Significance of Strategic Planning In Business-Free-Samples

Questions: 1. Critically analyze and discuss reasons why the chosen firm may prefer to conduct strategic planning in secret and keep its strategies hidden from all but the highest level executives. 2. Suggest and critically discuss any FOUR mechanisms for the chosen firm to continually survive in a competitive environment. Answers: 1.Significance of strategic planning in secret in organization The world is becoming a slammer place at a steady speed on account of globalisation. Competition has rapidly increased in the current era and barrier to entry has decreased that has given rise to a large number of companies. Competition is thus emerging from all nook and corner of the world and all the companies are vying for the top slot. They want to increase their consumer base by taking recourse to strategic planning. Slack (2015)has evaluated that strategic planning proves to be crucial for the successful growth of an organization and makes an organisation stand apart from that of the rest. Increased incidences of theft of business secrets occur on account of economic stagnation throughout the world. The conversion of analogue business information into that of the digital format makes it more prone to data security theft. PEST Analysis Political- The main task of the management of the organization is to follow all the rules and regulations of the government in the country of their operations. Agility Logistics pays the necessary taxes and follows all the environmental rules to carry on their business smoothly and in an organized manner. Social- The mentioned company must keep in mind the cultural and social factors of the country while carrying on its trade. Population Growth Rate, age distribution is some of the main social factors that are considered in this regard. Economical- The exchange rates, economic condition of the and the inflation rates of the country are considered by the management of the following organization to establish their business. Technological-Technology is one of the main factors that determine the business activity of the organization. Agility Logistics enjoy a superior competitive advantage in the country just because of its ability to utilize the superior technology. Agility Logistics provides first class services in relation to freight forwarding, supply chain management along with that of transportation. It takes great amount of care in order to ensure that the goods are delivered from that of the point of origin to that of the customer without entailing any kind of snag. According to Lee and Lee (2016) they are responsible for delivering the products safely at the hands of the consumer. In the modern era, the economic conditions are very harsh that sometimes drives other companies to steal and make use of the information of others. However Channon and Jalland (2016) have stressed on the importance of strategic techniques as it will help Agility Logistics to spread its influence in the market has to be concealed from the employees of the company because they may end up revealing those vital statistics and information to that of the rival that may act as a severe blow for the reputation of Agility Logistics. The marketing analysts along with bus iness strategists who are working in the company have after thoughtful discussion and deliberation come up with innovative and competitive strategy and at no cost should these information be divulged to the employees of the company. Unknowingly, the information can be passed on to that of the competitor who may reap the benefit of such kind of disclosure. The entire company will get into jeopardy in this kind of scenario and one should maintain extreme caution while discussing about the business initiatives of an organisation (Haines 2016). According to, Sebastian, Kaminsky and Mller (2016) companies prefer using a USB drive instead of that of large amount of paper. There are instances of increase in the number of cyber attack and this has greatly deteriorated the situation. It has been found after thorough research that a large part of trade secret misappropriation is on account of actions that are undertaken by the employees of the company. The employees of the company often get into a fight with that of their superiors and they may end up revealing the business secret to that of their rival. The company has to be extremely careful regarding how to safeguard the secrets of the company and how to stop it from being utilised it by their competitor. Rushton, Croucher and Baker (2014) have suggested that the executives must be careful while using the USBs and other portable devices to store the information as because such devices can be easily hacked nowadays. They have instead suggested on creating a common portal or som e kind of highly modernized device with the concerned persons so that they are the only person who can access any kind of information regarding strategies. There are also other individuals who hack into the system of companies but such kinds of occurrences happen very rarely and to a large extent it is found that the theft occurs because of either a current or that of a former employee. The company should be straightforward regarding the policies of company and about confidentiality because it can pertain to that of the trade secrets. Strategic planning proves to be crucial for an organisation because it gives the company a sense of direction and also outlines the measurable goals of the company. Strategic planning helps in guiding the decisions of the company and proves to be extremely effective in the arena of evaluation of progress. Hamada, Benadada and Gendron (2016) have discussed that it also takes into consideration the changes that should be brought about in the organization so that the company can grow and prosper. Strategic planning should only be communicated to that of the executives working at the highest level because they would be able to ascertain whether the strategic planning initiative is of value and would be of benefit for the company. Valuable information should be constrained to a few people without the assistance of whom such strategies cannot be brought into effect. On the other hand, Ramanathan, Ramanathan and Ko (2014) believes that Agility Logistics need not necessarily talk about the strategic planning to all the employees but only to those people whose consent is absolutely necessary for the plan to be implemented. The top executives would provide the budget with the help of deliberations with other groups so they should be clearly