Change management is important in an organisational context especially the implementation of positive changes helps in minimising waste, costs thereby driving profitability and financial performance. This small family business of food manufacturing (baker) is currently facing financial loss, so cost management is certainly an important factor. Quality of food is not a problem because the baker is reputed for quality.

Required changes

As asserted by Suddaby & Foster (2017), strategic implementation and management of change in an organisation impact overall productivity and quality of work in that firm. In order to influence the financial performance of this baker, changes are required to be implemented in the core operational activities like marketing, production and distribution. To explain change management, the concept of Lewin’s theory can be used here. The three-step model of Lewin explains the implementation of a change through three stages, unfreeze – change – refreeze (Cummings, et al., 2016). This small firm uses conventional methods of marketing, which is certainly expensive and not effective to engage huge customers. Moreover, it depends on the physical store rather than taking orders online, which is why the high costs of store management cannot be avoided. This is why, this baker is limited within the local market, so now as per Lewin’s model it is time to unfreeze the existing methods and apply new methods. It may start online marketing and primarily, social media applications like Facebook, and Instagram will be the best. Images of products will be shared and consumers will be allowed to place the order immediately through these mediums by sharing their details. The baker will initiate an online payment mode to ensure customers’ convenience.

Innovation and advancement

The total volume of the bread market in the UK is 2130 million kilograms in 2019, which is expected to be 2194 million kilograms by 2025, so the market will be immensely competitive (Statista, 2022). To compete in this dynamic marketplace, this baker needs to focus on innovating its products, especially when its quality is good. At a primary level, it is tough to combat technology threats, so, while advertising, the company needs to highlight “homemade cake” as their uniqueness. The craftsmanship, artistry, design and decoration should be prioritised and it may serve cakes for specific purposes. These purposes may include festivals, birthdays, weddings, corporate celebrations and so on. Social media advertisement allows direct customer communication, which increases the scope of customised services (Elena, 2016). In the case of providing customised services, customers will be convinced to pay even more, which will help the baker to earn more.

Apart from these services, the baker may focus on expanding the production of sugar-free bread, which has a high demand in the UK. The growing threat of diabetes is forcing people to move to sugar-free food and beverages in the UK, so it will be a great idea to provide sugar-free bread with high nutritious value. In the short-term, product variation and expansion of product lines will be the target of this company. Furthermore, when it will start making a considerable profit, then the resources will be used to improve the mechanism and install advanced technologies and it will be a medium-term goal.

Learning from established brands   

Liebhart & Garcia-Lorenzo (2010) have opined that strategic initiatives and innovative ideas make differences between brands operating in similar industries and drive growth. The ideas and concepts of established bakery chains like Greggs can be an inspiration to this small organisation. This bakery stringently focuses on affordability, which is very important while buying products for daily-life requirements such as bread. Apart from developing a variety of products, Greggs is also moving to more sustainable packaging (Circular, 2021). This strategy is followed by myriad in-house bakers also and this baker may also adopt this idea. Use of paper by replacing plastic as much as possible will also create a positive impact on consumers’ minds, especially while delivering customised services.

References

Circular, 2021. Greggs targets food waste and packaging in first sustainability plan. [Online]

Available at: https://www.circularonline.co.uk/news/greggs-targets-food-waste-and-packaging-in-first-sustainability-plan/

[Accessed 25 February 2022].

Cummings, S., Bridgman, T. & Brown, K., 2016. Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. Human relations, 69(1), pp. 33-60.

Elena, C., 2016. Social media–a strategy in developing customer relationship management. Procedia Economics and Finance, Volume 39, pp. 785-790.

Liebhart, M. & Garcia-Lorenzo, L., 2010. Between planned and emergent change: decision maker’s perceptions of managing change in organisations. International journal of knowledge, culture and change management, 10(5), pp. 214-225.

Statista, 2022. Volume of the bread consumption in the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2026. [Online]

Available at: https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1191977/volume-bread-market-uk

[Accessed 25 February 2022].

Suddaby, R. & Foster, W., 2017. History and organizational change. Journal of management, 43(1), pp. 19-38.