms, culture and values all affect the organizational intent, goals and strategy (Hofstede et al. 1990). Wulvern is influenced by social norms directly as it is a charitable institution and is expected to help and aid those in need of shelter and homes as well as disabled persons. The labour market, population trends, market trends, economic policies all effect the organization in the institutional context. Market trends: Due to the economic downturn, the demand for housing is on the lower side. This means that incomes are low and it is less affordable to buy a house. However, housing associations cater to housing needs of people in need. Thus, the economic downturn may result in higher demand for affordable housing. Other market trends also effect Wulvern Housing such as the Cheshire East area (Wulvern’s local authority) is considered the 8th least affordable district in the North West. When considering market trends, the net in-migration flows 2000-08 into Crewe and Nantwich were positive. These in-migrations were predominantly from Vale Royal District, South Manchester and other parts of Cheshire. Net inflow was highest in this area compared to other areas of East Cheshire. Net outflow was relatively less. Migration within East Cheshire provides a positive picture for Wulvern as Crewe exhibited the greatest degree of self containment meaning that 68.2% of moving households in Crewe originated from the same area. Around 15.9% of existing households planned to move in the next two years. 80.6% preferred locations within Cheshire East and 19.4% preferred locations that were outside the District. The main reasons why households planned to move out of Cheshire East included: wanting a larger property or one that was better in some way (24.1%); to move to a better neighbourhood/more pleasant area (19.2%); to be closer to work/new job (7.8%); and wanting to buy (7.8%). (Council, 2009) Supply Analysis: Developers in the area are frustrated with the length of time applications are held in the decision-making process by the local authority and felt delays in policy framework were holding back development. At a time when the economic conditions are a considerable barrier in forwarding land and development this should not be the case. Most developers are anticipating a long road to recovery and are focusing efforts on sites for lower density, family housing developments. The Local Authority area is considered a good market for this dwelling type. A slight rise in sales levels has resulted in developers acquiring sites and investing in developing traditionally popular areas. Developers are looking at joint ventures with RSLs to share the upfront development costs for mixed tenure housing developments. (Council, 2009) Demand analysis: Keeping in mind the economic conditions, the demand for housing in Cheshire East is surprisingly high. Areas of Crewe and Nantwich where Wulvern housing operates is on the positive end. Demand for high end properties in Nantwich is high whereas first time buyers prefer properties in Crewe. The low end market has recovered to a great extent increasing demand for homes. According to agents properties near local amenities and good schools attract interest from the house buying market. Agents in Nantwich and Macclesfield have commented that rural areas across the Local Authority are popular due to the property on offer and good reputation of the local schools. The town and district centres to the east of the Local Authority attract demand from commuters into Manchester and legal professionals from the west due to the perception of getting value for money in terms of property type, size and location in rural Cheshire East. Nantwich attracts significant demand across all purchaser groups. Agents in Cheshire East reveal that there is significant demand for rental properties which stems from potential first time buyers. An emerging trend within the rental market is that families that have faced redundancies have moved from the owner occupier market to the rental market. The private rented sector is accommodating the shortfall of social rented stock in the area, with central locations in Crewe. Limitations on mortgage credit has meant that lower income households are finding it increasingly difficult to access the market and mortgage products available are rapidly diminishing. Shared ownership schemes currently suffer from lack of awareness, representing a nominal proportion of housing tenure nationwide. Some felt that the tenure would become increasingly popular within a climate of continued house price growth. However others felt that the sector suffers from lack of awareness and stigma in the context of an entrenched culture of homeownership. Shared ownership schemes available in areas such as Macclesfield and Nantwich had proved popular with local purchasers however. There is a requirement for clarity regarding the intermediate market products and it is timely during the downturn to enhance the profile of products such as Homebuy Direct, Rent to Homebuy, and intermediate rent as well as bespoke RSL and developer products. Analysis from this study and the wider stakeholder consultation suggests that there is a role for intermediate tenure products in Cheshire East. (Council, 2009) Regulation: As Wulvern Housing is registered social landlord it is regulated by the