SG7001 Managing Strategy Operations and Partnerships.
Introduction
Sothema is a pharmaceutical company which is situated in Morocco. This business organisation manufactures as well as sales of medicines. The main priority of this business institution is to facilitate easy treatment of people. This is main reason why this business organisation has started to work with units related to local production. In order to achieve a competitive advantage in this country, this organisation has started to do investment continuously. Moreover, this organisation has started to collaborate with Chinese companies so that more competitive advantage can be acquired. However due to a lack of marketing strategy, this business organisation is not able to collaborate with other companies for producing mass vaccination. In this research article by identifying a tool competitive advantage of this business, an institution is going to be identified. Moreover effective corporate strategies are going to be discussed which are at same time relevant. The best corporate strategy is going to be analyzed by keeping in mind stakeholders.
2. Critical discussion on current strategy & competitive advantages of selected company
Competitive advantages
This pharmacy company Sothema is leading pharmacy services in Morocco and therefore there are different types of corporate strategies have been adopted by this brand to optimise its organisational workplaces. There are some corporate strategies developed by this brand, which can help this brand to develop its organisational activities as well as enhance its organisational activities. This brand is focusing on adopting four different types of competitive strategies, which are “strategic alliances”, “defensive strategies”, “differentiation” and “cost leadership” (Mbai et al. 2018). This pharmacy brand is using these strategies for enhancing its organisational profitability and eliminating all negative aspects for achieving competitive advantages in its operating markets.
- Cost leadership
This brand has to focus on adopting a cost leadership strategy for changing its organisational activities and achieving more valuable advantages in its organisational workplaces. As per the view of Mehra et al. (2018), adopting a cost leadership strategy has helped this pharmacy brand to increase its organisational productivity faster. Adding cost leadership strategies has supported this brand to achieve a competitive advantage in a price war. Leaders of this company are focusing on increasing its market share by eliminating their competitor and in this regards cost leadership strategy is playing a major role.
- Product differentiation
Next step adopted by this brand is product differentiation strategy, which has supported this brand to establish itself as way more attractive than its competitors than its market competitors. However, this brand is providing different types of pharmacy products to its targeted customers, which is providing this brand adds value to its customers. Hence, by providing more valuable services to its potential customers, this brand has increased brand loyalty and achieved economical advantages (Seriki & Murphy, 2019). Making product differentiation has helped this brand to generate more revenue with fewer sales, and therefore this process is also providing valuable processes and provides quality services to its targeted customers.
- Strategic alliances
This pharmacy company is also adopting strategic alliances, which is also boosting sales of this brand and therefore this strategy is also providing new opportunities to this brand in its operating markets. This strategy has also supported this brand to get instant access to its operating markets and make possible changes in its organisational activities (Tavalaei & Santalo, 2019). However, this strategy has supported this brand to adopt suitable new technology and skills, which can boost performance of this brand.
- Defensive strategies
This brand is also adopting some defensive strategies, which are also helping it to manage its organisational activities and provide more enhacive services to its potential customers. A defensive strategy also supports this brand to continue its marketing in its operating markets effectively and therefore sustain a great future of its organisational activities (Patil et al. 2020). Defensive strategies are helping Sothema to build healthy relationships with its new customers effectively and therefore achieve a great future in its organisational workplace.
Current strategies for eliminating different organisational issues in Sothema
This brand has faced “employee turnover issues”, which have decreased its organisational profitability as well as built negative relationships with its targeted customers. However, Sothema has faced issues in its “production process” and therefore this brand has optimised its production process by adopting more employees in its organisational workplace. This brand also needs to focus on providing more satisfactory services to its potential customers and manage all of its resources (Alsmairat, 2022). There is also an “issue of teamwork”, which is also reducing productivity as well as creating various bias factors in the organisational workplace. However, this brand has faced a “customers satisfaction issue” at beginning of its business starting, which has reduced its profitability and achieved competitive advantages in operating markets. Sothema has also faced technological innovation issues at beginning of its business starting, which has also interrupted different roles and responsibilities. However, in organisational workplace of this brand, there was an “issue of communication gap” as there was a lack of technological innovations (Sakdiyah & Zakhra, 2021). Hence, communication gap has also created employee dissatisfaction and therefore creates bias factors in organisational workplace activities. Managers of this pharmacy were unable to monitor performance of their organisational workers, which has also created lots of issues in managing their workplace activities. Different services were also unstable from beginning, which has created lots of issues in managing their business activities as well as optimising their business activities (Rahikkala et al. 2018). There were no rewards or incentive systems in its business, which has created lots of issues in its organisational workplace.
