Unit 7 Business Strategy Assignment Mulberry

Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Unit 7 Business Strategy Mulberry
QFC Level	Level 5

Introduction

Strategy plays a very crucial role every business organization, irrespective of the market that it may be operating in (Chiware, 2010). Without developing appropriate strategies and plans, there are very slim chances for a firm to effectively survive in the market and also be able to meet its goals and objectives. The present report suggests a new business strategy to British Petroleum (BP), the oil and gas conglomerate having operations worldwide. In addition to it, the  business strategy  mulberry report also presents approaches and methods through which different strategies can be assessed and appropriate ones can be selected. Furthermore it also provides insights into how a selected strategy can be implemented in an organization.

Task 1

P1.1    Assess how business missions, visions, objectives, goals, core competencies inform strategic planning with reference to Mulberry.

In the case for Mulberry, the organisation is having popularity in respect of its practical set of measures that is being considered through the selection of the three elemental aims towards sustainable development by the visionaries of the organisation.

The mission statement of Mulberry is intending to provide a clear idea in respect of the supreme objective of the organisation towards the staff members and also to the stakeholders. For instance, the mission of Mulberry has been segmented into three general principles that the organisation is aiming to provide. The mission objectives are,

• Going above the level of expectation of the consumers by offering unique products with superior quality.
• With the assistance of extended network delivery, top-level value delivery to the customers with the assistance to offer trustworthy and well-maintained answers to their requirements. (Baye, 2010)

Mulberry’s vision is based on the shared idea of development that is reflecting on the future condition of the organisation that the organisation desires. The designing of the vision statement for Mulberry has been done through the answering of a fundamental question that might be facilitating dynamic growth for the company that is associated with the aspect what Mulberry desires to achieve. Mulberry’s objectives are to achieve positive outcomes and the senior level objective of Mulberry is suggesting its objectives to actualise profitable development.

There are three kinds of goals that need to get accomplished within a specific time-period viz. uniform goals, performance based goals as well as potential based goals. Goals in relation with Mulberry are defining the approaches that should be concentrated for getting the desired mission. Core competencies of a company are the differential points that distinguish the company from its competitors. (Baye, 2010) Different exclusive points in regard to the abilities, functions, activities of the company as well as resources of Mulberry cannot be emulated by other companies as well as every scenario can be regarded as the core competencies of the organisation.

P1.2    Analyse the factors that have to be considered when formulating strategic plans with reference to Mulberry.

The factors that have to be considered when formulating strategic plans with reference to Mulberry are as follows,

• Future direction of competition – Taking into consideration, the future direction of competition for Mulberry, there is the recommendation of appropriate interactive strategic planning towards the organisation’s sustainable growth. These strategic aspects are offering future directions in respect of Mulberry that is facilitating success in respect of the competition. To recognize the competitor’s movement in the market, game theories are being considered.  (Baye, 2010)
• Customer needs – The customers aspire for the quality in exchange of the price they will be paying to the merchant. The needs of the customers are growing continuously and as a result Mulberry should be updating their business for the actualisation of maximum benefits with their prospective resources. Mulberry will be focussing on the pricing as well as product quality that should be transparent in accord to the customer’s point of view. (Baye, 2010)
• Maintenance of competitive advantages – Competitive advantage is considered to be the ability of the organisation for performing in one or more manners that the competitors will not be able to match. As the company is having competitive advantage it should be maintaining this characteristic for making the suitable as well as stable condition in the current market as well as working scenario for achieving the probable beneficial aspects.

P1.3    Evaluate the effectiveness of techniques used when developing strategic business plans using examples from Mulberry.

