Research Proposal on Business Strategy

Research proposal on business strategy Abstract Strategy and strategic planning is very important to maintain a business in a good way. It helps to be topper in the market. Mission, vision, goal, objective, and core competencies got new life through strategic planning. Ansoff’s growth matrix, space matrixes are one of the factors that is needed to create strategic planning. So this thing is essential to flight in the market with quality and value for money product

1. Introduction

The success of a company depends how the management drives the company. Without making a good and efficient strategy it is impossible for a company to carry out their business successfully. The more efficient the strategies are of a company are the chances or probabilities are higher to see the face of the success. As mentioned that every business needs strategies which can be for long time or short time. Without strategy it’s not possible for any business to exist. Nowadays with the changing world it has become very tough for the companies to compete with their competitors and keep themselves alive in the market. With the changing world the tool of strategies has also been changed. It helps the businesses to do it in a more efficient ways nowadays, which was not possible before. Here on the report we will see how the business strategies of different companies are helping the businesses to run more efficiently and successfully.

2. Organisational overview

‘’ICI Bangladesh Manufacturers Limited was a subsidiary of world renowned multinational ICI Plc and was a listed public limited company under Dhaka Stock Exchange. In 1992 ICI Plc divested its shareholding through a management buyout and the company name was changed from ICI Bangladesh Manufacturers Limited to Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Limited. ACI Formulations Limited, a subsidiary of ACI, became a public listed company through direct listing. ACI has diversified into four major strategic business divisions which include Health Care, Consumer Brands, Agribusinesses and Retail Chain.’’

3. The Process of Strategic Planning

Our Mission Mission of a company tells us about an organisation purpose, why do they exist and the reasons for existing. It also defines who your customers are, identify the products which you will serve and in which area you want to operate.

“ACI’s mission is to enrich the quality of life of people through responsible application of knowledge, skills and technology. ACI is committed to the pursuit of excellence through world-class products, innovative processes and empowered employees to provide the highest level of satisfaction to its customers”.

• ACI mission is to satisfy the customer’s needs by providing better quality products to their customers. They also want to enrich their customers’ needs through their knowledge, skills, and technology.

Our Vision A vision can be defined as an image of the future which a company wants to create. A company’s vision is all about their future plans with aims and objectives.

“To realize the mission ACI will: Endeavour to attain a position of leadership in each category of its businesses. Attain a high level of productivity in all its operations through effective and efficient use of resources, adoption of appropriate technology and alignment with our core competencies. Develop its employees by encouraging empowerment and rewarding innovation. Promote an environment for learning and personal growth of its employees. Provide products and services of high and consistent quality, ensuring value for money to its customers. Encourage and assist in the qualitative improvement of the services of its suppliers and distributors. Establish harmonious relationship with the community and promote greater Environmental responsibility within its sphere of influence”.

• ACI’s vision is to be the leader in the industry, by providing better quality and also by providing reasonable price.

Our Objectives Objective is a specific result that a company aims to achieve by using their resources within a time frame. Objectives of the company are more specific. It’s mostly about company’s all planning and strategic activities. ACI also have some objectives like other companies. Their strategic objective is to increase market share and capturing market leading position by providing good quality and being honest. Their functional objective is to work on department wise. Then the individual objective of ACI is to work on their particular department like promotional departments work is to advertise the product more attractively to influence the customers. Our Goal Goal is something which leads a company to its success. Along with company’s mission, vision, objectives etc, it is also a part of them. Every company wants to achieve it. ACIs goal is to provide harmless aerosol with good quality in low price to their customers. Core competence Core competencies are major strengths or strategic advantages for a company. It is mixer of expertise and technical abilities that a company has which creates a competition in the business market. It helps a company to be unique from others and it is quite tough for other companies to copy it

4. Factors That Need to Create any Strategic Plan

Strategic thinking Is the mental process of an individual which is applied to achieve a goal or to achieve a success. In organizations strategic thinking is mainly done by the top management. It can be done by an individual or by a group which is more effective then the individual because group strategic thinking helps to share ideas. Top managers and chief executives are basically responsible for this work. Strategic thinking can create competitive advantages, which will benefit the organization. Competition It’s the contest of being better by a person or organization through competing with others. For organizations competitions are mainly for capturing more customers by making lower the price, keep the treed secrets, providing better quality etc. Customer needs Customer has some needs from the organizations and those are service, price, quality, action and appreciation

1. Service – Customer always want better services from the organization whatever they purchase. If the customer faces any problem with the product or service, they want the problem to be solved early.
2. Price – Customer always want the product in low or reasonable price. Price is a very important factor for any organization because customer buys the product if the price is comfortable for them.
3. Quality – Customer always want better quality product from the organization. If the product quality is better, customer do not think about the price and the product should be durable and comfortable for the customer.
4. Action – Organization should response on the customer’s objection or any kind of problem and the problem should be solved immediately. For the action the organization can provide after sale service through which the organization can response to the need for action.
5. Appreciation – Organization should appreciate the customers through which the customer can feel valuable. Organization appreciates the customers by welcoming, saying thank you. They can be also appreciated by recognizing through this the customer can become permanent for the organization.

