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3-1 Project One: Applying Strategic and Operational Thinking
Dustin Calvert
Southern New Hampshire University
MBA 500: Building Business Leaders
Dr. Jarrett Walton
June 26, 2022
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Memo
To: Ann Hernandez, Chief Executive Officer
From: Dustin Calvert, Internal Consultant Marketing and Sales
Date: June 26, 2022
Re: Strategic KPIs for TBL in sales and marketing
As requested, this memorandum has been prepared to present the Sales and Marketing
team’s solution to facilitate ABC Beauty Company’s decision to transition to a Triple Bottom
Line (TBL) business model. In response to ABC Beauty Company’s TBL plan, I pose three
strategic questions that reflect each element of the TBL: People Planet, and Profit. The answer
to each of the three questions is derived from its corresponding Key Performance Indicator
(KPI). As Kivak states, KPIs focusing on distinct categories represent a more holistic picture
and more accurately gauge ABC’s progress toward reaching its strategic goals (Kivak, 2020).
Each element’s strategic question, KPI, and method of measurement are detailed within this
memorandum.
Strategic Vector 1: People
Strategic Question. The first strategic question is: Does ABC Beauty Company train its
teams to foster development within and be stewards of their communities? By asking this
question, we can reflect on the two key people strategies—namely, to develop our employees
and to be a positive influence within our communities—as stated in the Triple Bottom Line
Strategies shared by the CEO, Anne Hernandez (Hernandez, 2022c).
KPI #1: Charitable Budget Expenditure. The following KPI would be used to measure
ABC’s progress towards its first strategic vector: At least 70% of ABC Beauty Company’s
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budget designated for supporting employees in charitable, community-based work is spent
annually. Though this KPI is a lagging indicator, it is an important metric for gauging
employee involvement within their community and meeting a critical part of the TBL.
KPI #1 Measurement. Expanding upon the previous success of ABC Beauty
Company’s holiday giving program, I recommend that the company continue charitable
donation matching as noted in the CSR Initiative Letter (Hernandez, 2022a), and pledges to
match every hour of employee volunteerism with a monetary donation to a qualifying charity
of the employee’s choosing. Progress towards the Charitable Budget Expenditure KPI will be
measured on an annual basis when Finance will check to ensure that at least 70% of the
allocated funds are indeed being used for charitable, community-based work. Successfully
surpassing the KPI target would indicate not only is ABC Beauty Company investing back
into the community, but its employees are also growing and developing as stewards within
their community.
Strategic Vector 2: Planet
Strategic Question. To challenge our renewed dedication to the environment, we must
ask: Are we promoting our sustainability agenda transparently, highlighting our Earth-
conscience sourcing of materials? The key strategies, as noted in the Triple Bottom Line
Strategies letter (Hernandez, 2022c), are to innovate products in sustainable ways while also
prioritizing and promoting sustainability in production and more. If ABC Beauty Company
fails to share its progress towards the named sustainability goals, then it will fail to be
perceived as an organization that takes this commitment seriously.
KPI #2: Sustainability Report. Formal, quarterly publication of a Sustainability Report
will make ABC Beauty Company’s progress towards their key planet strategies public while
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serving a twofold purpose: sharing these data with the public transparently and reinforcing the
accountability of company employees to work towards the 100% recycled packaging goal for
all beauty products. All functional areas will be aligned in conveying, sharing, and executing
this mission.
KPI #2 Measurement. The Sustainability Report is a tool that will help keep ABC
Beauty Company on track with meeting the overall goal of packaging all its products in 100%
recycled material. To measure the progress towards this goal, the company should strive to
meet a 2% increase in recycled packaging conversion each quarter (i.e. in each published
Sustainability Report) to be considered successful. If ABC Beauty Company fails to meet the
2% quarterly benchmark, a portion of the report should analyze lagging indicators to develop
operational plans to course-correct with future recycled packaging efforts. Conversely, when
the 2% benchmark is met and ABC Beauty Company has continued to do so for several
successive quarters, the report can share leading indicators that give stakeholders an
indication of when the 100% recycled packing goal will be met and sustained.
