Strategic Management for Sterling Consulting Company - Case Study Example

Running Header: Strategic management business plan for Sterling Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Name & Code: Date of Submission: Strategic management business plan for sterling Introduction The major and emergent initiatives that are taken up by top managers in an organisation involve strategic management. Experience has also enabled clients to develop successful distance and on-line learning programmes. These enable managers to utilise their resources effectively and also be capable of enhancing its performance both in the internal environment and external environment. Ohmae (2002) describes that the organisation specifies its mission, vision and objectives and also develops various policies which enable the firm attain a competitive position in the market. These actions therefore enable a company gains an increase in market share therefore beating competition in the market. Decision making involves forces that set up a strategic decision making process. This study analyses the strategic management case showing ways in which decisions are made and how to expand business. This case involves Sterling consulting company located in UK which has been working with top Turkish universities in the development of double degree programmes. The company has 1000 students in UK universities where the model focuses on regular university students. Sterling company then proposed DL limited to offer distance learning degree programmes where students will be using a web portal to qualify for a degree award. DL limited has budgeted to enrol about 500 new students annually and its programmes are to be promoted by client universities. Developing new learning programme involves cost and effort and therefore the move has to be treated as a business venture especially to the new entrant in the market. The development also has limited resources and it is therefore necessary to make strategic decisions. Mulcaster (2009, 68-75) puts it that strategic decisions are prompted by the trends and events occurring in the market or within the organisation. These decisions are made by activists who give information on the developments in trends and environment informing decision makers on the right path to take. The decision makers analyse the information by doing their own market research in order to ensure that they take the right action. Various studies show that organisational decisions are made by stakeholders who make claims on important business developments. Once they find there is need to change the current situation, decision makers offer the best direction to be taken. The direction may be one that leads to quick fixing of the problem or others that encourage innovation. The type of technique used in making strategic decision depends on the importance and the complexity of the decision being made. Mulcaster (2009, pp. 68-75) shows decision making involves planning which provides guidelines and the goals for the decision being implemented. There are four major benefits of planning for a decision. One is that planning facilitates the establishment of independent goals. This involves showing the visions which shape the surrounding events therefore enabling managers to have a series of choices. This also enables managers to steer the organisations as staff steer their lives rather than being influence by other external forces. The second benefit of planning is that it provides a standard of measurement. This is where a plan shows something to measure against therefore enabling an organisation to determine whether it is moving in the right direction of achieving organisational goals. Verduin and Clark (2001, p. 20-35) explain that planning is also important as it changes values into actions. Once managers have a plan they can consult it once faced with decisions in order to know the proper decision to solve the problem at hand. Planning allows limited resources to be in an organised manner such as by forming budgets, planning time, effort and manpower. The above limited resources in an organisation can be made well once there are planned. In an organisation, there are three main decisions. At the highest level there are strategic decisions which involve having a general direction, forming long-term goals, philosophies and values. Strategic decisions are least planned and most creative but they are mostly risky to formulate and have uncertain outcome since the outcome is long term for example the DL Limited deciding on an insightful business plan for its business. Fullan (2003) describes that to decide the best choice for new development will necessary to consider several factors such as knowledge base which will influence the structure and development of the programme, teaching skills, student base, the future direction of the institution and the technologies and facilities available to effectively deliver the programme. The other markets for distance learning programmes include the Republic of Macedonia or parts of Eastern Europe which are Turkish-speaking territories. Verduin and Clark (2001, 20-34) describes that in Macedonia for example there is the European University located in Skopje that offers distance learning and whose students’ population experience a diverse culture and specialized opportunities in all fields. Being the second largest in Thessaloniki after Aristotle University is has ten departments, which include social, political and economic studies. In Eastern Europe there are various universities offering distance learning for example Slovak University in Slovakia and others in Russia, Ukraine and Poland. Some of the factors that have driven the introduction of distance learning in these universities include the changing demographics of students, availability of new skills and educational competitors (Verduin and Clark 2001, pp. 20-34). There are various reasons why DL company should invest in the above countries one is because there are many international students who would be interested in joining the Universities in these two markets. The Universities also take up a big number of online students which will make it more convenient for the students. The kinds of population present in these countries include regular university students and it is also convenient since it is a Turkish-speaking territory. Market entry strategy and key decisions In order to determine the market entry strategy and the key decisions to be addressed by DL limited before entering the market it will be necessary to analyse the capabilities of the company. The Company’s capabilities include a number of structural and institutional factors. These enable the company to shape the strategic response necessary to keep up with the new rules introduced in the industry and be capable of dealing with the short term challenges in the market which include competitor’s strategies. The Company’s human resource department has to ensure that they employ individuals capable of meeting the needs of clients. This is where workers have skills necessary to build a product according to how the customer prefers. Capabilities are developed through training or being involved in more activities therefore learning through experience (Kotter 1999, pp. 99-112). Before entering into the markets, DL limited should also consider using market segmentation strategy. According to Trout and Rivkin (2006, p. 11-20) market segmentation is necessary to use in an industry where there are many kinds of