Organizational Strategy: BMC’s Strategic Plan

Executive Summary

Organizations have a myriad of challenges in determining what is suitable for their operations. Whatever is suitable for the operation of an organization, in this case, will constitute what keep the stakeholders satisfied and the revenue generation high. Therefore, good strategic plans come in to enable organizations to realize what needs to be done for the business to achieve its goals. Making a better strategic plan always gives an organization a stepping stone towards achieving a competitive advantage over other organizations in the same industry. BMC is one of the organizations facing the challenge of putting things in order before advancing its expansion program. BMC must now use its available resources to realize profitability in the new adventure. A bigger market is waiting for BMC to conquer if it uses this strategic report in the right way. BMC needs to transform and make technology one of its strengths to attract the many youths in Manchester’s market. Satisfying the employees is also not left out in the strategic plan; BMC must have structures to ensure employees` morale is high to increase productivity.

Introduction

The business environment has a way of changing to accommodate the changes within the organization. The changes propel the organization to operate to promote the stakeholder’s interests of profitability and efficiency within the organization. The organization’s management needs to have a skillful team to ensure there is an updated strategic decision to clear the path towards success. The dynamism of doing business requires organizations to have a solid strategic blueprint to direct their operations (Valeri 2021). The strategy should have plans to source the necessary resources and allocate them to drive the organization to its success. The allocation of resources provides a clear path that the organization will follow to ensure it is competitive and satisfies the stakeholders’ needs. The case of BMC requires the strategy to plan for the resources and ensure that the resources reach the deserving staff to ensure the company operates at its optimum level. The primary understanding of this work revolves around making the strategic organizational document a significant source of success within the BMC’s expansion program.

All the information on the strategic organizational document keeps everyone abreast of the organization’s steps. Employees must align their goals with that of the organization to perform in harmony with the overall organizational vision. Adopting the strategic plan by BMC will ensure the organization improves its profitability and competitiveness when the business is experiencing expansion, and the competition is growing too strong. The management is aware that becoming competitive requires the business strategy to focus on the business structure and its delivery of products and services. Aligning the employees’ aspirations with the organizational structure and the general objective of the organization becomes goal number one in this strategy. The contents of this strategic plan give the managers the most appropriate ways of solving the problem of profitability and competitiveness to keep the company to its past glory. The cornerstone of the strategic plan outlines treating the employees fairly and justly because the company will be using the employees` efforts to remain competitive.

Findings

Advantages and Disadvantages of Organizational Structures

Organizations need a seamless flow of information on command and work, which is only possible through having a working organizational structure. Responsive organizational structure supports an organization’s decision-making process and management, which depends on the constant flow of structured information (Joseph & Gaba 2020). Therefore, the organizational structure is the first determinant of a successful organization. Organizations like BMC must adopt a structure that resonates well with their expansion goals to accommodate every stakeholder.

Hierarchical Structure. BMC is known to be using this structure in its management. However, the time has come when the company must accept the changes and adopt another structure. The hierarchical structure has the executives who influence the company decisions sittings at the top; these executives are only answerable to the board of management. The top seats which the executives occupy tend to be for a small number of people, and the bottom is where everyone is found, making this structure look like a pyramid. The CEO possesses all the powers in this structure, and authority is centralized around the CEO.

Advantages

• The structure has a clear reporting structure from the CEO down to the junior staff
• Employees have an idea of their career path because of its structured departments
• The departments within this structure promote specialization among employees
• The structure has a transparent chain of command since everyone knows their roles

Disadvantages

• The structure restricts information flow as more information go up the hierarchy and very little flow down the hierarchy
• The several departments with departmental managers slow down decision making
• The structure could stir departmental rivalry as heads of departments to compete for the CEO’s attention and approval
• The various departments increase the management costs of this structure

Horizontal Structure. This structure receives recognition for its ability to integrate the executives and junior employees to work as one more robust unit. The horizontal organizational structure creates responsive management as staff members work together to achieve a common organizational goal (Moon et al 2020). Most organizations adopt the structure to solve the problems brought by other rigid structures like hierarchical structures.