Tenants Services Authority which sets out standards for the associations to follow. It also schedules regular inspections and analysis to monitor the performance of the association. The Audit commission is a watchdog that conducts regular inspections on short notice that identify in detail the issues faced by the association. Services are thoroughly assessed to judge whether the association is implementing the equality and diversity guidelines, value for money strategy and providing effective and efficient services to tenants. (VFM strategy) Market Selection: Market selection can be compared to the biological evolution process and is affected by external factors. Wulvern has more than 50% of elderly and disabled tenants although their strategy was not specifically focused on that target. The environment and population trends have determined Wulvern’s main customer market rather than specific strategy. This relates to the market selection concept (Hannan 1989) According to Cummings and Doh (2000) the stakeholders can be presented in various contexts. As a result of the external analysis, the market context of stakeholder domains can be presented. INTERNAL ANALYSIS: Wulvern was handed over the housing stock in March 2003. Since then it has been facing criticism from regulatory authorities for not incorporating all aspects of services necessary. However, more recently in 2008 it has been acknowledged that Wulvern has improved its performance greatly. This can be attributed to organizational learning. Organizational learning is an emergent process as it gains knowledge and learning directs it strategies. (Grant, 1996) STRENGTHS According to the TSA website, Wulvern Housing has the highest overall customer satisfaction ratings as well as highest ratings for involving tenant’s and repair service in its area. The customer service has been made easy to use and accessible for tenants Information is easy to obtain and presented in an organized manner. Customer calls are divided into ‘value calls’ and ‘failure calls’. Value calls are those that the association has to make when anticipating the needs of the tenant. Failure calls are those that the customer has made when there is a complaint. Wulvern anticipates the needs of disabled tenants. It has an in house occupational therapist which assesses the needs of the tenants and adaptations are made to houses to cater to those needs. It is easy for diverse groups to access services as they are available in most languages and forms. Emergency repairs have a 97% completion rate and repairs are completed in 10.4 days. Tenants are extremely satisfied with the repairs service. Almost all homes meet gas servicing regulations and at the end of the 2008, 99.98 per cent of homes had a valid gas safety certificate. The importance of gas servicing is promoted through the newsletter, friendly reminder cards and an incentive is offered through entry into a monthly prize draw. When necessary, gas guards and legal action are used to ensure services are completed timely. Wulvern is ensuring the safety of its tenants by offering a full safety service to customers. Engineers service any other gas appliances, such as gas fires, free of charge. They will also test smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms. Customer satisfaction levels are high. (Short Notice Inspection, 2010) STRATEGIC ISSUES AND WEAKNESSES Threats from larger groups; Wulvern is the largest housing association in the Crewe and Nantwich area but there are other large associations in the country that could enter this area if Wulvern does not employ a growth and expansion strategy. Also large associations in the east Cheshire area such as Cheshire Peaks and Plains Housing Trust and Plus Dane are also direct threats. Wulvern may fail to achieve economies of scale if it does not expand and grow and it may fall short of the increasing demand for housing. Wulvern also needs the ability to take new initiatives and develop new services. According to TSA regulatory judgement in February 2009, Wulvern was adjudged to be meeting the three criteria of viability, properly governed and properly managed. The strategic issues faced by Wulvern as identified by the audit commission in its Short notice inspection July 2009 released in February 2010 are: With regards to customer service, internet services are not interactive and under developed. It is an effective provider of information but needs more services. The internet is a vital tool for people with disabilities. Wulvern also needs to keep detailed records of customer calls as they do not have sufficient information about the number of calls successfully dealt with the first time. They also lack proper records about how long a customer is kept waiting at their offices and how their queries are dealt with. Customers are given quality expectations but these need to be clarified further. Wulvern has the capability and capacity to address this issue and rectify it as it already has customer relations as a primary focus. Wulvern’s priorities in its corporate plan include equality and diversity but it faces major weaknesses and is not fulfilling this criteria. In current times, the population has become greatly diverse and to be successful it is necessary that diversity issues do not emerge. Wulvern does not have sufficient measures in place to