Assignment 2: Employing Strategy in a Competitive Environment
Due Week 4 and worth 280 points
This assignment builds upon on the strategy elements created Assignment 1.
Write a four to eight (4-8) page paper in which you:
1. Create an environmental scan for the company indicating the most significant environmental threats and discuss how the company should respond to each threat to ensure that the impact to the business is minimal.
2. Based on the environmental scan, evaluate the company’s strengths and evaluate how the company can leverage these strengths so as to yield a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
3. Identify a significant competitor for the company and assess how your company will compete against it to maximize profits and create value for stakeholders.
4. Assume that the U.S. economy is in a state of decline requiring modifications to the strategy. Evaluate how the strategy should be modified. Provide a justification of how this will help the company continue to compete in the marketplace.
5. Evaluate how global competition may impact the business strategy and determine how the company should respond.
6. Use at least four (4) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Analyze the external and internal environment for opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses that impact the firm’s competitiveness.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in strategic management.
Write clearly and concisely about strategic management using proper writing mechanics
Employing Strategy in a Competitive Environment
My printing having crafted and executed its strategy, the next challenge will be to employ the strategy in the competitive environment. Being a printing, it is important to indicate that it is likely to face challenges as far as gaining customer loyalty is concerned. in this segment of the project, I will carry out an environmental scan and discuss on some of the potential threats that the business is likely to face. I will also provide some solution to how the same business can overcome these threats. I will also evaluate the company’s strength based on the environmental scan, and give an explanation on how the company can be able to leverage the strengths, for it to have a competitive advantage in the marketing environment.
In this paper also, I will indicate a potential competitor to my business, and asses how this company can be bal to compete against the competitor in a bid to increase its overall profits and expand value for stakeholders. Assuming that the economy of the US is in a decline mode as far as this strategy is concerned, I will evaluate how the strategy can be modified to fit in the market demand. Lastly I will evaluate how global competition is likely to impact this business strategy, and also provide a means in which the company can be able to respond.
Create an environmental scan for the company indicating the most significant environmental threats and discuss how the company should respond to each threat to ensure that the impact to the business is minimal.
Printing is an industry that already has a number of companies and businesses operating in it. This makes the entry of my business in this industry a challenge as a far as competition is concerned. The major threat that my company might face is the issue of brand image building and development (Thompson et al, 2010). Other companies having been in the marketing environment for a while will mean that they have already created a brand for themselves, and customer loyalty has already been established. This will make it difficult for my company to be able to convince them otherwise.
To effectively deal with this, it is necessary for my company to formulate and implement strategies that will lead to customer attraction and retention. One of the ways in which I can effectively do this is by conducting a survey of t he strategies that my competitors use in attracting their customers. I can then improve on these strategies and give something extra to the clients like offering discounts and introduction of loyalty cards, coupons, and also improving on services, including home delivery strategies.
Another potential threat that this business might incur is inadequate and insufficient resources to manage some of its operations. Printing is a diverse industry and this company should have the necessary materials and equipments to make sure that it fits in the competitive environment. Lack of enough transportation facilities like vehicles could lead to the company not reaching out the wider market, something that competitors might capitalize to expand their profitability. To effectively deal with this, there is need to use outsourcing where private transportation providers could assist in the transportation.
Based on the environmental scan, evaluate the company’s strengths and evaluate how the company can leverage these strengths so as to yield a competitive advantage in the marketplace
Some of the strength that this company has is the use of the most modern technology both in advertising and productions. The company also has a great number of experienced and highly qualified staff. Being a new company this company also has a great strength when it comes it brand image. This is because customers have not yet had a negative opinion of the company. With the modern technology, there is no doubt that the company can capitalize this and streamline to efficiency their advertising and marketing strategies (Birkinshaw et al, 1995). Some of this can be through the use of the internet tools like the social network, where it can be able to reach out to a large market at the shortest time while using the minimal resources at hand. It can also be able to make its services better by reaching out to the customer reviews, comments and suggestions from its clients via the social network, or its website’s customer area. Modern technology is not only applicable in the marketing and advertising sector but also can be applied in other departments like the procurement
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