Challenges and Advantages of Leadership and Digital Marketing in Wirkkala

This case study explores the challenges and advantages faced by Wirkkala, a small to medium-sized entity, in leadership and digital marketing. It discusses the leadership challenges such as work pressure, lack of staff engagement, cultural issues, maintaining stakeholder interest, lack of communication, challenging working environment, lack of support, and lower employee development. It also evaluates the advantages of Wirkkala in identifying a clear digital marketing strategy. The case study includes a discussion of specific ethical and privacy issues related to digital marketing.

Case Study

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
QUESTION 1...................................................................................................................................1
a. Explanation of different leadership challenges which could be faced by Wirkkala in keeping
the company united in its development goals..............................................................................1
b. Critically evaluate both, the advantages that Wirkkala possess and the challenges the
company may face, in identifying a clear digital marketing strategy. This should include a
discussion of specific ethical; and privacy issue..........................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Leadership can be defined as the quality of leaders which guides them to supervise all the
individuals who are working under them. While formulating future strategies such as digital
marketing which can help to attract large number of customers it is essential for leaders to make
sure that they guide all the staff members properly (Bongiorno, Rizzo and Vaia, 2018). It will
help organisations to reach their long term business goals such as strengthen market share could
be achieved successfully. Present report is based upon Wirkkala which is a small to medium
sized entity. The employee strength of it is more than 170. Key sections of it are factory,
warehouse, head office etc. Currently, the enterprise is producing natural juices and fruit
smoothies. It is mainly established in Conventry located in Midlands, United Kingdom. The
question which is selected for this report is one which is focused with leadership and digital
marketing. This assignment covers various topics such as leadership challenges that could be
faced by the company in keeping itself united in its development goals. Additionally, critical
evaluation of advantages and challenges that could be faced by the organisation which
identifying clear digital marketing strategy is also covered in it.
QUESTION 1
a. Explanation of different leadership challenges which could be faced by Wirkkala in keeping
the company united in its development goals
Wirkkala is a SME which is operating business under food and beverage sector and
produce fruit smoothies along with natural juices. Its headquarter is in Conventry, Midlands,
United Kingdom. It was introduced in year 2004 and having employee strength of 178 members.
There are four directors of it who are Aloson Smith, Kristine Kochanski, Diane Ugbede and
Anne Aalto. All of them are responsible for effective decision making of organisation so that
business could be developed. The directors need help in realising their growth ambitions for
Wirkkala. They require proper guidance regarding leadership and digital marketing (De Waal
and et.al., 2016). For this purpose different challenges which are related to leadership which
could be faced by the company are described below:
Work pressure: It is one of the main challenge which could be faced by leaders in
Wirkkala in keeping the organisation united in its development goals. When the management
will have very high level of work pressure then it will be very difficult for them to pay attention
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towards goals. It will also create issues for staff members to perform their duties properly and
contribute in organisational development. If top level executives will not be able to manage the
work pressure for staff then it may affect overall leadership as it will result in lower staff interest
in business goals.
Lack of engagement of staff: It is also a leadership challenge which could be faced by
Wirkkala while trying to keep the organisation united with the development goals. For all the
enterprises it is very important to make sure that all the staff members are engaged in their
duties. If leaders are not able to motivate employees to work effectively then it will create issues
in leadership. Due to this, entity will also not able to remain united with all the development
goals such as higher profits, strengthen market share etc.
Cultural issues: For all the top level management of an organisation it is very important
to make sure that organisational culture is followed by staff members. If they are not able to
adopt it then it may result in lower performance of them. It is also a leadership challenge which
could be faced by Wirkkala to keep united its development goals because when staff will not
adapt the organisational culture then they will also not follow command of leader. For example,
if power culture is followed in the company and workforce do not want to be treated as machine
then they will not adopt it and work accordingly (Dery, Sebastian and van der Meulen, 2017).
Maintaining interest of stakeholders: Leaders in all the organisations are responsible to
make sure that they maintain interest of stakeholders such as investors, employees etc. in
business processes. It is very important to reach long term business goals. If the members of
upper management of Wirkkala are not able to keep the stakeholders engaged in business
procedures then it may create difficulties to achieve development objectives. Main reasons
behind it are lower funds to execute operations, lack of skilled staff etc. When company will not
have sufficient finance and proficient individuals to carry out operational activities then it will be
very difficult to reach predetermined goals (Grossberg, 2016).
