Part A (1)
Virgin group of company is amongst the leading organizations across the globe. The brand has provided employment opportunities for around 50,000 individuals and regulates over 300 diverse corporations present in 25 different geographies. The success of the company is largely attributed to the founder Sir Richard Branson (Homepage, 2019). The primary source of thick competitive advantage is brand equity. The strong brand image is the reason the founder is diversifying the operations under the umbrella term Virgin. The leadership style used at the organization and strong institutional culture is major contributors to the success of the company (Virgin Group | Business | The Guardian, n.d.). In the present times of internationalization and technological revolution, organizations are implementing effective marketing strategies. Therefore it is hard to maintain a competitive edge in volatile market areas (Kučera et al., 2012).
SWOT Analysis of Virgin Group
Strengths
One of the leading sources of Competitive edge for Virgin group is its brand equity which makes customers associate the group with quality. Clients identify the virgin logo although they have no prior experience with the new business ventures. Therefore utilizing a single brand across multiple channels has helped the organization attract a huge customer base and gain a solid competitive advantage (Skadina & Zvirgzdina, 2021). Moreover, the brand has made investments across assorted goods and services which helped the organization to diversify and enhance financial gains. The organization focuses on excellence and the implementation of Total Quality Management has assisted in minimizing operational expenses and enhancing returns. Other factors which contribute to the competitive advantage of the virgin group are the effective leadership style adopted by Sir Richard Branson (Roy & Karna, 2015). The brand has an efficient marketing strategy and wide management experience and capacity across diverse businesses.
Challenges associated with Value chain analysis of Virgin Group
The brand is vulnerable due to the spillover effect as there are around 60 organizations under the brand name of virgin group. Due to extensive diversification, the organization is not able to focus on a particular product or service and the customers perceive the brand as an elite brand and therefore are reluctant to make purchases (Singh, 2020).
The brand may feel lost and lose its long-term vision by dividing operations across multiple channels. As the business operations are quite complex therefore the division of operations into primary and support activities is not possible. The separation of operations would be a challenging and time-consuming process as it is not easy to collect relevant data. The efficient implementation of the value chain needs not only familiarity but also deep insights into the subject. It is challenging for Virgin Media to get access to detailed information as the Business Information System lacks a proper design and structure (Parumasur & Amankwa, 2020).
Opportunities
The organization can expand its internationalization strategy and cater to the needs of global customers as they are familiar with the brand name. The value proposition offered by the brand like mobile phones media can be easily expanded to different locations. Virgin group can get better deals by forming strong alliances with other successful organizations. The brand can also implement training and development to enhance the skills of existing employees and offer Quality Services to the customers (Hughes et al., 2018). The brand will also benefit by implementing the latest technological goods and catering to the needs of the customers.
Threats
Sir Richard Branson has a major contribution to the success of the organization and the leader has to implement his strategies for the future of the organization and fulfil the out targets of the company. The virgin group should take care of an effective leadership style and organizational culture for the future to manage all the diverse subsidiaries of the brand effectively.
Market Positioning Strategy
The Market Positioning strategy of the virgin group is selling the entire product range under one umbrella term and a brand name virgin. The strategy reduces the investment in marketing and advertisements and the new products can make a strong ground due to the presence of the brand in the market. The strategy often backfires as the failure of one product range derogates the brand image. The company offers a diverse value proposition where it delivers products in leaisure segment they offer travel and tourism, and games. Apart from that the company also delas with eco-friendly products, beverages, and media channels. The huge product range can be broadly differentiated into two categories namely convenience products and no requested products. Convenience products include books cosmetics and mobile phones and requested products include extra Terrestrial travel where the customers have an option to travel to space. Organisation believes in lesser prices for differentiated goods where consumers expect excellence concerning quality. The brand targets young people who are more attracted by the innovative quality and fun-loving products and services (Gagnon et al., 2018).
Part A (2)
Based on a comprehensive analysis of the organization’s performance the strategic plan include expanding its business portfolio by making the best use of every opportunity that seems lucrative. The brand can identify the markets that are not yet saturated and have growth potential. The brand can use its expertise, experience, and effective strategic planning to provide better products and services at cheaper rates (Bryson, 2018).
