BSS050-6 Strategic Management Assignment Sample
BSS050-6 Strategic Management Assignment Sample
Introduction
Strategic management approaches help businesses to develop a direction for businesses to grow through assessment of organisational practices, identification of business goals and creating achievable business objectives. This study has focused on critical analysis of organisational approaches of Gabor Logistics and its associated business operations for improvement of its operational effectiveness. Application of strategic business management theories such as Ansoff Matrix, BCG Matrix, Mckinsey Matrix, Bowman Strategy Clock, Generic Strategy, Roger Model and Safe Model would be included in this organisational context. Further, evaluation of challenges in organisational performance management activities while recommending effective approaches of business performance improvement would be represented in this study.
Main Body
Ansoff Matrix
The “Ansoff Matrix”, or the “Product/Market Expansion Grid”, serves as a two-by-two framework for management teams and the analytical community to indulge in planning and evaluating growth initiatives. On a particular note, application of the Ansoff Matrix can be advantageous for the stakeholders of Gabor Logistics in conceptualising the risk level associated with potential growth strategies. This matrix accounts for four strategies of growth for an organisation with a specific emphasis on risk aspects (Peterdy, 2022). The least risky strategy tends to be market penetration in terms of increasing profitability with the help of existing products concerning an existing market. On the contrary, market development tends to be next to this risky approach with the attempt of increasing profitability by focusing on existing products in new markets. A significantly higher risk strategy is product development emphasising the introduction of new products to an existing market with the riskiest one being diversification stressing both new products and new markets.
Focusing on Gabor Logistics, it is identified that the brand has potentially managed its promotional and advertising activities with relevant digital marketing tools for successfully drawing significant attention towards target customers (Gabor Logistics, 2023). However, it is also addressed that this start-up business holds technological development as a limited zone over its competitor Elanders. In this respect, Gabor Logistics can account for the strategy of product development with comparatively lesser risk for strategic growth. This is concerning the fact that product development can include extending the available product range through the introduction of diverse variance or repackaging of the existing products. Likewise, it can also include shortening the time to market or improving features for effective customer service quality. A study by Tech Talk (2020) has pointed out that courier companies account for giving value to their customers by facilitating safety actions and online tracking facilities. The same can be implemented by Gabor Logistics as a way of securing the packages to reach the correct destination.
In this view, Gabor Logistics can indulge in supporting the customers with significant use of technological advancements and using identification goods for the safety of their services. Effectiveness concerning courier services tends to be entirely dependent on organisational and management level along with time factor (Tech Talk, 2020). Referring to this, new achievements like technology and innovation with the development of electronic technologies for process adaptation can be crucial for Gabor Logistics. Cooper (2019) asserted that bringing about new product development accounts For success drivers in terms of new characteristics and strategic organisational factors. On this note, the addressed innovation strategy and approach of Gabor Logistics towards investment decisions can be crucial. Gabor Logistics can also be subject to technological advancements like tracking packages with GPS and routine optimisation for ensuring the services as a crucial market edge.
BCG Matrix
The “growth share matrix” or BCG matrix emphasises the context of market leadership as a way of securing sustainable superior returns. Implementation of BCG for Gabor Logistics as a market leader can be subject to obtaining a self-reinforcing cost advantage over competitors like Elanders. The matrix stresses the need for addressing two factors, namely market attractiveness and company competitiveness (BCG, 2022). This is significantly accompanied by growth rate and market share as underlying driving factors. Relevant to this, cash cows are identified as having low growth and high share while stars are subject to high growth and high share. Conversely, question marks focus on high growth and low share with both growth and share being low for pets. Following this, product value for Gabor Logistics is substantially dependent on its ability to gain a leading market share before slowing growth.
Compliance with the BCG matrix highlights that all products, irrespective of their industry, account for eventually turning into pets or cash cows. It matters that pets are considered unnecessary as they tend to be evidence of failure towards obtaining leadership positions or cutting losses. Referring to this, Gabor Logistics can potentially focus on stars as a way of investing in market scope for high potential in the future run. Focusing on the courier and parcel market of UK, Carlier (2023) opined that it was substantially booming specifically in recent years with rapid e-commerce evolution. This is supported by statistical figures of 2013 highlighting UK’s courier market to have generated £6.9 billion as its revenue. Contrary to this, the figures for 2020 have highlighted the evaluation of this market as about £14 billion in terms of growing two times higher (Carlier, 2023). This is also supported by the figure for 2020 amidst imposed government restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak domestic volume witnessed a surge of about 50%.
