FirstGroup - Decision-Making - Case Study Example

FirstGroup Case Study FirstGroup is a British transport company offering buses, coaches, and tram and rail services in United Kingdom, Denmark, United States, Canada and Ireland. They started from a small idea but now at this time they are the giants of the economy. Travelling through FirstGroup vehicles means a quality and comfortable service. The company is also listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company has won many awards on its credit and thus proved themselves as a big player in the market. The company has won the largest contract of the Britain railway line in the recent times (Thomas 2012). All the facts and the figures given in the financial reports of the company have proved it to be a successful transportation company. FirstGroup offers different types of railway services which may include intercity, regional and commuter services. Whereas considering bus service it is the largest operator serving almost 40 cities. In North America this is the largest transportation provider company for the students. According to the common people opinion the FirstGroup transportation company means the leader in providing comfort, safety, innovativeness and sustainable service providers. This is a good sign for the company when their customers recognize them among others as quality providers. Although serving globally but the management at FirstGroup is very much local in its thinking approach. Acting locally means they are considering small issues of the general public very seriously and also strive to solve these issues so that the customers would be satisfied with the services and wish to travel again with the same service. This local approach helps a business to establish in that area by creating a good image in the minds of the customers. Now the management at the FirstGroup has announced that the new location for the company’s headquarter would be Aberdeen HQ. King Street was Headquarter of the company since it has been established. The managers started to redevelop all the systems and thus they need a thorough research regarding new location, their customers, their demands and also the possibility of the success in the new location. In order to be successful in the new location a firm must require market knowledge. Use of the services provided by the transportation company is very common among the people. Not even a single person can imagine his daily routine life without travelling on a bus or railway service. Due to the common use of public transportation there is a little chance of failure in the new location. But still the company has to research a lot about the new location. Establishing the business at a new location is not difficult if the managers have to think about only internal factors of the firm. The problem or the difficulty level starts where the external factors start. An author has rightly said that a business never operates in a vacuum rather it has to face external challenges (Riley 2012). The intensity of these external factors may even change the strategies and the policies of the company. Usually the firm considers these external factors before devising any action plan in that specific area. According to another research writer these external factors can be local competition, trends in the market regarding best compensation packages to gather the expertise from the local area, demand of the product or the service exist in that area, regional support, political and legal environment, social and ethical values of the culture and at the last one of the most important one that is technological factor (Williams 2012). Now the firm may also compete with each other on the basis of technology adoption. This is because the technology spreads at a very fast pace in almost every field of life and thus changing them. While considering all the external factors in a general way these factors are out of the control of the company in most of the situations. To handle with all the possible problems there should be a flexible business strategy for the company which allows the firm to tackle any kind of hindrance coming in the way of success. Some authors have defined the word strategy as the bridge between the processes and the ends or we can say the ways to accomplish the goals are known as the strategies of a business (Nickolas 2012). More flexibility in the business strategy will help the firm to mould its operations and the activities according to the environment. This flexibility helps the management a lot whenever they are trying to operate in a new location like in our case of FirstGroup transportation. When we talk about the business strategy at FirstGroup transportation then we can proudly say that their strategy is very much broad considering all the possible internal and external factors both. The vision of the FirstGroup is very innovative and inspiring. It’s about transforming the transportation facilities. Therefore being an initiator towards the uniqueness and innovation the transportation company can have new advancements in their services. For example a Yellow colored bus is specific as a student service provider in the United States. It looks like giving respect to the young generation or the youth scholars. In the same way the management at FirstGroup can also introduce such kind of services which would increase its good image in the minds of the customers. The vision of transforming transportation means to change the general public’s perception about the public transportation services. Some authors said that a company’s vision should be imaginary (Rasmus 2012). Here the word imaginary means which can portray a good image of the future of the customer and company as well. Therefore we can say that the FirstGroup’s vision can predict the future of the company. To run a business successfully, a firm need to earn money which is the most important or in other words we can say the main objective of the firm because the generated money can be reinvested in the new opportunities existing in the market. And this money can be earned only when the firm tries to fulfill all the needs and the demands of their customers thus gaining their loyalty. To provide a good service to the customers and then gaining their satisfaction should the aim of any market player because the customers only come back to those companies whom they might like. While establishing business at Aberdeen HQ the firm must give importance to the marketing of themselves in that specific area. In this new world the success of a firm is dependent on its marketing strategies. Effective branding means the creation of images in the customer mind regarding the respect and value given to the customer through their services. And this perceived image helps a company a lot to gain a competitive advantage. Due