ODC870UNIT2IP.docxRunning head: ELCLARKS PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS 1
ELCLARKS PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS 2
ELClarks Photography Business
Colorado Technical University
Organizational Strategy & Design
OCD870-2104C-01-
Dr. Jaime Sampayo
Unit 2 IP
12 Oct 21
ELClarks Photography Business
Abstract
The paper discusses about the assessment of the ELClarks Photography Business based on various elements that include the mission, vision, strategy, systems, processes, model, structure, and culture. The aspects are discussed in detail to understand the position of the company currently in the photography industry and the challenges that it encounters. Based on the assessment, several issues were highlighted that include having a good mission and vision statements that have limited errors and misalignment and need the company consider improving. The strategies that ELClarks Photography Business has implemented include developing good reputation and relying on the local network that works effectively through networking, recommendations, and referrals. The issues that needed to be addressed include having in place the customer relationship management system that ensure that the photography business have a close communication to understand the needs of the customer to deliver quality services. The model that is best is hybrid that incorporates recent technology and the usual art of books and wall.
Introduction to ELClarks Photography Business (Current State)
ELClarks Photography is a well-known San Antonio, Texas, wedding photographer company. For this photographer, building a strong relationship with each couple is as important as creating a collection of creative photographs that reflect their lovely and exotic connections. With a focus on preserving priceless moments by capturing the true essence of their recognized celebration, this photographer serves the well-known San Antonio area and major surrounding places. Proprietor Eddie Clark is a well-known photographer in the field who is also the proud owner of this company. Having successfully created this business in 2009, Eddie Clark has had the distinct luxury of working with devoted couples and capturing priceless moments in time. It is a knowledge of photography and catching every crucial moment as it happens under Eddie Clark's leadership. Whenever couples visit the ELClarks Photography Business, they always find a large choice of wedding services and packages to choose from.
Many organizations have lay off employees or reduced the number of employees they have because to the Covid-19 pandemic. Some businesses have even closed their doors permanently because of the reduced number of employees. Several suppliers have halted production, galleries have closed, and countless photographers have lost their jobs as a result. ELClarks Photography Business has also faced the same challenges in terms of decline in business activities forcing them lay off some of the staff and photographers to ensure that the business is operational by meeting the overhead costs. The decline in revenue during the pandemic in ELClarks Photography Business is caused the fact that people have lost jobs and business activities that generate revenue and during this pandemic period and their focus is to meet their basic needs (Navarro et al., 2020). In addition, events being cancelled or postponed has had a knock-on effect on the photographic sector as well and this is what has hit ELClarks Photography Business. Several changes have been spurred by the COVID-19 epidemic in the photography industry, and ELClarks Photography Business will have to identify their own insecurities and inefficiencies to go forward and earn income in the future.
There is good news for the ELClarks Photography Business and the photography professionals because the economy is improving after the increasing vaccination exercise that is likely to open the economy and opportunities and reduce the COVID-19 restrictions. Through spreading awareness, documenting experiences, and disseminating guidelines, the media has served as an important communication tool during the pandemic. ELClarks Photography Business was forced to have Diverse photographers that have created bodies of work that explore what it is like to live in a lockdown situation, experiment with the technique, and even create new business prospects for themselves. ELClarks Photography Business during the pandemic period have decided to focus on outdoor events that are preferred in the approach of avoiding the pandemic spread that is mostly high in unventilated locations, but the outdoor ones have high ventilation that promote the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable influence on the economy, and it will take some time for ELClarks Photography Business to fully recover from the repercussions. The photography industry, among others, has been impacted, and the already dwindling camera market has photographers all over the world suffering in this time of uncertainty. It is safe to forecast that the photography industry will have a long path to recovery, but only if sensible and planned movements are made. ELClarks Photography Business needs to consider diversifying and consider e-commerce and online marketing to reach to more customers at this challenging period where people are deciding to remain within their homesteads (McKay, 2018). ELClarks Photography Business has planned to venture in various events and activities that has not been doing in the past and consider it as an important source of income during the period where people are facing financial challenges and consider photography as a secondary or luxurious need.
Hybrid Model
The hybrid model is an emerging business concept for the modern world. Photographers let their clients buy digital packages and/or items. Many photographers offer a digital version of the photographs that have been purchased as wall art or in a book. This is a win for both sides, as you can run a thriving business, supply heirlooms, and the client gets digitals for social media & their phones. The business model ensures that the ELClarks Photography Business makes double profits during wedding events where their clients can keep both in the wall art and books and have copies in their digital devices (McKay, 2018). The kind of hybrid technique play a key role since the society is changing and there is an introduction of much digital photography that is needed and there are people that still value the traditional technique in terms of book art and wall art. There are those that needed the digital pictures and clips that are posted on the social media platforms for social interactions.