Elicited from the aspect that the coronavirus pandemic has rendered a positive impact on the courier market, it has also brought about increased revenue and changing customer behaviours. Statistics have highlighted that Royal Mail appears as UKs leading courier firm with 50,800 vehicles and about £12.6 billion as annual revenue (Carlier, 2023). However, it is also argued that UK has faced challenges in the matter of delivery delays and product damage. In this regard, Gabor Logistics can extensively focus on stars as a way of increasing technological compliance for better services and improved customer experience. Hanlon (2022) posited that stars are specifically focused on products with high market share referring to high-growth markets. Hence, with UK market being of a high-growth nature, Gabor Logistics can account for increased compliance with technological tools for increased market share than its competitors.
Mckinsey Matrix
The “GE-McKinsey Nine-Box Matrix” Serves as a strategic tool offering a systematic approach for business corporations towards prioritisation of their investments concerning business units. It can be helpful for Gabor Logistics in the evaluation of its portfolio in addition to providing further strategic implications with prioritisation of required investments for each business unit (Jurevicius, 2021). In this context, industry attractiveness focuses on the ease for a company to compete in a certain market and ensure significant profitability. It is relevant to the aspect that the more the profitability of an industry, the higher its attractiveness. On a similar note, competitive strength focuses on the strength and competitive advantage of a particular business unit of a company in comparison to its rivals (Zihare and Blumberga, 2020). This leverages the scope for managers to indulge in the determination of sustainability concerning a business unit along with duration of the same. Inclusion of this strategy for Gabor Logistics can be effective in prioritising its limited resources for accomplishing the best returns.
Concerning courier services, futuristic innovation identifies 3D printing as a potential innovative technology. However, Tech Talk (2020) argued that the introduction of 3D printing in courier services possesses a mixed impact owing to the possibility of altering traditional trading and production patterns. Given these being the main sources of courier shipments, Gabor Logistics can account for the creation of international 3D printing factories for addressing customer demand. Impact of this technology can be identified to bring about smoothness with additional changes in production processes that can apply to both innovative and traditional technologies. Relevant to this, the best approach for a start-up business like Gabor Logistics can be the invest-growth strategy in terms of operating in a moderately attractive industry with a significantly moderate competitive position. According to Ideas (2020), a business requires potential resources like capital and assets for growth. Therefore, Gabor Logistics can be subject to relevant investments for increasing its capacity and reaching new customers while improving products with the help of extensive marketing and research and development.
Bowman Strategy Clock
“Bowman Strategy Clock” referred to an organisational framework assisting in understanding strategic organisational positioning options assisting in understanding marketing positioning for businesses. In the views of Weston and Nnadi (2021), “Bowman Strategy Clock” guides businesses to focus on two dimensions of “price and perceived value” for positioning in market. This framework would be essential for businesses to consider “value-added, low price, hybrid, differentiation, focused differentiation, risky high margins, monopoly pricing, and loss of market share”. Further, it helps businesses such as Gabor Logistics to focus on effective value creation and perceived value management opportunities for businesses while managing a customer centric pricing strategy in future.
In view of the “Bowman Strategy Clock”,Gabor Logistics can be subject to a range of options that can help it position its products and services. This requires being undertaken with a considerable emphasis on the dimensions of perceived value and price (Think Insights, 2020). Relevant to the evaluations and scope for product development with technological inclusion for Gabor Logistics, accounting for a hybrid strategy can be advantageous. Monfaredet al. (2019) contended that as a way of addressing modern demand responses, companies often account for maximising economic interests and changing consumption patterns. In this matter, a hybrid position can involve moderate pricing with moderate differentiation for curious services of Gabor Logistics as a clear articulation of added value with consistent quality.
The following strategy accounts for the combination of low prices with significant product differentiation. A hybrid model can be beneficial for Gabor Logistics in attracting consumers by offering lower or reasonable pricing of the products with certain product differentiation (Think Insights, 2020). Unlike competitors like Royal Mail and Elanders, Gabor Logistics can be subject to technological inclusion for a market edge. A significant emphasis on the total capital statement of Gabor Logistics has highlighted a total share count of £100 with a total aggregate nominal value of £100 (Gov, 2021). In light of this, customers of Gabor Logistics can be convinced that the brand is subject to offer a good value product or service at a substantially lower price.
Porter’s Generic Strategy
“Porter’s Generic Strategy” is considered as another general way of identifying organisational position in a market for improvement of organisational performance in future. As per the study by Lauer (2019), incorporation of “Porter’s Generic Strategy” focuses on analysing core strategies of business performance management activities in understanding operational effectiveness. This includes “Cost Leadership Strategy, Differentiation Strategy, Cost Focus Strategy and Differentiation Focus Strategy” for improvement of organisational approaches in organisational performance and positioning management. This essentially improves managerial understanding on organisational core competency influencing effective organisational performance management opportunities in a complicated and complex industry of logistics for Gabor Logistics.