3. Development of Proposal
Prioritisation of organisational issues
In above portion, different issues that Sothema has faced are mentioned briefly and therefore this brand also needs to adopt different strategies for eliminating those identified issues. However, analysing all of these mentioned issues in the above portion, it can be stated that “issue of communication gap” and “employee turnover issues” were critical issues in organisational workplace of this brand. Both of these issues have created lots of critical challenges as well as increased lots of bias factors in its organisational workplace (Palagyi et al. 2019). Communication plays major importance in operating business operations efficiently and therefore managing healthy relationships with each other. However, managers of this brand are also needed to adopt more rewards & incentive systems for its organisational workers, which have created issues for this brand.
Three options relevant with corporate strategy
This brand needs to adopt corporate strategies for enhancing its organisational performance and providing best services to its potential customers. Three major corporate strategies that are needed to be adopted by this brand are “Visioning”, “Objective Setting”, and “Resource allocation” (Zhu & Westphal, 2021). Hence, adopting these corporate strategies can also benefit this brand to increase its organisational profitability and optimise its organisational culture.
- Visioning
Managers of this brand need to share their organisational vision with all of their employees, which will boost performance of this brand. Hence, providing vision to employee team will also increase its productivity as well as profitability.
- Objective Setting
Managers also need to set objectives for their organisational tasks, which will help them to increase performance of their employees.
- Resource allocation
Managers also need to focus on allocating their organisational resources properly, which will help them to boost their organisational activities efficiently.
Proposal for Sothema
After analysing information from previous activities it has been found that Sothema is currently facing struggles in employee turnover. Employer turnover rate has decreased significantly in Sothema and it has impacted on revenue generation of Sothema on a large scale. Customer retention rate also decreased in recent times, this situation is very alarming for Sothema. Creation of a beneficial business proposal for upcoming ten years in Sothema becomes inevitable. Production process is not up to the mark and there are a lot of drawbacks to production techniques. All of these impact on the sustainability of Sothema as Sothema imports most of its raw materials from Germany, France, and other countries it is highly necessary for Sothema to maintain an effective, technology-enabled, and efficient production channel. There are issues like poor teamwork and customer satisfaction issues in Sothema.
After analysing all issues, it can be stated that authorities of Sothema Should improve their negotiation skill and operation management ability to boost its corporate strategy. Some strategies that Sothema can follow to improve its negotiation skill are discussed below:
- Before adopting new production Sothema should build a good and effective relationship with all its stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, and managers.
- Sothema should pay keen attention to preparing, analysing, and proposing that will improve its employee engagement and customer retention rate.
- Effective practice of rules, regulations, and policies from ground level employees to managers can be a conductive proposal for Sothema.
- Business reports and tenders of Sothema must be clear and transparent so that there is no miscommunication among all stakeholders.
- Authorities of Sothema should improve their bargaining skills and negotiation capabilities so that they can improve their production unit.
Impact of choices on three stakeholders group
There are three types of stakeholders in Sothema, those are employees, customers, and suppliers or investors. It has been identified after analysing information from previous activities. After analysing all issues and situations of Sothema it can be stated that improving communication skills and negotiation skills are going to be most beneficial for Sothema and its stakeholders.
Employees
Negotiation with employees requires an effective understanding of business standards and employees’ perceptions (Hansen, Nørgaard, & Hallgreen, 2020). It cannot be denied that employees are greatest asset to any organisation and Sothema is not an exception in this case. Expectations of employees are also an important factor in negotiating with them. Health, safety, securities, and incentives are some important factors that can be topics of negotiation. In this way, employee retention rate can be improved and eventually revenue of Sothema will be increased.
Investors
Negotiation with investors is a critical factor for authorities of Sothema as different investors have different intentions (Bahri et al. 2022). However, during negotiating with investors building trust is highly important. Leveraging existing infrastructure, effective resources, and company benefits should be a pivotal point of negotiation. Authorities should be rigid when intentions of investors are not fit organisational objectives.
