Strategic Planning And Management For Generic Strategy Essay.

Describe the Strategic Planning and Management for Generic Strategy Model.

Porter’s Generic Strategy Model

Porter has suggested four generic strategies of business which can get adopted by the association to attain the competitive advantage. All the strategies are basically connected to the real extent & because of it, the scope of the association gets considered as narrow instead vs. broad. The porter's generic strategy model has greatly contributed to Clinton's card in achieving the competitive advantage gracefully & also helped the same to grow with the successful business at the time of a final quarter of 20^th century. Clinton's card is the chain of stores which was founded by Don Lewin in the year of 1968 in the United Kingdom. This business is very well famous for selling soft toys, gif cards, gift products & etc. This business is also listed in the London stock exchange as well.

The strategic challenge for some most associations is to find the appropriate way to achieve the sustainable competitive advantage over the other associations & competing products in the target market. The competitive advantage is known as the benefit over the competitors attained by offering greater value or greater benefits to the customers.

Cost Leadership- The main objective of Clinton cards to become the producer of lower cost in the industry. The traditional method of achieving these goals is to produce the products on the larger scale that enables the association to exploit the scale of economies in a vast manner. This strategy is mainly associated with the business of large scale that offers the standard products. The business of Clinton cards has provided the products at the lower cost and also with some attractive discounts for maximizing its sales. It was a great cost advantage for the customers and business both in the increased market share. The Clinton cards have used this strategy to become successful in the business and gained a higher level of productivity, greater utilisation of capital effective & efficient use of technology & unexpected profits as well (Strike, et. al, 2018).

Cost Focus- The business of Clinton card was required the lower cost advantage in the small number of a segmented market. The strategy of porter has greatly helped this business to focus on similar products at the featured market & higher price and acceptable to all the sufficient customers as well.  

Differentiation Focus- By taking the help of this strategy of Porters the business of Clinton card focused on producing the products in a completely different manner from the competitors. The business was focusing on avoiding the chance of copying the products of other sellers. The main concern to adopt this strategy was to ensure that all the consumers have different wants & needs & the existing products of the competitors are not meeting those criteria’s. By using this strategy, the business of Clinton card got help in presenting themselves in completely different & effective manner.

Three different possible strategic directions

Differentiation Leadership- This strategy includes selecting one or more than one criteria which get used by the purchasers and positioning the association to meet them appropriately. Clinton card as per this strategy focuses on charging the premium prices to reflect the cost of higher production & some value-added features as well to provide the users. It has greatly helped the business to perform differently & successfully in the target market including branding, promotional support, superior quality of products and etc. (Braysher, 2017).

SWOT Analysis- For each & every generic idea carrying out the SWOT analysis to find out the weaknesses & strengths, threats & opportunities can be a successful way. It will help the Clinton card to improve the efficiency of the business in every perspective.

Five Force analysis- It helps in understanding the nature of the business.

Comparison of SWOT analysis to the feasible strategic options with the outcomes of five force analysis- It contributes to reducing & managing the power of supply. Managing or reducing the customer or buyer power & eliminating the threats of substitution as well (Mone, et. al, 2018).

In order to suggest one strategic direction to pursue the successful business, cost leadership strategy would be very helpful as it helps in minimizing the cost of donations & achieving more & more income. On the other hand, it also helps the customer & business with some effective profits & sustainability.  Porter especially warns adjacent to trying for hedging the best by following more than one strategy. The leadership of cost includes a detailed focus on the procedures. As per this study, the main strategic directions of Clinton's business was to reduce the cost & increase the profit in target market & as same as providing the highest & differentiated quality products.

Social – The business of Clinton cards basically depends upon the lifestyle of the people. The more people will feel interested in living their life innovative & happily, more they will increase the use of these things.

Technological- The new updates & changes in technology has a great impact on the success of the business as people love to experience innovative & creative things.

Economic-The confidence of the customer in terms of their economic situation also contributes to running the business efficiently. The bad economic condition of customers & nation impacts the business negatively (Kerzner, 2018).

Political- Changes in the legislation may sometimes impact the business as people become more concerned to them & avoid unnecessary expenses.

One strategic direction to pursue successfully

Technological factor plays a great role in influencing the business. In today's world, the attraction of the customers importantly requires to be updated with the latest technology & fashion as well. Following the same helps the business in influencing positively or to grow faster & efficiently s well.

 This model is related to the cost leadership, differentiation leadership, cost focus & differentiation focus as well. Many of the times cost focus & differentiation leadership has become the loss of competitive advantage as because the association has focused on lower cost & with adding some additional services which have impacted the competitive advantage in of the business in a different manner.

Hallmark, The Card factory are some of the competitors of the Clinton card. The strategic direction which was getting used by the company was differentiation focus the most. The competitors were trying to find out the value-added services of Clinton card which was getting providing in addition to the customers. At the end when the competitors become knowledgeable about these type of strategies, they started focusing on adopting the same which has impacted the success & profitability of the Clinton Card in such a negative manner & business turned to loss (Stewart, et. al, 2018).

As per the BCG, matrix business was using five main ranges of products such as cards, gifts, accessories of gift wrap, Yankee candle, wedding items and etc. Some of the things were taking the business into the situation of loss because of getting less use by the people.

Star- These products like gifts include the high investment & high demand in the target market. That contributes so greatly to the business in an efficient manner. These types of products have also considered as the strength of the business.

Cash Flow- Some of the products like wedding accessories also includes the highest investment & lower demand which impacts the growth of the business (Stewart, et. al, 2018).