The popularity of the Virgin brand has helped this company to overcome all challenges that investors encounter in their bid to expand into new businesses. The organization can implement joint ventures strategy to diversify the operations across multiple businesses. The partnership will be mutually beneficial for both the enterprises as the other group can use the expertise of their partner. Moreover, the leadership style and organizational culture at the company support employee empowerment, and this strategy supports organizational growth as it removes bureaucracy, inspires the workforce, and helps in effective decision-making. The businesses under the Virgin group encounter an initial extended lag phase and later on, cover up the losses. Every unit functions individually and the administration does not promote sharing of assets across different divisions. The organization promotes the culture of innovation and utilizes it to offer value to clients by providing quality products and services.
Issue-Based Model
The strategic framework suggested for the business organization named Virgin Group is the Issue-based model which is also referred to as the goal-based model. This framework is more popular amongst experienced companies to formulate more strategic plans across diverse channels. The framework has three stages namely identify, suggest, and include. Therefore the first stage is to identify the challenges. The following are the major challenges for the company:
- Too much diversification has caused the organization to lose focus and strategic planning (Bogićević-Milikić, 2019).
- The organization has many subsidiaries under the same brand name and the failure of anyone division results in a negative impact on the entire organization.
- The brand is struggling to make an effective internationalization strategy to taper the unexplored Asian markets.
The next stage is to suggest that the organization can benefit from reviewing its existing policies and making required changes to suit the needs of newly added divisions to the organization. Furthermore, the brand can perform extensive market analysis and focus on a specific product range to gain a significant competitive edge. Furthermore, the brand can perform competitive analysis to understand its market share and make changes by implementing innovations and technological advancements to cater to the ever-growing demands of the industry. The company can also utilize the benefits of automation, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things for market analysis. The company can also make huge investments in marketing and advertisements in the countries where the brand is yet to establish its name. The last step is to include these steps in the strategic framework, leadership style, and organizational structure of the brand (Suklun, 2020).
Alignment Model
Another framework to develop effective strategies to gain a significant advantage is the Alignment model. The objective of this framework is to align operations, IT strategic development with the organizational short-term and long-term objectives (Stefano & Alberton, 2018). This framework is of particular importance to the Virgin Group as the organization needs to reassess its objectives after extensive differentiation and identify the barriers on the road to success. The model has the first step where the organization will analyze its vision, mission, and organizational objectives. The next step is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. Virgin group can build on their strengths like strong leadership style and organizational culture. The brand needs to reassess its differentiation strategy and also identify ways to expand to the untapped market areas. The next step is to offer implications to overcome challenges. The last step is to implement the recommendations in the strategic framework of the organization to yield positive results (Sharma et al., nd). The corporate strategic planning of the brand is to re-enter dormant sectors with fresh and innovative ideas and deliver differentiated goods and services. The foundation of Virgin group’s strategy is diversification. The brand must improve its scope and current business areas, goods, and services. The company can implement ideas of corporate parent to enhance the framework and give new ideas to the business units. The most effective strategy for the group would be to change operations like that of a venture capital firm laid on their established brand image. The strategy will consist of non-related diversification of the individual business dimensions. The brand can focus on offering exceptional customer service to the clients to foster a positive brand image. The branding team has made efforts to foster an international organization that is identifying ways to engage and motivate users in different sectors and redefine the strategies. The organization has handled the pressure well and has remained one of the leading organizations for the last 50 years. Despite the extensive diversification the organization should remain conscious of the foundational objectives and create a difference in the lives of individuals (A. Alessa, 2016).