informed about all kinds of strategic planning. They would finally approve the plan and their insights can also prove to extremely beneficial for the development of the company. The people in the top executive are generally people with sound knowledge of business planning and are experienced in the corporate world so they can help in removing obstacles in the path of strategic planning and provide great help that can help the company to rise above that of their competitors and occupy a distinct position in the industry (Taniguchi and Thompson 2014). Meeting the demands of the consumer along with superior service are significant benefits in relation to logistics management. The consumer asks for better service and the shipper should be able to provide service that is of high quality. Logistics management is of great significance for satisfying the customers and hence all organizations are on the lookout for a good logistics organization that can deliver the services along with goods. Logistics management will help the company to gain control over that of the inbound freight and it also helps in keeping the inventory at the optimal level. Agility Logistics should maintain extreme caution to hide essential information from the employees so that they do not end up revealing such important facts to other company that can threaten the reputation of the company. The people who are working at the position of the top executive should only be made known about the strategic planning of the business so that they can be of great service in t he process of implementation and planning of the strategy. 2.Four Mechanisms that can help in survival within a competitive environment According to Da Silva et al. (2016) Total Delivered Cost Management is an important arena of Logistics Management which involves the ability of being able to analyze the total supply chain cost from that of the source of supply to that of the final point of the distribution. The slower growth of the market is the first part of the four mechanisms. The slower growth can lead to the deficiency in the operations of the business. Total cost software engine is necessary for Agility Logistics in order to make important logistic decisions and in order to ensure that execution is in line with that of upstream sourcing decision. Logistics Process Automation is another important mechanism that can be used by the companies to survive within the framework of a competitive environment. However Taniguchi and Thompson (2014) argues that sometimes the personnel of logistics spent a large amount of time on activities that are of low value instead of spending it on important approaches that can help t he company in the arena of continuous improvement. This is often referred to as ocean booking problem and involves the process of identification and transaction in relation to the international moves. According to Yang (2013) technology should be deployed by Agility Logistics so that it can help in the process of automation of manual booking process, manage global transportation carrier and execute it within a single environment. In-vehicle sensors can be used along with that of other integrated device and embedded sensors within containers can help in the process of capturing and sharing real-time data.According to Richter and Stiller (2016) Agility Logistics should move from that of traditional approach to that of a mature goal that can help in improving the quality of service. The provider can make use of sensors and RFID chip in order to transmit information that is critical. Hu and Sheng (2014) has recommended that beacons can be used in the ware houses in order to help users for the process of locating things along with that of navigation. Agility Logistics can aim at achieving Sustainable Supply Chain in order to balance the social along with that of environmental objective s. On the other hand Zailani, (2014) has suggested that reporting in relation to the green house emission along with that of carbon foot print can help in the process of optimization of supply chain that can help in the process of waste management and thus contribute in a positive manner to that of Green Logistics. Ultimate goal in relation to Agility Logistics will revolve around the area of one touch information flow in relation to diverse activities. The accuracy of information proves to be critical for that of a logistics company. Bichou (2014) suggests that Agility Logistics should use direct EDI integration with that of the ocean carrier along with web portal of other service provider in order to achieve real-time visibility. Data timeliness along with accuracy can also be achieved by utilizing this kind of mechanism. Facilities should also make use of bar code scanning for the generation of status update on the areas of shipment along with inventory. Richter and Stiller (2016) suggests that a robust visibility system that works on real-time basis can prove to be an effective mechanism that can be employed by Agility Logistics in order to grow and develop as an organisation. Global logistics execution is a complex arena and necessitates advanced traffic control that is in the form of real-time visibility in order to solve the purpose of avoiding congestion. Conclusion The thorough analysis of the report has helped to identify the different business level strategies that the different executives and persons in charge of formulating the strategies undertake. These strategies are totally kept secret to other employees and are only revealed to the high level managers and officers before the implementation of the strategies. The secrecy is maintained just to make sure that their competitors are kept in dark and to withhold the competitive advantage in the market. References: Bichou, K., 2014.Port operations, planning and logistics. CRC Press. Channon, D.F. and Jalland, M., 2016.Multinational strategic planning. Springer. Da Silva, P., De Novis, P., Araujo, F., Kyrillos, L. and Sacomano, J., 2016. The Challenge of the Reverse Logistics of the High Tech After-Sales Equipment: A Comprehensive Study. InInformation Systems Logistics and Supply Chain: 6th International Conference. Haines, S., 2016.The systems thinking approach to strategic planning and management. CRC Press. Hamada, Y., Benadada, Y. and Gendron, B., 2016, May. Strategic planning problem represented by a three-echelon logistics network-modeling and solving. InLogistics Operations Management (GOL), 2016 3rd International Conference on(pp. 1-6). IEEE. Hu, Z.H. and Sheng, Z.H., 2014. 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