Ten think organization need to know about their customers Who they are: To find out or identify the customers, gender, age, marital status and occupation. And if the organization is doing b2b business then the organization should identify the size and kind of business. What they do: Organization should identify the customer’s occupation and interest. Why they buy: Organization should identify why the customer buy their product or service. It will help the organization to match the customer needs with their products. When they buy: If the organization can understand when the customer will buy the product, and if the organization can provide the product at that time there is a huge possibility for success. How they buy: In today’s world customer buy the product or service through web site or face to face and the organization should understand the buying pattern of customers through which they can be benefited. How much money they have: If the organization can understand the financial situation of customer, it will be helpful for the organization to provide the product or service based on the customer’s affordability. What makes them feel good about buying: If the organization can understand the feelings of the customer, it will help the organization to serve according to their preference. What they expect of you: If the organization can satisfy the customers expectation there will be possibility of repeat business. What they think about you: It’s very important for the organization to understand what the customer thinks about them. What they think about your competitors: If the organization can understand what the customer thinks about their competitors, it helps to create competitive advantage and also to stay ahead from the competitor. Competitive advantage Competitive advantage is a very important factor for any organization. Basically comparative advantage is the benefits or advantage given by the organization then the competitors. It helps to stay ahead and in better position than the competitors. It can be create by providing low price, better quality etc. through competitive advantage an organization can capture more customer which will increase the sale and profit. Competitive advantage can be two types 1-Comparative advantage 2-Differential advantage Comparative advantage: it’s a cost advantage, which means the organization is providing the product or service in low price compare to their competitors. Differential advantage: It means the organization is providing the products or services which are different in quality (better quality) then the competitors. Ansoff’s growth-vector matrix Market penetration: It means existing product in existing market. Product development: It means new products in existing market. Market development: It means existing product in new market. Diversification: It means new product in new market. Planning system Top down planning: It means strategy or the plan are made by the top management and the then its send to the lower level for doing the activities according to the strategy or plan. Bottom up planning: Here the strategy or plan is taken by the lower level and then send it to the higher level management for the approval, so that the lower management can work based on their strategy. Behavioral approach It is mainly about the relationship with each other, behavioral approach basically about the social, political and cultural situation of an organization. there are four factors. Problem awareness- Sometimes in organization problem arises, like the management provides such work to the employees which they are not able to do. At that time there is a possibility of raising problems. Problem diagnoses: In this situation the managers try to identify the problems by analyzing or going insight the problem. Solution search: Here the manager tries to find out the solution of the problem by consulting with others.

• Memory search – To use the solution witch was used before.
• Passive search – Wafting for the solution.

Solution selection: To select the appropriate solution

• Eliminate unacceptable plan- To ignore unnecessary plans.
• Endorsement – To ignore lower employees for taking any decisions.

6. Evaluate the effectiveness of techniques used when developing strategic business plans.

Boston consulting group (BCG) Bruce D. Henderson created BCG matrices in 1970 to understand or identify what kind of resources and finances need to be used for the organization. BCG matrices help the organization for applying appropriate strategy through which they can identify the performance of the organization. BCG Matrix BCG matrix Stars: In star the market growth and market share is very high which means the organization in leading position because of the high market share they are able to utilize much investment in business. Cash cow: In cash cow the market share is very high and the market growth is very low. Here the organization have more money compare to their growth. Question mark: In question mark the market share is very low and the market growth is very high, they do not have much cash for that they are not able to invest. Dogs: In dogs market share and market growth is very low, usually the businesses those are in decline stage fall in dogs. As they do not have much cash so they are not able to invest. Space matrix Management usually use space matrix to analyze the organization, it helps the organization to identify the appropriate strategy or decision it needs. Through space matrix organization cam understand its current situation, it also helps which strategy the organization should follow: Conservative, aggressive, defensive or competitive. Space matrix suggests the organization for different issues: Financial strength, industrial strength, competitive strength and environmental strength. Internal strategic dimension Financial strength: here all the financial factors are included such as ROI, liquidity, working capital and cash flow. In financial strength one is the worst and six is the best variable. Competitive advantage It’s when an organization is providing advantages to the customers then the competitors. In competitive advantage -1 is the best and -6 is the worst variable. External strategic dimensions Industry strength- industrial strength helps the organization to develop through growth potential, profit potential, and financial stability. In this strength 1 is the worst and 6 is the best variable. Environmental stability Environmental stability is the situation of the market where the technological changes, inflation, demand variability, price range of competitive products, risk of the industry, barriers to enter or exit the market are included. Here -1 is the best and -6 is the worst variable. Space matrix Conservative strategy Here the market share and market growth is very low which means the organization is in dog position and the organization is also very weak, for avoiding this position the organization can create competitive advantages or they can target niche market. They can also go for diversification. In this situation they should avoid market penetration, product development and market development. Aggressive strategy The organizations economic concision is good which means they can create competitive advantage through their economical strength. In aggressive strategy the organization can use backward integration and forward integration. Backward integration is about vertical integration where the supplier will be eliminated. Through backward integration the organization will be beneficial and can make more profit. Forward integration is also about vertical integration where the distributor will be eliminated, it also helps the organization to make more profit. Defensive strategy Here the organization have less competitive product and they also have less financial strength for that they need to improve internal weakness and avoid external threads. Competitive strategy In this strategy the organization is in good situation where they can create competitive advantages. They also have a financial weakness because of the environmental instability.

7. Conclusion

Strategy is very much essential for any business, without a proper and appropriate strategy a business cannot be able to run successfully. Strategy helps the employees to work based on it, through which they can understand their role. Strategy is basically not for long time, it depends on the demand of the situation because every strategy is not appropriate for every situation. Usually the top management makes the strategy for the organization and lower management follow that strategy. In today’s world an organization cannot fight against competitors without an appropriate strategy. Therefore in this research proposal, it is proven that an organization definitely needs strategy to run. Reference Riley, P R, 2011.Business Strategy. 4th ed. new delhi: viva books. aci limited, (2000)company profile, https://www.aci-bd.com/corporate.php, 27/02/2013 aci limited, (2000)Mision Vision, https://www.aci-bd.com/mission-vision.php, 26/02/2015

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