Design
Vision
Effective strategic leaders like Howard Schultz have a wide range of skills and qualities that set them apart from ineffective strategic leaders. You must be able to motivate staff to put in extra effort to help your company operate better. ELClarks Photography Business has done a significant contribution towards motivating the photographers to deliver but there are still gaps in terms providing the employees with their needs to deliver in a better way (Edwards, 2021). ELClarks Photography Business lacks the strategic leaders that are effective and able to persuade their people especially the photographers to set extraordinary goals and work towards those goals to drive the firm ahead. The challenge of leadership was evident during the onset of the COVID-19 where Poor strategic leaders, on the other hand, find it difficult to unite their workforce and drive it in a constructive direction.
The challenge resulted to a forced laying off the staff due to the pandemic that came unexpectedly showing that there was no proper planning for future risks and a slow response to the risks because they would have diversified to avoid laying off staff at a challenging time. When it comes to motivating employees, a company's vision is one of the most effective tools accessible to management. The vision of a company is a statement of what the company aspires to be in the future. Visions that have been carefully crafted express the objectives of a company. The goal of ELClarks Photography Business is to offer superb service, unique photographs and heirloom quality products at an affordable price make all the world's information easily searchable and usable (Edwards, 2021). The vision of ELClarks Photography Business is to capture your best moments. The vision and the mission of ELClarks Photography Business are well structured and highlight the determination and the strategy towards achieving a large market share. The ELClarks Photography Business has become a Texas known photography business that puts the interest of the customers high by making sure that they use the best quality cameras that deliver the best outcome. The challenge that is there in the developed vision is the fact that it has failed to illustrate the best way to be followed by the employees to deliver the promised quality.
Regarding ELClarks Photography Business objective, the company highlights the issue of affordability as an important approach in attracting more customers and it worked significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic where people have lost their income and found that the company prices are favorable. It is a succinct yet impactful phrase that highlights numerous goals that are vital to ELClarks Photography Business, such as providing excellent customer service and setting ambitious standards for both its people and its services. People, services, Place, Price, and Promotion are at the center of our photography business strategy known as the Plan to Win, which guides our operations within Texas. For this reason, we are dedicated to always improving the client experience. Every member of the organization must be inspired by this statement's vision before it can be effective. As a result of establishing such broad objectives, it is possible that front-line and operational staff may not be able to relate to or connect with the goals, and thus will get disengaged. There is a communication gap between the executive management and the staff in ELClarks Photography Business that makes it challenging to effectively translate and implement the high-level goals into practical tasks and this makes the company to get much competition from other upcoming photography companies (Edwards, 2021). There is the need to create a seamless communication that would motivate the employees to deliver quality services. Management must, of course, be willing to walk the talk.
Based on the assessment of the ELClarks Photography Business indicated that there was a challenge in the process for the chief executives in producing a compelling vision. There is a believe that an intense sense of vision for a company like ELClarks Photography Business is the most significant feature that good strategic leaders are expected to have but it was lacking for ELClarks Photography Business. The ELClarks Photography Business executive admitted they had major misgivings about their own capacity to produce a vision. It is no surprise that a large number of businesses lack formal vision statements (Edwards, 2021). Despite ELClarks Photography Business having a clear goal, many companies find that their staff is unwilling to accept and work toward that vision. Therefore, having a well-formulated vision that is embraced by staff can provide a company an edge over its competitors.
Mission
“Our mission is to provide superb unique mix of photography service, photographs that you'll appreciate as well as a pleasurable time in front of the camera at an affordable price.” If an organization is to succeed, it needs the support of important stakeholders including employees, owners, suppliers, and customers. ELClarks Photography Business has considered the highlighted needs where customers feel that their contribution to the success of the company is appreciated through good services in terms of pictures. The mission statement is developed to engage stakeholders, and this will make them understand why they should support the organization and what significant role or purpose the organization serves in society.
ELClarks Photography Business has complied to the regulatory requirements to operate in the market and that include having the license and this is what makes the business highlights that it operates legally (Edwards, 2021). Through numerous strategic initiatives, the company continues to fulfill its objective, including the provision of its good customer and photography services to the clients those books for services online. We stand stronger together than we are apart, as Aesop famously said thousands of years ago. In this approach, the relationship between vision and mission can be better understood. If the vision and mission of the organization are fragmented by focusing on multiple domains, executives are asking for difficulties. The mission and vision statements for ELClarks Photography Business is well structured and they relate, and this is what has kept the company operations and successful for a prolonged period (Edwards, 2021). There is the need for ELClarks Photography Business to consider in future sharing a vision and mission statements that highlights the processes that are followed to meet the goals that they indicate to focus on.