The effectiveness of techniques that are used when developing strategic business plans are as follows,

• BCG Matrix: There are four segments in this matrix that are determining the potential reasons in respect of growth rate as well as market share. These are called Stars, Cash Cows, Dogs and Question Marks. The BCG Matrix is playing a huge part in the determination of success towards strategic  marketing planning  since they are developing an exclusive arrangement of the high and low market share having high and low rate of development as well as concluding the arrangements and occurrences in respect of Mulberry with the substitute choices. (Baye, 2010)

• Directional Policy Matrix: The directional policy matrix will be providing the company with the appropriate directions for the evaluation of the path for business as well as means of choosing the proper processes in respect of efficient administration. It is focusing on the strength of business as well as attractiveness of the market and as a result there is the occurrence of a sensible approach to safeguard Mulberry from the damages. (Baye, 2010)

• Ansoff’s Product Market Matrix: There are four major areas where this matrix is functioning. These areas take into consideration the aspects of market penetration, product development, market development as well as diversification. These are the issues assisting Mulberry in developing the product with the different market stages as well as achieving a sustainable development for a longer period of time. With the assistance of the matrix, Mulberry will be successful in launching a product with the characteristics of the demographical as well as behavioural scenarios.

• Space: The space matrix is playing a bigger role in respect of Mulberry to select the appropriate market strategy as well as product development for assisting the company. It depends on the four issues that are aggressive, conservative, competitive as well as defensive. Each of these factors are playing a huge role to determine the appropriate strategy in accord to the conditions of the market as well as assist Mulberry with the techniques associated with successfully launching a product or rejuvenating a product. (Baye, 2010)

Task 2

LO 2.1

Conducting a thorough audit of the environment that a company operates in is of great importance, mainly because of reason that it provides management with a lot of useful information about the industry and also helps it to sustain in market for a longer period of time (Kárpáti, 2001). A PESTLE Analysis can be very useful in this regard.

• Political: Political environment is regarded to be a highly stable one, due to which it can be said that Mulberry gets an opportunity to carry out its tasks and duties in a very effective and successful manner (Mockus, 2006).
• Economic: UK economy since is in a recovery stage from that of the recent economic crisis, can be termed as a highly unstable one. It is due to this reason, Mulberry has to face a lot of troubles in effectively operating in the market (Rowley, 2002).
• Social: Social issues are considered in respect of sustainable growth of the organisation which considers its influence on the communicational, promotional activities in association with other services of the company.
• Technological: Technology is one of the main drives that make this industry tick. Mulberry is known as a leader of this industry due to use of superior technology in its daily operations.
• Legal: Mulberry is facing numerous diverse legal systems which have influence on the organisation in various manners. (Golder and Gerard, 2004).
• Environmental: There is the addressing of different environmental issues by Mulberry that are strictly carried out in respect of the structure of the company.

LO 2.2

Stakeholders can be defined as a group of individuals and different bodies that have something at stake in a company. They have something or the other of interest in firm. They are those persons who are the most affected due to any decision taken by company. For any company they are the most important entities, as all of their efforts and judgments are aimed at keeping stakeholders happy and satisfied. They may be in form of shareholders, customers, suppliers, government, regulatory bodies, competitors, etc (Fine, 2009). 

Stakeholder analysis is a very crucial task that management of any organization may be required to do. For a company like British Petroleum they hold extra significance because of fact that for surviving in this industry huge amount of investment is required and also it is crucial that various other interested parties are happy (Dameron and Durand, 2013). Stakeholder management or analysis is a process through which company can identify individuals or group of persons that are most likely to be affected due to operations and decision of the company. Analysis of stakeholders is a very important task that management at BP are required to do (Hartman and Pava, 2005). It is due to this procedure only that they are able to identify those groups of people and bodies that will have to face maximum impact of their business operations and any strategic decisions as well. This process supposedly will assist management in determining ways in which they can have a minimum negative impact on stakeholders and also that they are provided maximum satisfaction.

Stakeholder analysis is considered to be essential for any company. Stakeholders can influence the activities and also the organizational functions. There exist certain important aspects associated with stakeholder analysis to formulate new strategy in respect of Mulberry such as,

• Identifying essential individuals, establishments and groups that might influence the functional aspect of the Mulberry is considered to be one of the essential significant aspects.
• Anticipating various kinds of impacts that might be positive or negative is considered to of major significance. (Gong, 2013)
• In respect of reducing impediments for the success of the company, strategy development is required in respect of which there is a significance of stakeholder analysis.

