The Core Business of Keller Williams Real Estate Franchise - Case Study Example

The core business of the Keller Williams Real E is to offer services that are meant to develop the agents in the real e industry through innovative learning. The company’s customer base is comprised of thousands of real estate professionals. It also has more than 79 000 associates and nearly 700 market center in North America. At the heart of this strategic direction is the model based on the notion of succeeding in the real estate industry which emphasises its winning models through training, coaching, educational events and best selling publications. Therefore, this paper seeks to analyse the environmental factors that can be taken into consideration with regards to a strategic plan for opening a Keller Williams Franchise. A SWOTT analysis will be utilised in this particular case. “A SWOTT analysis is a useful instrument for helping managers to identify internal strengths and weaknesses of a business and external opportunities and threats facing it,” (Strydom J. p 31). Basically, SWOT stands for strengths (S), weaknesses (W) while on the other hand the external environmental factors are regarded as opportunities (O) or threats (T) and the additional T stands for trends. This analysis is very important regards to opening a new franchise as it focuses on key strategic issues based on the notion that an effective strategy fully utilises the strengths and opportunities of a business and strives to minimise the weaknesses and threats. Likewise, Keller Williams Real Estate Franchise will not operate in a vacuum and the following SWOTT analysis is going to be used to explore the factors that can affect the establishment of a new franchise. Being a new franchise company, Keller Williams Real Estate will be committed to develop its business in the real estate industry. The best strategic plan for success of any business that is serious about achieving its goals is mainly dependent on its ability to scan the environment in which it is operating and the following analysis will highlight some of the factors that may affect its plans of opening a new franchise. SWOTT Analysis for Keller Williams Real Estate Franchise Strengths The major strength of the new franchise is built on the philosophy that agents are partners and stakeholders in business hence its carefully designed innovative learning programmes meant to develop the agents to become masters of their own destiny is a major strength. Weaknesses The main weakness that can be noted from William’s reality to establish a new franchise is that it overly relies on its agents for its profits since it does not deal with other clients directly. The failure by the agents might as well spell its failure too. Opportunities Williams Realty’s, agent driven technology development group is on the forefront of advances that continue to sharpen its agents’ competitive edge. The other opportunity is that it continues to use new information and technology in order to offer improved services. Threats Keller Williams Real Estate does not exist in isolation but in an environment where there are other players in the real estate industry. This always poses a threat to the other players in the same industry. Trends Organisations operate in an environment that is characterised by changing trends in political, social, economic as well as legal factors. Each organisation is expected to conform to the changing trends in the environment. Trends in the economy like the global economic recession are good examples. The following is a synopsis meant to analyse some forces and trends of both internal as well as external factors that characterise the environment in which Keller Williams Real Estate operates. External forces and trends considerations Economic- these factors affect every organisation somehow but their impacts depend on the preparedness of each company to deal with such issues. For instance, almost all facets of the global economy were affected by global economic recession that gripped the whole world in the mid 2000s and this severely affected business in various aspects. Negative trends in the economy may impact on the operations of the organisation. However, strategic plans for opening a new Keller Williams franchise posit to the effect that it can witness growth of business during turbulent periods which bears testimony that it is able to adapt to changing trends in the economy. The major issue facing Keller Williams is the impact of changing trends in the economy on its operation. This issue can be classified as an economic issue. Hypothesis- Negative trends in the economy impact on the viability of business? To what extent can business be affected by negative trends in the economy? What measures can be put to cushion the organisation from severe economic factors? Competitive analysis- Though there are other players in the industry, the organisation seeks to address customer needs through offering what they think is the best compared to the thousands of systems used by the highest producing agents in North America. Keller Williams seeks to create the model which is concerned with showing what it takes to succeed in real estate and it reinforces its winning models through engaging with the customers. No other organisation has this strategy in place and this will be a competitive advantage for Keller Williams new franchise. It can be noted that Keller Williams new franchise will prosper given that the mother company, Keller Williams Real Estate is the only major real estate franchise company in the