Unit 7 Business Strategy Sample Assignment

Task 1

You are required to select a business organization which you are familiar with preferably listed in London stock market or stock market in your country of origin and research its business activities before writing a preliminary report based on following:

Company Profile

Chosen Company: Barclays
Barclays is a multinational banking and financial service organization which has its headquarters in One Churchill Place, London, UK. The company operates mostly in wholesale and retail sectors and provides service like wealth management and lending and credit cards. The company operates in over 50 countries world-wide. The company has been in existence for more than 300 years and was started way back in 1690 by John Freame and Thomas Gould (Ackrill, 2001). With its expert knowledge about the market and business strategy the company has been able to be a success during all these years. The company currently serves more than 48 million customers throughout the world. In 2014, Barclays was awarded “Brand of the Year” award in UK Banking category in World Branding Award.

Mission and Vision Statement

Mission statement is one which defines the scope of operation of any organization. It describes the purpose of the organization.
The mission statement of Barclays is to be innovative and customer centric by ensuring high quality product and delivering quality service, making sure that the employees can achieve excellent career option and also contributing for the betterment of various communities and stakeholders of the company.
Vision statement is one which tells other what the company wants to become. Thus, vision statement shows the future aspirations of the company which may be theoretical or impractical but motivate the company to work hard.
The vision statement of Barclays is to become world class organization by being most valuable and admired banking and financial organization such that it becomes a benchmark for other companies to follow and compete (Wartnaby, D) .

Goals and Objectives

Objectives are long term goals set up by the company in its pursuit to achieve its mission statement. Objectives justify the existence of the company. Goals on the other hand are short term goals set up for the employees, teams, groups or organization as whole to measure the performance of the company.
The main objective of Barclays is to build long term relationship with its shareholders. The company has four execution priorities: Capital Funding, Returns, Income Growth, and Citizenship. The company believes in formulating long term strategy to build healthy relationship with all its stakeholders, while managing its resource in most efficient manner and minimizing the risks.
According to 2011 Report, Barclay’s main goal was to increase lending of money to businesses especially in UK. The company also focused to lend more funds to government and public sector organizations, institutions and people.

Core Competencies

Core competencies are the values which differentiate the company from its other competitors in the market. Core competencies form the basis of any organization on which the company formulates its strategy and operates.
The main values of the company are: to respect each and every employee, to work with fairness and integrity, to be customer focus at all times by understanding his or her need and being proactive to solve it, to deliver excellent performance on consistent basis, to be innovative at all times, protect the reputation and brand value which the company has gained over the years.

Analyse the factors that have to be considered to formulate strategic plans. How does Ansoff’s matrix help your chosen firm to manage the strategic decision to consider business plan.

According to Ansoff Matrix analysis, Barclays can analyse various factors which the company needs to consider while formulating new product and market growth by business strategy. These are explained below (Mbewa, 2010):

1. Market Penetration: Market penetration means selling of existing goods and services in existing market. The existing quality of service and banking facilities offered by Barclays should be maintained without any variation so as to maintain the brand name the company has gained in so many years.
2. Market Development: Market development means selling of existing goods and services to new market. Barclays is currently targeting children below 18 years who can open their account and whose account will be managed by their parents.
3. Product Development: During Product Development, the company looks to introduce new product or develop existing product or service to existing market. Continuous innovation is the key for Barclays to bring something new each and every time in terms of latest technology to make sure its customers are kept intact.
4. Diversification: Diversification means selling of new product and service in new market. This kind of approach is highly risky but if successful may incur high results for the company. The current market expansion in Asian countries requires proper market research and launching new types of services by Barclays because of the difference in the preferences of people in Asian countries.

Evaluate the effectiveness of strategic planning techniques to be used when developing strategic business plan.

BCG Matrix: BCG growth share matrix categorizes business units of a company into four different categories based on growth rate and value of market share of the company. BCG analysis on Barclays I explained below (Muzi, 2014):
Question mark: Investing in Asian countries is Question Mark Stage for Barclays as the company sees high growth rate but because of low reputation among Asian people, the market share of the country will be low in these markets.
Star: The baking and Finance sector of Barclays in African countries are the Star units for the company as it shows both high growth rate and high value on market share. The company being new to these areas has high potential to grow faster.
Cow: Since, Barclays has been in operation in UK and other European countries for a very long duration, the company hold high brand value among these people however, the growth rate has become stable and does not offer very high growth. These units are termed as Cows according to BCG matrix.
Dogs: Dogs are those business units which are low in terms of both growth rate and market share. Since, Barclays has been an old player in global market, the company does not have any unit which lies in this category currently. However, if the company expands its business in Asian countries which does not result in desired output, the company can than termed it as dogs and should sell all the assets and invest it in other units which yield higher results.