The beneficial aspects associated with stakeholder analysis are,

• To shape the structure of the company in addition with the initiatives that the company undertakes, the viewpoints of the influential stakeholders are of great significance. Therefore, stakeholder analysis evaluates the product quality in Mulberry.
• With the support of stakeholder analysis, strong support of stakeholders can be achieved for the aspect of resource development. (Gong, 2013)
• With the help of stakeholder analysis, Mulberry has achieved success in anticipating the reaction of the customers in respect of the organizational actions.

Identification of stakeholders as well as techniques for analysis can assist Mulberry in meeting its compulsions, fulfillment of mission as well as producing public worth.

LO 2.3

 To present a new strategy there is the need to consider certain aspects that needs to be considered by Mulberry as productive organizational growth.

To begin with, Mulberry should do the alignment of the business with the appropriate missions as well as visions of the company and to do that they require implementing few standards towards total quality management and will be using the balanced scorecard traits for getting the precise as well as sufficient processing.  (Gong, 2013)

After that, Mulberry’s strategic capability should have improvement regarding the availability of the training in respect of human resources as well as the process of development. They can offer programs for orientation as well as training for the development of capabilities in the staffs for using their potentialities to actualize the goals that are defined by the business. (Gong, 2013)

Last but not least, Mulberry should be developing the strategy for making it practicable as well as appropriate in respect of the stakeholders. Moreover, Mulberry will be developing a rational thought to approach the consistency with the stakeholder’s acceptance and there should be an appropriate relation within the strategic aspects as well as goals for making the recent stakeholders much satisfied as well as interest regarding the perspectives of business.

Task 3

LO 3.1

There are a lot many tactics and strategies that can be considered by  quality management  at BP so as to be able to effectively survive in the market and also attain its goals and objectives. They can largely be classified into substantive growth, limited growth and retrenchment. In a substantive growth strategy, related and unrelated diversification is the main one (Meyer, 2009). In related diversification, company would move into manufacturing products which are related to its current operations; while in the latter one, it would enter a completely different industry. In limited growth strategies, the organization has the option to penetrate into a new market or develop the existing one by launching unique products (Gong, 2013). Here in the firm would grow at a slow but consistent pace, because of which it can sustain in the market for a longer period of time. Considering the fact that the oil and gas industry is one of the highly competitive markets in UK, limited growth strategy can prove to be a very useful option for the firm. Retrenchment is another strategic option that can be considered by management of an organization. This strategy is most useful to those firms which experience significant losses and decline in their performance due to a wide variety of reasons (Ketzes, 2003). Such companies are on the verge of closing down. There are many strategies here as well which can be considered by the management. One of them is divestment. Herein, slowly all investments made in the firm are stopped and then recovered by selling off its assets. Turnaround is another such strategy that can be used by the company. It entails that management team works in such a manner that its losses can slowly be converted into profits and the firm can reestablish itself in market.

Market entry strategies are implemented through the consideration of two significant issues that are known as mergers as well as acquisition. Mulberry should be implementing the merger in the form of substantive expansion strategy because of the scenario associated with growing strength of the market. Since, there is significance in the organization’s market power, there can be easy implementation of the substantive plan. The process of acquisition in respect of Mulberry consists of choices, purposes, absorption as well as approximation. (Gong, 2013)

Limited growth strategies are associated with market penetration, development of product as well as novelty. In respect of market penetration strategy, Mulberry is attempting to penetrate into businesses through the expansion of the uses within the present clients of Mulberry and transforming the non-clients into clients. In respect of product development, it can be said that there was the expansion of the choice for shading as well as style in respect of Mulberry towards small leather products, accessories for design as well as belts. (Gong, 2013)

Retrenchment is regarded as a corrective solution. Therefore, there is the implementation of counteractive activities when Mulberry is at the incompetency stage, as well as in the recession stage or else in respect of tough market competition. The three most essential retrenchment strategies are revenue generation strategy, asset reduction planning as well as cost reduction strategy whose implementation occurs at the inefficiency stage.

