Assignment:
Activity 1
Planning process begins with an environmental scan of the business and its relationship to vision and mission statements. Using the expanded case study of LLB below and the SWOT tool complete a business environmental scan.
Mohammed Abul and his family own the Long-lasting Boot (LLB) store. LLB is a specialty boot store located in the downtown area in a medium sized Scottsdale, Arizona and sells a broad line of boots to all members of the family including a novelty pet line. The store sells boots for work and recreation as well as a line of expensive cowboy boots for the tourist trade. The business is twenty-five years old. It has a reputation for being the best place to get boots in the community because of the selection, quality, and customer service. They will even work with custom designed boots for people with unusually sized feet or medical problems. The boots in some instances, work boots in particular, are considered expensive by middle class buyers but the construction quality is so long-lasting that it makes the higher prices seem worthwhile. Abul, who is 32 years old and just out of the military after 10 years of service, has returned to find the business at a crossroad.
The store is successful but sales are very slow growing at the moment. The family is looking to boost sales by developing a competitive edge for the future. The business has up till now been successful because of its ability to anticipate changing boot styles. In the past three years sales have remained constant but growth has waned. Despite sales, loyalty reward cards and staying open late revenue has not grown. Yet total sales in the Central City metropolitan area including the suburbs have grown substantially. Volume stores like Wal-Mart and large shoe chain stores like Payless have boot sales that pull in three times the sales of LLB.
Abul and the family are planning for the next three years and want to find ways to increase sales. They have come to you for advice. As their consultant you want to cover the following ideas in your reply:
- What is meant by long-term planning?
- The tools and information needed to evaluate the future goals.
- The conclusions you have drawn from evaluating the information and analysis of the facts of this case.
- The recommendations that you would make.
Activity 2
In the planning phase, managers create a detailed action plan aimed at the organizational goals. Strategic management, or what you will learn as strategizing, is what an organization will do or not do to achieve the goals and objectives that lead to meeting the stated mission and vision. Using the vision and mission statements from week three, complete the following:
- Create three long term goals and objectives (3 each) for the business (2 years forward);
- Create three medium term (operational) goals and objectives (3 each) for the business (usually accomplished within the year);
- Create three short term (day, week, month) goals and objectives (3 each) for the business; and
- Create at least three contingency goals in the event the current strategy would fail.
Please use the following the following information as well in completing activities.
- Long Lasting Boot (LLB) Store
- Vision Statement:
- Long lasting Boots is the perfect fit for everyone.
- We will help you to step into the future with confidence.
Mission Statement:
The goal of our family oriented business is to provide each of our customers with a superior crafted pair of boots that is custom made to fit, durable, and at a competitive price. For well over 1/4 century we have led the way in our community, and will continue to evolve with the changing times to meet and exceed the needs of our valued employees and customers alike. Satisfaction remains our number one priority.
The Planning Function Continued: Creating Strategic Goals and Objectives
The reading show that managers start the planning process by performing an environmental scan of the business. The most common tool used to perform an environment scan (external and internal) is known as a SWOT analysis (S - Strength, W - Weakness, O - Opportunity, and T - Threat). This analysis coupled with the vision and mission statements provide the starting points from which strategizing about goals and objectives begin. In order to easily divide the workload of planning, managers divide the planning process into four categories; long term goals (strategic) for the organization; short term goals (tactical) those that take less than one year to accomplish; medium term goals (operational), which are more than a year but may be 2 to 3 years to accomplish; and finally contingency or crises management plans that are those goals or objectives that can be used in the event the other plan fail. Employing the SWOT analysis to the vision and mission statements as starting point the manager set out planning to identify those goals and objectives needed for each category by employing SWOT analysis. This week we will examine the SWOT analysis, categories of goals and objectives, and their development into a plan.
Theme One: Scanning the business environment using a SWOT analysis
In order to create an impactful plan, it is necessary to know where the business has been and where it needs to go. The SWOT tool attempts to give the planner the information that answers the question: Where are we?
Read:
SWOT Analysis
Theme Two: Creating goals and objectives: the four categorizations
Theme one explained that the vision and mission statements combined with a valuable SWOT analysis provides planners with the foundation from which the goals and objectives are made. Once the goals and objectives are set, the manager will create an implementation plan. How then does the manager translate the vision and mission statements into concrete goals and objectives that will make the organization move forward? Once the manager has set the foundation in place they begin developing goals and objectives for four major aspects of the plan: strategic (long-term goals - usually 2 years going forward), operational (medium-term goals - usually within the year going forward to about almost 2-3 years), tactical (less than a year goals - usually within the month, week, or day range), and contingency goals (in the event the plan fails in these areas - usually affiliated with the above three specified plans). Review this short video to understand the terminology used in the reading.
View:
Goals, Objectives, Strategies & Tactics: What's the difference?
The following material seeks to define the types of goal setting plans that comprise the subject matter for the planning process.
Read/View:
Management: Planning (3:40 minutes)
Management Roles: Planning, Organising, Leading, Controlling
Planning in Management: Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Plans
Let's Define Strategic, Tactical and Operational Planning
THEME THREE: Where do we go from here?
Throughout the planning phase managers integrate various techniques like brainstorming techniques and strategic planning, to name but a few.
Read/View:
Overview of the Strategic Planning Process
Evaluate the planning function of management.