Project Deliverable 2: Innovation and Competitive Analysis

Industry Analysis and Strategy Development

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October 16, 2017

MGT599-Strategic Management

Industry Analysis and Strategy Development

Introduction

It takes strategic management plan for a company to achieve a competitive advantage over its rivals in an industry. Strategy has become a business buzzword and in most situations, top executives take time to ponder through strategic objectives and missions. Previously, they engaged in mere planning which has lost its glamor and now they have resorted to strategists Centobelli, Cerchione & Esposito (2017). As a result, based on the case “Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.: Disrupting the Fast‐food Business”, the following paper presents an industry analysis and develops a strategy. This is a strategy that is tended to help the chief executive officer shapes the company’s future operations. It brings forward the concept of strategy that helps to shift the company’s attention from the difficulties of planning process. As a result, the CEO would substantively deal with issues affecting both short and long-term well-being of the company.

Summary of the Case

In the case regarding “Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.: Disrupting the Fast‐food Business”, Chipotle has gone through turbulences that almost jeopardized its operations and risked its exit from the fast food industry. Thanks to appropriate and timely strategies that the management implemented that made it to become the largest buyer of higher-priced pork, beef and chicken. There are two remarkable strategies that Chipotle developed; first, it learned that customers are keen on noticing the difference flavor and quality and thus with integrity, the enterprise was willing and committed to meeting their needs and preferences. Again, unlike its competitors, it paid high wages to attract, recruit and retain qualified and experienced employees as a standard fast-food practice. Therefore, it did not mind dismissing employees who lacked energy or appeared as mediocre performers.

Chosen Company and its Situation

Comfort Company is the company of choice which belongs ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited; the largest operator in Singapore’s taxi transport industry. It is a multinational land transport company offering taxi services in Singapore’s transport industry. Currently, Comfort maintains a state-of-the-art customer contact centers to improve efficiency of the booking system. In addition, it is committed to coming up with innovative transport solutions that would make customers’ trip comfortable as the name suggests and an enjoyable experience.

Defining Strategy and Examining how it best fits the company’s situation

In order to be the preferred taxi transport provider with the best-in-class services that attracts, retains clients and leads in the industry, I propose the following three strategies to the Comfort’s CEO. First, applying optimization strategy, it can should cater for a specific segment and tailor services to clients’ particular needs. For example, harness latest technologies and commit to deliver taxi services to clients with high-quality, efficiency and consistency Parmenter (2015). Again, ensure an active media presence; it helps reach out to new clients and thus, Comfort should create and manage accounts on sites where potential clients spend most of their time. This way, the company can monitor customers’ updates to discover their specific needs.

Summary of Comfort’s main strategies

According to Naevestad, Elvebakk & Phillips (2017), transportation strategy is not about beating down rates. However, it is responding to the dynamics of both the business and customers in the market. The recent development at Comfort has been boosted by the management’s strive to anticipate and offer solution to the ever changing needs of its customers by applying two strategies. Firstly, it is fully devoted to the strategy of high-quality services by continually developing technologies that meet the quality expectations of clients. For example, it establishes periodic review of existing quality objectives, incorporates new customized and personalized taxi service offerings. Also, the company trains and continually develops employees. It has helped in having helpful staff that provides safe and reliable transport services.

Comfort’s industry and main competitors

Comfort operates in Singapore’s taxi transport industry and its main competitors include CityCab and Trans-Cab Services Pte Limited. In regards to strategies they apply, CityCab has built on operational excellence providing 24-hours point-to-point transport services to commuters with friendly staff. On the other hand, Trans-Cab invests heavily in technology and believes that its staff and clients are the most valuable asset. Therefore, it offers employees a great work-life harmony that attracts quality needed by customers. Like, Chipotle in the case, Trans-Cab offers high wages to attract and retain high-quality performers.

Industry Analysis and Comfort’s Current standing

In line with Centobelli, Cerchione & Esposito (2017), transport industry is critical and thus a company needs to have a dynamic strategy to meet clients’ dynamic needs. For example, to survive and become profitable, a company needs to embrace flexibility as a key strategy to attract and establish a lasting customer loyalty. Currently, Comfort is financially stable and commands the largest share of the market relative to its rivals. As a result, I recommend the CEO to incorporate the latest technology and reward employees fairly. This way, it will automatically results in quality service delivery that meets clients’ expectations.

Useful Performance Goals for Comfort

Finally, in order to stay tuned into becoming the preferred taxi service provider in Singapore, the company cannot avoid implementing the following performance goals. The first goal is to build a work-life friendly work environment, train and continually develop workers. These can be achieved within one year to enable employees respond effectively and efficiently to the ever-changing needs of clients. Next, within a year, it should establish regular review of quality objectives to assess quality expectations of customers. Lastly, in four-to-five years, the company needs to wirelessly connect its taxi booking system. For example, it can use the General Packet Radio Service technology. This way, it will offer services to clients with reliability, efficiency and consistency. Therefore, as pointed by Parmenter (2015), training a helpful staff, harnessing latest technologies and ensuring high-quality services serve as the main performance goals for Comfort Limited.

References

Centobelli, P., Cerchione, R., & Esposito, E. (2017). Environmental sustainability in the service industry of transportation and logistics service providers: Systematic literature review and research directions. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 53, 454-470.

Naevestad, T. O., Elvebakk, B., & Phillips, R. O. (2017). The safety ladder: developing an evidence-based safety management strategy for small road transport companies. Transport Reviews, 1-22.

Parmenter, D. (2015). Key performance indicators: developing, implementing, and using winning KPIs. John Wiley & Sons.

Retrieved from:

https://www.fastcompany.com/3027647/how-chipotle-changed-american-fast-food-forever