Signature Assignment: Strategic Plan: Implementation Plan, Strategic Controls, and Contingency Plan Analysis

Strategic Plan

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Introduction

The United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is a financial service group that offers banking, investing, and insurances to individuals who are serving or served in the U.S.A military. Consistently USAA has been ranked as one of the best customer-centric firms in the United States due to its transparency and innovation. USAA is the first company to provide iPhone deposits to its consumer indicating the level of its dedication to customer satisfaction and innovation. Innovation is essential to USAA’s new division about its mission, vision, and values. USAA’s new division will launch a new product as it aims to maintain its founders’ reputation as it ventures into its new market.

The New Product and Mission Statement

The new product that would be launched by USAA’s new division is a mobile financial application that has not been implemented by any financial institution. As the new division marks its entry into the market, it hopes also hopes to mark the beginning of a new legacy by launching a product that will take its market by storm just like the use of the iPhone deposits. The new mobile software will be a finance and bill management application that would automatically add USAA’s consumers' finances based on their bills. The app will further help in reminding the consumers of their payments, send alerts to them, and help them choose the best programs for them depending on their needs and financial status.

USAA’s new division mission statement is based on innovation and customer satisfaction as it aims to create its presence and dominance in its region. The mission statement is in line with the firm's values and vision and provides a framework for its operation and dedication. Just like the company, the new division will specifically serve military members and their families providing them with banking, insurance, investment, and retirement services.

Mission Statement: To empower USAA’s consumers by providing innovative services and products to ensure that their financial needs are adequately met.

Addressing Customer Needs and Competitive Advantage

The new division understands that understanding the needs of the customer is vital for the achievement of goals and objectives of the firm. Addressing the customer needs will, therefore, require the understanding of the consumer’s need. The use of online reviews is one effective way that research has indicated of understanding consumers (Al-Obeidat, Spencer, & Kafeza, 2018). Launching the finance and bill management application as a new product is a rising demand in consumers for innovative products. Understanding customers are vital for addressing their needs. The new division will ensure that it understands who and what its customers want by gathering the necessary information and feedback. Empathy and inquisitive will be vital elements that would be expected from employees as the new division aims to understand and address the needs of its consumers. Finally, the new division will try to ensure that it finds the best solutions to the complaints and needs of its consumers. Apart from the finance and bill management application, the strategy of addressing the consumers need is also aimed at providing a competitive advantage for the new division.

Vision

USAA’s new division mission declares the organization’s purpose and why it was founded. Just like its vision, the new division’s mission statement revolves around customer empowerment and innovation since it is a customer-centric company.

Vision Statement: To be the leading innovative financial provider for military personnel and their families.

Business Model

The USAA’s new division will apply the click and motor business model to facilitate the incorporation of technology in its operation and services. Click and motor business model makes use of both online and offline operations, which typically involves the use of physical store and a company’s website and other online platforms (DaSilva & Trkman, 2014). By launching the new finance and bill management application, the new division aims to show that it will be dedicated to innovations and its click and motor business model. The new product will allow communication between the customer care panels of the firm to assist where necessary. The services that the new division will focus on is banking and investing services offering services such as auto loans, credit cards, extended vehicle protection, home mortgages, personal loans, digital investment advice, stocks, and fund marketplace. The firm would be dedicated to implementing innovations and coming up with new products and services to ensure that the demands and needs of the consumer are met continuously.

Alignment with the Company’s Mission and Vision

USAA Company is guided by values such as honesty, integrity, service, and loyalty. The mission statement for the company is to facilitate the financial security of its consumers, associates, and families by providing a range of highly competitive financial products and services (USAA, 2016). The mission statement of the new division is to adequately address the financial needs of its consumers through the use of innovation. The mission of the new division is in line with the company’s mission as they both emphasize on innovation, high-quality products, and financial security. The vision of USAA Company is to be the leading financial provider choice for the military community. The new division’s vision is to be the leading innovative financial provider for military, ex-military, and their families, which is in line with the company’s vision.

Division’s Strategic Direction Guidance

The strategic direction for the new division is guided by the division’s vision, mission, and values. The vision of the division provides the framework needed to oversee how the division would carry out its operations. The operations of the new division should incorporate innovation services and products to facilitate the achievement of the overall goal of the firm. Keeping up with innovative products and services and coming up with innovations will be crucial to the realization of the vision. The mission and values of the company will guide the employees and the firm on how to behave and carry out operations. They will act as a guide on how employees need to handle customers, behave in the workplace, and engage using the innovative platforms that would be initiated to ensure the accomplishments of goals. The mission, value, and vision of the new division act as the footprint to goal accomplishment and dominance. The new division is faced with a challenging task, but the strategic direction that is guided by its core values, mission, and vision will be vital to ensure its survival. Having a strategic direction is critical to the success of any company in its market.

Guiding Principles

The new division will be guided by five principles that would help it accomplish its goals. The first principle is technology embracement. The new division would make use continuously use and adapt emerging technologies in the field of finance. The second principle would be training the staff on how to use and invent new products that are beneficial to the customers. The third principle would be the use of incentives to facilitate superior customer care services. This would assist to encourage the desired behavior for employees when dealing with customers. The fourth principle would be identifying the needs of the customer and meeting those demands. This principle aims at creating a competitive advantage for the new division in the eyes of customers by improving their satisfaction level. The final principle would be emphasizing the walking of the talk. The new division would need to guide its employees on how to achieve the desired goals.

Guiding Values

The values of the new division would relate to the company’s core values to prevent contradictions in consumers. The new division will be governed by three core values that provide some insights on what the new division is all about. Service and integrity are the two core values that the new division will use as guidance that is present in the company’s value. The new division will ensure that it serves its consumers efficiently while maintaining integrity. The two values are meant to help the new division build its brand and secure it to ensure that customer loyalty is achieved. The new division will engage in corporate social services that would assist in helping communities deal with some of its challenges. Integrity will be vital in maintaining ethics in the workplace and the market by employees. Innovation is the final value of the new division that is meant to facilitate an innovative culture in the workplace.

Conclusion

USAA’s new division will launch a new product which is a finance and bill management application as a way to show its dedication to consumer empowerment and innovation. USAA is popularly known for its customer-centric excellence, and the new division hopes to maintain and build on this reputation. The core values, mission, and vision statements are based on innovation and customer satisfaction, which act as a guide for the new division as it carries out its operation to achieve its goals.

Reference

Al-Obeidat, F., Spencer, B., & Kafeza, E. (2018). The Opinion Management Framework: Identifying and addressing customer concerns extracted from online product reviews. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications , 52-64.

DaSilva, C. M., & Trkman, P. (2014). Business Model: What It Is and What It Is Not. Long Range Planning , 379-389.

USAA. (2016). USAA. Retrieved April 9, 2018, from USAA 2016 Financial Report to Members: https://www.usaa.com/inet/wc/reporttomembers_main_landing