Reflection Module - Statistics Project Example

? Reflection Module Contents Introduction 3 Sustainability 4 Competitive Brand Management Plan 5 Innovation Strategy 7 Managing Change 8 Reference List 10 Introduction Research reflection is a dynamic and critical learning process. A research reflection can be considered as an extended work of an already established project or research. The aim of research reflection is to analyze the more complex and interrelated interpretations of a project or research work. The basis of this reflection depends on looking for differences, commonalities, and interrelations which are beyond the superficial elements. In the current project, a research reflection has been done for a 12 days programme which covered many topics of management. The purpose of this current project is to reflect the learning of the 12 days programme and analyse the benefits it will provide to the business. I have analysed four different topics from the programme. These topics were: 1. Managing change 2. Competitive Brand Management Plan 3. Sustainability 4. Food Health Innovation The essential question which framed my reflection project was to be able to properly criticise the objective of the learning and gain meaningful experience from it. We always come across the process of critical reasoning in our daily lives. We have also used this theory and application to solve problems of our daily lives and these reasoning are imbedded in our thoughts. But most of the time, we fail to apply the same theories while pursuing academic work. This will be the major objective of my reflection paper. This reflection paper will study the theories and practical tools which have been discussed and applied in the above mentioned papers and meaningful learning will be interpreted In this paper, I begin with an overview of the theory, articulate my thesis and then preview the learning of my paper. Essentially, I did a mini-review of each research essay to explain how the relevant theory is useful and practical and how they can contribute to solve a business problem. The main audience for this paper was my communication professor but the paper would be reasonably understood by professors and majors in the respective field. Sustainability This topic of my programmes, deals with the sustainability issues in a consumer cooperative in Britain, named as CP Ltd. according to sources, it was found out that CP Ltd was the largest consumer cooperative worldwide having more than 6 million members globally. This research paper helped me to understand a proper sustainability plan which can be applied for resolving issues related to society and economy. During the conduction of this topic, I learned many new things and discovered many new theories which have useful and meaningful interpretations in solving a business problem. During the programme, I leaned that majority of developing countries are over-consuming the natural resources. It was also found out that more than 30 percent of the resources used by people cannot be replenished in future (Adams, 2006). Thus, numerous marketing programmes have been organised and implemented to make people aware of the current situation and warn them, so that they can use these resources in a meaningful manner. The classes helped me understand the numerous problems faced by the government worldwide. These included biodiversity loss, climate change, changing demographics, increasing inequalities and unavailability of basic commodities. Few of the important things discussed during this programme were that consumers are many times motivated to perform things because of societal pressure. Lack of proper knowledge, information results in overuse of resources. Also, we cannot expect these consumers and individuals to learn and understand these critical issues by themselves. Apart from this, sustainable consumption is still a niche area of study and companies are still negligent about this critical issue. Thus it is the responsibility of big brands and corporate organisations will be a motivating factor and launch campaigns and other media platforms to transfer crucial knowledge among the common citizens and consumers. Through this programme, I was able to understand the critical issue of sustainability, through a live case study of reuse and repair culture, which had been implemented because of the growing constraints of the resources. I also learned that giving importance to environmental criteria’s such as carbon emissions is very crucial for keeping the sustainable nature of the environment intact. A good learning from the current scenario in UK can be understood. Instated of consuming those natural resources which are scarce, the government can engage in importing those materials, in order to reduce local consumption. Currently we are facing the more danger in public policy than in commercial policy. In general, we have numerous values about the environment, health, social and soft issues such as fair trade. In addition, there are hard values such as price, convenience, and safety. Moreover, there are numerous analyses by the industry referred to as market analysis and research, which makes the above distinction. Climate change was another topic of interest during the session. It has been observed that places of high and volatile climate change have suffered from loss of productivity and shortage of food products. This has lead to more import of food products and ultimately depletion of the country’s overall revenue and GDP. Another learning aspect was social responsibility. Social responsibility is a responsible strategy in a business and a critical guiding principle for cooperative. The key values and principles of the cooperative include concern for the community, as well as, equality, and it is resonate with idea trends of corporate responsibility. Competitive Brand Management Plan The next topic of study was brand management and activation