Lack of proper communication: Leaders are mainly responsible to make sure that all
the staff members are performing well or not, analyse their issues and aware them about
organisational vision by communicating with them. Lack of proper interaction with employees of
Wirkkala may result in issues for the organisation to be united with development goals
(Leadership issues, 2020). When staff members will not have any information regarding the
objectives then it will be very difficult for them to work to achieve them. It is considered as one
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of the main leadership challenge which could be faced by company if leaders are not able to
communicate with staff properly.
Challenging working environment: Main responsibility of leaders is to make sure that
all the staff members have proper working environment in which they can perform all their tasks
successfully. If employees are not able to work properly in an organisation then it may create
issues for attainment of business goals. It is also a leadership challenge which could be faced by
Wirkkala while achieving objectives related to development. When workforce will not have a
good working environment then they cannot work productively. It may also leave negative
impact upon their work quality and the way in which they can contribute in development of
organisation (Hayati, Atefi and Ahearne, 2018).
Lack of support: It is a challenge which is faced by most of the companies because the
staff members are not having support from the side of leaders. It can also be faced by Wirkkala
while trying to unite all the development goals with itself. If the supervisors in the company will
not show support for the staff then it will be very difficult for the organisation to reach the long
term business goals. Due to this leadership issue productivity of whole enterprise as well as staff
will be reduced.
Lower level of development: For all the business entities it is very important to make
sure that they are developing all the staff members as it can help to reach long term business
goals. While uniting all the development goals with Wirkkala the leaders may face issues
because when employees will not be developed then they will not work appropriately to achieve
organisational goals. Due to this their engagement level in operational activities may also get
decreased (Kane and et.al., 2019).
From the above analysis it has been identified that there are various types of challenges
which could be faced by Wirkkala while uniting itself in development goals. It is essential for the
directors to make sure that they use effective leadership theories which can help them to find
appropriate ways to respond the issues systematically. Description of some of them is as follows:
Participative leadership theory: This theory states that a successful leader is a person
who allow other to take part in the organisational procedures so that effective decisions could be
formulated. Individuals using it encourage contribution and participation of other group members
so that they can follow the concept of impressive strategy formulation. By applying it the leaders
or directors in Wirkkala can deal with all the challenges that are taking place within the
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organisation for development goals. With the help of it they can retain the right to allow input of
team members and formulate effective strategies by taking their opinion. Main benefit of it is
that, it results in highly motivated staff as all of them feel that they are treated as valuable asset
of company (Kang and Song, 2017).
Trait theory: It is mainly focused with identification of various qualities and
characteristics of individuals which can help them to become successful leader in difficult
situations. According to this theory a person who is leading a team should have some specific
traits. It includes eagerness to accept responsibility, task competence, capacity to motivate
others, courage, trustworthiness, self confidence, flexibility, creativity, emotional stability etc. In
order to respond leadership challenges it could be used by Wirkkala as it will help to enhance
traits of leaders so that they can find appropriate ways to resolve the issues. It will be beneficial
for organisation to bring out different qualities of staff. Some of them are assertiveness,
decisiveness, perseverance, resolution, need for achievement etc. With the help of all of them, all
the challenges which are faced by the organisation could be responded in systematic manner. It
will guide leaders to formulate strategies which can help the employees to perform all their jobs
in systematic manner (Different leadership theories, 2020).
Contingency theory: This theory of leadership is mainly focused with specific variables
which are related to the environment in which style of supervision of leaders is modified
according to the situation. According to it, an individuals who is responsible to lead a team
should make sure that style of leading them should be changes according to the conditions which
are faced by company. With the help of it, easy ways to deal with critical situations could be
figured out (Kreutzer, Neugebauer and Pattloch, 2017). While facing leadership related issues in
uniting Wirkkala with development goals this theory could be used by leaders. It will help them
to alter their style of leading with the difficulties which are faced by the organisation.
Contingency leadership theory will be beneficial for the enterprise to respond all the challenges
properly as it will guide supervisors to deal with all the difficulties effectively.
