Strategic Business Plan - Balanced Scorecard

Running head: VOLVO MOBILE TECHNOLOGY 1

VOLVO MOBILE TECHNOLOGY 7

Volvo Mobile Technology

Christy Drexler

Professor Akermann

October 31, 2016

Volvo Mobile Technology

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Volvo Company has enough resources and ability that helps in eliminating the downtime of their trucks. The company has the funds to pay for a regular subscription and enough skilled employee that are necessary for the Volvo group success. The Volvo team has a new product, Volvo mobile, the product will help the company in further increasing its market share. Volvo has a significant market share of about 23.8% of the market share in Europe and 19.6% of the market share in the US ready for her products. Volvo Trucks has an extensive inventory of goods, especially truck parts, in which Volvo dealerships have access. Volvo Mobile also gives companies an incentive to buy Volvo products rather than buying from their aftermarket competitors

Opportunities Volvo Mobile can be the leading track company in mobile technology in the industry Volvo Group is at the forefront of the industry regarding customer service. With the Volvo mobile application, customers wills items needed and track shipments on their own. Volvo Mobile comes with invaluable information on Volvo trucks, and companies will subscribe monthly based on the needs and wants of their clients. The subscription comprises the ability to order and track parts, annual program training, and information to help technicians fix Volvo trucks. The company will earn extra income which can be used in enhancing the Volvo mobile so as to ensure the customers are fully satisfied. A portion of the additional revenue will also be used in employee training and development and some of the income for social responsibility purposes.

Weaknesses Volvo Mobile is only focusing on big business leaving out the smaller ones which may be equally profitable.

Threats There are middlemen who increase the firm’s losses per truck. New market entrants, who may embrace their technology or use a more advanced technology.

Enough Financial Resources

Volvo Company has adequate resources at their disposal to meet all its operational costs hence the firm can run its operations smoothly(Ingi Árnason, Jepsen, Koudal, Rosendahl Schmidt, & Serafin, 2014). Availability of capital to an enterprise is crucial since it helps in meeting various costs as they arise. Some of these expenses include production costs, shipment costs, employees’ remunerations and development and also to cater for contingencies that may occur. The company should, therefore, come up with criteria which will be used in determining the urgency of financing various corporate operations. The business can use some of the following questions to classify its activities in their order of priority;

First is the operation a value-adding- work? Before allocating funds to a given activity, the firm should determine whether the activity will contribute to the general output of the enterprise or not?

Lastly, the company should determine, how urgently does the function need to be financed? The urgency of operation is imperative since it will help the firm finance its operations in their order of importance and impacts to the organizational performance.

Opportunity to be Market leader in the industry

Besides, the company can be the leading firm in the truck industry and enjoy the first mover benefits. With the introduction of the Volvo mobile technology, the firm will be in a position to attract a larger market share and to meet their needs by clients’ specifications. For the Volvo Corporation to enjoy the first mover benefit the company should consider the following key questions;

Is the firm able to protect the technical know-how concerning the Volvo mobile or will the information be leaked?

Is the firm in a position to train and develop its employees based on the adoption of the new technology?

If the corporation can find solutions to the above questions, therefore, the firm can move forward and enjoy the first mover benefits. The enterprise should consider putting measures that will ensure that the technical know- how concerning the technology does not leak to other firms. Furthermore, Volvo group will have to train their employees on how to work with new technology, Volvo mobile technology, to ensure increased output per worker. A performance appraisal can be conducted in the end to analyze the impact of the new technology and the consequences of employee training sessions(Okyere-Kwakye & Oduro Addo, 2013).

Intermediaries Interference with Supply Chain

However, Volvo Company is faced with the issue of eliminating the middlemen. In the truck industry agent’s involvement means that the company may incur various losses. The satisfaction of the customers is minimized since it takes time for the middlemen to seal their deals with different companies (Garcia, 2012). Besides the middlemen can provide the wrong item due to miscommunication between him and the customers (Garcia, 2012). To successfully eliminate the middlemen, the business will have to conduct a small survey that will help in identifying the agents. The following are some of the questions that can be used.

Who are these middlemen?

Where are they located and how are they impacting the company’s supply chain?

With such questions the enterprise will make informed decisions on the strategy to employ in eliminating the identified intermediaries.

New Market Entrants

The Volvo Company also faces the threat of new market entrants. Given that the truck industry is more of an international market potential investors from various countries might invest in the industry hence posting a competitors threat. The new entrants might be well organized and with robust and rational strategies that might help them to outdo Volvo company. Since the enterprise does not have the power to control the entry and exit of firms in the industry it should formulate strategies that will help it withstand the threats that the new enterprises may pose. By answering the following questions, the business can formulate informed strategies, for instance;

How can Volvo Company improve employees’ skills and abilities?

How will the company retain its employees?

Conclusion

In summary, Volvo mobile technology introduction is a strategy that will help the Volvo Group realize its full potential. Therefore the company should come up with proper strategies base on concrete evidence on how it will be the market leader in the truck industry and how it will retain that position.

References

Ingi Árnason, J., Jepsen, J., Koudal, A., Rosendahl Schmidt, M., & Serafin, S. (2014). Volvo intelligent news: A context aware multi modal proactive recommender system for in-vehicle use.

Pervasive And Mobile Computing, 14, 95-111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pmcj.2014.06.005

Okyere-Kwakye, E. & Oduro Addo, S. (2013). Employee Retention: A Critical Factor For Organisational Perfomance. Saarbrücken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.

Garcia, H. (2012). The power of communication. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: FT Press.