Strategic Vector 3: Profit
Strategic Question. CEO Anne Hernandez’s Triple Bottom Line Plan indicates that the
profit plan should hinge upon reaching a global audience and being “the leading brand in the
industry” while being “fully committed” to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
(Hernandez, 2022c). Therefore, a fitting strategic question for boosting profit is as follows: Is
ABC Beauty Company taking advantage of its strengths to capture new customers across the
globe?
KPI #3: Customer Subscriptions. ABC Beauty Company’s SWOT analyses indicate
that strengths for Sales and Marketing converge around referring new customers from existing
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ones and retaining existing customers, respectively (Hernandez, 2022b). Given the successful
basis of the relationship with existing customers, a key performance indicator moving forward
should center on continuing to gain new customer subscriptions. Subscription increases would
be a leading indicator of increased revenue for ABC Beauty Company. However, functional
areas should aim to do so with more nuanced approaches to communicating products clearly
and cohesively through locale-specific sales and marketing strategies, which would help
resolve the weaknesses as indicated in the SWOT analyses, of disjointed communication of
new products and low engagement with products on social media platforms in Sales and
Marketing, respectively (Hernandez, 2022b). Thus, the KPI: Is there an increase in customer
subscriptions as a result of locale-targeted sales and marketing efforts?
KPI #3 Measurement. I recommend that ABC Beauty Company employs the following
sliding scale to assess its progress towards subscription acquisitions on a monthly basis:
< 0 - 0.9% = ineffective expansion
1.0 - 4.9% = striving
> 5% = effective
By using a sliding scale with clearly defined parameters, employees are able to differentiate
between market standard attrition and increases that are not attributable to any increased
efforts in Sales and Marketing (i.e. the middle striving range) and finally, a statistically
significant increase that can be traced directly to the streamlined communication of products
with a clear social media marketing platform to support it. Supporting data collection to
affirm the reasons for increased subscriptions could also come from tracking engagement on
various posts on social media and from website analytics.
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Functional Considerations
Ensuring that both the Sales and Marketing teams fully understand the KPIs is critical
to their success; as Svensson de Jong states, if there is not a shared definition of specific and
well-defined KPIs, “each of the respondents appears to have their unique view and perception
of what [success] is” (Ilse Svensson de Jong, 2021). The first functional consideration,
therefore, should be teambuilding within and across the Sales and Marketing departments.
The high turnover rate of each functional area as indicated in the SWOT Analyses
(Hernandez, 2022b) demands swift action to train and unify the people within each area so that
they can be stronger collaborators with one another and across functional areas to meet all
three KPIs (named above) for ABC Beauty Company’s future Triple Bottom Line Plan.
After team building, the next functional consideration should continue to be shared by
both the Sales and Marketing areas: to align the branding and messaging efforts of all beauty
products. Sales and Marketing alike should aim to convey information to the public about
ABC Beauty Company’s sustainability efforts, too; for example, by sharing an eco-friendly
insignia on the packaging and by posting excerpts of the quarterly Sustainability Report.
Through the alignment of these efforts and mirrored ideas across functional areas, customers
will feel a sense of continuity, confidence, and familiarity with ABC Beauty Company’s
products from seeing the advertising campaign to seeing a product on a store shelf.
Cooperation between these two functional areas is the best way to ensure successful progress
toward the TBL, and ultimately, the success of ABC Beauty Company.
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References
Hernandez, A. (2022a).KCSR Initiative Letter
Hernandez, A. (2022b).KSWOT Analyses From Sales and Marketing
Hernandez, A. (2022c).KTriple Bottom Line Plan
Ilse Svensson de Jong. (2021). Misfit? The Use of Metrics in Innovation.3Journal of Risk and
Financial Management,314(8), 388.Khttps://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm14080388
Kivak, R. (2020).KKey performance indicator (KPI). Salem Press.
