Implementation, Strategic Controls, and Contingency Plans - Research Paper Example

IMPLEMENTATION, STRATEGIC CONTROLS AND CONTINGENCY PLANS Lecturer’s Objectives Merifashion is a new startup business in the fashion industry. The main goal of the company is to be the leading company in the fashion industry in terms of the market share as well as the provision of high-quality products and services to its customers. Merifashion lacks a well-established brand in the fashion industry that is a major weakness the company is facing. Consumers will tend to buy and be loyal to companies that have already established a brand in the industry that Merifashion is lacking. Thus, the company plans to work on this weakness through increasing its market share and presence through adverting on both print and visual media to enhance its brand awareness. In addition, the company is facing a big threat from its rival companies. All the design companies are working very hard to outshine their rivals making it very difficult for Merifashion startup to have a good market share. Therefore, the main aim of the strategic plan is designing a plan for the company to increase its market share in the industry through creating brand awareness to its customers that will be achieved through advertising and provision of quality fashion products and services in affordable prices to attract the right stream of customers (Neumann et al., 2002). The main objectives 1. Creating a brand awareness for Merifashion Start-up Company 2. Provision of quality fashion products and services in affordable prices to attract the right stream of customers 3. Increasing Merifashion market share both locally and internationally Functional tactics Like any other organization in the industry, Merifashion Company has an ability of gaining a great market share in the industry if only appropriate actions are to be undertaken that can be developed from the opportunities that the company has in possession. The company has to be unique to be able to attract the right number of customers. This will be achieved by strategically positioning itself in the marketplace through the production of unique design products, high-quality products and offering affordable prices to its customers. The company needs to establish a strong brand image in the industry to be able to attract other customers from other companies in the industries. Maintaining the brand image and the customer stream is important in enhancing the company’s success that will be achieved through customer promotion (Ministry Of Energy And Natural Resources Menr, 2010). Thus, by focusing on the company’s weakness, the company will be able to emerge as a competitive force in the design and fashion industry to become a top global influence in the sector. This will be achieved through enhancing the brand awareness, reviewing of the production system by enhancing the development of quality as well as unique products and offering them at affordable prices to be able to have a competitive advantage in the marketplace over the other rival companies. Action items Merifashion company main actions items includes establishment of a strong brand image for the fashion industry to be able to attract the right stream of customers and reviewing its production system to produce unique quality products and offering them at affordable prices to be able to attract enough customers. A brand rather than a company sticks in the customers mind but they are expensive to create and maintain. A brand needs to be effective and appealing to the demographics. The company lacks awareness of its brand identity that is as important as the enterprise sustainability of its daily operations. A brand image and identity is everything that the potential customers perceive when they interact with a company (Cornut, Giroux, & Langley, 2012). Therefore, the company will strengthen their brand identity through advertisements in print and visual media i.e. through Facebook, Instagram platforms, Twitter, Google Plus, business magazines and newspapers as well as the television media. The company will be involved in inviting feedback from its channels to solicitate the customer’s feedback. This way, it will be very easy determining the customer needs and expectations and provide information on areas of improvement. A brand image can easily be ruined it is not maintained under close watch (Messmer, 1999). Effective management entails strategic competitive market positioning of the products, ensuring maintenance of the brand reputation, ensuring positive customer experience with the brand image as well as building a strong relationship with the customers in the demographic target that the company will aim at achieving. Milestones and a deadline The strategic plan is set to be attained in a four months period. Every month, the marketing and sales department will be involved in reviewing the company’s brand image reputation and its market share in the fashion industry. This will be easily determined by reviewing the company’s sales and profits before and after implementation of the stipulated plan. It is essential periodically to review the strategic plan to determine areas of correction that need to be changed as well as determine success of the plan (Sandholm, 2005). Tasks, ownership and evaluation A team of 11 company members will be composed and charged with the responsibility of implementing the plan. The team will be under a team leader who will be their manager. The overall management of the strategic plan will be foreseen by the sales and marketing director since it is the responsibility of sales and marketing department to enhance organizational brand image and foresee an increased