Transactional leadership theory: It is also known as management theory as it is mainly
focused with supervision, group performance, proper organisations of all the activities etc.
According to this theory, leaders should follow the concept of reward and punishment while
leading a group of individuals. It can help to enhance their engagement level along with
motivation because when they will get rewards for their performance then will work more
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effectively. Apart from this, it also states that threat of punishment also enhances engagement
level of employees because they cannot afford to be punished for bad performance. As various
issues regarding leadership are faced by Wirkkala while uniting development goals with
organisation so it could be used by the company to deal with them. With the help of it, leaders
can guide staff members to perform all their jobs properly so that possibility of challenges that
may arise in future could be reduced (Li and et.al., 2016). By using it leaders in the enterprise
will reward the employees on their success and on the other hand they will also punish the staff
members who are not able to work effectively.
Transformational theory: It is also known as transformational leadership theory which
is mainly focused with establishment of good relations between leaders and employees. All the
individuals who are following this theory will motivate others to work productively. Main goal
of transformation leaders is to enhance performance of all the group members so that
organisational objectives could be attained. On the other hand, they also want that each and
every individual should work effectively with higher level of potential so that they can achieve
their personal goals. In order to respond to all the leadership related challenges which are faced
by Wirkkala while uniting its development goals with itself this theory could be implemented. It
will guide leaders to allocate responsibilities to the staff members according to their potential.
With the help of it, engagement level, work quality and performance of employee could be
enhanced as individuals work effectively when they get tasks according to their capabilities (Li
and et.al., 2017).
All the above described leadership theories could be used by Wirkkala because all of
them can help the top level executives to make sure that they deal with each and every problem
which is affect attainment of development goals. By using such theories the leaders can assure
that the challenges faced by enterprise are resolved properly. For example, by using participative
and transformational leadership theories the board of directors will be able to find the problem
which is resulting in lack of employee engagement. It will guide them to find the ways which
could be adopted by organisation to respond the problems properly. On the other hand, these
theories can also be used to establish a positive working environment where individuals enjoy to
work and perform different tasks allocated to them (Mejia-Trejo, Maldonado-Guzman and
Sánchez-Gutiérrez, 2016). By using trait theory leaders of Wirkkala will also be able to develop
specific skills such as flexibility, creativity, support to staff etc. of themselves. With the help of
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them they will be able to find best suitable ways to deal with leadership related challenges which
are faced by the organisation while uniting all itself with the development goals. It is suggested
to the board of directors of the organisation to make sure that they use effective and appropriate
style of supervision to carry out operations. If the managers will not be able to apply proper
leadership theory then they may get failed in achieving predetermined business goals.
b. Critically evaluate both, the advantages that Wirkkala possess and the challenges the company
may face, in identifying a clear digital marketing strategy. This should include a discussion
of specific ethical; and privacy issue
Digital marketing strategy: Digital marketing basically involves the use of online
platform or virtual media in order to deliver the potential services to customer. It comprises of
the use of digital channel that helps an organisation to accommodate the requirement of wide
market by gaining result at real time (Mihalcea, 2017). Digital marketing strategy encompasses
the use of series of actions which is performed by internal department of an organisation to attain
predetermined goal. For adequate functioning of strategy online channels are used to spread the
awareness amongst target market about the existence of industry. These channel are either in
paid or unpaid form which helps in planning out marketing campaign and help attain the purpose
of existence like increase customer awareness or expand market size. In relation to the Wirkkala
company which produces and sell fruit smoothies as well as juices are planning to adopt digital
marketing strategy in order to expand the size of business. This process involves use of digital
marketing tools or channels such as use of Search Engine Optimization, email marketing, Search
Engine Marketing, affiliate marketing, social media and many more. These are basically
essential sources to generate the traffic as well as engage desirable prospects. As nowadays
people are becoming more health conscious and switching their preferences from fast food corn
to healthy eatable choices (Narbona, 2016). Moreover, the use of online platform determine long
term success for Wirkkala company as it is a useful technique to establish the unique identity by
transmitting the data to prospects via text, images or videos. It is the responsibility of internal
manager of company to identify the advantages and challenges associated while using digital
marketing strategy. Based on which company can effectively plan out digital strategies and
successfully implement it to gain sustainable performance.
