The Ultimate Competitive Advantage - Assignment Example

Admail Case Assignment Admail Case Assignment Introduction Initiating a business is no doubt an achievement. Maintaining it, on the other hand, can be a challenge, as the economy regularly throws various trials across the faces of businesses. One of the primary challenges that firms face is whether they hire the right people, who believe in the dream and ideology of the institution. Similarly, project managers are always faced with the worry of whether their product or service will stay relevant in the market for a considerable duration or if it would grow into a brand. Constant pressure to deliver, which always results into fatigue, is another problem that project managers face on a regular basis coupled with the aspect of balancing quality delivery as well as growth and expansion of the business (Mitchell et al., 2003). The Canadian Post has over time served the Canadian citizenry correctly through all of their products and services. However, the Admail, which is tasked with the delivery of advertising messages, has in the recent past been on the spotlight due to inefficiency. The ineffectiveness has been brought about by the fact that on certain occasions, Admail helpers have not been delivering messages in time (Kernaghan et al., 2000). The once competitive and highly profitable part of the Canadian Post has faced a myriad of problems in the past, most of which have materialized due to the poor organization within the section. In handling this assignment, I am going to provide a vivid description of how to structure and manage the firm, which would compete effectively with Admail, and avoid the problems that it has been facing. This exploration is based on environmental analysis, organizational culture, planning as well as decision-making. Background of the Organization Admail, which is run by the Canadian Post serves well over thirteen million customers within Canada. It has managed to achieve such a customer base due to the influence of the Canadian Post, which is its parent organization. In order to put up another firm, that can compete with Admail as it expands, I would settle on the central Canadian region, notably Ontario to serve as the hedquarter. Apart from being strategically located to serve the entire country, Ontario has a large population, which would act as the perfect customer base with which to begin. For purposes of this assignment, the new firm would be referred to the Mail Daily. Mail Daily would be headed by a chief operations officer, who would be tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the daily tasks that concern the organization. Similarly, the organization would be divided into three departments, which are human resource, sales and marketing as well as the finance and operations department. The human resource departments purpose would be to ensure that Mail Daily hires the most suitable candidates, who believe in the objective of the organization as ensuring that the workers are subjected to appropriate conditions, which would enable them accomplish the objectives and strategies of the organization (Mitchell et al., 2003). The sales and marketing department would be tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that Mail Daily establishes a good customer base, which would serve as a foundation for it to develop into an acceptable brand. In like manner, it would be responsible for assessing both the internal and external environments, to establish whether there is any risk, and to identify new opportunities that should be exploited. The Finance and Operations section would ascertain that Mail Daily keeps it promises to the customers, while accounting for the income and expenses of the organization. The departments would have employees who would get the tasks done and would be answerable to their various heads. As mentioned above, locating the headquarters in Ontario would allow Mail Daily develop a good rapport with the occupants of Ontario and the Canadian residents. Once the Mail Daily shall have established a business reputation within Ontario, it would gradually embrace the practice of widening, by taking its services to other Canadian provinces including Quebec, Nova Scotia, Alberta as well as British Columbia. Environmental Analysis For Mail Daily to have customers who find their services easy to buy, it has to outline strategies that take all the environmental factors into consideration. This includes technology, the social and cultural aspects of the communities within which they operate as well as comprehensive market understanding. Similarly, it would be of great significance for the management of Mail Daily to take note of their competitors and their respective market positions. The same applies to the regulators, and not forgetting the labor force. The advancement in technology has given business managers the choice of making market explorations, and at the same time remaining relevant to the customer. In order to develop a strong market position, Mail Daily should ensure that it adopts cutting-edge technology, which is in line with its business objectives and make service delivery to customers much easier (Kernaghan et al., 2000). This includes the practice of being constantly in touch with their customers, through social media platforms, electronic mail and telephone calls, and responding urgently to the complains that they raise. Mail Daily should similarly assess the strategies being employed by their competitors, and bring in something that makes them become the market leader. They can accomplish thir objective by ensuring that the messages reach their recipients in time, and communication is made in prior, in case there would be a delay in making the deliveries, so as to avert any inconvenience. Adhering to the laws by the regulators, would allow Mail Daily develop the personality of being a trustworthy business partner. It is imperative for the management of Mail Daily to ensure that it abides by all the policies put in place by the regulators. Mail Daily should put in place appealing packages for their labor force (Kernaghan et al., 2000). As mentio in the introduction, one of the major challenges that Admail has faced in the recent past is the failure of their staff to provide timely communication and to make well-timed deliveries. On some occasions, their helpers have abandoned all the messages they were conveying in an unknown locality, making both the customer and the Canadian Post register losses. It is therefore of great significance for the management of Mail Daily to appreciate the work that all employees carry out, irrespective of their job descriptions. Such appreciation should come in the form of good salaries and considerable allowances (Kernaghan et al., 2009). Moreover, the management can ascertain that the organization accomplishes its objectives by subjecting their employees to proper training, which would enable them deal with any challenge. This would keep the employees motivated and would play a huge role in ensuring that they find fun in their daily job assignments. Having a profitable internal and external interactions of all aspects that form