customers for example the automobile industry. These different customers become numerous. Customers may also become more distinct in the products they prefer and may also be large in numbers. Creation of market segmentation is not easy since every segment has to comply with the type of product that the customers prefer. Kotter (1999, pp. 99-112) shows Globalisation and increased competition are major factor that makes segmentation difficult. E-commerce also contributes to exposing customers to diverse markets. To determine a market segment, there are factors that have to be considered such as homogeneity of people. The people in the market may have similar preferences or may be different and this affects segmentation. For learning programme age of the student, level of education, geographical location and past education experience could be used to segment the market. Market targeting This is the production of products that most customers in the market prefer. The DL limited should aim at targeting particular target group or country for example UK which uses regional campaigns to reach niche market. Moore (2010, pp. 11-20) shows the Company should be capable of determining the reliability of their services and customers’ satisfaction before deciding which group in the market to be targeted this is because it is normally difficult to change consumer perception about a particular course of study. The market may decide to target English speakers to non- English speakers who will need to be offered different products. Social networking services To promote distance learning programmes, DL limited may choose to advertise its services through social networking services. The recent trending topic in online marketing is the increase in social media marketing. This has therefore influence most companies to engage themselves in various social media channels. Glynn and David (2010, pp. 112-115) shows if well planned it can be one of the cheapest and effective mode of online marketing and promotion of organisational products but if not well planned it can get a company into a disaster. The reason why companies need to turn around social media is due to certain reasons which include company profile, its products, customers etc. Social media marketing involves a practice where organisations follow to connect with their target markets. It is an integrated marketing communications that coordinates various promotional elements such as advertising, personal selling, publicity, sales promotion and direct marketing. According to Alicia (2011) the growth of social networking has a great impact in the way organisations communicate to its customers especially with the emergence of Web 2.0 which is a tool that allows people and organisations to build social and business connections. This increased communication fosters brand awareness and improves customer service. Social networking is a platform that is easily accessible to any person who has access to internet for example with emergence of channels such as Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and blogs. These sites promote products on an individual level and the uses of products are explained in short messages where the messages have a link to the product’s websites. This link gives followers an opportunity to spend more time therefore offering advertising opportunities for example the integration of Sporting News website increased visits by over 500 percent (Alicia 2011). Social media benefits companies and people through the provision of channels that support customer as they act as a means to gain a competitive insight, recruitment, retention on new customers and it is also a method of building reputation online. Day by day, the importance of social media marketing increase in all companies and the five major important reasons include branding where most companies use social media channels in order to increase their goodwill and trustworthiness therefore resulting to better branding. Conversations with customers through social channels create a great amount of credibility among a company’s customers unlike in the traditional media types such as television where customers lack trustworthiness of the company (Glynn and David 2010, pp. 112-115). Lead generation is the other reason why most companies use social media in marketing. Lead generation is important as it helps a company in targeting strategies and enables it to decide the relevant lead generation therefore improving company’s success. Dheeraj (2010) argues social media allows companies to easily engage with its clients as this is important as it helps to retain the existing customers and increase brand credibility. Customers are able to communicate with companies and express their opinions about certain brands therefore enabling companies to provide products according to the needs of their clients and according to their requirements. It also generates relevant traffic as the sole purpose of all online marketing campaigns in for traffic generation. Dheeraj (2010) describes that social media sites are necessary as they generate relevant and quality traffic to the websites. Customers are therefore able to engage much easier and receive feedback about the company. Finally, the adoption of new products and services creates awareness about an existing product or service in the market. This is the cheapest and better method of informing target audience about the trends in the market therefore enhancing company’s products and improving return on investment unlike in the traditional methods of advertising. Social networking is therefore the best media to use in the market as its effectiveness is much better due to the use of Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and Blogs in advertising distance learning programmes. This is effective as more people will be reached and the method is more advanced and with the recent growth of internet users, it able to reach more target customers through networking sites. Some of the targeted students spend most of their time in social networks and it will also be easy to communicate a message across various countries. There are various ways of marketing distance learning for example once the Company develop a collection of courses the other step is to find audience. This will be effectively achieved by use of a marketing approach successful for online classes with effective web design and targeting potential students. According to Emmert (1997, pp. 20-22) the first step of marketing distance learning is to design the website by first having a sample of a distance learning class. The website should reflect the tone and functionality of an online class which will act as a marketing tool. To develop credibility with the customers, images and credentials of the teachers and professors should be featured in the website. The other step is to include the titles of courses offered and where to publish the list. The description of the course should be accurate and should match student’s experiences. The company should also aim at determining audience for example examining whether the students will earn through classes, professional development or through professional certification. A list of benefits of distance learning should also be formed which will distinguish the traditional learning system. It will also be important for the company to create an advertising campaign showing that the quality of learning offered is the same as the other courses. The pricing strategy According to Verduin and