judge the quality of service provided to, or the level of satisfaction of its customers from diverse backgrounds. It is unaware of whether diverse complainants have more reason to complain or be less satisfied than others. They also do not record the diversity of the person taking the satisfaction survey. Equality Impact assessments that were done led to suggestions to improve communication with people from diverse backgrounds as they were likely to have difficulty expressing their housing requirements. Wulvern created a leaflet that explained customer entitlements but that leaflet has not been commonly used by the service providers. Comprehensive diversity details are not imparted to the staff, which is directly in contact with the tenants leading to inferior service to diverse tenants. Wulvern does not meet good practice standards such as the CRE code of practice for rented housing or the Tenant Services Authority Good Practice Note 8. Wulvern’s sheltered schemes are not entirely compliant with the Discrimination Disability act (DDA) and some areas are inaccessible to disables tenants; although there is good progress in rectifying the situation. This issue is of tremendous importance as TNA focuses on diversity and equality. Although it will be costly to implement further measures and training, it will increase Wulvern’s ratings and currently it is lacking complete diversity understanding. Wulvern realizes this issue and has focused on it in its corporate plans. Weaknesses in the repair and maintenance services were found that limit customer choice due to limited appointment slots only available for morning and afternoon. There are few service standards and routine checks are no longer undertaken. Repair monitoring has to be re-ordered within six months, this limits the continuous assessment of repairs. The new system is not feasible as there is no continuous monitoring. A major weak area that is of strategic importance was identified as voids. The matching of potential tenants to voids takes a long time and tenants are not fully aware of their rights. For instance, tenants are unaware that they can ask for additional works, they are also in the dark about the standard finishing that can be expected in the properties on offer. In May 2005, void turnaround averaged 45 days; in July 2009 it was 50 days. Wulvern’s annual report 09-10 states that they have reduced it to 45.5 days again. Average voids costs increased from £ 2,153 in May 2005 to £ 2,481 in July 2009. The high void cost and time is unfeasible and costly. It affects profits and turnover. Wulvern has the capability to deal with this issue. Gas servicing is one of the strengths of the organization. However, certain issues have been identified such as the scheduling of gas servicing results in 2.29% of overdue gas services. But a major concern is the customer focus, appointment choices are not made known to customers unless they ask. The diverse needs of tenants are not provided to the contractors and may only be recognized when the contractor makes Wulvern aware of them. Reporting processes need to include board members more regularly rather than just annually as they hold corporate responsibility of this service. Wulvern’s main strategic weakness apart from diversity is its failure to implement the Value for money (VFM) strategy effectively. This is a case of logical incrementalism (Quinn 1978) as Wulvern has not completely committed to this strategy and has only taken a few steps in this direction. VFM needs to be implemented at every level and logical incrementalism is not the correct mindset in this scenario. Void costs have risen even as average repair costs have fallen. An effective VFM strategy would enable the association to grow and expand as well as spend more on its priorities. Wulvern’s costs are shown by comparative studies to be consistent with other similar organizations and quality measures have improved; but the strategy and the services have not been broadly established. The service needs to be market tested to establish its competitiveness. Wulvern lacks information and awareness regarding its costs and services compared to other organizations. Data analysis is required to set service improvement priorities. The market testing is necessary to assess the feasibility and efficiency of the services. However, it seems as Wulvern’s management lacks the understanding and know how about the VFM strategy. It has not grasped the concept of VFM and its application and importance to the company. Thus it is one of the major weaknesses that need to be rectified immediately. These strategic issues were addressed by Wulvern and an action plan was implemented. The plan made progress in the areas of: (Housing, Annual Report, 2009-2010) Customer service standards were established with agreements from the tenants. Wulvern and its contractors began the use of diversity data to anticipate the needs of diverse customers. With regards to gas servicing, the issue of appointments has been resolved by fixing timed appointments agreed to by tenants. Value for Money strategy has been agreed and tenants recruited to the scrutiny panel for this strategy. Comprehensive benchmarking completed to help analyze costs and services and improve them. These steps have led to an improvement in service delivery and progress. However; strategic