Assignment Sample on Strategy and Decision Making

1. Introduction

The major aim of this study is to analyze the business position and business strategy of SME drinks and brewing company Adnams PLC. During pandemic situation, the profits and revenues of the company have lost in a drastic amount as well as sustainability has been hampered also. Cost leadership strategy is very beneficial as well as suitable for this company as it can help to improve the profit and revenues of the company along with improving growth and sustainability. Supply chain management is closely related to the growth and sustainability of business and It helps to control the supply chain along with the operating cost of the company as much as possible.

2. Main body

2.1 Company background

Adnams Plc is an SME-based brewing and drinks company in the UK. In addition, this company has hotels, pubs as well as relation shops in Suffolk and Norfolk. Approximately 558 employees work in this company and this company has approximately 1500 shareholders. During the pandemic situation, the supply chain of this company was disrupted as well as the sales were decreased by approximately 25% at the end of February 2020. Besides that, the sales were highly decreased at the end of April and this is 34% from the previous year. Moreover, the bear value of this company is declined by 15% including decreasing sales of 62% (Gorczynski et al. 2020). This company has tried to manage the entire situation by improving its business strategy and competitive advantages of the company.

2.1 External and internal environment analysis

2.1.1 External environment analysis

PESTLE analysis

PESTLE analysis is described in this study in order to understand the external environment of the company as much as possible.

Factors	Description
Political factors	● The UK government is considered a top stable government according to political view. The rules of laws and regulations are very controlled as well as the corruption level is low in the UK. Therefore, it is beneficial for this company to overcome all problems as soon as possible. ● The UK government is categorized as the most powerful countries and the government is placed under the constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. It helps this company to manage all political problems as issues without facing more. ● The UK and UN have very strong bonding and evidence has suggested that each government acts as a support system to each other. It is also beneficial for the company to manage any issues.
Economic factors	● The GDP level of the UK is 2.744 trillion US dollars and the UK is contemplated as most growth country in the world. The per capita income of this country is high and this is approximately 41030 US dollars. All of these can help to improve the financial position of Adnams PLC. ● The economy of the UK is diverse in nature and this diverse nature provides various business opportunities to achieve the goals and objectives of the company. As per this company, it can help to improve business position including profits and revenues of the company. ● The tax rate of the UK is reduced in the year of 2020, which can be suitable for this business company.
Social factors	● Approximately 34 million people live in this country including various cultural people. As evidenced by Dizdarevic et al. (2021), the UK is considered as most popular as well as biggest consumer market. Henceforth, it is very opportunistic for company to overcome all issues during the pandemic situation.
Technological factors	● Evidence has suggested that the UK is placed as the most developed country in terms of technological factors. This helps Adnams to implement new supply chain management technology and others tools and technology very easily.
Legal factors	● The UK has employment law and laws and regulations regarding maternity leaves and other business laws. All of this can is beneficial for this company to manage employees and other legal issues.
Environmental factors	● As the UK is a huge industrial area, the pollution level is high. However, it does not affect the growth and sustainability of the company (Poreau, 2018).

Table 1: PESTLE analysis of UK

(Source: Poreau, 2018)

2.1.2 Internal environment analysis

SWOT analysis

Strengths	Weaknesses
● The flavour of this brewery company is very unique and the style of serving is superior. ● This Company has almost more than 500 employees and this helps the company to produce huge amounts of products.	● As this company is a small and medium-based company, this company does not have huge distributors and huge suppliers. Therefore, the threats of suppliers for this company are high. ● This company only targets local areas and no digital marketing is used by this company to promote its product.
Opportunities	Threats
● Consumer demand for their beer is high and this helps to improve the sales and sustainability of business along with profits and revenues of this company. ● The company has an opportunity to make beer with varieties numbers of flavors.	● The competition in the market is very high and there are several brewery industries in the region of the UK, which is considered a big threat to the company. ● The capital of the business is very low and during pandemic situations, the supply chain management has been entirely disrupted (Yang et al. 2018).