LO 3.2

It is a well-known fact that there are a lot many strategic options, from which most appropriate ones can be used by management of the firm. Considering volatile nature of the industry, as well as operations that are carried out by BP, it can be suggested to management that they must use limited growth strategy (Mani and Hosseini, 2012). Herein it can also be recommended that the authorities start to find new oil fields on which they can operate, thus meaning that the company may have to penetrate different markets. In the same context, under the same, limited growth strategy, the organization can find and launch a new product, because of which the firm can develop existing markets. Therefore it may not be wrong to say that the best strategy for company would be to focus on limited growth strategy, because through it firm can gain success at a much fast pace and thus survive for a long term in the market.

There are three significant criteria for achievement that needs to be used for monitoring the strategy that has been implemented. These are known as suitability, feasibility in respect of the strategy as well as acceptability in respect of the point-of-view of the customers, staffs as well as stakeholders. Suitability is associated with the evaluation of the aspect whether the designing is done on the aspect of significant factors. Acceptability is determining whether the strategies that are implemented meet the level of expectation of the stakeholders or not. Feasibility is measuring the reality of the strategic aspect by determining if it can be put into practice or not. (Gong, 2013)

In respect of the evaluation criteria there are three requirements that should get completed which are,

• Consistency amongst the various strategic elements
• Implementing as well as developing the strategic aspects
• Conflicting conclusion as well as judgement of the management. (Gong, 2013)

The criteria for evaluation take into consideration if the strategic aspect is addressing the significant scopes and impediments in respect of which there is identification of the company in the market.

Task 4

LO 4.1

There are numerous roles and responsibilities that management of company will need to carry out so that they can develop the products. These can be divided according to the levels of management existing in firm (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2005). Some of the roles and responsibilities that top management will have to conduct include: effective planning and directing the employees so that they can be motivated and tasks can be carried out in an effective yet efficient manner. They also will need to initiate development activity and make necessary arrangements in terms of resources they might require. Further they will also need to formulate different plans and implement them in the company, along with resorting to change management strategies (Rodgers, 2008). There are a lot of chances that employees and staff members will resist to any change(s) in the company. In such a scenario, marketing department will also have a key role to play. Herein marketing executives will have to promote the product in market in a very aggressive manner. They will have to formulate different ways through which they can promote the good(s) in target market and influence buying behavior of customers. Also they will need to execute a proper marketing campaign among target population (Schoenberg, Collier and Bowman, 2013).

There are three significant roles that are associated with the implementation of strategy for Mulberry. These are associated with the visualization of future strategy, assisting as well as lining up those strategic aspects as well as implementation of the required changing aspects and evaluation in regard of the roles of the personnel is considered significant.

The primary role is to foresee the future strategic scenario. This role provides the suggestion of precise strategic communication throughout the internal environment as well as external environment of Mulberry. In this regard, internal party is associated with the company whereas external party is associated with stakeholders. (Gong, 2013)

The other most important role of personnel towards strategy implementation for Mulberry is lining up the company having the intent to deliver the strategic aspect within the structure of the company that will be possible in an efficient way.   

LO 4.2

There are a lot of resources that the management will have to arrange for and use in implementing this new strategy of product development in company. Primarily there are three such resources which will have to be arranged by firm: personnel, finances, time and material. Human resources are one of the most important resources that an organization can get. It is because of reason that no matter how technologically advanced firm gets, it is the people who have to perform different tasks and then help in attainment of organizational goals and objectives (Jacobs and Herbig, 2000). It will have to be ensured on part of management that people they hire are aptly talented and can be useful to attainment of organizational goals and objectives.