issues still threaten the association. Customer focus is lacking in most areas. This concept needs to be the basis of all services provided by the association starting from customer service, gas servicing, and repairs and so on. The focus should be on anticipating customer needs and requirements as well as making them clearly aware of the service standards. Another major issue that needs attention is diversity, as continued use of data and compliance with TSA guidelines is necessary. Improvements in handling diversity have been noted but they are not sufficient. The value for money strategy has not been implemented and it is central to the association’s success and ratings. Rent and service charges of £554,000 were lost in 09/10, Wulvern needs to increase the pace of void properties being repaired and let out as this will decrease costs (Housing, Annual Report, 2009-2010). A survey in 2008 showed that half of the associations tenants are aged 60 or above and a significant proportion suffer from disability and requires support (Housing Corporation Assessment, 2008). However one of the weaknesses was that disabled tenants cannot access all areas as well as a customer services system catering entirely to this sector does not exist. Another issue that Wulvern needs to focus is indirectly related to its housing services and directly related to organizational and administrative aspects. Internal issues are significant and cause service problems. Due to these issues, Wulvern is unable to raise its service to the next level. They limit the potential of the company through restrictions on data collection and analysis. This leads to higher implementation and processing costs. It will be feasible to implement specific processes and software systems. Wulvern has not been widely implementing recommendations from inspection reports. For instance, VFM has been the main strategy to pursue which has not been implemented across the board yet and the environmental impact assessment recommendations were implemented but not utilized to a great extent. Changes in the manner of responsive repairs have been made without any consideration of its implications on cost. No measures have been put in place to identify and analyse the effectiveness of these changes. Generally, Wulvern reporting processes and data analyses methods are weak. Wulvern does not have specifically defined targets rather general ones such as ‘continuous improvement’. The performance measures it uses are unique, thus it is difficult to make comparisons with other housing providers. The IT systems of Wulvern do not meet the requirements of a modern housing service. Work schedules and data about customers is manually arranged and entered. The IT system needs to be updated. (Short Notice Inspection, 2010) These internal issues of process and strategy stagnancy as well as lack of evaluation and monitoring are an example of automated and habitual action theory that states that organizations generate actions in a non adaptive and unresponsive manner (Starbuck 1983). This theory argues that actions are taken first and rationalized later which is the case with Wulvern. SETTING STRATEGIC GOALS Although Wulvern is facing these strategic issues, it has been identified in most reports of the Audit Commission, Cheshire East Council and Tenants Services Authority that significant progress is being made to achieve the standard of quality. This progress has helped Wulvern in achieving the Investors in Excellence standard in 2010. The first step for Wulvern is to identify concrete goals and the methods of measuring achievement. As they lack performance measures they are unaware of how their changes are being perceived and what sort of impact are they having. ASHRIDGE MODEL OF ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION (A. Campbell, 1991) The mission of Wulvern Housing is to constantly seek better standards in everything they do. They need to quantify in real terms their goals and measures. The mission and the vision should lead Wulvern to concrete goals and objectives. Wulvern can employ a performance measurement system that reflects various organizational goals and strategies such as the balanced score card. (R.S. Kaplan, 1992)Wulvern’s balanced scorecard should look like this: Customer perspective Goals Measures Customer focus Satisfaction surveys, complaints records Customised service Diversity information, staff evaluation Customer involvement Number of cooperative efforts, customer satisfaction surveys. Innovation and Learning perspective Goals Measures Consistency of service Recording of calls Efficiency no. of houses using renewable energy Continuous improvement Comparision with similar housing associations, benchmarking Wulvern needs to comply with the Tenant Service Authority’s national standards that came into effect on July 2010 (Housing, Annual Report, 2009-2010). It is imperative that Wulvern meets these standards and they are a part of the goals and objectives of the housing association. The six standards are: 1. Tenant involvement and empowerment standard including customer service, choice and responding to complaints 2. Home standard including quality of accommodation and repairs and maintenance 3. Tenancy standard including allocations, rents and tenure 4. Neighbourhood and community standard including