Clark (2001, 20-34) this is the most difficult decision to make and the most important. This is because most customers consider prices in order to choose a product or a service and it is therefore necessary to consider several aspects before choosing a pricing strategy. One factor include market positioning which is important where the company‘s services will be able to be accepted in the market and attracting potential students. The major elements of market positioning include pricing, quality, service, distribution channels and packaging of the products. Ries and Trout (2001) show this is a competitive strategy that enables companies attain core competency in the market. This is determined by how marketers create a good image about their products to the target market. A company may decide to reposition which involves changing the name of the company or business systems relative to other companies offering the same services. Other factors include demand curve, cost associated with the service, environmental factors and profit maximisation (Ries and Trout 2001). Potential product development According to Educom (1996, pp. 48-50) in learning programmes, the students needs drive the whole market strategy. To consider product development it is necessary to consider that students always spend money to gain a benefit and two is that a benefit exists if the customers’ needs are satisfied. The products should be developed in such as way that it benefits potential customers for example a programme of distance learning seem to appeal to mature students who are working or who are located in remote areas. A portfolio of products should be developed which will be capable of addressing various market sectors. To achieve this, ideal products should be specified for example DL limited should define its market needs and link portfolio management to various learning programmes. The choice of target market sectors should also be linked to the capability and the evolution of product portfolio. Resources for implementing their strategy Some of the resources needed by DL limited in order to successfully implement their strategy include having a sound market strategy. Kirkpatrick (2000) shows this involves eliminating doubts and increasing the level of motivation to every individual participating in implementation process. The other resource by understands the key benefits for example the company should evaluate the benefits that the student customers will receive. Other resources include having qualified teachers who will ensure meeting the needs of students. Training needs are also to be considered in order to cope with the rest of the students in case a problem occurs. Having support from the client universities, DL is certain to successfully implement its programmes. The company has also budgeted for an enrollment of 500 new students annually which will be a good number to manage. Willis (2002, 35-37) describes that to effectively implement the above strategies; the company’s management should ensure that they maintain their company resources which include maintaining a good relationship with the customers. The product resources should also be effectively managed to avoid lower production in some places. Research and development has to be effectively managed by the Company as this will necessary in achieving the Company’s goals. The sources of raw materials should be reliable and relevant according to the conditions in the industry. The pitfalls that the company may face in its implementation process may include poor planning and poor strategy. The other trend is the recent exponential growth in knowledge and information which will force the learning programmes to keep changing with the increased demand of higher education. There could also be a growing emphasis of academic accountability which may affect learning (Willis 2002, pp. 35-37). Relevant issues to be considered by the Board The board should consider the value delivery since the students will be considering value which involves the benefit received minus the cost incurred. Value may be created by adding the benefits and reducing costs. Decision makers should therefore be aware of this factor for them to define the marketing concepts. The Board should also consider diversification of their programmes for example through supplying additional educational services, carrying out a market research or in introducing new courses. Important managerial and administrative structure should be employed to ensure the company meets its goals. In order for the DL limited to effectively position its products into the market, a process should be followed which involves defining the market. This is to determine the relevant student clients in the market and ensuring that the products produces satisfy the needs of these buyers. The Company management should also identify the attributes or dimension in which are to be employed in order to achieve a competitive position. Information about the company’s products should be collected from a sample of customers. This will enable the company to know how their products are perceived in the market. Conclusion The combination of marketing strategies and pricing strategies has resulted to increased quality as well as the turnaround time thus creating time to concentrate on the maximising more benefits. Many universities that have implemented the business strategy have also had a good reputation to their student customers and the general public as one with quality services. These factors build up a competitive advantage for the firm thus it is in a position of producing increased value of the service. The company will also attract more customers once the services offered satisfy the need of students and at the same time increasing value. Distance learning should be based on specific value in order to improve continuity. It also makes use of the limited resources of the firm through the use of web portals where it is easy to communicate with targeted students. This development of ideas enables the firm to produce exactly what the customers’ demand and this is mostly applied in the mote vehicle industry. The benefits that come with the information technology include improved rate of system utilisation and reduction of support costs. The other benefit is that distance learning maintains a broad property investment and preserves the value of information technology. This is by eliminating the paper documentation to a more improved and integrated system. It also improves systems security and productivity brought about by the use of automation. References Alicia, D 2011, The importance of social media marketing, viewed 6 June 2011, Dheeraj, S 2010, Importance of social media marketing, Social networking, viewed 6 June 2011, Educom, S 1996, Should distance learning be rationed? Point counterpoint with Larry Gold and James Mingle, Educom Review, vol. 31, no.2, pp. 48-50. 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Ries, A & Trout, J 2001, Positioning, The battle for your mind, Warner Books - McGraw-Hill Inc. New York. Trout, J & Rivkin, S 2006, The new positioning : The latest on the worlds #1 business strategy, New York, McGraw Hill, pp. 11-20. Verduin, J & Clark, T 2001, Distance education, The foundations of effective practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, pp. 20-34. Willis, B 2002, Making distance learning effective, Key roles and responsibilities, Educational Technology, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 35-37. Read More