STR 581 - Final Strategic Plan- FOR SMARTWRITER ONLY

STR 581 - Strategic Choice and Evaluation

University of Phoenix

By choosing an optimum strategic direction, Weight Loss Singles Dating Agency will be assured of a long-term growth and prosperity. Given the fact that the online dating industry is extremely competitive and subject to using by a majority of the world populations, the company has to analyze the trends keenly for the purpose of making strategic choices that would bring about shareholder value (Pearce, & Robinson, 2013). The value discipline that should be designed in a way that helps the company to achieves its corporate culture. For this to be attained, Weight Loss and Singles Dating Agency will also have to implement a generic strategy and grand strategy on the basis of the long-term growth value (Pearce, & Robinson, 2013). Value Discipline

One discipline that suits the company is operational excellence as it will push its growth strategy. The importance of the value discipline to this company is that it will help in the improvement of the internal business operations as well as elimination of the waste within the internal processes value (Pearce, & Robinson, 2013). The company will operate a vast supply chain and as such, it is critical that the company serves both the local and international populations by operating at peak efficiency in maintaining competitive price points in the online dating industry value (Pearce, & Robinson, 2013). That is informed by the fact that if the competitors come with low prices it is likely to result in a decreased market share, profit margin or a combination of the two. Insisting on operational excellence helps mitigate the risk of being shortchanged by the competitor’s lower prices value (Pearce, & Robinson, 2013).

The company will implement policies and services that will bring about a reduced cost for using the site form online dating services in comparison with the competitors. Reduced overhead costs will include utilizing owners of organization with their expertise in human resources, finance and Information technology to assist in creation of budget, hiring of experienced personnel, and IT platform/website to be used.

Weight loss Singles Dating Agency should also adopt customer intimacy as its competitive strategy as it currently is the best value discipline for its mission. The company will hire specialized customer service reps to address customer’s needs and which services will best fit their needs. This strategy will ensure that the organization focuses on unique customer services which will allow for personalization of service as well as customization of products so that it can meet the varied customer needs. The main focus in this case is to establish the customer’s lifetime value in the organization and not just the value of the single transactions. As such, the organization will adapt to the operating models which will allow it to address to every customer of their market individuality. With varied age groups as target market for Weight loss Singles Dating Agency, the organization realizes that not all of its customers will require similar levels of services nor will generate similar revenues (Kozami, 2005). Nevertheless, the organization’s profitability will depend highly in the organization’s maintenance system that will accurately and quickly differentiate among the customers on the basis of the degree and quality of service that they require as well as the revenues they are likely to generate.

Generic Strategy

For the purpose of supporting its growth strategy, Weight Loss and Singles Dating Agency should implement a variety of strategies. The first strategy that Weight loss Singles Dating Agency should adopt is differentiation strategy. This strategy basically involves making its services different, unique and more attractive as compared to those of its competitors. Since Weight loss Singles Dating Agency is at its early stages of building its brand and this means there are no enough emotional connections that have been built, product differentiation remains to be among one of the few options that it has to attract customers (Eldring, 2009). The organization has already established a unique position through choosing to specialize on a new idea in the online dating by incorporating customers who have gone through weight loss.

As such, a lot of focus will be placed on service innovation which will require the organization to make a lot of investments on the significant resources for the purpose of researching and developing new services together with making improvements on the existing ones.

This strategy which might help it gain a substantial market share through a perceived quality and substantial cost savings will also help it create customer loyalty from these customers. As such the organization must consider continuous delivery of quality and valuable services so that it manages to maintain this customer loyalty. With well- established online dating organizations which have substantial market share, the organization realizes that it would be so easy for customers to consult its competitors (Eldring, 2009). That in turn means that the company has to invest heavily in advertising and marketing so as to equip the consumers with knowledge and awareness of the special services in using this online dating site instead of using other rival companies. This will foster acquisition of customers and pave its way to obtain a recognized share in the market if the company provides a service that the customers appreciate and which provides value for his/her money.

Grand Strategy

The organization will adopt one grand strategy that will help shape its focus. This crucial strategy is a target towards market growth which basically is a low risk strategy that will help it get to where it has set out to be. Rather than investing so much in the research and development for other new products, the organization should seek to grow the current services that it intends to offer to the customers (Wit & Meyer, 2010). Having identified a unique idea in the market, tapping other new services might make it lose the focus that it initially had on the original idea.

Therefore, placing a focus on this idea will help it come up with even better ways of appealing to its customers, which will be a start in building loyalty in customers. In addition, this is a strategy that will ensure that the organization maximizes its profits through actually dominating the market. A significant part of enhancing market growth strategy will be for Weight loss Singles Dating Agency to make sure that it knows every single detail about what the customers want and then provide them with what they want. In this market growth, it can consider a variety of strategies to ensure that it reaches there (Hoffman, 2000).

One of the things to consider is product expansion which will require the organization to expand its product line and add some new features to its services for the purpose of increasing its rate of sales and profits. Another strategy to adopt is market expansion which will require Weight loss Singles Dating Agency to increase the prevalence of its services to new market. For instance; instead of just concentrating on singles that have gone through weight loss, it can also consider expanding the target customers to incorporate the single who are currently under weight loss as the participants will have common desires and it might be easier to get a perfect match from the increased scope of customers (Wit & Meyer, 2010).

Recommend a strategy or combination of strategies the organization should implement

One recommended strategy for Weight Loss Singles Dating Agency is product differentiation. That is because the strategies are critical in the company increasing on its market viability and a share of the same market and as such, there will be long-term brand loyalty among customers (Henry, 2011). To maintain the differentiation strategy, the organization must focus on making the customers realize the uniqueness that is associated with the service offered (Hoffman, 2000).

This will help dominate the new market and also attract customers from competitors. The use of the strategy of product differentiation will aid the company in building an expansive brand across the globe since specific single individuals that have experienced weight loss are the ones being targeted (Henry, 2011).

Another strategy would be the adoption of value discipline for the purpose of improving efficiencies in operations. This entails setting competitive prices in the market while at the same time the company maintains its profitability index and as such, it will have operational flexibility and growth in the online dating market (Henry, 2011).

References

Eldring, J. (2009). Porter's (1980) generic strategies, performance and risk: An empirical investigation with German data. Hamburg: Diplomica-Verl.

Henry, A. (2011). Understanding strategic management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kozami, A. (2005). Business policy and strategic management. New-Delhi: McGraw-Hill Published.

Pearce, J. A., & Robinson, R. B. (Eds.). (2013). Strategic management: Planning for domestic and global competition (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Porter, M.E. (2008), On Competition: Updated and Expanded Version, Harvard Business School Publishing: Boston, US.

Wit, B. ., & Meyer, R. (2010). Strategy: Process, content, context ; an international perspective. Andover, Hampshire: Cengage Learning.