Identify and Evaluate Marketing Opportunities - Case Study Example

Introduction RSEA is a renown Company based in Australia that sales safety equipment. It has 18 stores in New Zealand and Australia. Its products range from safety clothing, footwear, signage and road safety equipment. This paper focuses towards determining new market opportunities for RSEA and overall improvement of current marketing plans in the organisation. Creative ways of accruing ideas For any organisation to experience and maintain success in its operations, it must have plans of having creative ideas. There are various ways through which creative ideas can be collected for this organisation. One of the ways is through giving employees the opportunity to air their views. (Lovelock, 2006, p. 40-56) Employees are usually very resourceful in coming up with very creative ideas. They can be allowed to give creative ideas in form open forums or in a form of competition and the best idea rewarded accordingly. Another channel through which the Company can collect ideas is through checking out on what global competitors are doing. This will bring in many creative ideas that can enhance success in the Company. (Philip, 1996, p. 56) Future needs in terms of marketing There are various future marketing needs for RSEA Company. This includes carrying out more of online marketing. This is because the market is more technologically advanced and many Companies are carrying out more of online marketing. This will help reach a wide range of customers in the global market. The Company should not just focus on marketing within Australia but on the wider global market. This Company can link up with major mobile telecommunications service provider and advertise products through sending text messages to every mobile phone holder. This will enable it to reach millions of people within Australia and even beyond. The Company can also market its products on global television channels like DSTV channels that will definitely reach a very wide population. (Philip, 1996, p. 12-96) Comparing opportunities Research shows that all the above mentioned opportunities come along with costs, benefits, risks and opportunities. Marketing RSEA online is quite cost effective. It is quite beneficial since it will reach unlimited number of people in different nations. Creative strategy can be used such as having adverts pop up in as people access Gmail or yahoo mail accounts. This will definitely come along with benefits such as an increased customer base, increased sales and definitely more profits. The risk associated with this is in relation to fraudulent conmen taking advantage of unknowing customers but with proper measures in place, this can be taken care of. (Lewis, 2009) This strategy can have great contribution to the business. Marketing the Company through global television can be quite expensive. It is quite beneficial since many people will be reached hence increasing customer base. Due to high costs associated with this marketing it come along with the risk of failing to break even in this business venture. This strategy may not contribute as much as the former. (Philip, 1996, p. 12-96) Linking with mobile service provider can come along with benefits such as wider customer base, sales and profits. It can come along with risks of being associated with disadvantages of the other Company (mobile service provider). This strategy can contribute so much to the business. (Lovelock, 2006, p. 40-56) Impact on current business and existing customer base The new opportunities can have both positive and negative effects on current customer base. Current customers may be motivated to be more loyal to the Company and be influenced to purchase more products from the Company. They can do this so as to remain in ‘fashion’ keep up with the trend. This would mean that the current business would expand and have branches in many other nations therefore the organisation will end up benefiting from economies of scale. It can also have negative effect where the Company has been keeping in touch and knowing customers personally it may lose close contact hence they may feel unappreciated. This can result in customers reducing their loyalty level in the organisation. This can however be dealt with by putting proper measures in place. (Lewis, 2009) Return on investment This is a metric used to analyse the efficiency of any investment. The return on investment is usually calculated as the profit or gain less the amount of money used in the investment divided by the overall cost of investment. If the results are not positive the investment opportunity need not to be undertaken. (Lovelock, 2006, p. 40-56) Investors are known to use this method to evaluate the timing and magnitude of gains from investment. A thorough analysis shows that the investment venture of marketing through internet has higher returns on investment followed by marketing through text messages then followed by marketing through global television network. This clearly indicates the ranking of the three opportunities based on their overall chances of success; i. Marketing RSEA safety and equipment products online through Company website, Google, yahoo and Gmail URLs ii. Marketing RSEA products by linking with mobile service provider Companies through sending text messages iii. Marketing RSEA Company through global television channels Organisational changes For any organisation to be well prepared for any possible investment, various changes have to be put in place. For RSEA Company to implement marketing online, various changes have to be put in place. One of the major changes that have to be implemented in RSEA Company is incorporate up to date technology. This includes incorporating enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. (Lewis, 2009) This will enable the management to be able to manage growing business levels as marketing