This paper is to define some of the major elements in the strategic management process. Some of these elements include identifying who Able Corporation is and how to define the identity of the organization and create a mission statement from this information. Another element to strategic management that will be discussed is Able’s value proposition to its customers. In addition, the method to creating a priority for implementation of the strategic objectives will also be discussed. Finally, the document will delve into what feedback mechanisms will be put into place in order to evaluate how our objectives affect the organization.
Organization Identity
Corporate identity consists of a number of factors in different areas that lead to the overall being of the identity. There is not one place to look in the organization that can lead a person to a complete understanding of the identity. For most organizations the corporate identify comes from such things as branding and logos. In addition to logos, the identity can be seeing though the organization as the corporate culture. How the customer feels about a company when they see the logo or brand name. This identity can be influenced by advertising and customer satisfaction.
For the Able Corporation the identity should be found by looking at the customer recognition for our products. Market share for our different products can be a good indicator of how customers perceive the organization. Another indicator of the corporate identity can be seen from employees feeling about the organization. This corporate culture is a direct indicator of the identity the organization portrays. If the culture of an organization is negative than the image the organization is sending to the customer is negative.
Now that I have discussed what corporate identity is and how the identity can be found, let’s discuss an organizations Mission Statement. The mission statement defines what an organizations purpose in life is and what it hopes to accomplish in the future. The mission statement for an organization should define exactly what the company wishes to achieve. The corporate identity that was discussed in the previous section comes directly into play here by either fitting or not fitting with what the mission statement directive is.
To create a mission statement for Able Corporation I would look to see what the organization needs to achieve. This need could be something along the lines of becoming the best portable power tool company on the market today. Basically, what I am trying to say here is that the mission statement for Able must include the needs of the organization. In addition, what can be done in order to succeed at accomplishing the organizational needs should also be recognized. With the information that I have received to date I can already provide some information that might help in building the mission statement. For instance we know that consumer channels for distribution are on the rise, we also know that Able is always one of the innovators of cordless power tools. With this information we might want to focus the mission statement around becoming a leading provider of cordless power tools through chains like Home Depot and Lowe’s.
Value Proposition
The value proposition is easily explained as what the customer gets from our products. This might sound overly simple but really it’s all about what products the organization is providing that fulfill a specific customer need. The value proposition can be a little more detailed in that it can also includes how well the product fulfills that need. So for Able’s value proposition I would definitely contain information about our circular saws and the quality of the product. In addition the value proposition for our cordless products should contain information about being the leading innovator for these products. In general the value proposition should contain real information about our products and how they can fulfill the needs of the customer better than our competition.
The value proposition could be utilized to help identify some strategic objective for the organization. For example, if Able’s value proposition is to provide the highest level of quality in our cordless products then one of Able’s strategic objectives should be to improve the quality of the cordless products. It can basically be utilized to provide an additional means in creating strategic objectives.
Implementation Priority
Once a number of strategic objectives are created the implementation process can begin. Even though it would be great to just flip a switch and change the way that Able does business, we all know that this is inconceivable. With the limited resources available to implement these changes we must have a way to prioritize the objectives. Each strategic objective must be identified as either a high, low or medium priority to figure out which changes should be focused on. One way to do this is by having a strategic objectives committee that can help to identify what impact the objectives will have on the organization. This committee will then assign priorities based on how much positive impact the change could have on the organization. Each objective should be given an assigned value and then implemented in the obvious order. Basically, try to get the biggest bang for the buck.
Feedback Mechanisms
One of the most important steps in strategic management is to reevaluate the organization on a continuous basis. This can help to identify any additional objectives and how previous objects paid off. One could consider this an on going cycle of tweaking and adjusting. A mechanism that I thought of for gauging the impacts of the strategic impacts is simply looking at market share in the power tool segments. If we gained and/or held our market shares in the various segments than the objectives were a success. Another mechanism that can be utilized for feedback is organizational profits. If Able begins making more profit than previous years this can be a definite sign that things are improving.
Conclusion
To conclude this paper I wanted to give a brief overview of the important points discussed in previous sections. First, the corporate identity is the branding and recognition of the brand by customers. This can be explained by the images or feelings produced when the customer see the brand. The corporate identity can be created from marketing and even from the corporate culture. Mission statement was the next topic that was discussed. Here we explained that a mission statement describes what the organization does and what the organization wants to accomplish in the future. I also described ways that Able can create its own mission statement based on information that already exists. Next, I jumped into the value propositions and how it basically defines what we can do for our customers. The value propositions lead us right into how to prioritize the implementation of the strategic objectives through a steering committee. Lastly, I talked about using metrics such as market segment and profitability for measuring the success of objective implementation. Overall this paper was focused on the factors that need to be considered for strategic management in the Able Corporation.
Resources:
Coulter, Mary (2005). Strategic Management in Action. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Radtike, Janel M. (1998). How to Write a Mission Statement. Retrieved May 21, 2006, from The Grantsmanship Center Web site: http://www.tgci.com/magazine/98fall/mission.asp
(2006). Corporate identity. Retrieved May 21, 2006, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_identity
Konrath, Jill (2006). How to Write a Strong Value Proposition . Retrieved May 21, 2006, from The Sideroad Web site: http://www.sideroad.com/Sales/value_proposition.html