Table 2: SWOT analysis

(Source: Yang et al. 2018)

2.2 Strategic business plan

This brewery company and Adnams Plc follow the offensive strategy and this helps the company to timepiece business strategy as well as company position in the market. This Company is fully capable of maintaining this strategy. With the help of this strategy, the company has helped to improve various types of flavored products within a short period of time. In addition, the company has made very few quality brands images with the help of this strategy. As opined by Korniat and Wehner (2020), this strategy helps to compete with other companies without facing more issues. Usually, this strategy has helped companies to make more quality products than other competitors. Evidence has suggested that it allows companies to make products at low or affordable prices. This company has kept a good relationship as well as good bonding with the help of offensive business strategy. Therefore, the company is able to support this strategy in a suitable way.

2.3 Theories and framework

Stakeholders theory

The stakeholders’ theory is related to the improvement of interconnected relationships between the business and the internal as well as external stakeholders. This theory usually forecasted the strategic management and stakeholder management of the business. As narrated by Bilgeri et al. (2017), the stakeholders play a key important role in maintaining the business position of the company. As per the context of this study, this theory helps to improve the business position of the company along with maintaining a good relationship with stakeholders. Good relationships with customers and suppliers can help to improve the market sustainability and popularity of the company including developing profits and revenues. The competitive advantages of the company will be developed by the implementation of this theory.

2.4 Competitive and growth strategies

This company follows a defensive strategy in order to improve the competitive advantages and growth of the company. This strategy helps to improve the market share and sustainability of the company as much as possible. Besides that, the marketing position of the company is improved by this strategy. As suggested by Flannigan et al. (2017), the defensive strategy is closely associated with various types of defensive actions. For example, it is said that the strategy enhances the expenditure of marketing positions as well as it helps to attract more customers as much as possible. This company has increased the size of beer from small to big by this defensive strategy. This strategy allows the company to reduce the operating cost in order to improve the sales and profits of the company. One of the most important points, this company has invested in technology development in order to increase production of the company with the help of this defensive business strategy (Quaye and Mensah, 2019).

This business strategy has created a strong relationship between suppliers and managers of the company. Moreover, it has been found this strategy helps to sell products at affordable prices, therefore, this business strategy is one of the great sources of improving profits and revenues of the company (Kalgotra and Warwal, 2019).

2.5 Process of gaining sustainability

Sustainability is closely associated with the popularity of the company and Several strategies can help to improve the sustainability of the company in s significant manner. The process of gaining sustainability is mentioned in this study and these are as follows.

The company needs to set the goals and objectives of the company, which can help to understand the market positions as well as the business situation of the company. It can help to make a business plan in order to overcome all problems and all lacking. The competitive advantages and sustainability of the company can be improved by this planning very easily (Elshani et al. 2020).
The company has to make a mind mapping in order to understand the needed resources and shortcomings of the company. It can help to improve the quality of products along with profits and revenues of the company.
The cost leadership strategy can be very beneficial for this company as it can allow this company to improve the sustainability and competitive advantages of the company within a short period of time. Besides that, supply chain management can be enhanced along with reducing operating costs as well as improving the productivity of the company (Saeidi et al. 2019).
The company has to reduce the wastes, which can help to increase the efficiency of the company as much as possible. Besides that, it is needed for the company to implement automation to increase more quality production. This will also help to improve the competitive advantages of the company (Gorczynski et al. 2020).

3. Conclusion

It can be concluded that Adnams is a UK SME-based brewery company and the profits of the company along with business structure are affected too much due to the pandemic situation. The supply chain is broken down on the account of declaration of lockdown by the government. This company follows defensive as well as offensive strategy in order to maintain the competitive advantages and sustainability of the company. Both business strategies have helped to improve business position in the market by improving product quality and production. Supply chain management has been improved by these strategies. Stakeholders theory is mentioned in this study as it can help to manage both internal and external stakeholders of the company. The cost-leadership strategy will be beneficial for this company as it can help to improve the production, popularity of the company along with profits and annual revenues. Several recommendations such as implementation of digital marketing and online orders can help to enhance the sales of company in a significant manner.