Structure
Most aspiring photographers work as individual proprietors. When you start a photography business, you are forming an entity under the laws of the United States. So, even though you are the single shareholder and owner, your company and you are separate entities. ELClarks Photography Business is a sole proprietor business under the ownership of Eddie Clark that was determined in developing memories for his couple of customers. Eddie was determined in targeting couple as his main customers since the onset of its business in 2009. The ELClarks Photography Business by Eddie started as one person business since he was an excellent photographer and decided to involve other photographers and staff with the intention of serving more clients that he himself cannot handle. Eddie is a sole owner of the business and is the one that takes the benefits that is generated from the business and losses when encountered especially during this period of the pandemic where events are cancelled. Eddie has established a strong management that has contributed to the success of the ELClarks Photography Business in Texas, and its strong competitive advantage is contributed by the fact that Eddie is a professional photographer and understands the quality of services that his clients need. ELClarks Photography Business has a solid foundation and structure where Eddie had already developed a strong customer base and had a strong vision and passion for the success of the company. Eddie was the manager and considered hiring other management team to ensure that they serve a bigger market share.
Strategy
Using Personal Network
Nobody wants to be that obnoxious marketer who is continually trying to sell their products or services to people they know. Photographers who are afraid to work with people they have grown to trust may go too far the other way and never use their skills. Eddie in ELClarks Photography Business has succeed in building a personal network that ensured that he worked with other photographers to have a successful photography business in the market. Eddie’s personal network is the most valuable resource that made him make the decision to start out the business in the photography industry (Trevor & Varcoe, 2018). ELClarks Photography Business made a considerable progress because Eddie understood the market so well and implemented the local network strategy where he understood his previous customers that led to more referrals that are contributed by the quality work that he delivered to the clients. There is always a demand for the photography services and that is the reason during weddings or event photography, the photographers need to display their talent and good services that result to the word-of-mouth promotion. Eddie succeeded in using the strategy but became a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic when wedding events were cancelled.
Taking Advantage of Local Marketing
These days, social media comes up automatically whenever the word "marketing" is spoken and ELClarks Photography Business has succeeded to adopt the strategy in its operations, and it has intensified during the pandemic where people have postponed their weeding claiming that they lack the funds to finance it. Although social media is critical, it should be considered just as an afterthought when developing a marketing strategy to succeed in the photography business. ELClarks Photography Business considered first the neighborhood during marketing planning to make sure that they develop a positive reputation about the company (Trevor & Varcoe, 2018). Involving the neighborhood is a way of promoting the photography business and ELClarks Photography Business has tried to achieve that but there is a gap of giving back to the community that would have promoted a compelling reputation through corporate social responsibility.
Application of New and Incoming Technologies
The state of technology is always evolving. It is critical to investigate new prospects, assess the potential financial rewards for your company, and produce innovative ways to put those that look promising into action. ELClarks Photography Business should consider adopting the strategy in entirety because the company has not been consistent in adoption of recent technology and at times does not put the effort required for the technology to succeed (Trevor & Varcoe, 2018). ELClarks Photography Business believes that they should not waste their time or money on something that will not save time or money overall. There is a challenge to evaluate the value that technology brings to business. The internet is critical in today's world. ELClarks Photography Business has implemented the use of the social media for business operations but there was a gap that was filled during the Covid-19 pandemic where most of its operations was conducted online on reaching to most potential couple clients. There was much effort and resources that are needed to adopt the seamless and effective technology for ELClarks Photography Business, and this is what poses a challenge in the implementation of technology. E-commerce is what ELClarks Photography Business should put more resources on and leverage the social media platforms by developing a more reputable brand that can be followed and allow people to book sessions through the company website (Trevor & Varcoe, 2018). ELClarks Photography Business should consider hiring a social media marketing team that would make sure that the brand is marketed beyond San Antonio, Texas to achieve a bigger market share.
Reputation for Quality Service
Eddie is a hardworking and skilled photographer that initiated the ELClarks Photography Business and has built his reputation in serving the community within San Antonio and is well-known for his quality services. The development of a positive reputation on the photography services has made it possible for ELClarks Photography Business to succeed in the market since the customers already understand the excellent work that he does. The development of the company has a good foundation that Eddie has created and there is a belief that the team and staff that he would work with him would learn the best skills and determination that he has in the field of photography (Trevor & Varcoe, 2018). The reputation is an important promotional tool that led to the success of ELClarks Photography Business in San Antonio, Texas.