Advantages associated with improvement of organisational practices through “Porter’s Generic Strategy” have benefited businesses around the world to enhance its effectiveness in business modelling. As identified by Slaviket al. (2020), adaptation of “Porter’s Generic Strategy” helps businesses to integrate an effective business model and organisational structural management for improvement of operational effectiveness. This has indicated that Gabor Logistics focusing on “Cost Focus Strategy and Differentiation Focus Strategy” would be essential in improvement of operational approaches for organisational performance improvement. This would be also beneficial for this organisation in managing its globalised performance management as well as enhancing its operations for gaining competitive advantages in logistics industry.
Developing “Cost Focus Strategy” can be identified as businesses emphasis on customer attraction opportunities through developing value focused or lowest cost development strategies in business performance management. As poised by Keininghamet al. (2020), use of “Cost Focus Strategy” has benefited businesses to identify price sensitivity of targeted customer base to develop effective organisational policies. Following this, Gabor Logistics would be benefited through incorporation of low cost strategy in providing its services to tagged customer base for improvement of operational abilities in operational performance improvement opportunities. This has also focused on minimising issues related to attracting customers in a highly competitive industry of globalised logistics operation management activities.
“Differentiation Focus Strategy” for Gabor Logistics would be focused on providing quality and timely approaches in logistics performance management activities for businesses. In the views of Lee and Lee (2020), implementation of quality as a differential strategy has assisted businesses to enhance their opportunities in operational management for increasing customer satisfaction and needs. It has essentially improved organisational abilities of Gabor Logistics to provide fast delivery to customers while increasing quality aspects in delivering product and services to customers. It would be essentially benefiting businesses to enhance their operational effectiveness as well as improvement of customer attraction and satisfaction approaches by using organisational offering to targeted customer base.
Managerial and business structure can be identified as major influencing factors in management of organisational cost and differentiation management activities assisting in improvement of organisational performance improvement abilities. In the views of Azimovnaand Shokhrukhovich (2022), multidimensional organisational and managerial structure creates challenges for businesses to implement generic strategies for organisational performance improvement. This would be essential for organisations such as Gabor Logistics to face issues related to management of both cost and differentiation performance management activities for gathering appropriate approaches in operational improvement. However, this would increase issues related to international expansion management and simultaneously cost and differentiation strategies management through application of “Porter’s Generic Strategy”.
Roger Model
“Roger Model” represented as “Innovation-Adoption Curve” helps businesses to understand their customer as well as improve their organisational innovation requirements for improvement of operational effectiveness. As observed by Lund et al. (2020), adaptation of “Roger Model” assists businesses to segment tagged populations in five segments of “innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards”. This helps businesses to understand effectiveness on the operation and innovation in improvement of products and services for optimised performance management activities. Further, it would be beneficial for Gabor Logistics to manage its businesses with innovative and creative nature in operational development through effective organisational process improvement opportunities with “Roger Model”.
Businesses such as Gabor Logistics would be benefited through application of innovation in improvement of its organisational processes. In the views of Okouret al. (2021), application of “Roger Model” benefits businesses to enhance their operational effectiveness through management of change needs. This has essentially benefited businesses in understanding volatility and ambiguity in organisational performance management activities by application of advanced technologies in operational performance improvement practices. Gabor Logistics focusing on understanding organisational aim and objectives in understanding customer innovativeness in accepting innovation in its products would be beneficial for improvement in organisational relevance. This would be also essential for this organisation to decrease ineffective decision making activities in managing effective innovation and technologies improvement opportunities for business through evaluating business abilities through “Roger Model”.
“Roger Model” depends on assumptions on the factors such as “genuineness, unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding are necessary and sufficient for change” for organisational activities. However, constantly changing organisational activities has increased issues related to effective organisational performance management activities in understanding changing nature of the business environment (Guttentag and Smith, 2022). This has essentially increased issues for businesses such as Gabor Logistics to evaluate their operational performance needs for improvement of organisational effectiveness in innovation management. Besides, it would create challenges for this organisation to manage effective technological development opportunities in logistical performance improvement while evaluating through this model.
Safe Model
Safe Model helps businesses in upscaling working patterns by conveying knowledge for organisational operating practice. Utilisation of this model it can help companies in enhancing organisational operating structure by guiding businesses in structuring operations. Furthermore, companies can also plan and manage works in an organisation by incorporating value and upholding them. In the views of Shameem et al. (2020), assistance from safe model businesses are able to develop coaching and training practices by guiding employees. Hence, increasing operating effectiveness companies scale organisational issues developing practices to overcome them.