4. Recommendation

It can be recommended that the company needs use social media marketing and digital marketing that can help to attract more customers within a short period of time. Besides that, the company can target the entire region of the UK population as well as the popularity of business can be spread outside the local area within a very short time by social media marketing. Another advantage of this social media marketing, the company can easily launch new products, and the profit along with revenues can be improved (Bilgeri et al. 2017).
It can be advised that the company has to improve the drone delivery system and online ordering. The lifestyle of the majority of people has been changed due to fear of transmission during pandemic situations, the drone delivery can help to provide contactless delivery. The sustainability of the company will be improved by this innovative innovation of the company. The company can take many orders outside of the local area from home and the profits of the company will be enhanced through this system.
It can be advised that the company has to start new payment methods like e-payment, card payment, payment through the application, and others. All of these can help to take contactless payment. The sustainability along with profits and revenues will be improved due to maintaining safety and hygiene (Bilgeri et al. 2017).

Reference List

Bilgeri, D., Wortmann, F. and Fleisch, E., 2017. How digital transformation affects large manufacturing companies’ organization. Available at: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/id/eprint/253113

Dizdarevic, A., Ahmetovic, Z., Malec, D., Mujezinovic, A., Ahmetovic, M., Zilic, F. and Mehmedinovic, S., 2020. Analysis of Factor Validity of the Support Intensity Scale on Bosnian–Herzegovinian Sample. Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 16(2), p.117. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7335431/

Elshani, H., Dervishi, E., Ibrahimi, S., Nika, A. and Kuqi, M.M., 2020. The Impact of Cognitive Impairment in Children with Intellectual Disabilities. Journal of International Cooperation and Development, 3(2), pp.25-25. Available at: https://www.richtmann.org/journal/index.php/jicd/article/view/12316

Flannigan, K., Rebus, M., Mitchell, N., Gear, A., Basisty, B., Couling, K., Whitford, C., Moore, M., Meunier, S., Smale, K. and Pei, J., 2017. Understanding Adverse Experiences and Providing School-Based Supports for Youth Who Are High Risk with and without FASD. International Journal of Special Education, 32(4), pp.842-857. Available at: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1184157

Gorczynski, P., Currie, A., Gibson, K., Gouttebarge, V., Hainline, B., Castaldelli-Maia, J.M., Mountjoy, M., Purcell, R., Reardon, C.L., Rice, S. and Swartz, L., 2020. Developing mental health literacy and cultural competence in elite sport. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, pp.1-15. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10413200.2020.1720045

Kalgotra, R. and Warwal, J.S., 2019. Effect of Intervention in Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills on Children with Intellectual Disabilities. Journal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies (ECPS Journal), (20), pp.21-39. Available at: https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/ECPS-Journal/article/view/1766

Korniat, E. and Wehner, T., 2020. Motivations of Middle Managers for Implementing Change in IT: A Comparative Analysis of the United States and Sweden. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1450814

Kwak, D.W., Seo, Y.J. and Mason, R., 2018. Investigating the relationship between supply chain innovation, risk management capabilities and competitive advantage in global supply chains. International Journal of Operations & Production Management. Available at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJOPM-06-2015-0390/full/html?fullSc=1

Poreau, B., 2018. Prenatal diagnosis, care and management in Africa: bibliometric analysis. The Pan African Medical Journal, 29. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6057562/

Quaye, D. and Mensah, I., 2019. Marketing innovation and sustainable competitive advantage of manufacturing SMEs in Ghana. Management Decision. Available at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/MD-08-2017-0784/full/html

Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S.P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, S.P., Nilashi, M. and Mardani, A., 2019. The impact of enterprise risk management on competitive advantage by moderating role of information technology. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 63, pp.67-82. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0920548918301454

Yang, J., Liu, A., He, I. and Bai, Y., 2020. Bioinformatics Analysis Revealed Novel 3′ UTR Variants Associated with Intellectual Disability. Genes, 11(9), p.998. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/11/9/998

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