neighbourhood management, local area co-operation and anti social behaviour 5. Value for money standard 6. Governance and financial viability standard Many organizations face pluralism; meaning conflicting objectives from different stakeholders (J.L. Denis, 2007). Usually there is a conflict between share holders, management, employees and customers. However, in Wulvern’s case there is extremely low pluralism. Wulvern is a charitable non-profit organization and all excess revenues are poured back into housing projects. The regulatory body TSA has major power over the association and is focused on consistent service delivery and efficiency to satisfy customers. Customers are an active part of the board that governs Wulvern along with local authority members. As a result the views and interests of the stakeholders move in the same direction to promote the welfare of the community. Drivers of Pluralism (Jarzabkowski and Fenton 2006) High Low pluralism Wulvern Low High WULVERN’S NEW STRATEGY: Generic perspectives on strategy (Whittington, 2001) Outcomes Processes Wulvern does not solely aim for profit maximizing rather than serving community as it is a charitable institution. It aims for plural outcomes. Strategy in this context is a product of the social system. Housing associations in the UK are social landlords that provide social housing. Thus they are effected the most by social conditions and systems. When developing strategies, all internal and external factors should be taken into account. Wulvern faces a high degree of structural determinism. This is due to Wulvern being regulated strictly by the Audit Commission and Tenant Services Authority. They define the overall direction of the organisation and thus have the greatest impact on strategy formulation. Thus Wulvern has constrained strategic choice as it is bound to follow the guidelines of its regulating authorities. Axis of strategic choice and environmental determinism (Hrebiniak and Joyce 1985) Wulvern housing has major strengths compared to other smaller associations in Crewe and Nantwich but when compared to larger East Cheshire associations such as Cheshire Peaks and Plains Housing Trust it lacks consistency in service and customer focus. Although many improvements have been recorded in significant weak areas such as diversity performance and cutting the time taken to let out empty properties there is a lack of initiative on the value for money front. Wulvern’s managers need to match internal resources to external conditions (Strategy Contingency theory) and also follow the rules set out by the authorities that grant it legitimacy (Institutional theory). Wulvern should focus its strategy on four weak areas; customer focus, diversity and equality, value for money and internal processes. Wulvern needs to improve customer focus and make sure it is instilled in every aspect of service. Customers are the main stakeholders of Wulvern and they should be actively involved in the setting of standards for service. Even in strong areas such as gas servicing and repair services, the customer centric approach is lacking as appointments have to be made by customers and routine checks are no longer in place. The customers need to be made aware of the services that the association offers and what level of service to expect. This can be done by implementing routine checks and maintaining a higher standard in customer service. Wulvern has already developed specific standards in consultation with its tenants but there needs to be follow through. During new lettings all information must be provided to customers. Customer needs should be anticipated rather than just responded to. Gas servicing reports should be provided to the board on a regular basis. As majority of the tenants are aged and many face disabilities, the association should not wait for requests for adaptation and aid rather provide them from the beginning. As this is the majority segment communities should be focused singularly on their needs and satisfaction. Wulvern should comprehensively address the diverse needs of its tenants. Although it has recently started making use of diversity data in it services there is still much progress to be made. Wulvern must ensure that all staff is trained and aware of the diverse needs of clients and questions or requests are not required. Satisfaction levels amongst diverse customers must be monitored and assessed. At present there are no measures to assess this factor. There should be recording of calls and of diverse backgrounds on satisfaction surveys to record feedback from diverse clients. Wulvern should focus on meeting diversity and equality requirements. These measures will help Wulvern provide tailored services. They will also decrease costs as it will enable efficiency and effectiveness of service to diverse customers. The value for money strategy is an imperative part of TSA’s standards. It has been in place for long period and Wulvern has failed to fully implement it and reap its benefits. The strategy focuses on economy, efficiency and effectiveness. VFM means attaining the best outcomes with the available resources. Wulvern faces high void costs and is focusing on decreasing the time taken to let out empty property. It is succeeding to a certain extent but the focus is not on cost of VFM. Wulvern in the past has changed