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EZ-Pleeze Food Company`s Strategic Planning
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EZ-Pleeze Food Company`s Strategic Planning
Introduction
EZ-Pleeze is a food company that is offering meat and chicken products and is based in the United States. The owner is stepping down due to family natters and the financial challengers the organization is facing are persistent besides the growing competitiveness from rivals in the industry. Per se, it is imperative for the firm to formulate a strategic plan to address such looming threats pronto. The firm which is one of the leading beef and chicken distributor in the US is in need of a well-orchestrated plan that will see the organization expand its product line, open up more stores in the local markets and at the same time explore internationalization mechanisms for sustainable growth and profitability. Therefore, in an attempt to ravel the puzzle, the paper seek to critically evaluate the mission, vision, organizational culture, strategic decision making culture, both internal and external influences, and the current strategic plan of the EZ-Pleeze Food Company.
Company Description
Organizational Culture
Alvesson 2016 state that an organizational culture refers to a set of ideas and principles that dictates the daily occurrences and the governance of an organization in terms of how work is conducted and the relationship among the employees. In the competing values framework, the culture that is advanced and is directly related to the organizational culture of EZ-Pleeze IS THE adhocracy (Cameron, n.d). The orientation of adhocracy is to create with the leadership under such a culture being one that is innovative, visionary and entrepreneur. Thus the value drivers of such a culture are agility, transformation and innovative output. Adhocracy operates under the theory of effectiveness that vision, innovation and continuous change results to effectiveness. Accordingly, it is essential to note that EZ-Pleeze shares such sentiments to a large extent. This is a company that seek to increase the market share, dominate the market and have a large customer base. To achieve such objective, the culture of the organization is dependent on innovation where they sponsor and relay heavily on research work. Additionally, the innovativeness of the firm is constantly improved to accommodate the concerns raised by the customers. The values of the organization can be said to transformative and innovative since the firm changes depending with the needs of the customers and according to the market trends.
Appropriateness of current mission statement
The current mission statement of EZ-Pleeze is appropriate to the extent that it adequately addresses the purpose and business the organization deal in. the mission of the organization identifies with beef and chicken as the product offered by the organization. The company strives to meet the buyers` needs of consuming healthy foods which have great tastes. To please customers, the company is offering good prices for their commodities and better customer experience. In addition, the company strives to be a brand image and identity of the beef and chick provider not just in the USA but also globally.
Appropriateness of Current Vision Statement
According to the EZ-Pleeze Case Study n.d, the vision statement of EZ-Pleeze Food Company`s vision statement is, “To become recognized as one of the top three chicken and beef producers in the United States and the world.” The vision statement of the organization is specific and states the ambition of the firm since it shows where the firm is headed and why it is headed there. It shows clearly that the firm intends to be in the top three chicken and beef providers both in the USA and around the world. The vision is also appropriate to the extent that it stretches the workforce and motivates them to move from their position five ranking in the USA to position three and above, but not just in the US but also globally.
Strategic Decision-Making Structure
In the EZ-pleeze the leadership structure of the firm is hierarchical with the division heads reporting directly to the CEO and founder of the organization. The firm also has a board of directors and shareholders to which influence the management of the firm at different capacities. The strategic team of the organization comprises of six members who include;
Brian Jansen as the Chief of Operations. As the chief of operations, Brian is involved in policy design or formulation and making implementation strategies. It involves the management of overseeing various departmental activities.
John Kerrington as the director of marketing is in charge of formulating policies and strategies that would ensure the brand image of the company resonates well with the consumers. Besides, he is responsible for setting up implementation procedures even though the exact implementation would be done by various departments.
Mary Miller who is the director of research and development deals more police formulation and advisory to the organization with respect to technological advancement, innovation, and market trends from the consumer needs and preferences. The research positions are absorbed and implemented by different people under different departments.
Michael Orason the director for manufacturing and production would be in charge of implementation. That the goods produced comply with the quality assurance and other regulatory measures. The goods must also meet the consumer needs.
Karen Haley the chief finance officer would be helpful in the strategic team in implementing certain decisions and policies demanding financial input like cost cutting and resource utilization.
Lisa Tye the executive assistant is mostly in charge of policy formulation and a bit of supervision and coordination of departments and leaderships of the organization.
Internal and External Influences.
Internal Influences
There are various internal influences that affects the profit margin of the organization like the labor costs, conditions or work, research and development and a good corporate responsibility (EZ-Pleez Case Study, n.d). As such factors like labor cost has influenced the productivity of the firm in the sense that employees are given more benefits as rewards and retention methods. The objective of such is to increase productivity of employees to meet the mission and vision of the organization. Employees are awarded with tuition fees, promotions, and the employee credit union. Another internal factor is the corporate image which the firm builds with good reputation for better business practices. Such have helped in attracting consumers and employee recruitments hence consumer loyalty. The research and development department is another critical internal factor that is imperative in assisting the employees to improve their creativity and attract innovation. Additionally, the R&D department is leading in technological advancement that helps in reduction of genetically modified organisms. The aforementioned internal forces influence production, sales hence profits. They may create customers satisfaction, good image for the company, or damage profitability.
External Influences
Some of the external influences are competition and government regulations. The government passes regulations like taxation, minimal wage among other regulations that ultimately affects the consumer (Bryson, 2018). The competitiveness of the industry from the big players and the new entry firms that lower prices a lot to gain market shares. Conversely, some of the emerging firms go into acquisition with large firms hence making the competitiveness stiffer.
Opportunities
The opportunities which are available for the firm is such that their chicken production and sales are good in Mexico making the firm the second largest chicken distributor in Mexico.
Threats
The greatest threat to the business is the competitiveness of the business in the American industry. This condition is worsened by the acquisition of the beef producer rendering their beef chain to lose market share. To mitigate such a threat, the firm would need to internationalize and expand to other markets like Mexico.
Current Strategic Plan
Advantages of the Current Strategic Plan
The current strategic plan has two key advantages. The strategic plan which encompasses lowering prices and the diversification of beef and chicken products are very critical. The first advantage is that the low prices gives a competitive advantage over rivals like the Yellow Down Foods and the Beefchix Industries (EZ-Pleez Case Study, n.d). Most clients would love natural and good food at a cheaper price, thus helping to have control of the market share. Secondly, the strategic plan is helpful to the extent that diversification of the beef and chicken products opens up the market and services to different commodities besides the beef and chicken as products.
Disadvantages of the current Strategic Plan
The first disadvantage of the current strategic plan is that it is too expansive to role in a number of programs thus eating on the profit margins. When lots of money is spent on the employees for instance in their motivation, it increases the cost of production hence will increase the cost of the commodities thus affecting the consumer price choice model in shopping. Secondly, the strategic plan was not done in faces where results can be measured accurately and adjustments made on a need be basis. It is more of a reactionary plan where profit is desired hence temporary measures taken to make it possible with no long-term plans.
References
Alvesson, M. (Ed.). (2016). Organizational culture. Sage.
Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons.
Cameron K. (n.d). An Introduction to the Competing Values Framework. Haworth. Retrieved from http://www.thercfgroup.com/files/resources/an_introduction_to_the_competing_values_framework.pdf
EZ-Pleez Case Study