the environment would ensure that Mail Daily comes out unscathed in case complex and turbulent concerns arise in the unpredictable market. By carrying out environmental analysis, Mail Daily shall have acknowledged the contribution of the porter’s five forces theory. The theory which looks into both buyer and supplier power, competitive rivalry, threat of substitution as well as threat of a new entry is of great significance as it helps business managers identify where power lies within their ventures. In like manner, it enables the managers to avoid making wrong moves and focus on improving their strength, hence maximizing profitability. Organizational Culture Organizational culture is of great significance in any organization majorly because it affects both the working and the personal lives of employees. The management of Mail Daily can accomplish this by first and foremost carrying out an evaluation of its organizational culture by assessing factors such as profitability, customer satisfaction as well as its priorities as an organization. This should be weighed against some of its strengths and weaknesses. The evaluation process should be followed by defining the vision of the organization while focusing on its strengths and improvement of its weaknesses. The management of Mail Daily should then make it clear how it expects all its employees to carry out themselves including the management staff. This can be achieved by clarifying its priorities and engaging all the employees by considering their input. For the Mail Daily to ensure that it accomplishes its objectives, it should put in place a candid, dependable and transparent communication mechanism, cohesive of motivation, as it celebrates progress and confronts reality (Mitchell et.al, 2003). Over and above, embracing a decent organizational culture ensures that all employees share the same values and philosophies. This will indeed sway their work output notably because all the employees would be aware of what the organization as well as their customers expect from them. Planning The only disadvantage associated with planning is that in the blueprint, the manager will have a comprehensive design, with nothing accomplished yet. Nevertheless, planning is of great significance for both small and large organizations. Apart from helping in reaching autonomous decisions, scheduling is important as it ensures that organizations have a purpose for which they are in place, as well as a chain of events that they are to follow. An ideal planning schedule for Mail Daily would be to identify their specific goals as an organization. The identification process should include the reasons for settling on such a goal, as well as how accomplishing the goals may impact the organization (Mitchell et.al, 2003). For the plans to be a success, the management of Admail should ensure that the necessary financial and human resources are similarly put in place. The planning process should involve outlining the tasks that the program shall have accomplished as well as a timeline that it would require. A mechanism should similarly be put in place to assess both the external and internal validity of the program. Planning would similarly provide Mail Daily with the most suitable way to capitalize on the little resources at their disposal (Mitchell et al., 2003). Planning would also be beneficial to Mail Daily, as each of the employees would feel challenged to play a role towards the organization achieving its goals. As a process planning would, help Mail Daily avoid risks that are often encountered by their competitors, and build the spirit of the corporation. The above section mentioned that Mail Daily would open its first doors in Ontario, before expanding and opening up to other Canadian provinces, planning would help them be genuine, through providing them with ample time to put up a winning team. Such a move would ensure that the Mail Daily takes into consideration the rational planning theory, which states that strategic analysis should be carried out to access the position of an organization before choices are made and implementation carried out. Decision Making Globally people find it hard to make choices, however the only challenge is that each of us will be forced to make a pronouncement at some point, and some will be of great significance than others. The responsibility to arrive at opinions lies solely with the management of Mail Daily. For the decisions to be arrived at in a timely and well-considered manner, it is far-reaching for the management to consider the ideologies held by other members of staff. After establishing a base in Ontario, the management of Mail Daily, for example, would be forced to make a resolution on when to expand and open its doors in the remaining Canadian provinces. For the decision-making process to be productive, the management of Mail Daily should begin by identifying the opportunity and gathering all the relevant information on the opportunity with the help of their employees or research analysts. They should then proceed to analyze the situation further and develop options at the same time. This would make the process of evaluating the alternatives much easier before settling on the most preferred one. A vivid plan, as well as resources, should be put in place to carry out the implementation process, while assessing how well all the stakeholders are committed to making it work. By carrying out such a strategy, Mail Daily will be abiding by the organizational process model, which is one of the most practiced theories of decision-making. This theory states that organizations should arrive at decisions based on their rules, procedures and systems. Such that if the authority of the organization is centralized, then decisions should be made from the top. On the other hand, consultations should be done when dealing with participative systems of leadership. Conclusion In case the right calls are made, Mail Daily can actually compete with Admail, which is managed by the Canadian Post. For this to happen, both the management and the employees within the various sections have to make it work. This only happens if the organization is properly structured; environmental resources used in the most suitable way; an ideal organizational culture embraced and considerable decisions made in a timely manner. If all this is done, Mail Daily will work with a substantial budget and deliver their products as well as services in an apt manner. Amidst all this, it is far-reaching not to forget the demands of the customer. This is because some of them will have retail, education, political, financial and any other demand they may bring forth. The bottom line for Mail Daily should be to remain relevant, and form a formidable connection with their customers. References Kernaghan, K., Marson, B., Borins, S., & Institute of Public Administration of Canada. (2000). The new public organization. Toronto, Ont: The Institute of Public Administration of Canada. Mitchell, D., & Coles, C. (2003). The ultimate competitive advantage: Secrets of continually developing a more profitable business model. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. Read More