Strategic Plan: Combining Papers (week 2, week 3, and week 4 papers are attached)

Balanced Scorecard and Communication Plan

Deidra Daniel

University of Phoenix

July 2, 2018

Balanced Scorecard and Communication Plan

Balanced scorecard and its impact on all stakeholders

A balanced scorecard refers to a performance metric that is used in the strategic management in the identification and the improvement of the internal roles of a business as well as the resulting external outcomes (Pramudita, 2016). It is used in measurement and offering feedback in an organization. Collection of data is important as this data is employed in the decision-making process. The balanced scorecard is imperative to the stakeholders in the sense that it is used in the reinforcement of good behaviors in an organization.

Identify key trends, assumptions, and risks

One of the key trends in the business model is on the need to conserve the environment. In this, most of the competitors such as Coca-Cola have adopted measures of assisting in environmental conservation and it is thus crucial for the company to take this seriously so that it can increase its market share. The other key trend in the industry is technological advancement. It is thus important for the Sweet Beverages company to adopt advanced technology as well as the technological expertise to ensure effectiveness in carrying out the tasks and increase its competitive advantage in the market. One of the assumptions that the company is making is that when it starts collecting containers discarded by its competitors in the environment and start recycling them, its competitors will not put into place measures to also start recycling their bottles and cans on the streets. The company assumes that the competitors will not engage in the recycling business too. The company is at a risk of losing customers and loss of trust if it fails to meet the customers’ expectations which are part of its strengths. For instance, if the company fails to make deliveries on time and contributes to the destruction of the environment, it will lose its customers to the competitors in the market.

Strategic objectives

In financial perspective, the objectives of the company include; to increase its market share, to increase its level of revenue through increasing cost-effectiveness and to increase the level of profitability in the organization through an increase in the level of sales. In the customer perspective, the strategic objectives of SB Company include; to increase the rate of customer retention and attract new customers, to ensure customer satisfaction by meeting their needs adequately and to ensure value is delivered to all the customers (Niven, 2006). In business processes, the company focuses on improving the production process and ensuring that all the gaps in the market, shortages, and delays are tracked to increase the level of effectiveness. In learning and growth, the objectives of the company include; promoting technological innovations and adopting advancements, ensuring employee satisfaction and also increasing the rate of employee retention to save on costs incurred in hiring and training new employees.

Potential alternatives to the issues and/or opportunities

One of the potential alternatives that the company can adopt to increase its level of competition in the market is to promote innovation. This will to a great extent help the company in the introduction of new products and also in improving the existing ones. The company also has the opportunity to focus on recycling the waste products which will help in increasing its cost-effectiveness and also promote the level of customer satisfaction due to the engagement in corporate social responsibility through ensuring a clean environment. The other thing is that the company should ensure that the team of management is highly skilled and resourceful. The managers should be people who are capable of managing the operations having in mind the interests of the company and customers. The other opportunity is that the company should focus on addressing its weaknesses while on the other hand optimizing on its strengths.

Strategic objectives based on the balance scorecard areas

In financial perspective, one of the potential risks that the company is prone to is losing its customers to the competitors which will contribute to a decline in the level of sales and hence the revenue. Three of the strategic objectives of the company to solve this include; increasing its level of competitiveness in the market, to increase the level of revenue obtained while reducing costs and to increase the company’s market share. The other potential need is in meeting the needs of the customers effectively. Three of the strategic objectives the company should have included; ensuring customer satisfaction, working towards delivering value in all their products and coming up with strategies of retaining customers such as reduction of costs which is possible through increased cost-effective and also engaging in sales and promotions. In internal operations, the potential risk is having an ineffective management team. The strategic objectives that the business should focus on in their mitigation plans include; coming up with effective strategies of measuring performance, ensuring an increase in the level of productivity and improvement of the operation metrics by ensuring that there are no gaps, shortages or wastage. In learning and growth, the use of ineffective technology is likely to have a negative impact on the company’s operations. The company should thus focus on encouraging technological innovations, ensuring employee satisfaction and decreasing the rate of employee turnover.

Metric and target for strategic objectives

In financial perspective, one of the strategic objectives is to increase the level of competitiveness in the market. The metric is the percentage increase in the competitiveness and the target is an increase by 2% every year. The second financial objective is an increase in market share. The metric for this is the percentage increase in market share and the target is an increase by 2% every year. The third objective is an increase in the level of revenue. The metric is the percentage rise in the revenue obtained every year and the target is an increase by 3% every year for the next three years. In customer’s perspective, one of the objectives is ensuring customer satisfaction. The metric for this is an increase in the rate of customer satisfaction and the target is an increase of 3% per year. The other objective is delivering value and the measure is the increase in the number of customers while the target is 2% increase per year. The third objective is customer’s retention; the metric is the percentage increase in revenue while the target is 5% per year. In operations, one of the objectives is increasing the level of productivity. The measure of this is an improvement in the time for delivery of services and the target is 2% per year. The other objective is an improvement in operations by increasing efficiency. The measure is the development of new processes and improving the existing ones and the target is 2% per year. The third objective is performance measuring. The measure is an improvement in the time taken to deliver services to customers and the measure is 3% per year. The last component is learning and growth. One of the objectives is to increase employee satisfaction. The measure is and increases in the rate of employee satisfaction calculated from surveys and questionnaires and the target is 3% per year. The other objective is an increase in the rate of employee retention and the measure is to reduce the rate of employee turnover and the target is 2% per year. The last objective is an increase in technological innovation. A measure is a number of new products introduced in the market and changes made to the existing ones and the target is 1% per year.

Communication Plan

A communication plan refers to an approach that is policy-driven and is used in the provision of the stakeholders with information. The purpose of the communication plan is to define the people who should be given specific information, the time of delivering the information and also the channels to be used (Waller, 2012). The audience of the strategic objectives and other information about SB Company include; the managers who are responsible for the business operations, the employees and the customers. The channels for communications which will be used include; a memo for the employees and managers. This is very effective in ensuring that the information reaches all the employees and organization in a timely manner. Memos are very effective for internal communication. To communicate with the customers, the company will use social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram among others, televisions and also radio. These channels are effective in that they will aid in reaching a wide scope of customers.

References

Niven, P. (2006). Balanced scorecard step-by-step: maximizing performance and maintaining results. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.

Pramudita, C. (2016). The balanced scorecard as a strategic controlling instrument: introducing the Indicators-based BSC for implementation of a corporate strategy from four different perspectives. Hamburg: Anchor Academic Publishing.

Waller, D. (2012). Developing your integrated marketing communication plan. North Ryde, N.S.W: McGraw-Hill.