the way it provides repairs and gas services which has resulted in higher satisfaction levels. However, there was no performance measurement targets set for these changes. There were no evaluations regarding savings or customer satisfaction. All process and services that Wulvern is looking to implement must first be analysed in the context of performance objectives and cost savings. After implementation these changes must go through monitoring and evaluation procedures. Wulvern should also use benchmarking data to link costs and quality of services. The VFM strategy will clarify the concept of costs and service quality for Wulvern. It will make its processes and services cost focused which will result in reduction of costs and more money to spend on other priorities. Another aspect related to VFM is internal processes. Wulvern needs to change its internal processes and implement standard procedures such as performance objectives and measures. Strategic planning requires the collection and analysis of information (Langley 1988). The lack of information systems and monitoring process hinder overall strategy development. New projects and changes in servicing need to go through a feasibility analysis and evaluation and review reports should be generated after implementation to judge benefits and costs. Apart from this, a new information technology system is required by Wulvern. The manual setting of operative schedules and using different systems for different data are not efficient and effective ways to process information. Wulvern needs to develop a centralized database with all the information regarding tenants and their specific needs and backgrounds, schedules, appointments, services required and financial data. This will decrease time and cost of gathering and generating information and improve service delivery. Recommendations: Concrete performance objectives should be set. Performance objectives that should be set include decrease in re letting time and void costs as well as decreasing rent, increasing customer satisfaction, quicker adaptation of homes to specific needs and so on. Methods to assess performance include customer satisfaction surveys, number of complaints from diverse customers, time taken to respond to complaints, time taken to renovate and adapt lettings and frequency of repairs During new lettings all information must be provided to customers. Customer needs should be anticipated rather than just responded to. Gas servicing reports should be provided to the board on a regular basis. As majority of the tenants are aged and many face disabilities, the association should not wait for requests for adaptation and aid rather provide them from the beginning. As this is the majority segment communities should be focused singularly on their needs and satisfaction. All customers should be made aware of service standards and they should be involved in improvement processes through focus groups and regular meetings. Routine checks should be undertaken to check required repairs, customer problems and other maintenance issues. Monthly reports should be made and sent to the directors. Wulvern must ensure that all staff is trained and aware of the diverse needs of clients and questions or requests are not required. Satisfaction levels amongst diverse customers must be monitored and assessed. At present there are no measures to assess this factor. There should be recording of calls and of diverse backgrounds on satisfaction surveys to record feedback from diverse clients A new information technology system is required by Wulvern. The manual setting of operative schedules and using different systems for different data are not efficient and effective ways to process information Wulvern needs to develop a centralized database with all the information regarding tenants and their specific needs and backgrounds, schedules, appointments, services required and financial data. CONCLUSION Wulvern has shown great prospects of improvement by fast responsiveness to inspection reports. It has greatly increased customer satisfaction levels. It has improved repairs and gas servicing as well as improved accommodation. It focuses on providing tenants with all their needs, and all tenants are treated with the utmost respect. Wulvern has made great developments in it communities and lettings and has won the Investors in Excellence award in 2010. It needs to focus on embedding the VFM strategy and customer focus in all aspects of service as well as improving performance measurement processes and complying with diversity guidelines. BIBLIOGRAPHY A. Campbell, S. (1991). Creating a sense of mission. Long Range planning 24(4) , 10-20. Ansoff, H. (1968). Corporate Strategy: An Analytic Approach to Business Policy for Growth and Expansion. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Case Study: Wulver Housing. (2009). Retrieved 11 5, 2010, from Phoenix Renewable technology: http://www.phoenixecoenergy.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=78 Cheshire, M. (2008). Knowledge transfer partnerships. Retrieved 11 5, 2010, from http://www.cheshire.mmu.ac.uk/ids/home/activities/ktp/knowledge%20transfer%20partnerships.php Commission, A. (2009, 11 26). Wulvern Housing 'needs to do more to improve its repairs service', says watchdog. 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