Question

Preparation

Remember Sun City Boards, which you read about in the Why It Matters (Links to an external site.) and Putting It Together (Links to an external site.) sections of the Planning and Mission module? In this assignment, we’ll return to Sun City Boards and the management challenges its owner, Tom Wilson, faces. You’ll advise Tom on strategic management steps he and Sun City Boards should take to develop and implement their new strategy.

The Environments and Strategic Management module of your text introduced several strategic planning tools to use at different stages of the strategic management process. As an advisor for Sun City Boards, your assignment is to select one of the strategic management tools described in the reading, explain how it works, and explain why it will be of value to Sun City Boards. The following steps will help you prepare for your written assignment:

1. Thoroughly read the Environments and Strategic Management module.
2. Carefully consider the tools described in the reading to assist with the Objectives and Analysis step of the strategic management process.
3. Select one of the analysis tools to explain to Tom Wilson.

Your Task

Write a three-paragraph essay describing your chosen tool and why you selected it. Your essay must include three properly referenced and defined terms from the module reading. For example, if you select SWOT Analysis, you could include the definitions of each letter. Answer and address the following questions:

• What is the purpose of the tool? What conclusions will it help Sun City Boards draw?
• How does the tool work? How does it measure the relevant factors, or how does it derive importance from them?
• How will your selected tool align with other strategic steps in the process? In other words, when the analysis leads you to a conclusion, how will you use the conclusion in the next step?
• What specifically does the tool NOT address?

In addition to the text, you are encouraged to research your tool using reliable and properly cited Internet resources. You may also draw from your personal work experience with appropriate examples to support your references.

I choose strategy implementation as my analysis tool to explain to Tom Wilson.

Answer 1

Sun City Boards deals with serious management issue. Lack of planning was the key problem for the business to experience a down fall. Planning is an important factor that shapes an organisations success. Proper planning leads to production maximisation and zero wastage or unwanted wastage of limited resources. Planning also helps in setting proper organisational goal and guides the management in achieving the goal effectively and efficiently.

The most effective way for organisational planning is introducing strategic planning techniques. With strategic planning, businesses identify their strengths and weaknesses and choose what not to do and which opportunities should be adopted. There are some strategic planning tools that help management to derive long term goals and achieve sustained development they are: Porter's Five Forces, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, BCG (Boston Consulting Group) growth matrix, value chain analysis, competitor analysis, and BSC (balanced scorecard) analysis.

The strategic tool that I intend to use to help Sun City Boards with their management crisis is SWOT Analysis. SWOT analysis helps in determining and identifying the ways to capitalise the opportunities using the strength and ways to avoid threats and eliminate weaknesses.

Strength: This criteria measure what a company is good at, its USP, values, brand, loyal customer base etc. comes under this criterion.

Weaknesses: Weaknesses are things that hamper an organisation’s performance. It highlights the areas where the firm needs to improve to ahead of the competition. Weaknesses can include high turnover, burdensome debt, supply chain issues, or lack of money.

Opportunities: These are the factors that can be used by the company to gain competitive advantage.

Threats: These are the factors that can affect a company adversely. It can hamper the smooth functioning of the business firm.

SUN CITY BOARDS SWOT ANALYSIS

Strength: Due to initial success, the company has achieved the reputation of being the largest manufacture of surfboards. Already has customer base, Very much customer focussed, Give utmost importance to quality of the product.

Weaknesses: Lack of proper planning, absence of clear mission and vision statement. Need to have more concentration on long term objectives and policy framing for the company.

Opportunity: Growing interest for the surfboard game, surfers are consistently looking for ways to increase surfing performance. The company can go into online sales to reach out to a larger no of customers, which has been an effective retail medium.

Threats: Strong competitors who understand the customer wants and are continuously thriving for innovation. Social-economic condition.

The SWOT analysis will help the Sun City Board to take necessary and quick action as for now they know what is to be done and how to be done and where they stand.

After implementing the required changes they must consider to prepare another SWOT Analysis to understand the position of the firm.

The Swot analysis is based on existing views of people in the company and these views may not be accurate. We need to conduct SWOT again and again based on the changing environment.