Culture
ELClarks Company Culture
San Antonio and its neighboring areas are the focus of our work as an established wedding photography company. Clients may expect us to provide them with a high-quality album of pictures that is both dependable and competitive. Most of the events we cover are weddings. When it comes to covering events, we always look for fresh perspectives so that we can provide our clients with a well-rounded and unique product.
Unbiased coverage and accuracy of information during events
Wedding photographers at ELClarks photography are bound by an ethical code that forbids them from allowing governments, political parties, or any other entity with ideological, financial, or partisan interests to influence their work. As a result, when disseminating our services, we strive for the greatest levels of information accuracy, timeliness, and objectivity. ELClarks expects its photographers and contributors to uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct. The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has issued the following code of ethics, and we expect its members to adhere to it (Navarro et al., 2020). ELClarks photography during photographing or recording clients are thorough and give the customers an opportunity to give a description of the kind of services they need. The ELClarks photography demonstrated the utmost ethical values where they protect the client information and pictures and avoids issues of discrimination stereotypes when offering services. Understand and prevent presenting one's own prejudices in the work of others by recognizing and working to avoid this.
There is a challenge of ELClarks photography in serving a wider population at this point because they still have a limited staff and has not focused on a global market (Trevor & Varcoe, 2018). ELClarks photography under Eddie’s leadership has highlighted a tremendous growth in terms of handling events in a more professional way since he has the experience as a photographer and must adhere to the customer preferences and needs. ELClarks photography management ensures that pictures and shots taken in a wedding event is not altered in any way while being photographed. Photographic photographs should be edited by ELClarks photography professionals so that their substance and context are not corrupted.
Respect of intellectual property and protection of our sources
Every day, we face copyright questions and/or constraints as ELClarks photography company because our product is original creative work created by our team members. It is critical to us that intellectual property rights are safeguarded at all costs (McKay, 2018). All our images have proper attribution given to them. We also provide accurate information about the places where they were taken.
Employees' and contributors' safety first
All legal rules for workplace safety are, of course, followed by ELClarks. The ELClarks photography staff is known to always put their own safety first and to avoid taking unwarranted risks while working for ELClarks. ELClarks makes safety gear available to his photographers when and when it is needed. During this COVID-19 pandemic is where Eddie trained the staff and educated them about the preventive approaches to minimize the spread of the pandemic and protect the employees and clients during wedding photo shoots (McKay, 2018). The ELClarks photography provided all the protective gear that included the masks, sanitizers and currently ensuring staff are vaccinated. If the photographers have any concerns regarding the safety of an assignment, they anticipate and encouraged to speak with their supervisors (Navarro et al., 2020). Any assignment that poses a safety risk should be avoided at all costs, even covering an event if safety concerns prevent you from doing so. This is completely appropriate and will not result in any criticism or fines. A photographer's assignment can be canceled by ELClarks editorial management against his or her will if it considers the photographer's own evaluation of the risk to be overly positive. a culture of openness and tolerance in the workplace is promoted.
Open and prejudice-free work environment
ELClarks, a well-known wedding photography business, collaborates with clients from all over Texas, regardless of ethnicity, culture, or religion. Staff at ELClarks is open-minded and non-judgmental while dealing with international clients, suppliers, and staff. That is why the firm place significant importance on ensuring that everyone has access to equitable employment opportunities (McKay, 2018). ELClarks Photography do not tolerate any form of harassment or discrimination against our employees and will discipline anyone who brings this to our attention. Even though the company must adhere to a strict code of ethics as a wedding photography company, we strive to maintain an open working environment that encourages innovation and current ideas. Innovative suggestions from our team members and contributors are welcomed and considered. Because we believe in the professional talent and creative intellect of our workers and contributors, we encourage constructive criticism and solution-oriented recommendations.
Compliance with laws, rules & regulations
The leadership of ELClarks Photography is committed to protecting the privacy of our employees' personal data. All data provided by our workers, contributors, and customers will only be used in accordance with the stated purposes for which they were gathered, and no other information will be made available to third parties unless forced to do so by law or regulation (Semar Bitah & Boukhalfa, 2020). The firm expects their staff and contributors to utilize company assets only for the benefit of ELClarks, in accordance with the law, and in accordance with the ethical standards of photography.
