Crafting and Executing Strategy

Importance of Strategic Planning in a Business

Strategic planning is an essential aspect for any business organization in the world. Surprisingly comprehensive and appropriate strategic plans are as crucial and efficient to a small business organization, as they are to a big one. Ausadesus-Masanell and Tarzijan (2012) opine that in all business environments, regardless of the size of a company, it is important to clearly and effectively establish a chain of mission, objectives and goals in order to have a good understanding of the weaknesses and the strength of various business opportunities towards achieving a competitive edge in the business world.  According to Thompson, Strickland, and Gamble (2010), “A company’s strategic plan lays out its future direction, performance target and strategy.” This implies that the success of a company is highly depended on the effectiveness of the strategic plan adopted by the business organization.

As a result, strategic planning requires multiple relationships between the business environment forces such as customers, suppliers and competitors. The success of these interactions between the markets forces depends on the strategic plan adopted by a business organization.  Thompson, Strickland, and Gamble (2010) add that, “when companies develop explicit strategic plans, it can help them cope with industry and competitive conditions, combat the expected actions of the industry’s key players, and confront the challenges and the issue that stands as obstacles to the company’s success.” Thus, the fundamental role of the strategic plan is establishing the foundation of the success or the failure of a business venture, as well as the longevity foundation, which should be strong enough to  withstand the economic instability.

Mission Statement

Movers and Shakers advertising company is committed to providing up-to-task advertising products and services for the business persons who wish to be known to their customers and expand their selling capacity. The mission of the Movers and Shakers Advertising Company is intended to increase the success of the company. First, it will ensure that, the enterprise provides services that will enhance the company to improve its customers’ loyalty. This is because it intends to demonstrate its untainted commitment by going an extra mile in ensuring that the customers are satisfied by the services. Second, the Movers and Shakers Advertising Company will implement the latest development in terms of technology and innovation to ensure that the services meet the dynamic need of the business environment. The mission statement is essential to the Movers and Shakers Advertising Company because it will create a new picture of the company and it will also establish new market positions for the company’s products, which will command the advertising markets. Bungay (2011) reiterates that consequently, the implementation of up-to-date developments in the business will ensure that the company grows economically. The effectiveness of the company’s mission will be evaluated with respect to the levels of customer satisfaction, the extent to which the customers’ expectations are met, and the level of compliance to the business ethical standards (Hamel, 2011).

Vision Statement

In business, it is important to form a vision statement that is consistent with the company’s mission standard. The Vision for the Movers and Shakers Advertising Company will be: “Reaching out more to our customers through delivering quality services that meet the needs and wants of our customers satisfactorily.” According to Thompson, Strickland, and Gamble (2010), the success of a strategic business plans depends on the company’s vision of where it is and where it intends to reach. This vision statement is consisted with the mission statement, because it portrays the company’s dedication to extend its quality services to more customers. The brands that will be adopted toward these goals will be very different in terms of quality and in every advertising product; the company will be passing a message to its consumers about the quality of the services.  The company realizes that to get to this goal it will need to incorporate its employees, and listen and understand the consumer needs well. The company will borrow Hamel’s (2011) idea that in contributing to the overall vision of the company the employees have to create their personal vision statement. This would be aimed at ensuring flexibility in the business scorecards as well as making the staff members feel part of the company’s success. The company will also implement reward system that would be aimed at motivating the employees to provide better services. The later will ensure a continuous and gradual improvement process, which would consequently influence the success of the company. Moreover, a satisfied consumer, will be loyal, and will attract other customers, through recommending the products to others.

Company Objectives

Hamel (2011) affirms that business ventures encounter numerous logistics, which can sometimes become major drawbacks in the success of a business. Thus, for the success of a strategic business plan it is important to establish crucial business objectives, which govern all the business transactions. All successful business organizations have clear business objective that has been well communicated to all the business stakeholders. This allows them to air their views regarding the objectives and have an insight to all the moves made by the business in an attempt to achieve these objectives. According to Thompson, Strickland, and Gamble (2010), for the success of a business strategic plan there must be established effective objectives.  In commitment to the mission and vision statements, below are five fundamental objectives for Movers and Shakers Advertising Company:

(1)   Increased Consumer satisfaction: the company will create frameworks that will help in having an understanding of the consumer needs, which will increase the extent to which the consumer needs are met. In addition, through increasing customer’s satisfaction, the company will be demonstrating its commitment to meeting the needs of its customers. This objective is important in achieving consumers’ loyalty and attracting more customers (Thompson, Strickland, and Gamble, 2010).

(2)   Service Excellence: the company will ensure provision of quality products and services. This objective is important to the business because it is consistent with the mission statement. In order to ensure that the customers are satisfied, the company has to offer exceptional products and services. This will be achieved through employing properly trained staff, increasing compliance to the business ethical standards, motivating the employees and implementing innovative technology (Hamel, 2011).

(3)   Strategic solution to Human Resource Challenges: this company wants to have employees who are well-motivated, and all the human resource challenges will be addressed effectively. The well-being of the employees plays a significant role in the success of a business, thus, the company will have to implement strategic plans that provide long-lasting solutions to the human resource challenges (Thompson, Strickland, and Gamble, 2010).

(4)   Continuous growth: the company will evaluate the efficiency of the management systems in order to ensure that all business objectives are met.  Davidson (2004) confirms that success needs to be continuous, thus, businesses have to implement strategic plans that, ensure the sustainability of the company’s development. The company has to implement strategic plans that will ensure there is stability in the company’s growth. This objective is crucial to a company because it provides the company with opportunity for benchmarking, evaluating their competitive position, identifying the weaknesses of the business, and implementing developments that promote the continuous improvement of the company (Bungay, 2011).

(5)   Financial Management: there will be efficiency and transparency in financial management, so that, there will always be enough funds to run the organization. The financial management objective is the key one to an organization because it ensures there is earning growth in the business, good cash flow, dividend growth, appreciation of stock price, creditworthiness, and acceptable investment return (Bungay, 2011).

Justification of the Business Objectives

The organization objectives create the path through which the company will achieve its performance target and become successful in the business world. They are the benchmarks through which the progress of the business organizations is determined (Thompson, Strickland, and Gamble, 2010). Thus, for the success of a strategic business plan it is important to establish crucial business objectives which govern all the business transactions. All successful business organizations have clear business objectives that have been well-communicated to all the business stakeholders. In pursuing the business, strategic objective enhances a company to concentrate on the business operations that increase its competitive advantage. The objectives of this company are geared towards increased customer satisfaction, which will ensure new long-term position of the company in the advertising markets and strengthen the competitive advantage of the company (Bungay, 2011).