Business Strategy Analysis A) Actionable Key Issues and Consequences 1) Invest more in Research and Development department in RLK a. If Lars decides to invest around $6 million more in research and development, it is highly risky as the company’s survival depends largely on the success of the launch of Ray’s new product into the market. b. Since customers associate RLK with high-end audio-video design, pumping money into R&D would increase their brand equity as well as to live up to consumers’ expectations of their highly innovative products. c. However, RLK’s competitors are downsizing and outsourcing R&D and exploiting on the cost advantages. If RLK decides to invest more money into R&D and should the new product stall on launch, they face the danger of becoming bankrupt. 2) Collaborate with Inova to work on the new product - IVid a. Lars could procure the software skills he needed from Inova for one-fifth what they'd cost in the States. The huge cost savings will be advantageous to the RLK in the short run even though there were transaction costs and royalties to consider as well. b. A potential obstacle to outsourcing may be Ray, who has long resisted outside involvement in R&D operations. He may be unhappy with external ideas competing with his own and thus refuse to cooperate with Inova. c. RLK’s organizational cultures are radically different from Inova. The huge culture disparity may cause difficulties in cooperation. Besides, the time zone differences and distance apart will contribute even more problems at hand. 3) Invest in marketing to build on brand equity and satisfy customer needs. a. Keith suggested investing more in marketing to find out more about customers’ wants and needs. However, this is not the root of the problem and marketing will not help to solve the current crisis that RLK faces. b. The issue is whether RLK should exploit its brand equity as it is known for their innovation and the innovation capabilities. However, Lars need to understand that outsourcing is not the only option and he should consider more options and possibilities. B) Evaluation Criteria 1) Impact on the R&D department in RLK– Ray may have adverse reactions to the idea of collaborating with Inova and hence refuse to cooperate with them. 2) Long term viability and lowering the risk of any possible action – the solution must be advantageous in the long run with the least amount of risk involved instead of just achieving short term cost advantages. 3) Impact on Financials –ability to generate revenue and increase profits with the launch of RLK’s new product and ability to obtain higher cost savings.
Background Information In implementing a strategic plan for Coastal Medical Center, our consulting team has conducted many analyses and formed numerous strategies in order for Coastal Medical Center to be successful. Such assessments include an internal analysis, external analysis, gap analysis, and SWOT analysis. In conducting these analyses, our consulting team was able to better understand the internal environment, external environment, where the organization currently stands in terms of performance, and the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that oppose the Coastal Medical Center. From our inquiry, we will be able to establish a strategic plan that best fits the organization’s needs.
During some harder rounds, Andrews had to compromise on major R&D investments and marketing budgets to finance other important decisions. This placed the company in a serious disadvantage for the rounds to come. And as the CEO of the company wrote in the email exchange regarding the issue, if Andrews is unable to meet production goals at a cheaper price, it will be unable to compete with its competitors in the years to come.
Our research team did wonderful job in providing us information relative to the market trend, product positioning and so much more. Their finding allowed us to update and upgrade our marketing efforts in the way that is desirable and beneficial for the company.
Two organizations that show the importance of aligning a company’s business strategy with their IT strategy are Cirque du Soleil and Major League Baseball. Both of these organizations rely on digital technology to make it easier to provide to their customers better entertainment through collaboration.
Spokane Industries has contracted Franklin Electronics for an 18 month product development contract. Franklin Electronics is new to using project management methodologies and has not been exposed to earned value management methodologies. Even though Franklin and Spokane have worked together in the past, they have mainly used fixed-price contracts with little to no stipulations. For this project, Spokane Industries is requiring Franklin Electronics to use formalized project management methodologies, earned value cost schedules, and schedules for reports and meetings. Since Franklin Electronics had no experience with earned value management, the cost accounting group was trained in the methodology in order to bid for the project.
Represents the development of a new product as a result of the Research and Development team spending large amounts of
In a world of fast-challenging technology, we can only remain competitive by continuously refining and expanding our technical capability.