Customers
Negotiation with customers’ needs tactful intention of Sothema as different customers have different needs and demands. Price of products, availability, and quotation should be the pivotal concept of negotiation. A collaborative effort should be adapted by Sothema while negotiating with customers.
4. Reflection for assessment of stages of this proposal
In order to do this proposal for Suthema, I had to follow various stages that should be followed for proposing a corporate strategy. At first, I had to do proper market research on how to increase competitive advantage of a pharmaceutical company. Market research is extremely important for developing a corporate strategy as knowledge about potential buyers is important and relevant for developing strategies (Jelonek et al. 2022). In activity 1, an analysis of different technologies has been done which made this a robust proposal. A proposal could not have been prepared without having knowledge about market conditions as analysis of market conditions is required for making a proposal on corporate strategies. After doing proper market research and gathering knowledge regarding competitors and customers of this business, a goal was required to be set. Hence, I focused on creating a goal for this company to develop its corporate strategy based on facts that I have collected.
The next stage of proposal development is an analysis of information that has been gathered as without a proper analysis, it is not possible to develop a proper corporate strategy for Suthema. Sustainability is required for businesses as sustainable businesses have a chance of running for a long time in business market (Jelonek et al. 2022). Hence, I had to figure out needs of this business to be sustainable in the long run. In activity 2, an analysis of key marketing areas has been done which helped in getting facts about business market. Based on that, strategy formation was done as a strategy for making a business sustainable is required for improving efficiency of their business.
The third stage that has helped in this making this proposal has known about its competitive environment as knowing about competitors is important for developing competitive advantage of a company. Analysing competitive environment has helped in understanding cost leadership, and importance of strategic alliances. Understanding importance of leadership techniques and strategic alliances has helped me in evaluating its strengths and limitations for proposing these strategies. This stage in proposal information was required for evaluating positive and negative strategies to help Suthema in becoming successful in corporate world.
This proposal has become robust by learning about competitive tools that can be used for developing objectives for this business. In Activity 3, key issues affecting this industry have been done. I have gathered knowledge on issues of Suthema by analysing its different processes which helped me in getting insight into production process, customer service process, and other relevant processes. It helped me in gaining knowledge about internal processes of this organisation and make recommendations for solving these issues. A corporate strategy was to be prepared for Suthema to eliminate issues in this company. Hence, it was important to know about customer satisfaction issues. Businesses can never be successful in their business strategies if customers’ satisfaction is not considered. Therefore, in this stage, I gathered about specific issues with customer satisfaction to reduce identified issues. It was an important stage as it helped me in gaining insight into the wants and desires of customers and their reasons for not being satisfied. I have been able to formulate a plan for knowing about missing points in this business that is affecting its customer satisfaction.
In order to undertake this project and formulate a corporate plan for Suthema, information on important stakeholders of this company had to be undertaken. I had already taken into consideration of customers’ perceptions and complaints to know about their views towards this organisation. Another group of important stakeholders is the employees of an organisation and without considering employees; decisions cannot be taken for a company’s efficiency (Ikram et al. 2019). There were issues with leadership that needs to be solved so there should be a corporate strategy for solving this issue. I looked at employee reviews of this organisation to understand issues with employees and their leaders. Hence, understanding issues and analysing that communication gap is a reason for leadership issues. Team leaders in this company are not able to reduce communication gap between their employees. Thus, this information has helped me in making suitable corporate strategies for making it ride top in business market. I have paid immense focus on making relations to identified problems in this proposal as relating to these issues has helped in giving a direction to this proposal. I have used information from relevant sources like journals and websites of this company to gather knowledge about its production process and relevant details about customers and employees, thus forming a robust proposal.
5. Conclusion
It can be concluded that Sothema is trying its best for maintaining its competitive advantage in Morocco. However collaboration with Chinese medical institution can be considered one of best strategies of this business organisation. There are lots of issues with this organisation such as this organisation is not able to collaborate further with other companies. This organisation gives importance to local production and it is one of its corporate strategies. By following this corporate strategy this organisation aims to accumulate autonomy related to field of medicine production. Moreover this business organisation has started to give importance to collaborating with some international laboratories. This is a way through which this business organisation is able to incorporate new technologies during production. There are various types of corporate strategy out of which this organisation gives maximum importance to expansion strategy. That is why this organisation gives priority to south-south cooperation which is most influential corporate strategy.
References
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