company market share in the market place. However, the production department will collaborate with the plan stakeholders to ensure that unique quality products will be produced to attract the right stream of customers. Budget and resource allocation Diagram 1 illustrates the budget plan for the strategic plan Diagram- 1(Budget Plan) Creating a brand awareness Print advertisement Visual advertisement Managing the brand awareness $1500 $300 $650 $550 Quality fashion products and services Reviewing the production process Improving the quality of fashion products Incorporation of unique products $1200 $400 $500 $300 The main goal- Increasing Merifashion market share both locally and internationally Organizational change management strategies enhancing successful implementation Merifashion Fashion Company needs to set their mission, purpose, value and personality right, as they are not well articulated. These organizational attributes are very essential but are often less tangible and visible but will determine the company’s identity and brand image. These elements are very vital in influencing the public persona, as well as the brand reputation, by driving organizational positioning, marketing strategy, and decision-making (Bordia, Hobman, Jones, Gallois, & Callan, 2004). These elements are not Cleary defined thus they need to be defined and communicated to the customers. The more clearly that they are stipulated, articulated and followed, a stronger the company’s brand image will be created. Forecasted financials Financial forecasting is essential to be able to determine the revenue and income of the company to determine its financial positional. When making forecast, it is critical to understand the company historicals(Birenbaum & Lang, 2007). Every month previously, the company earned an average income of $2400. The company strategic plan will take four months of implementation. The money implementation of the scheme will be obtained from the company’s savings. During this time, the expenditure will be greater than the company income until after the third month when the financial state will become steadier. After this period, the income will be forecasted to exceed the total cost. As illustrated in diagram 2, line OA represents income variation before and after implementation of the strategic plan while line BC represents the cost. Fixed cost includes cost of adverting and maintaining the company’s brand image while variable cost is the cost to be incorporated when improving quality and developing unique products. Point P is the company’s Break-Even point where cost will be equal to income and point OQ represents the first three months of the strategic plan. After implementation of the strategic plan, the company’s expected sales are expected to increase by 36 percent with a 33 percent increase in the market share. Diagram 2- Break- Even Chart for the company Risk management plan A drastic change in the market situation is the risk involved in the implementation the strategic plan. A radical shift in the current trends of fashion products will affect the company since it will not have stabilized in the industry especially for the first three months of the plan. The company will be concentrating on production and adaptation on the current trends, but a further shift will be a big blow to the company. However, if it has to reach its target customers it has to adapt to the market situation to be more productive (Gonen, 2011). Thus, the company will analyze the current fashion trends to be able to determine the kind of products to produce. It will also set additional funds ($300) to be used for any potential risks. Conclusion Merifashion is a new start up business in the fashion industry. The main companys goal is to be the leading company in the fashion industry in terms of the market share as well as the provision of high-quality products and services to its customers. However, lacks a well-established brand in the fashion industry. The main aim of the strategic plan is designing a plan for the company to increase its market share in the industry through creating brand awareness to its customers that will be achieved through advertising and provision of quality fashion products and services in affordable prices to attract the right stream of customers. In line with the strategic plan, the fashion company needs to set their mission, purpose, value and personality right, as they are not well articulated to enhance its customer image. Financial forecasting is essential for the company to be able to determine the revenue and income to determine its financial position. References Birenbaum, R., & Lang, H. (2007). Financials. Maclean’s, 120, 70. Bordia, P., Hobman, E., Jones, E., Gallois, C., & Callan, V. J. (2004). Uncertainty during organizational change: Types, consequences, and management strategies. Journal of Business and Psychology, 18, 507–532. doi:10.1023/B:JOBU.0000028449.99127.f7 Cornut, F., Giroux, H., & Langley, A. (2012). The strategic plan as a genre. Discourse & Communication. doi:10.1177/1750481311432521 Gonen, A. (2011). Optimal risk response plan of project risk management. In IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (pp. 969–973). doi:10.1109/IEEM.2011.6118060 Messmer, M. (1999). Developing a Strategic Staffing Plan. National Public Accountant, 44, 20. doi:Article Ministry Of Energy And Natural Resources Menr. (2010). Strategic Plan 2010-2014. Energy (pp. 1–43). Neumann, P. J., Palmer, J. a, Daniels, N., Quigley, K., Gold, M. R., & Chao, S. (2002). Strategic Plan. The American Journal Of Managed Care. Sandholm, L. (2005). Strategic plan for sustainable excellence. 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