Systems
ELClarks Photography Business has limited systems in place in managing the business operations and the one which is active is the knowledge work system (KWS). ELClarks Photography Business have the KWS system in place in order If to encourage knowledge production while also making sure it is properly integrated into the business, and this is where Eddie collaborates with the photographers in sharing skills and ideas to make the company great and productive in-service delivery (Semar Bitah & Boukhalfa, 2020). Graphics, analytical, communications and document management tools are provided to knowledge workers and in this case the photographers to aid in the creation and propagation of new knowledge. The gained knowledge and skills help the photographers produce new angles of taking pictures that works best on the interest of the ELClarks Photography Business. Access to external databases is critical in a knowledge work system. Knowledge work systems should also have an intuitive user interface to make it simple for users to find the information they need. ELClarks Photography Business need to educate and train the photographers to ensure that their skills match with the market needs and ensure that they share knowledge and skills to make the whole team successful in delivering quality services to clients.
Processes
ELClarks Photography uses Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to help the company move toward a shared vision for the future by engaging others in strategic innovation. ELClark Photography uses AI to understand best practices, develop strategic plans, shift culture, and create forward momentum on large-scale initiatives (Navarro et al., 2020). The AI process will follow four distinct phases (processes) called the 4-D Cycle:
Discovery
The company's participants explore “the best of what is,” identifying the organization’s strengths, best practices, and sources of excellence, vitality, and peak performance (Navarro et al., 2020). The company's employees especially the photographers try to find examples of when the company has been at its best around innovation, and then identify the common factors in these stories.
Dream
Here, the ELClarks’s participants envision a future they really want that is a future where the organization is fully engaged and successful around its core purpose and strategic objectives. They invest time in thinking about what a truly innovative organization would look like. How the leaders, resources, behaviors, the physical space, organizational processes, etc., would change. They work to create a vision of the future that is invigorating and inspiring, something they genuinely want.
Design
Once the vision for the future is clear, the next phase will require the company's employees to Design the future. In design, the company's participants leverage the best of what is and their visions for the future to design high-impact strategies that move the organization creatively and decisively in the right direction (Navarro et al., 2020). They determine what steps are needed today, to reach their vision, In the design phase, the employees get as strategic and tactical as possible, creating models and prototypes of different elements of the future, mapping steps, identifying required resources, and engaging the support of others.
Destiny (sometimes also called Deploy)
Here, the firm's participants put the strategies into action, revising, as necessary. The employees work hard to make the vision a reality in making the ELClarks Photography Business the best photography company in Texas and globally (Navarro et al., 2020).
Next Steps (Paper 2)
ELClarks Photography Business needs some changes especially on the target population that it serves, and this is to consider diversification to include other events in the photography services in addition to the wedding events. The photography business should also consider having the customer relationship management system in place to increase interactions and communications that increase its competitive advantage. The leadership of ELClarks Photography Business is needed to consider collaborating with the junior photographers to deliver quality and incorporate modern technology and innovation to the company. Structures, vision, mission, and strategy is streamlined by having good leadership that believes in teamwork and cooperation.
Conclusion
ELClarks Photography Business has demonstrated a huge progress and success in the way it manages its work and deliver quality services to clients. The photography business is professionally managed under the leadership of Eddie that has the experience in the photography industry for years and had already developed a good network of customers through the superior quality pictures that the clients were receiving and were recommending his services in weddings. There are various strategies that were adopted and worked for ELClarks Photography Business, and this include the taking the advantage of the local market and the application of the modern technology that the company considered leveraging the social media for promotion and reaching out to more potential customers. There are gaps that are experienced in the ELClarks Photography Business, and this include lack of customer relationship management (CRM) and this needs to be filled to retain customers and reach more potential ones.
References
Edwards, J. (2021). Vision, Mission, and Goals. Opentextbc.ca. Retrieved 11 October 2021, from https://opentextbc.ca/strategicmanagement/chapter/vision-mission-and-goals/.
McKay, H. (2018). The 4 Business Models for Photographers. Medium. Retrieved 11 October 2021, from https://medium.com/@mckaysphoto/the-4-business-models-for-photographers-c28840c397ea.
Navarro, A., Sancho, M., & Garrido, J. (2020). Business process management systems in port processes: a systematic literature review. International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 13(3), 258. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijasm.2020.109245
Semar Bitah, K., & Boukhalfa, K. (2020). Knowledge Management Based Approach for Inter-organizational Collaborative Processes Modelling. International Journal of Business Information Systems, 1(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijbis.2020.10024381
Trevor, J., & Varcoe, B. (2018). A Simple Way to Test Your Company’s Strategic Alignment. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 11 October 2021, from https://hbr.org/2016/05/a-simple-way-to-test-your-companys-strategic-alignment.