plan. In this study the aim was to capitalise on the mental perceptions of consumers during the New Year eve. During this time, individuals take many resolutions and promises which they keep for the rest of the year. This was a good opportunity for Co operative healthy brand to promote itself and improve the overall brand image and position. The brand activation at this occasion also helped the Co operative healthy brand to build strong relationship with the consumers by helping them to form New Year’s resolution regarding healthy eating and lifestyle. This paper was basically revolving around obesity in the country and the health problems that have evolved due to obesity. During this study, I was able to lean about many conceptual theories about branding and management. I learned that brand positioning is used in order to present and describe the competitive advantage of a particular brand against other competitors in the industry. This means that brand positioning presents how the brand will compete with the competitors in effective and efficient manner. It is important to keep in consideration different elements and factors in order to come up with effective and long lasting brand positioning (Hakala and Zsuzsanna, 2012). The programme also helped me in understanding the concepts such as brand positioning and brand associations. From the programme, I learned that it is important for the brand to maintain and manage attractive and easy to access brand inventory in order to increase the brand interaction and awareness. The brand inventory can include brand colour, the logo, tag line, and even the physical location. The inventory management of the Co-operative brand was strategic and helped to maintain a good brand image. Cooperative food and healthy brand use green and other fresh colours depicting freshness and health. Apart from this the Co operative food has easy to remember websites and outlets in different busy locations in the country. This has strengthened the overall brand image of the co-operative (Wood, 2000). The programme helped me to understand the issues and criticality of brand associations. The useful insights which I gained from this study will be applicable to all of my future projects. I learned that the brand positioning of brand is frequently changed over the brand span because of different product categories. Hence, it is important to develop constant and attractive brand associations in order to capture and present the important dimensions and characteristics of the brands. The brands associations are the features and characteristics with which the customers associate the brands and depict the benefits which can be delivered by the particular brand. Another aspect of the study which I found very important and critical for future business projects was consumer analysis. The consumer analysis is the most important and basic step in the process of formulating the competitive positioning for the brand. In order to make sure that the brand positioning is able to attract more and more consumers and build a strong relationship with them, it is important to make sure that the positioning is in accordance to the requirements and needs of the consumers. Consumers are the focal point of any business. In order to generate revenue and profit, it is very important that the right message reaches the appropriate consumers in a target group. This learning is of critical importance before starting any business programme as well as during the entire process. Hence, it is important to carefully analyse the consumers and understands consumers’ insights regarding the brand and product. For a proper activation of a brand or product, I learned that there are various factors which should be taken into consideration. These included crucial factors such as market segmentation, targeting and positioning and strategic competitor analysis. For a brand to be on the top of mind of consumers, it is very important that the brand or product is placed in strategic positions and hit the right place in a consumer’s daily schedule. In order to make sure that the brand is properly positioned and is able to attract more and more customers, marketing segmentation, targeting, and positioning is important. It is not possible for the brand to target all market segments at one time. Hence it is beneficial to carefully segment the market and select the target market which is more suitable keeping in view the competencies and resources of the brand and organisation. Innovation Strategy Innovation in business is not only an advantage, but a necessity now. With a large number of products and services being launched everyday in the market, it is very difficult to differentiate between two similar products. Thus innovation and creativity are the two major strategies which can be used by the business to differentiate its products and services and gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Innovation is seen as a complex process that requires the full engagement of the organization and its resources such as staff, money and proper infrastructure. Innovation is not a one-time process, but it is a long and cumulative process that requires the organization to engage in decision-making processes that range from generation of new ideas to implementing them (Cavalcante, Kesting and Ulhoi, 2011). In case of the Co-operative Food, blue ocean innovation process was followed, in order to achieve the objectives of the organisation. The blue ocean concept was supported by low cost strategy, in order to gain price advantage in a competitive market. Coupling this approach to the low cost leadership strategy, the blue ocean innovation was able to ensure the operations at Co-operative Food sustainable, particularly in the financial constrained operations space experienced today in Europe. Four main areas of the innovative strategy that were encompassed in the model were also helpful