online is implemented. Research shows that the Company has been using low level technology that is not up to date. This requires that changes in the Company’s database have to be carried out to incorporate larger numbers of customers and even employees. This may mean getting new systems altogether where improvement cannot be easily carried out. All these measures have to be out in place to ensure smooth transition into success and growth. Enterprise management systems need to be put in place to ensure that the organisations can manage large volumes of inventory. This will enable a very efficient and effective transition in the organisation. (Lovelock, 2006, p. 40-56) Staff reshuffles, relevant training and development needs to be carried out. This is to ensure that all employees are prepared accordingly to deal with anticipated changes in customer base, sales and profitability. This may call for carrying out promotions of some employees to management level. (Philip, 1996, p. 12-26) All these changes definitely require various resources to be in place. One of the important resources that are usually overlooked is time. Proper plans have to be put in place such that adequate time is planned for the implementation of the above changes. Human resources are also very essential. RSEA Company may require carrying out recruitment of qualified personnel to deal with the anticipated growth. This includes customer care representatives, IT specialists etc. This growth requires that only skilled employees be sourced. Those with prior experience can be have added advantage. (Lovelock, 2006, p. 40-56) Another important resource is finances. This is quite essential from the initial stages of making changes. Finances will be required to make technological changes in RSEA. Finances will be required to pay for the costs of marketing online. They will be required for recruitment and induction process. Finances will be needed to pay for new employees and make constant changes on advertisements that have to be carried out online. (Lewis, 2009) Maintenance of product and service quality Product and service quality are quite imperative in the success of business venture. These have to be maintained throughout the transition process. In order to ensure that product and service quality are not affected in the process, quality survey department will be put in place. Up to date quality checking equipment will be incorporated. Skilled workers will be carrying out quality checking and assurance will be carried out every week. A quality assurance policy will be enacted and all employees will be required to adhere to it. Service will be evaluated through daily surveys carried out online and through technology; it will alert employees when quality of services is very low. (Lewis, 2009) Support of key stakeholders Change in the organisation can be resisted if not well managed. In order to gain support of key stakeholders thorough communication will be carried out. Employees and managers will go through trainings and shown the advantages of the growth to the organisation and to them as individuals. (Lovelock, 2006, p. 40-56) This will help gain their support. They will also be incorporated from the initial stages so that they own the investment opportunity. The idea will basically be sold to them. The operational plan will be managed by assigning supervisors the task of overlooking different stages of the operational plan. This is in relation to who will do which task in the operational plan? Aligning operational plan with Company mission and objectives The top management will be highly used when putting in place an operational plan. The Company’s mission statement and objectives will be used to come up with the operational plan. That means the operational plan will be drawn from the mission statement of the Company. Stakeholders needed in enacting operational plan Various stakeholders need to be consulted to help gather information for the development of an operational plan. First of all, the Company CEO needs to be consulted and informed early enough concerning the operational plan. His views should be taken into perspective when coming up with an operational plan. Secondly departmental heads in RSEA should be consulted before an operational plan is put in place. (Lewis, 2009) Through an open forum they can give their views about what should be included and how the operational plan needs to be implemented. The marketing department needs to be given majority of overlooking all steps in the operational plan. All managers in RSEA need to be consulted and their ideas taken into perspective when putting in place the plan and even during the implementation process. (Lewis, 2009) Determining resources needed in implementing the operation plan Diverse resources will definitely be needed when implementing the operational plan. They can easily be determined by stakeholders who will be carrying out the actual planning. At this stage, as the plans are put in place, the resources required in accomplishing them have to be written down. (Lewis, 2009) The marketing department can also come up with a bill of materials showing needed resources. The human resource department should help in determining human resources that will be needed in during implementation of the operational plan in RSEA. The finance department can come in handy in knowing the amount of financial resources that will be required. KPI for measuring organisational performances KPI help in measuring organisational performance in various sectors within business. This will help to give the management quantifiable measurements that are quite imperative for long term success. This helps to ascertain increased efficiency and profitability in taking up an investment venture. One of the key performance indicators that can be used to measure organisational performance is overall percentage of on time deliveries. Distribution