CAREER CONNECTION: Final Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan Part 1: New Product or Service

Introduction

The future of a business relies on proper strategic planning. “Simply put, strategic planning is clarifying the overall purpose and desired results of an organization, and how those results will be achieved” (McNamara, 2010). Why a company exists is defined through the company’s mission, vision, and value statements. The statements also help identify where the company sees its future as well as the company’s core beliefs. These statements are guides for the company’s leaders, who can take these statements and create the organization’s strategic plans and goals that will allow the company to be innovative and unique. The following strategic plan and business model will propose a new product for Scheidt & Bachmann. This paper will detail and explain the new product and its importance to Scheidt & Bachmann as well as explain the new products strategic direction by examining the products mission and vision statements.

New Division

Scheidt & Bachmann started as a small textile machine manufacture in 1872 by Frederich Scheidt and Carl Bachmann. Since then Scheidt & Bachmann has grown to be a global transportation corporation. The one aspect that most of the divisions have in common is their end consumers. These consumers ride the trains to work each day or park their cars in a parking garage. For each division, customers can pay with the Charlie Card, like at the MBTA, or a have a chip coin when parking at Tampa Channelside to go on a cruise

In honor of Dr. Gerd Miller, the former CEO, Scheidt & Bachmann has created the Miller Division. This division is dedicated to consumer satisfaction and will use the current division’s products and pair them with new technology. The Miller Division team has been hard at work will offer innovated products like the Scheidt & Bachmann Park, Ride & Play App. With the New Division comes a new mission statement. The mission statement reads: Maintaining our commitment to our customers through innovated technology and simplification for all our consumers daily lives.

New Product

The Miller Division first product will be the S&B Park, Ride & Play App. This app will bring together all of the services that Scheidt & Bachmann products offer to consumers. The Park and Ride app is ready to be used to pay at all of the Scheidt & Bachmann kiosks, like the pay-on-foots, fareboxes, and ticket-vending-machines, in the USA, but soon the app will be ready to be used World Wide. The idea for the app was conceived based on Scheidt &Bachmann’s present in both parking systems and fare collection systems in cities like Boston (MBTA & Logan International Airport), New York (MNR/LIRR & LaGuardia Airport), Phoenix and Las Vegas. The Miller division has focused on these two divisions and will expand to the leisure and petrol systems in the near future.

The app shows consumers where to locate kiosks before they leave their house. The app also has features like pay at the kiosks, up to the minute information on train, subway and bus arrivals. The Park and Ride App also helps consumers to find their vehicle at the airport after a long business trip or vacation. The app also stores your receipts, making it easier to track your purchases and reconcile your expenses.

Customers and Competitive Advantage

The Miller Division is possible because of our customers. Scheidt & Bachmann’s customers want new and innovative products and most are looking for newer technology. Our customers asked, so Scheidt & Bachmann set out to figure how to do this, thus was born the Miller Division. The Miller division is an expansion of Scheidt & Bachmann therefore it will provide the same customer service that Scheidt & Bachmann has always provided. The Miller Divisions service team is made up of 6 employees in the US that are being trained on how the new product works and also how to debug some of the most frequent problems that occur with the new app. Some of these came over from our parking and fare-collection customer service teams, so they are familiar with our products and our software. There is a bigger support team in Germany where it will handle the issues the US team cannot and also support the product when it goes live World Wide.

Since Scheidt & Bachmann has been writing code and developing the software that we use in our products. This history of developing and supporting our own software shows our expertise in this area, and we built on this expertise when we created the S&B Park, Ride & Play App. Since most of our competitors are concentrated on one division, either fare-collection or parking systems, the App is will make it easier for consumers who use our multiple products.

Visions

A Vision is “Organizational goal(s) that evoke(s) powerful and compelling mental images” (Strategic Management: Creating Competitive Advantages, 2014, p. 23). Every company needs a vision of where the company envisions itself in the future. The new Miller Division at Scheidt & Bachmann has created its own vision statement that reads: To be the leader in innovation of integrated system solutions while keeping consumers mobile.

Business Model

“At their core, all business models address this questions: how do we sustainably deliver value to our customers” (Kastelle, 2012). The Miller Division of Scheidt & Bachmann is different from all other divisions, as there is no manufacturing of the hardware and the software is not on our devices, so instead of the manufacturing model, we are going to go with the subscription model. The Miller division chose this model, since the app and its application will be part of the services we already offer. The developing team has come up with two different offerings for the S&B Park, Ride & Play app there is a free app and a subscription app. The free app will have the pay at the kiosks feature, the feature show consumers where to locate kiosks before they leave their house. For a minimal fee, the consumer will be able to upgrade to the subscription app, which will include the up to the minute information on train, subway, and bus arrivals as well as the find your vehicle at airport feature. The app will be available for Android, Google and iOS operating systems. The app will make it easier for the consumer to find out if their bus, train or subway is late, or to know what section, level, and spot they parked their car. These will make life easier and take the guesswork out of if they will be late for work or finding their car.

Company's Mission and Vision

Scheidt & Bachmann’s mission statement is: “We see ourselves as a long-term partner with the responsibility for the success of our customer's business. We always go a step further so that you are satisfied with us and your Scheidt & Bachmann system without any exceptions” (Philosophy, 2016). The vision statement is “Your aims are our strengths” (Philosophy, 2016). The Miller Division’s mission, vision and values are on the same line as that of Scheidt & Bachmann. They both want to be the best with customer service and offer product what are consistent and reliable. Scheidt & Bachmann is a global systems provider with their second largest subsidiary headquarters located in Lowell, Massachusetts. Scheidt & Bachmann is a family owned corporation and has family values. Scheidt & Bachmann treats their employees like family and encourages their employees to be active in their communities. By offering matching donations for employees charity events. Scheidt & Bachmann is committed to their employees and communities.

Strategic Direction

The vision, mission, and values will guide the Miller Division’s strategic direction. The vision statement conveyed the objective of keeping their customers mobile. The mission statement shows the commitment to being innovative. The values characterize the beliefs of the division. These three elements will keep the division on track with it set out to achieve. These elements create the road map that the division will use to set short-term and long-term objectives that will lead to the division to growth and profitability. The Miller division’s strategic direction is to be innovative and continue our customer service to our customer and end users; the division will continue this by being keeping up with technological development and offering the best technological advancements to our customers.

Guiding values

The Miller division’s guiding values will focus on culture, ethics, and social responsibility. The company’s culture encourages innovation, stresses integrity and is purpose-driven. “Social responsibility: the expectation that businesses or individuals will strive to improve the overall welfare of society” (Strategic Management: Creating Competitive Advantages, 2014, p. 18). Scheidt & Bachmann shows its social responsibility by encouraging employees to do charitable work and offering matching donations. By treating their employees like family and showing, that family comes first is an example of the guiding values that Scheidt & Bachmann wants to show their consumer. Ethics has been an essential component to Scheidt & Bachmann and will be a key component in the Miller division. Integrity, accountability, and respect will demand of the employees of the Miller division. The Miller division will foster an atmosphere that will promote growth and success. The company is committed to customer satisfaction and their customers.

Conclusion

Scheidt & Bachmann has a long history of being an innovative leader in the transportation division. The Miller division is the next big innovation for Scheidt & Bachmann. By being committed to the customer, the Miller division will follow through on the division’s strategic plan to keeping up with technology and bringing innovative products to all out consumers.