Advantages

• The structure improves the relationship between the management and other employees
• Due to its integration, it increases the speed of decision implementation
• The structure encourages a good flow of information across the organization
• The openness in the structure increases the employee satisfaction

Disadvantages

• It discourages specialization, which can lead to reduced expertise
• It has unstructured supervision, which confuses the employees who require attachment under the supervisor
• It is mainly operational in small and medium-sized organizations but may be slow and unresponsive in bigger organizations
• Reduction in the management supervision in this structure can bring laxity among employees, thereby leading to deviation from the organizational goals

Functional Structure. The structure focuses on arranging workers to meet some standards set by the organization. It is famous for its usage in organizing the employees according to their skills and level of performance. The managers in this structure must have good knowledge of their juniors to allocate them tasks according to their abilities to perform. The organized employees work in units under the supervision and report directly to the top management, which oversees their performance. It serves the organizations that want to break the employee roles to reflect the overall organization goals.

Advantages

• Increase employee efficiency by grouping employees with similar skills and expertise
• The structure enjoys some versatility as it can be applied in small, medium-sized, and large organizations
• The structure has job security which increases the employees` morale and loyalty to the department and company vision
• It gives guidelines to the employees, which promotes their awareness about their duties and reporting structure, thereby reducing confusion

Disadvantages

• It creates unhealthy competition between departments as the managers compete to outdo each other in terms of performance
• Grouping of employees may create boredom as employees repeat tasks over and over again.
• The structure can also create division among the employees if promotions are not handled with care
• It has independent departments which might create communication problems within the organization

Connections between Organisational Strategy, Products & Services, Customers and Revenue Generation

The organizational strategy has some supporting pillars which strengthen its functionality within an organizational setup. These supporting pillars are the products and services an organization offers to the customers who promote its profitability. The final pillar is the resulting revenues from packaging the products and services to sell. The strategic plan of BMC intends to connect these pillars to salvage the company from its current moribund state. Maintaining the connection between the pillars requires the organization to make revenue generation and producing superior products and services part of their strategic goal. The organizational goals change into organizational behaviors, influencing the quality of services customers get and the amount of revenue the business generates (Gagné 2018). The strategic proposals for BMC will eventually increase its profitability if the managers adopt the new changes on reaching the customers and tapping from the broad market. BMC will have to adopt technology to reach many customers within and without Manchester. The expansion program should also focus more on fast food distribution to increase revenue generation.

The food business may be challenging, just like any other business with a high number of new entrants. The main challenge, in this case, is the stiff competition within the Manchester market; amidst the stiff competition hides a good reward for the companies with the impetus to upscale their investments. The market competition makes this strategy device a new way of generating income and satisfying the customer’s needs using the available resources. Therefore, the company will venture into providing goods and services to the customers from now on. The idea is a perfect way of capturing a broader market share that ensures the company generates enough revenues to facilitate its operations. The strategic shift now aims to base on the production of cooked foods. The idea of cooked food targets the growing youth in Manchester who find it easy to buy cooked foods from restaurants rather than take raw food to cook at home. The other product line is the provision of raw foods that a customer can buy and cook at home; this provision covers the customers with families. There is also a service line where the organization plans to deliver food to customers upon ordering.

The External Factors and Trends Impacting or are Likely to Impact BMC’s Future Strategic Direction

Big businesses like BMC are at high risk of closing down because of the challenges from external business factors. Businesses can close down because they lack control over these external factors affecting their growth and operations. The challenges grow more significant with the increase in the organization size like BMC will now experience more external challenges as it expands into Manchester’s market. However, there is a way out of the challenges this strategy addresses to rescue BMC and other struggling companies. The way out of these challenges only requires the organization to spot the challenges and work on better methods of improving or avoiding the challenges. One way to reduce these challenges is by introducing the use of PESTEL analysis to spot the challenges before deciding on the action to take (Jacobs 2019). The universality of the external factors affecting businesses makes them form a trend that managers should identify and weed out. These external challenges include political, economic, social, technological, and environmental factors.