Firm will also need to arrange finances for implementing this strategy across the company. Herein they will have to seek for monetary help from different sources like shareholders, bank loans, etc. For creating a new product, it is required that a lot of money be spent on its research and development. To be able to do so, company will need to arrange for money from different sources to carry out this activity. Apart from this, a major aspect of company is raw materials, and time. Without availability of required resources, it will become almost impossible for management of British Petroleum to implement their strategy of Product Development. Raw materials also are very important to a company like BP (Kotabe, Mol and Ketkar, 2008). Since management is looking at developing the product, they will need to arrange and expend lot raw materials and time on research and development activity.

The resources are the integral part of the strategy implementation and the necessary resources are as follows:

• Human Resources: Human resource is needed in order to align the production process with the strategy. Effective teams are needed in order to carry the work process smoothly in Mulberry. For that recruitment can be conducted to fill the vacant place
• Finance: The organisation Mulberry need to take loans from the investors and for that sound coordination is needed to be there with them. They must be updated and shared with the information. (Gong, 2013)
• Technology: Advancement in the technology is needed to be considered in the production site to successfully implement the strategic plan. The environment friendly equipments are needed to support the sustainability. (Gong, 2013)
• Time: Time will give estimation about the meeting of the objectives in the specific period. Thus evaluating the result within the time is needed to be given importance to achieve the business objectives.

LO 4.3

Table 1: Timescale

The strategy of Mulberry PLC must be evaluated with the SMART targets in the following way

To develop and implement strategy to create a new product for existing market in which British Petroleum operates, time of 5 months will be required by management. In the first month they will be required to strategically plan for developing product, conduct meetings with different associated departments, conduct a feasibility analysis and then carry out the research & development process. In 2^nd month they will have to hold meeting with finance department and decide on a budget, along with arranging for necessary resources and initiate development process.  While in 3^rd month they should monitor and evaluate effectiveness of this process and estimate market size that they will look to cater. In 4^th month they will have to identify and evaluate potential risks related to product, minimize them and then inform public of it. In last, i.e. 5^th month they will have to give final shape to offering and then launch it in market.

• Specific: The strategy that has been adopted in Mulberry will increase the production and can maximise the growth opportunities in the fashion industry. Thus it gives a specific part in the strategy.
• Measurable: Quantifiable targets can be measured. The new strategy will increase the production of Mulberry and it will be measurable.  (Gong, 2013)
• Achievable: The capability of Mulberry is high and to implement the plan Mulberry needs to recruit the workforce in order to align the production with the business goals.
• Relevant: Relevant is only be said when the target can be achieved with the given resources. The objective is to satisfy the customers and more production can fulfil the requirements of the customers. (Gong, 2013)
• Time Bound: Time scale will give a period where the management needs to evaluate the strategy. The sales turnover for three months can determine the effectiveness of the strategy.

Conclusion

Strategies have a very crucial role to play in success of a business organization, primarily because of reason that it has a direct impact on organizations’ working and also attainment of goals and objectives. During the study, it was recommended to management of BP that they should look to use the limited growth strategy, where they would have the option to either find new markets or enter them or to develop the existing market where it may be operating with help of new products and/or services.

References

Books
Baye, R. M., 2010. Managerial Economics and Business Strategy. 7^th ed. McGraw Hill.
Fine, L., 2009. The SWOT Analysis: Using your strength to overcome weaknesses, Using Opportunities to Overcome Threats. Create Space.
Gong, Y., 2013. Global Operations Strategy: Fundamentals and Practice. Springer Science & Business Media.
Johnson, G. Scholes, K. and Whittington, R., 2005. Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. 7^th ed. Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Journals
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Kárpáti, L., 2001. How to Develop a Strategic Marketing Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide. European Journal of Marketing. 35(11/12). pp.1398 – 1402.
Ketzes, S., 2003. Optimising business performance through innovative workplace strategis. Journal of Facilities Management. 2(3).pp. 258-275.