in the overall understanding of the current and successful innovation strategies application in the present business environment. New product development is one of the innovation strategies that can be used to gain competitive advantage (Monczka, 2000). The new trend in the market is to develop products that coincide with healthy lifestyles. Co-operative Food had attempted to venture into this market for the venture was not successful due to the fear of damaged and confused brand image. In order to eliminate competition, reduce the cost of operations and increase overall brand image of the co-operative, the band adopted various strategies and theoretical models. Low cost leadership was the most viable innovation strategy, being studied and implemented by the organisation. Low-cost leadership helped the organisation in creating different ways for success. Co-operative Food adopted this strategy to gain competitive advantage over its competitors, and enhance its brand image and product development. The strategy is based on using products and services that are similar to those offered by its competitors. In order to gain competitive advantage, the brand formulated a strategy to gain the entire market. This is one of the current trends in gaining advantage over competitions. The above learning helped me understand the internal and external strategies which need to be implemented in order to develop innovation in an organisation. Managing Change Change management is a complex phenomenon. During my 12 days programme, I learned that managing change is as complex as managing innovation. Change in an organisation involved many things (Paulsen, et al., 2009). It might be physical changes such as change of buildings, transfers, etc. Change can be emotional as well as psychological also. In this topic, change management is related to the organisation in study. From the reports studies it is evident that the company is operating in a dynamic environment. Thus can be concluded that change is inevitable for the organisation to gain a competitive advantage as well as remain viable in its operations. In this case, the drivers of change include aspects such as competitive threat, customer needs as well as changing market structures. In this particular case, the change plan was mainly concerned about embracing a new foodie and innovation culture within The Co-operative Food group. The objective was to gain competitive advantage over its main competitors such as Tesco, Marks and Spencer’s as well as Sainsbury’s. To educate the customers who were unwilling to pay a premium price on organic food products, the co-operative promoted an innovative culture within the organisation. Leaders were appointed, who initiated the change in order to accomplish the objectives. The group also implemented an Eight Stage Model of planned organizational change in order to effectively carry out change in the Group (Courtney, Navarro and O'Hare, 2007). Another useful insight which I gained from this programme was on the resistance to change. I found that it is not an easy feat to implement change in an organization. Elements such as resistance to change are very common and there are various reasons why people in an organization often resist change (Nelson and Quick, 2012). In most cases, people do not want to change the status quo and they want to maintain the usual way of doing things. This can be achieved through utilising Kurt Lewin’s Ice Cube Model which involves three stages namely: unfreezing the present state, change then freeze when the desired state has been achieved (Adams and Whelan, 2006). In the first stage, holistic planning ought to be embraced by the leaders in the organization. Unfreezing might lead to chaos, thus proper management is required. Once the transition was carefully established, the process is again freezed and becomes permanent (Boin, 2000). Thus, change management is achieved in organisation with the help of relevant theories and their appropriate application. The main learning from this topic of study was the strategic process and planning of change management in the organisation. Change management is a complex process and is often a long term and enduring task. Thus, it is very important that change is smooth and the employees are able to adapt to the change in a smooth and easy manner. Reference List Adams and Whelan, 2006. Conceptualizing Future Change in Corporate Sustainability Reporting. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 22(1), pp.118 – 143. Adams, D, 2006. The Future of Sustainability: Rethinking Environment and Development in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: IUCN. Boin, A., 2000. Preparing for the future: Critical Challenges in Crisis Management. Journal of Contingency and Crisis Management, 8(4), pp.185-92. Cavalcante, S., Kesting, P. and Ulhoi, J., 2011. Business Model Dynamics And Innovation: (Re) Establishing The Missing Linkages. Management Decision, 49(8): pp. 1327 – 1342. Courtney, H.S., Navarro, E. and O'Hare, C.A., 2007. The Dynamic Organic Transformational (D.O.T.) Team Model for High-Performance Knowledge-Worker Teams. Team Performance Management, 13(1): pp. 34 – 46. Hakala, S. and Zsuzsanna. V., 2012. Consumer-Based Brand Equity and Top-Of-Mind Awareness: A Cross-Country Analysis. Journal of Product & Brand Management. 21(6), pp. 439 – 451. Monczka, R. M., 2000. New product development: Strategies for supplier integration. Wisconsin: ASQ Quality Press. Nelson, D. L., and Quick, J. C., 2012. Understanding organizational behaviour. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning Paulsen, N., Maldonado, D., Callan, V.J. and Ayoko, O., 2009. Charismatic Leadership, Change and Innovation in an R&D Organization. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 22(5), pp.511 – 523. Wood, L., 2000. Brands and brand equity: Definition and management. management decision, 38(9), pp.662 – 669. Read More