Save Britain Money Micro-environment - Case Study Example

Save Britain Money s Submitted by s: Executive Summary Save Britain Money is a company that derives its origin from wales and has its head office in Swansea and an office that mainly deals with sales in Cardiff and employs almost 1000 people. More than five hundred people are self-employed in activities that are involved with Save Britain Money in the United Kingdom and the company is listed in the 100 best mid companies of 2013 (Best Companies, 2013). The company is headed by Neville Wilshire who founded it and is currently the chief executive officer. Neville Wilshire is a businessman who is based in Swansea and his company has several subsidiaries such as the Nationwide Energy Services, Save Me My Money, Debts Reduced among others that are in the business of availing services that will help the British public to save their money through using energy efficient surveys, renewable energy advice and installation, price comparison services among many more services as their scope is wide. The company through all its subsidiaries has the capacity to reach more than fifteen thousand families every week and out of this number they are capable of providing their service and products to more than ten thousand of these households (Savebritainmoney.co.uk, 2014). The company came about from the formation of Nationwide Energy Services in 2005 with had offices in Swansea which was aimed at assisting the Welsh people after their government had decided to give them grants that they would use to make adjustments to their homes so that they could better use energy. It worked by visiting the home and trying to give advice to the owners on what adjustments they could make before sending the people that installed the adjustments to finish the job and from this company save Britain Money was born later (Fastgrowth50.com, 2012). Stakeholder Analysis Mendelow developed the argument that if an organization had set its sight to reach certain milestones and achieve particular goals then it would be vital to consider the stakeholders that are concerned with specific matters that will be affected by the objectives that the organization has and the strategies that the firm will decide to use so that they can accomplish these objectives. (Norton, A., 2008, p. 36). The grid that he created can be used to identify the relationship that should be created with the various stakeholders where the position that the stakeholder will be in the matrix will be affected by how much power they have that can be able to affect the decisions of the company and the interest that the stakeholder has in the organization (Dalton, C., & Best, N., 2007, p. 25) Looking at the Save Britain Money stakeholders from the Mendelow classification point of view, the key players in the company’s success and daily operation would be the clients that the company offers its services to through it many subsidiary companies. This is the group that the company strives to make sure that they are always happy with the products that they offer so that they would continue doing business in the future and offering their services to them (ODonovan, 2011, p. 96). Save Money Britain is committed to helping people in the United Kingdom better their lives and the way that they live through services that they offer. These are the people that put them in business and therefore they have to make sure that they are always satisfied with the products and services that they give them. It is the group that possesses high power and high interested in the company since the services are tailored to work for them. When the company is marketing their efficient energy measures that will include home installations boiler replacements and renewable energy to its customers, they make sure that the customers understand the nature of this services and how they will make their lives better (Floyd, D., 2004, p. 42). It is important that the company convinces these clients to employ the ideas that they sell while at the same time agree to the implementation of these ideas through the installments that are needed since this will keep the customers interested in the services that thy have to offer. The company objectives will be put to test to see whether the company can deliver to its most important stakeholders what they promise and what they really need. These customers also have the potential of telling other potential customers about the services and products that are offered by Save Britain Money. The second group of stakeholders is that which has the people that have a high power but their interest level in the company is not as high as the first group. This group in the case of the Save Britain Money is those clients that have not yet enrolled for the services and the products that this company offers. These people will need to be informed of the product that the Save Britain Money has to offer and be convinced to adapt them so that they can better their lives (Botten, N., McColl, J., Harris, D., & Gledhill, M., 2008, p. 10). They have the potential of having a greater power in the matrix if the management will be able to convince them to their products by continually keeping them informed. If they decide to take interest in the company and what it offers, then they will quickly become influential and this is the reason why the company is always talking to new customers that need its services so that they can be better informed. (Gledhill, M., Harris, D. R. & Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2010, p. 53). There is also the group of stakeholders in Save Britain Money that have a high level of interest in the company but their power in the company is not huge and this position is occupied by the workers who work there and the management that is tasked with managing them. This is so because the workers have to be convinced that the company actually delivers before they can be able to convince the potential clients that the same thing (Thompson, J. L., 2001, p. 233). The interest of the workers cannot be taken for granted as this workers are the ones that deal with the customers directly. However, the power of the workers to make decisions will depend on the managers and what the customers that have the high interest and the high power want. Save Britain Money strives to keep the employees interested and motivated through constantly being kept in the loop about what is happening in the organization so that they can be better informed. Save Britain Money tries to engage with their employees so that they can get an environment that is conducive enough for them to be able to share their thoughts and ideas with the management in a free manner. It tries to better the working