costs as a total percentage of sales and lead time for RSEA Company can be used as key performance indicators of performance. Various key performance indicators can be used to evaluate employee performance in RSEA. (Lewis, 2009) They include balanced scorecard where performance that is below target is quite unacceptable. Customers are usually termed as the bloodline of Companies. Key performance indicators will include analysis of degree of customer satisfaction. This will show whether the organisation is performing well or not. Another key performance indicator will be the reports about product and service quality in the Company. The number of orders received by the Company’s purchasing department will also indicate the performance of the organisation. Gaining support and commitment from key stakeholders The support and commitment of key stakeholders is very essential if the operational plan in RSEA is to be successful. The support and commitment from key stakeholders will be gained through various measures. This includes communicating with them from the initial stages and taking note of their views and ideas. Key stakeholders will go through training and shown the importance of key performance indicators in ascertaining the overall performance of the organisation. (Lewis, 2009) Their commitment to implementation of KPI can be encouraged through small rewards such as certificates of participation that will play a great role in enhancing their C.Vs. Their commitment will be gained by assigning each stakeholder a task, time frame to accomplish and also to make them know that this will be used in their appraisals. (Lovelock, 2006, p. 40-56) Staff input in allocation of resources Staff can be given the opportunity to propose what they want about allocation of tasks. The decision should however rest in the hands of the management team. Their views can be looked into and some of them can be considered depending on logical reasons given. Employees can also propose the resources that will be used in the operational plan. This is mostly in relation to material resources since they are involved in the implementation process and may have more knowledge on needed materials and equipment. Staff can also have minimal input about the system of work. Their ideas can be channelled through their departmental managers. This is not the most efficient process since it is bound to take quite a lot of time due to numbers of employees involved. (Lewis, 2009) Assistance to staff in implementing operational plan Employees need to be given necessary support in implementing the operational plan. Mentoring needs to be carried out from the initial stages. Managers should have specific employees assigned to them where they carry out mentoring. This will help the staff to know how to implement the operational plan. Relevant coaching and training need to be carried out by managers in RSEA. This will help employees get equipped for the implementation of the operational plan. Policies need to be put in place by the managerial team. They have to educate employees on policies and train them on how to adhere to laid down policies. (Lewis, 2009) Employees should be made to know the effects of repercussions of failing to adhere to the policies in RSEA Company. Proper procedures for employees to follow should be laid down so that the implementation process will not be a hard task for staffs. Budgets relating to operational plan have to be put in place. Employees have to know the budget and adhere to it as they implement the operational plan. (Philip, 1996, p. 55-90) How to identify underperforming operational areas Management has to be on the look out for underperforming areas in the operation plan and organisation in general. This can be carried out through regular analysis of KPI targets and reviewing them accordingly. Various actions can be taken to correct the situation. They include training and coaching stakeholders in underperforming departments or in operation plan areas. (Lovelock, 2006, p. 40-56) Reshuffles of staff can be carried out so that it can be ascertained whether they are the ones sleeping on the job or it is the system in the department etc. In case of system problems, the system in the department can be changed altogether. Variations in the operational plans can be negotiated through having open forums with stakeholders. They can be put in writing and given to relevant managers who approve them by signing the written documents and also giving their written comments. (Lewis, 2009) Areas that can affect implementation of operational plan Various factors can affect the implementation of the operational plan. They include lack of financial resources in the finance department. The lack of skilled labour in the Company can affect the implementation process. Where there are no proper plans on procedures to be followed and allocation of tasks can affect the implementation process. (Lewis, 2009) Various contingencies for these scenarios include having recruiting enough skilled manpower, sourcing enough finances and having capital reserves and putting down well written plans and procedures. Tasks need to be assigned in good time and assistant employees given to each leader. (Philip, 1996, p. 32-76) Conclusion In conclusion, RSEA Company is known for selling safety equipment. The Company has opportunity of marketing its products and services online, through text messages sent to customers and through global television channels. Marketing online has greater potential and benefits. In implementing the best strategy of online marketing, the support of stakeholders has to be sought. Various changes have to be carried out in RSEA. They include up to date technological change, staff reshuffles and training and development changes. When all these are efficiently and effectively managed, they will lead to enviable success in RSEA Company. Read More