Political and Legal Factors. BMC faces challenges from the council’s business regulations. The problem is more profound, mainly when BMC is a new entrant into the Manchester food business. BMC has no control over the rules made by the council; this reason makes the legal aspect of BMC’s business very challenging to navigate. The current political environment within Manchester is good for business growth. An excellent political environment can attract more customers, increasing BMC’S revenue generation goal.

Economic Factor: BMC is going to Manchester, knowing very well the economic environment for new businesses. The interest rates are projected to increase in the coming years, making borrowing very difficult. The increase in the interest rates will, therefore, adversely affect the operations of BMC. The BMC’s growth may be just another ambitious move without success to show without affordable borrowing rates. There is also a wave of unemployment which is currently rife in Manchester. Unemployment reduces households’ disposable income in buying essential goods and services. BMC might remain with customers who do not have money to make a purchase.

Social Factor: Every market has different customers with different tastes and preferences. The Manchester expansion will also pass through the same; as BMC expands, it must face its customers’ differences in opinions and taste. The difference is part of the customers` social life, and the business must adjust to it or face extinction. The only way to reduce the effect will be employing the locals in some of the management positions because only the locals understand the diversity in the social life of the customers. Failure to factor in the social factors will make the business less popular, thereby preventing BMC from becoming profitable.

Technological Factor: Understanding technology is the current gold for most businesses. However, the technological landscape is fast-changing, and the business may not master all the best ways of using technology to create profitability (Haseeb et al 2019). Manchester is a technological hub that silently eliminates businesses that operate out of the current technology. BMC has no control of the technology which the market adopts to use. The challenges of maintaining the current technology to attract more customers come with high costs, which might reduce the profitability of BMC. However, adopting the current technology will enable BMC to make more profits.

Environmental Factors. BMC is under the environmental laws by the council to protect the environment. The conservation of the environment remains a challenge to the business since no one knows when the environmental conservation laws can twist to prohibit some of the usual business activities. The environmental factors make BMC look for how they dispose of their wastes without affecting the environment. With the increased activities of the environmental activist, any failure to operate according to the environmental regulations can lead to the automatic closure of business.

Advertising Market Trend: The era of intense advertisements is with us, and every business leader should take advantage of the available advertising options to capture the market niche. The business is shifting from the known giant billboards to a new trend of using market influencers to ensure the products reach the intended consumers (Iwashita 2019). The current advertising trend requires an organization to establish a good partnership with celebrities and other advertising companies. The celebrities can create traffic in the social media platforms, which gives the customers enough opportunity to scout the best products. Companies like Google are also in the advertising business, which BMC should consider working with to reach a more comprehensive customer.

Increased Multicultural Awareness. The current generation celebrates and embraces the differences in culture and lifestyle. Customers transfer the same feeling to the business and their preference of products. Businesses like BMC, which seek to expand into new markets, must understand the local culture of their customers if they want to make more profits. Most customers will prefer to take meals that resonate with their cultural backgrounds, like in Italy; most of the customers will prefer to eat pizza and not noodles like the customers in Asian nations. Restaurants must adjust their menus to cover the diversity of societal diversity.

Remote Working Trend: The coronavirus pandemic has come with some changes to the working class, limiting the possibility of working in crowded places. Remote working is now the current trend that most organizations adopt to make employees happy. The employees who can work remotely are happy and productive in their roles. BMC is aware of this trend, but they may do little about it because the nature of its business may restrict remote working. BMC business requires its employees to work from a centralized location, eliminating the remote working idea. However, the top management may work from home, but it will cause an uproar among the junior employees. As things change, the business will have to decide to fully adopt remote working despite its challenges to the BMC’s business.