Part B: Reflection
The journey throughout the course of the module was enriching and helped me to develop an intellectual foundation about the topic. The workshop, activities, classroom events, and e-activities were carefully designed so as to enhance the understanding and thorough insight about the business operations, leadership, organizational culture, management of workforce, market analysis, competitive advantage, marketing strategies, and strategic development. The workshops and the assignments offered practical knowledge experience and helped in understanding the concepts in finer detail and with a practical outlook. I feel happier about gaining innovative and intellectual experience which will shape my future endeavours as a business analyst. The content of the module was highly engaging and the additional activities have made the journey interesting and fruitful. I will take on the experience and knowledge gained forward and use the concepts during the strategic development of my future organization. Furthermore, I will be able to effectively resolve problems and perform effective decision-making due to the valuable insight gained during the course of the module.
My thinking has progressed manifolds as I have learned important strategies not only for my professional development but also for my personal development. For instance, by implementing the goal-setting theory in my personal life, I will be able to become more disciplined and organized. The holistic view of organizations in the markets has helped me to understand the inter-connection between various divisions is a key to gaining a significant competitive advantage. The different domains of an organization like the IT sector, HR department, corporate strategy, robotics, advertisements an marketing domain are most effective when they work in coordination. The module will play a crucial role in my career development as the theories and models learned during the course of the module are practical and can be implemented across diverse domains like for my start-up plans and in the achievement of career goals.
References
A. Alessa, Dr. A. (2016). The Strategic Management process in intermediate organizations; A multiple case application. International Journal of Scientific Research and Management. https://doi.org/10.18535/ijsrm/v4i.05
Bogićević-Milikić, B. (2019). Promoting gender-responsive talent management in police organizations through strategic HRM measuring. Strategic Management, 24(1), 19–29. https://doi.org/10.5937/straman1901019b
Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons.
Gagnon, S. M., Mantere, S., & Augustin, T. J. (2018). Discursive Opportunities and Strategy-Making in Social Organizations: A Conceptual Framework. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2018(1), 18773. https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2018.18773abstract
Homepage. (2019, November 22). Virgin. https://www.virgin.com/
Hughes, A. M., Zajac, S., Spencer, J. M., & Salas, E. (2018). A checklist for facilitating training transfer in organizations. International Journal of Training and Development, 22(4), 334–345. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijtd.12141
Kučera, M., Látečková, A., & Szovics, P. (2012). Improving quality of economic information systems to ensure competitive advantage for companies. Agricultural Economics (Zemědělská Ekonomika), 50(No. 8), 365–368. https://doi.org/10.17221/5218-agricecon
Parumasur, S. B., & Amankwa, A. (2020). EMPLOYER BRANDING AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN MICROFINANCE COMPANIES IN GHANA. PONTE International Scientific Researches Journal, 76(12). https://doi.org/10.21506/j.ponte.2020.12.2
Roy, K., & Karna, A. (2015). Doing social good on a sustainable basis: competitive advantage of social businesses. Management Decision, 53(6), 1355–1374. https://doi.org/10.1108/md-09-2014-0561
Singh, Dr. T. P. (2020). Impact of Green Marketing on Buying Behavior of Indian Adolescent Customer. Journal of Advanced Research in Dynamical and Control Systems, 12(SP7), 2797–2804. https://doi.org/10.5373/jardcs/v12sp7/20202420
Skadina, H., & Zvirgzdina, R. (2021). Methodology of creating success criteria within the business model for sustainability reasons. International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 21(3), 360. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijebr.2021.114383
Strategic Management Instruments for Cyber-Physical Organizations: Technological Posthumanization as a Driver of Strategic Innovation. (2017). International Journal of Contemporary Management, 16(3). https://doi.org/10.4467/24498939ijcm.17.026.7546
Suklun, H. (2020). Strategic Management and Strategic Leadership in Public Organizations. Finans Ekonomi ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi. https://doi.org/10.29106/fesa.829187
Sharma, C. S., & Kumar, P. Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility as Competitive Advantage for Companies.
Stefano, S. R., & Alberton, A. (2018). Alignment between organization strategy and competencies for sustainability: proposition model for analysis. Revista Capital Científico – Eletrônica, 16(4). https://doi.org/10.5935/2177-4153.20180032
Virgin Group | Business | The Guardian. (n.d.). The Guardian. Retrieved March 30, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/business/virgin-group
write