conditions of these workers through giving them a remuneration that is relatively fair compared to what other companies who are in the same industry pay their workers. It has also developed a “tell the CEO” scheme that is aimed at listening to the ideas that they would wish to share with the Chief Executive Officer who routinely takes his time to personally engage with the workers (Best, N. & Barnwell, H., 2008, p. 153). Competitive Environment Porter developed a framework that could be used for industry scrutiny and in the development of business strategies which depended on economics from industrial organizations to come up with five forces that were used to define how a market is competitive and how profitable it is. This framework came to be known as porters five forces which constitute three external forces and two that affect the company internally and they give evidence that competition continues even after a business is established (Porter, M. E., 1980, p. 6). After a company has pinpointed the confines in the industry that it operates in, it then has to make an evaluation of the competition that it is going to be faced with as it continues with its business so that it may know the opportunities that it can get and the threats that might work against it (Hill, C. W. & Jones, G. R., 2013, p. 42) In the industry that Save Britain Money operates in, the risk of getting new competition entering the business is very high since in their line of business they offer services to the clients that are meant to make their lives easier and more efficient. This competition will come from the companies that may not be competing in the industry currently but they have the potential and power to do so if they decide (Hill, C. W. & Jones, G. R., 2013, p. 46). Save Britain Money therefore has to work extra hard so that it can discourage other companies from entering the market that it operates in since this will lower the potential for profits that they currently possess. Save Britain Money works to tilt the economies of scale in their favor so that any competition that may try to enter the market will have to work harder to do so. The bargaining power of the buyers is a very important attribute to consider as far as the competitive environment in the industry that a business operates in is concerned since this is what decides what kind of power the buyers will possess and how easily they can be able to switch between suppliers easily (Ahlstrom, D. & Bruton, G. D., 2010, p. 133). In the case of Save Britain Money, it has been lucky since it controls most of the industry that it deals in making most of the potential customers that seek the services that they offer have fewer options when it comes to diversity of companies. This power that the buyer has enables the company to better control the industry and as a result of this they buyers don’t have a high power when it comes to the ease of how they can switch from one company to the other. In the competition environment of businesses in an industry, supply power plays a very important role in determining how the company will emerge on top of the competition and beat other companies. The supplier concentration, the cost that is relative to the purchases in the industry and the switching cost that firms will incur in the industry among others are the things that will be considered when making these judgments (Baier, C., 2008, p. 21). Save Money Britain is lucky since it does not have to look suppliers of its products and services as it has its own subsidiary companies that are tasked with theses duties when they arise. In the example where they offered advice on how best to use the grants that the government had given the people to make adjustments to make their houses energy efficient, Save Britain Money had their people advice the customers how they could do it and if the customers liked their idea, they went ahead to make the installations that were needed to be made themselves. Here it can be clearly seen that they did not have to look for a different company so that it could do the installations for them as they could do it themselves. Conclusion It is important to note that using porter’s five forces to evaluate the competition that Save Money Britain faces may be misleading to some extent since this model assumes that if the other competitors enter the market and succeed, then business for Save Britain Money will go down. This doesn’t have to be the case since the companies might even be willing to work with Save Britain Money and in the end this could lead to better business (Henry, 2008, p. 82). It is also important to keep in mind that some of the forces that are applied in this model are not necessarily deliberate and since they may come about as a result of the company making decision that were not connected to competition. References Ahlstrom, D., & Bruton, G. D. (2010). International management: Strategy and culture in the emerging world. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning. Best, N., & Barnwell, H. (2008). CIMA Official Learning System Test of Professional Competence in Management Accounting. Butterworth-Heinemann. Best Companies, (2013). Sunday Times List 2013 - 100 Best Mid Companies - 1-25. [online] Available at:http://www.b.co.uk/Lists/ListedCompanies.aspx?Survey=133&Size=351 [Accessed: 24 Feb 2014]. Botten, N., McColl, J., Harris, D., & Gledhill, M. (2008). CIM Coursebook Stakeholder Marketing. Burlington: Elsevier Science & Technology. Dalton, C., & Best, N. (2007). Integrated Management. Burlington: Elsevier Science & Technology. Fastgrowth50.com.(2012). Save Britain Money Group | Fast Growth 50. [online] Available at: http://www.fastgrowth50.com/2012/save-britain-money-group [Accessed: 24 Feb 2014]. Floyd, D. (2004). Business studies. London: Letts Educational. Gledhill, M., Harris, D. R., & Chartered Institute of Marketing (2010). Stakeholder marketing. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. Henry, A. (2008). Understanding strategic management. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hill, C. W., & Jones, G. R. (2013). Strategic management: An integrated approach. Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning. Norton, A. (2008). CIMA Official Learning System Integrated Management. Burlington: Elsevier Science & Technology. ODonovan, G. (2011). Solvency II: Stakeholder communications and change. Burlington, Vt: Gower. Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York: Free Press. Savebritainmoney.co.uk.(2013). About Us - Save Britain Money. [online] Available at: http://www.savebritainmoney.co.uk/about-us.html [Accessed: 24 Feb 2014]. Thompson, J. L. (2001). Understanding corporate strategy. London: Thompson Learning. Read More