North America to experience positive growth in 2009 (Entrepreneur Magazine 2009). This can be classified as an economic issue since competitiveness of an organisation is concerned with increased market share. Hypothesis- Improved organisational performance gives it a competitive advantage over rival competitors. To what extent can a new organisation derive competitive advantage through offering improved services and products to the customers? How can competition affect the viability of business? Legal and regulatory forces- Keller Williams franchise will be bound by legal regulations set forth by the government of the country it will be operating in. The new organisation has measures in place that are meant to ensure that it conforms to statutory regulations which gives it an opportunity to be on the right side of the law which gives it an advantage of creating mutual trust with its customers. Negative trends in the legal framework in which the organisation operates can impact on it but in this case, it seems there will be compliance with the law on behalf of Keller Williams which gives it an opportunity to operate successfully. This is a legal issue. Hypothesis- The legal and regulatory framework in which the organisation operates affects its viability? How is an organisation affected by statutory regulations? What measures can be put in place to ensure compliance with the law? Internal forces and trends considerations: Culture- In principle, the new Keller Williams franchise will be guided by values which encompass culture, social responsibility and ethics. The culture of the organisation will be mainly shaped by diversity where caring for different people will be seen as a virtue. Through this kind of culture, the new Keller Williams franchise will commit itself to finding and serving the higher purpose of business. This greatly will greatly help in building mutual trust between the organisation and the associates which is a great opportunity for the organisation. This can be classified as a social issue as it deals with human beings. Hypothesis- Culture in an organisation affects its relationship with its customers. How will culture affect the nature of the relationship between the organisation and its new customers? Leadership- essentially, the success of Keller Williams franchise in attaining its goals will mainly be attributed to the effectiveness of the leaders in an organisation who give direction towards the way it should operate. This will be based on commitment to training and coaching at every level which is at the heart of what will set the new franchise Keller Williams apart from the other competitors. It will be readily prepared to adapt to any change given that it will anticipate to meet the everyday needs of its consumers which may be susceptible to changes at any given time and this is an opportunity that can be harnessed by the organisation. This can be classified as a social issue. Hypothesis- The leadership style in an organisation has a bearing on its operations. How does leadership impact on the performance of the organisation? What is the main role played by leaders in an organisation? Goals- The organisation will also be guided by the principle of believing that business is in the communities hence the reason why the strategic plan has measures in place that are meant to ensure that a relationship through the customers is created between the organisation and its stakeholders which will give it an opportunity to achieve its set goals. Each organisation has goals and objectives to achieve and this can only be attainable if there is a clearly spelled direction which essentially means that the element of vision plays a significant role in the new Keller Williams franchise to be opened. In this case, the main goal is to operate profitably while satisfying the needs of the customers. Through its set goals, the franchise will strive to keep pace with the changes that may take place in the business environment in which it is operating. This is an economic issue. Hypothesis – Set organisational goals are responsible for giving direction to the way it operates. To what extent can organisational goals determine its success or failure? Strategy- simply put, this is a course of action that can be followed in an organisation towards the attainment of its goals. This often involves a unique way of doing things which is hardly imitable by the other rival competitors. The new Keller Williams franchise’s strategic position will be difficult to imitate given that its approach towards business will be different from the other rival competitors in the industry. The major opportunity for adaptable organisations like the new Keller Williams franchise is that it will be able to adapt to change since the strategies in place will be flexible so as to allow it to adjust the way it will operate in order to be better positioned to meet the needs of its customers. This can be classified as an economic issue. Hypothesis- Organisational strategy is responsible for shaping its goals. To what extent can the organisational goals be influenced by its strategy? References Pearce, J. A. II, & Robinson, R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Schultz et al 2003. Organisational behaviour. CT. Van Schaik Publishers. Strydom J. (2004). Marketing. 3rd Edition. Cape Town. Juta & Co Ltd. Thompson, A. A., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland, A. J. (2006). Strategy: Winning in the marketplace: Core concepts, analytical tools, cases (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More