Gabor Logistics has identified that limited technology investment and automation created issues in sustainable operation management. Thus, increasing operating cost, Gabor Logistics has been unable to operate in the UK. Thus, implementation of a safe model can help this company in creating visibility while operating in a complex market. Providing employees with quality training, Gabor Logistics might harness professionalism while operating in market. According to Gan and Yusof (2019), training employees helps companies in enhancing employees’ contribution towards organisational progress. Thus, it can be stated that Gabor Logistics by providing employees with quality training might enhance sustainability and value by harnessing quality technologies. Skilled professionals in Gabor Logistics utilising innovative technological support might reduce organisational additional expenses and harness effective growth.
Gabor Logistics owing to lack of effective cost management strategy might also face a major threat to schedule cost-effectiveness impacting organisational finances. Thus, implementation of a safe model can also assist this company in developing strategies for cost management. Yuan (2020) has opined that due to lack of effective cost management, businesses become unable to retain balance between interest and benefits. Thus, Gabor Logistics with assistance from a safe model can gain effective agile practice by visualising workflow and organising operations successfully.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that Gabor Logistics can improve organisational operations utilising strategic management approaches successfully. Utilising strategic management tools, Gabor Logistics might be able to overcome organisational issues. Problems like unorganised operation management and lack of skilled finance management has been restricting this logistics organisation in retaining effectiveness during its operational practice in market of UK. Thus, utilising tools like Ansoff Matrix, BCG Matrix, Mckinsey Matrix, Bowman strategy clock, Generic Strategy, Roger model and Safe Model, this company can enhance organisational market value. Thus, by improving operating approaches and structuring organisational needs, this company might enhance organisational value and effectiveness in market of UK.
Recommendations
Identified competition in market impacting organisational progress and stability. Thus, with assistance from profiling customers’ needs, companies can generate significant value in market increasing organisational growth. According to Nair and Gupta (2021), development of customer persona helps companies in identifying their needs and necessities. Hence, with assistance from Ansoff Matrix, companies can measure market needs and its trends. Based on this evaluation, personal development can profile their needs and necessities while engaging with the market. Conducting surveys and customer segmentation based research might assist this company in overcoming consumers needs by pinpointing areas of market’s competitiveness. Thus, enhancing organisational growth and developing value, companies can enhance value in the market.
Customer relationship management is a major challenge impacting companies in evaluating its range of growth. Utilisation of BCG metrics can help companies in evaluating customers needs and segment organisational products accordingly. Thus, selecting multiple suppliers companies might attain successful growth and development in the market. Ecer (2022) has opined that companies having options for selecting suppliers gains competitive advantage while operating in a competitive market. Thus, it can be stated that companies by channelling operations through BCG metrics can develop positive relationships with multiple suppliers and enhance organisational growth and operating value in the market.
High demand of customer has been restricting companies in providing customers with quality services. Due to increased expectation rate, this company has been unable to evaluate customers’ needs and provide them with quality products and services. Thus, utilising a safe model, companies can organise operations evaluating market demand from costumes feedback. Gaining feedback from the end of customers can assist companies in gaining knowledge regarding customers’ needs. In addition, acknowledging customers can also help this company in gaining significant market value. Tien et al. (2019) have stated that maintaining a positive relationship with customers can help companies in enhancing organisational profitability rate.
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Appendix
Summary and Recommendation of Gabor Logistics
It can be summarised that utilising strategic management tools assists companies in identifying and evaluating organisational strengths and weaknesses. Bringing in improvement in operating activities, companies can improve progress and success while operating in a competitive market. Moreover, strategic management tools also assist companies in gaining sustainability and effectiveness creating major influence towards effective operation management. Companies utilising strategic management tools are able to attain demanding customers enhancing organisational share and value. Thus, with Gabor Logistics assistance from strategic management tools can increase success and progress while operating in the UK. It has been evaluated that because of high market competition and enhanced consumers demand, operation management in this organisation gets affected. Thus, implementing recommended strategies can help this company in increasing sustainable growth and effective value enhancing development successfully. Most importantly, evaluating opportunities and value, utilising strategic management tools, can help companies to bring success and growth developing progress while operating in a complex market.
Gabor Logistics has been facing tough competition in the market impacting organisational sales rate. Thus, conducting market analysis using strategic tools can help Gabor Logistics in overcoming issues successfully. Conducting market analysis using strategic tools like surveys can help this company in enhancing value and integrity in the market effectively. In addition, lack of effective communication with suppliers has also been resisting this company in valuing organisational resources. Thus, Gabor Logistics establishing positive relationships through communication with multiple suppliers can enhance growth and value in the market. Creating sustainability and valuing resources, Gabor Electronics can bring in success while operating in the market. Most importantly, lack of customers needing evaluation has been restricting Gabor Logistics in enhancing success in the market. Thus, developing customers’ persona can help this company with effective customer needs evaluation creating growth and development in the market successfully.
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