Therefore, the organization should take a strategic growth-oriented and reverse type combine. On the one hand, the use of outsourcing and vendor competition to reduce costs in order to compensate for management and manufacturing inefficiencies, pay attention to controlling costs; On the other hand, combined with the advantages of their own technology, innovation, branding and marketing and other aspects of the product 's high school three grades are low pile of competitive products, consumer electronics growth to seize the opportunity to obtain efficient growth performance, and further expand market
The corporation should invest more money in research and innovation since this is what has helped them to make a product that rivals their competitors. At the same time, it is imperative for them to improve their machinery for cheap labor costs which will help the company increase its production allowing it to meet the demand in the market. By improving production leading to lower costs of making shoes, apparel, and equipment, Nike will achieve higher demand assuming a quality product is maintained in that process. They will stand a better chance of competing in the industry (Hill, 2009). The organization is already in a better position for meeting the demand, customer taste, and needs. The company should improve quality by focusing on developing lightweight products that are more durable compared to those offered by the competitors. Also, Nike can keep up their success by continuing to reinvent and improve their items and continue to meet the current demand by using new technology. It can also use the Internet to communicate with consumers (Hill, 2009). By developing new technology, Nike will allow the customers to suggest and design their shoes online. To achieve this goal, it is fundamental to enhance areas such as their website to make it more user-friendly. Finally, the company should pay attention to small startup organizations that enter the
New businesses will take longer to thrive with the United States falling economy. The faltering job market and the deepening slump in housing threaten to hurt consumer spending. Consumers are becoming more conscious of their spending and therefore using cash to pay for smaller necessary purchases. The cost of entertainment and other presumed luxuries may be pushed to the background by most families, when having to choose whether to pay for a bill or treat the family out. Thriving businesses will understand the need to provide a service or product at affordable prices.
Kinko’s has been losing revenues and market share over their competition for the past years; reason why its directors have been doing market research to understand the causes of their business slowdown. It’s fast growing market had substantially developed an ongoing business model, facing changes, rapid expansions & even mergers. Their model of service solutions was not fitting their customer’s needs any longer…now it is needed to increase revenues and fast.
...&D capability was not supported by their ability to efficiently produce and market the innovation. Since the R&D is separated from production and sales, it was not market-oriented enough. The limitation of sharing local market knowledge also leads Philips to its inability sell the excellent innovation that R&D has developed. Seeing this as opportunity, Japanese companies able to combine Philips invention with their mass-market production ability and successfully became the leader in the market.
Today, the technology sector has been dominated by various companies all competing to gain the huge market share that has created great rivalry amongst many organizations even leading to the acquisition and rebranding of some like Nokia and Motorola. Under the defensive strategy, most companies employ this technique to discourage new
Research and development plays a big role here at Samsung creating the ability towards taking the next step of building a better future. In 2015, Samsung spent $14 billion dollars on research and development alone, so it’s surprise why we are willing to spend $50 million on the first year of the product. We will use our research and development team to improve the quality of our smartphone via updates and discover reasons why consumers are passing up on our new smartphone. From year 1 to year 2 there will be an increase of 16% in the research and development expense and from year 2 to year there will be a 7% increase. Most of our highly praised tech like the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are due to are research and development teams. The general / selling/ administrative expenses all include fixed costs, advertisements, and direct and indirect costs. With the percentage nearing the profit margin it represents that we’re are in the competitive smartphone market. The change from year 1 to year 2 for the general / selling / administrative expenses increased by 9% and it increased again but only by 4%. The pie graph at the bottom displays the % that goes to in expense. For General / Selling / Administrative expense, I’ve separated the advertisement budget to its own
Without a successful business strategy put in place the company would fail and be unable to compete with competitors. There would be on way of knowing what resources are required. No planning for the future of the business. If there are no targets set out to achieve there would be no way of measuring how successful the company has been.