to variety of channels this activity of marketing is very easy now. Select any kind of marketing channel which is feasible according to the firm’s resources and then create the power of branding in the market. This powerful branding forces the customers to again and again travel through the FirstGroup vehicles. When we talk about the transportation services then one of the main issues which should be considered is the safety and security of the passengers. Actually the company is taking the responsibility of all those passengers who are travelling in our vehicles. Therefore it’s now the firm’s duty to provide them what they require from the company. In this regard FirstGroup is playing its role very well. All the staff of FirstGroup is well trained about the road safety measures and other rules and regulations of the driving. This shows their concern about the safety of their passengers. Not only is this but the FirstGroup continuously trying to improve its safety culture. This may also help to gain attention of the customers in a new place also. While going for a new place the firm needs to be known to certain other factors i.e. the legal and the political environment of that place. The Government policies can have an immense effect on the business strategies of the firm therefore complete know-how about the policies and procedures of the firm will help the company to establish its business in a good way. Social factors are very important in this regard. Responding to the changing demands is also very important because it will update the thinking approach of the business mangers. This high responsiveness needs a flexible approach towards business strategies. Due to that flexibility the firm can change its operations as per the customer requirement. Due to awareness among the general people are more concerned about the global warming. They give importance to the environment friendly transportation services. Due to this reason the FirstGroup should design such advertisements which prove to be a Green player of the market means they give priority to the environment. As a green marketer there should be less fuel consumption and thus less carbon dioxide emission. The people who are environmental friendly always prefer to travel by bus or train because the air travel or a car may be dangerous for the environment. If FirstGroup promotes its green marketing strategy then its customer base will be stronger. This would also add points to the perceived image of the company in the customer’s eye. Though FirstGroup is a successful venture in all aspects but like many other successful companies there is still a room for improvement for the FirstGroup transportation company. They have to consider the fuel consumption in their vehicles; they have to work on the fuel efficiency so that their cost can be minimized. They can even use certain fuel alternatives in order to save their costs. This will help the company to improve their operations as well because of the lowering down of the cost and thus profit margin will be high. All the external factors can be treated as the threats for the operations of the firm but if thinking in a positive way then these can be considered as the opportunities for the firm which can add a variety and also uniqueness to the services which they are providing. Therefore in my opinion a detailed analysis of all these concerning factors helps firms to make plans for the dynamic market trends and also to cop up with the changing environment. When the firm collects all the information about the external and internal factors as well then the main step is to take decision regarding company’s operational policies and the procedures. The firm usually applies certain data management processes in order to aid the decision making process. These data management processes are very important for the firms for reporting and decision making processes (Haselden & Wolter 2006). The most important resource is the actual data for these firms. These data management processes interpret the data and thus giving results about the prevailing market trends thus helping the firm to make final decisions. Due to this reason the decision makers or the executives of the firm should have an understanding of these data management processes (Wise 2012). The most important issue regarding these database management processes is their security. Otherwise it may be a problem for the company to manage its secrecy and privacy about the company’s personal information. The managers must know how to secure the data on these databases so that it cannot be hacked by any other external user. Either these databases are used or not but still one thing is important that the organization need these facts and figures for their operations in any area. These facts and figures are manipulated and changed into financial knowledge which is not necessary to aid daily routine tasks rather it will help to devise strategies and action plans for the firms. Actually these figures tell us about the market trends and thus we can make decision regarding our policies. Thus we can say that this type of information is very much valued by the organizations. Same is the case with FirstGroup Transportation Company. They require all the possible information about the market and the prevailing trends so that it will help them to make decisions regarding their new Headquarters in Aberdeen HQ. References: Haselden, K, Wolter, R 2006, ‘The What, Why and How of Master Data Management’, Microsoft Developer Network, viewed on 11th Feb, 2014 from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb190163.aspx Nickolas, F 2012, ‘Strategy: Definitions and Meaning’, Distance Consulting LLC, viewed on 11th Feb, 2014 from http://www.nickols.us/strategy_definition.htm Rasmus, D 2012, ‘Defining your company’s vision’, Leadership, viewed on 11th Feb, 2014 from http://www.fastcompany.com/1821021/defining-your-companys-vision Riley, J 2012, ‘Business and the External Environment Overview’, tutor2u, viewed on 11th Feb, 2014 from http://www.tutor2u.net/business/gcse/external_environment_introduction.htm Thomas, N 2012, ‘FirstGroup Chief believes his company won’t buffers after West Coat wins’, The Telegraph, viewed on 11th Feb, 2014 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9484412/FirstGroup-chief-Tim-OToole-believes-his-company-wont-hit-the-buffers-after-West-Coast-win.html Williams, T 2012, ‘6 Environmental Factors that may affect your Business’, Startup Blog, viewed on 11th Feb, 2014 from http://taffywilliams.blogspot.com/2012/10/6-environmental-factors-that-may-affect.html Wise, L 2012, ‘The Importance of Data Management for Business People’, Hub Designs Magazine, viewed on 11th Feb 2014 from http://hubdesignsmagazine.com/2012/08/20/the-importance-of-data-management-for-business-people-by-lyndsay-wise/ Read More