Problem Child- The products like Yankee Candle takes place in these criteria which include high growth market but not the high shares in the target market that also impacts on the strengths & growth of the business.

Dog- The gifts card were at the stage of low share & low growth as well as because there were fewer people who used to express their feelings or happiness by giving a card. This product was required the less investment & low growth.

The product portfolio of the business various varieties to satisfy the customers in each & every possible manner. The new & innovative design & providing the best quality service has always presented as the strength of this business. As same, the business gives the high competition in terms of quality or creativity to its competitors which have seen various times (McCaffery, 2018).

STEP external environmental model

The main stakeholders of Clinton are shareholders, competitors, employees, distributors, suppliers, local residential, financial director, pressure groups, marketing directors, trade union and etc. They are the one who wanted the business to reach on top so that they can benefit themselves in various manners.

Force field Analysis

As per the force field analysis the first stage help in listing all those forces that can drive the development of existing strategies. After that, every force gives the value to represent the arrow. Big arrow refers to a force that is strong and small arrow means too weak.

If in case the force will be in against then political maneuvering will require persuading about the change the side of stakeholders. If the stakeholders will not change the sides then the strategy will get canceled.

Threats of new Entrants- In the year of 2012 many of the investors of stakeholders get entered into the business. Many of the obstacles like high upfront requirements of investments along with cost & time of establishing the channels of distribution get entered.

Threats of substitutes- In May 2012, the stakeholders were not so happy with the proposes of the new strategy, as because the competitors were meeting the same needs & requirements of the customer which was affecting the business and taking it down.

Bargaining power of customers- The changing demand of the customers in terms of high productivity or lower cost was taking place.

Bargaining power of suppliers- The suppliers were changing the prices of papers & other accessories which was impacting the cost of greetings. Just because its customers were becoming less interested in the same.

Competitive rivalry- The higher competition of the business was impacting the profitability of Clinton cards and the business was resulting with the lower level of competition.

Strengths – The business was standing on top in terms of quality products & services & perfect prices as well which can get considered as the strength of the business.

Weaknesses- Lacking behind with the customers’ expectations in terms of low prices may cause decreased sales that can become the weakness of the business.

Opportunities- Fixing the prices of the products or cards can get seen as greatest opportunities to grow faster in the future for the same business. It may try to expand the business at the international level for the greater expansion.

Threats- The organisation because of popularity has higher competition in the target market which was somehow impacting the interests of the customers.

Porter generic model

As per the case study, it has been observed that the star products were those which were meeting the customer needs in an efficient manner. Wherein some of the products were including the highest investment but not the demand in an expected manner.

Some products like Yankee Candle were with the high share in the growing market which was actually impacting the success of the business. As same gift cards were including low growth & low share in the market.

The strategy of cost leadership has been followed by the association for becoming the low-cost producer in the industry. Clinton card has tried hard to provide the best services & products to its customer at reasonable or low prices which has helped the business to become much more popular in the target market with positivity. The business has also focused on the differentiation strategy to make the products quite unique from others. It has helped the business in increasing the value of the same.

On the other hand, the business has greatly focused on all the narrow competitive scopes in the industry by selecting the group of various segments. All these strategies have greatly contributed to the success of the business in an efficient manner (Kearney, 2018).

This model provides a different strategy of growth that has been used by the Clinton card. It has includes the market penetration strategy to accomplish the growth & success with the existing products in the market segments. It is also known as a less risky strategy. Clinton card has also used the strategy of market development which has helped the business in its successful expansion by targeting various products that already exists in the market share or market segments as well. By the strategy of product, development business has tried well to produce new services or products to satisfy the customers in an appropriate manner.

 The strategy of product development is accurate if the strengths of the association are related to specific consumers instead of specific products. By developing the new products business may average its growth & strengths. For example getting some new products in the market

Market development includes the pursuit of some additional geographical regions & market segments of the Clinton card. If the association scores good competencies then the development of the new market will be an appropriate strategy (Ginter, et. al, 2018).

Diversification is known as one of the risky strategies as it needs a market, product development, and the core competencies of the association as well

In order to suggest the new product, some electronic items may take the best place in the business of Clinton cards such as some showpieces that are built electronically. For the market development of it's the people who are from technical filed will show the great interest in purchasing the same which would be a great help to the success of the business. It will add some greatest competitive advantage to the enlargement of the business (McLean, 2018).

By applying the porter strategy it would be a great help to the success of the Clinton Card, as it will include the cost leadership for lowering the rates of the products. As same it will also focus on the strategy of differentiation leads to provide some unique products to the customers. By the market development strategy, the new products like some unique electronic show pieces will take place in. The customers would love to experience the new electronic items as show pieces which will contribute to the greater success of the association (Bryson, 2018).

References

Braysher, M. (2017). Managing Australia's pest animals: a guide to strategic planning and effective management. Australia: CSIRO PUBLISHING.

Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. USA: John Wiley & Sons.

Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care organizations. USA: John Wiley & Sons.

Kearney, R. (2018). Public sector performance: management, motivation, and measurement. New York: Routledge.

Kerzner, H. (2018). Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. USA: John Wiley & Sons.

McCaffery, P. (2018). The higher education manager's handbook: effective leadership and management in universities and colleges. New York: Routledge.

McLean, M. (2018). Understanding your economy: Using analysis to guide local strategic planning. New York: Routledge.

Mone, E. M., & London, M. (2018). Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical guide for managers. New York: Routledge.

Stewart, B., Nicholson, M., Smith, A. C., & Hoye, R. (2018). Sport management: principles and applications. New York: Routledge.