Assessment of Organisational Priorities and the Associated Issues and Causes

Organizations’ priorities come in different forms; some organizations prioritize the production factors while others prioritize the people. Organizations like BMC, which operates in the current technological advancement, must prioritize the customers to acquire more customers. Technology will increase services’ automation, which increases efficiency (Kokina & Blanchette 2019). The finance and sales department are some of the departments that require the full implementation of automation. The organization needs to update its accounts to avoid unnecessary audit queries which may look suspicious. The sales department also needs to keep the customers informed about the new menu or products BMC is preparing. However, there are some issues that BMC faces, which may hinder the company from achieving its priorities. One of such issues is that technology keeps on changing. The business may not know the right technology to use at any given point because technology changes according to market trends.

Organizations like BMC prioritize their employees and always want employees to be productive. Therefore, the employees’ demand becomes part of the organization’s goals or aspirations. The current pandemic is making remote working essential for the employees, and the BMC is also making it its priority to keep the employees happy. The priority, however, comes at a price because the profitability may reduce because of inadequate coordination of the employees. The organization needs to find better ways of handling the employees` workspace away from their regular duty posts. The pandemic caused some businesses to make unfamiliar decisions to ensure their operations survived after coronavirus disruptions (Grima et al 2020). The pandemic situation allows only some of the critical organization’s functions to be managed from the office as other supporting duties are handled far from the office. The situation may derail the strategic growth BMC is having for its profitability because of some reduction in the productions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the BMC structure introduces what lies ahead in the Manchester market as the business expansion is in its final steps. BMC must prepare for very challenging times ahead in its expansion program to succeed in the coming years. The first step will be for BMC to keenly check its ability to remain competitive in a market that does not tolerate a lazy attitude. The organization must now invest in research to enable its employees to create special menus for the customers. Managers at BMC must now realize that there is no other way apart from decentralizing the company’s management. Decentralization will enable the Manchester branch to operate independently, making monthly or quarterly reports to the headquarters. The bid to decentralize operations must start by changing the rigid hierarchical structure for the management to accommodate different people with different ideologies. Moving into the new market will also require the company to update its technology to facilitate online food ordering, which is currently the backbone of a food business.

Recommendations

The recommendations for BMC expansion go to the management, who must change how they handle issues within the organization. The organization should learn how to embrace employees in different forms. As the business is now expanding to other towns, the management should change their attitude towards the employees and understand that employees are like the foundation of BMC. My recommendation is that the managers should be taken through refresher courses on management of employees. The course will wake the empathetic feeling of the managers who seem not to care about the plight of employees. Another recommendation is that the Manchester branch should be handled by the locals within Manchester and not those transferred from the headquarter; this is because the local employees understand the desires of the local customers. The Manchester branch should adopt a horizontal structure to keep everyone working and avoid the laziness that is crippling operations at the headquarter. The organization should initiate reward programs to motivate the employees during this challenging coronavirus situation.

References List

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Grima, S., Dalli Gonzi, R. and Thalassinos, E., 2020. The impact of COVID-19 on Malta and its economy and sustainable strategies.

Haseeb, M., Hussain, H.I., Ślusarczyk, B. and Jermsittiparsert, K., 2019. Industry 4.0: A solution towards technology challenges of sustainable business performance. Social Sciences, 8(5), p.154.

Iwashita, M., 2019, July. Trend of influencer marketing and future required functions. In 2019 20th IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking, and Parallel/Distributed Computing (SNPD) (pp. 2-2). IEEE.

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Kokina, J. and Blanchette, S., 2019. Early evidence of digital labor in accounting: Innovation with Robotic Process Automation. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 35, p.100431.

Moon, C., Morais, C., de Moura, G.R. and Uskul, A.K., 2020. The role of organizational structure and deviant status in employees’ reactions to and acceptance of workplace deviance. International Journal of Conflict Management.

Valeri, M., 2021. Organizational Studies: Implications for the Strategic Management. Springer Nature.