Advantages
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While identifying digital marketing strategy Wirkkala company needs to analyse existing
as well as future trends so that it can take desirable actions. Along with that as the purpose of
company is to establish renowned image and expand the customer base for which digital media
is the driving factor to enhance online sales of company. Some of the advantage that company
can get after using digital strategy is illustrated below:
Expand national and global reach: With the effective usage of digital marketing
strategy like website allow company to establish national as well as international image. This is
used to online display the offerings of company and get opportunity to carry out trade at large
scale. Currently, Wirkkala company carry out its business through traditional media due to which
it can only serve the confined group and local residence. Additionally, presence in online
platform offers wider space to company in terms to display their wide range of smoothies and
juices through online catalogue (O'Hallarn, Morehead and Pribesh, 2016). Therefore, it helps to
avoid the constraint of targeting to the confined people as they can effectively track the
preferences of customer and accordingly bring modifications in their operations.
Gain result at real time: Digital marketing strategy involves the use of web analytics
which is an online metrics tool or performance indicator that help to identify the effectiveness of
marketing campaign. Application of such tool can help Wirkkala company to bring transition in
their business and expanding the size by positively catering response of customer. With the help
of such digital technology can assist company to gain deep insights about market and
systematically analyse the performance of overall market. This represent an effective advantage
to expand the digital operations of company from traditional media to digital platform.
Personalisation: Digital marketing strategy involves centralised database of customer
that help company to perform desirable action in order to retain existing customer as well as
attract new ones. Cumulative data generated by company helps to gain relevant information
based on which decision can be made in favour of company. Currently, Wirkkala company can
less likely access immense information due to low availability of data. Thus, it is profitable for
company to perform digital operations and redefine the profile of customer which can help to
generate the high leads and can effectively carry out operations in market. Along with that
business entity can manage long term electronic relationship with customer by sending them
personalised message and updating about the offerings of company. Therefore, by delivering
desirable service can assist company to carry out market operation effectively.
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Challenge while identifying digital marketing strategy
Use paid advertising technique: There are certain paid media channels such as search
engine marketing or pay per click which is considered as an effective way to engage the
audience. Selecting these options can be challenging for the small and medium size companies
like Wirkkala because they need to make immense expenditure in order to enhance the ranking
of company and generate leads. This act act as a constraint for company that are more budget
restricted and can affect the online presence. Along with that affiliate marketing is an effective
digital tool to stimulate the response of customer (O’Keeffe, Ozuem and Lancaster, 2016). But
to post the advertisement in other company's website involves huge expenditure which act act as
a threat for Wirkkala company to identify their business by using digital marketing strategy.
Ethical and privacy issue: Generally most of the companies mainly uses digital media to
share immense information which can lead to the issue of privacy breach and can affect
confidentiality of data. Although company design secure software as well as uses intranet to
transmit vital information but still hackers may find certain ways to break the security of
company. This acts as a sensitive issue for different parties which certainly acts as a challenge
for Wirkkala to incorporate the use of digital strategy and build online presence. Thus, to
overcome such threat it is vital that an organisation need to use good firewall as well as antivirus
programme that help to keep the data security and come in use of company to understand the
market trend and reformulate their strategies effectively.
Share valuable content: Only attractive website can not help until/unless it share
valuable content as it won't be able to deliver favourable result. Content is an effectively tool for
company that can attract wide visitors to the site. Even after making hefty investment if Wirkkala
company is not able to produce desirable content then it can affect the operations of company.
Along with that outsourcing content involves huge expenditure which may not act as a feasible
option for small businesses (Spil, Kijl and Salmela, 2016). Thus, this is challenging situation for
company to build suitable content and effective promote the offering. To overcome such
challenges Wirkkala company can hire desirable potential staff and post content through
different social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and many more.
Ineffective landing page: This is again the issue which leads to low conversion rate as if
the website is not designed properly and takes time to open then it affect the customer's interest.
It further leads to increase in bounce rate and causes low conversion rate. This act as a threat for
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company that can affect the purpose of existence in the digital platform. Hence, Wirkkala
company needs to effectively design its website so that it takes less time to open and increase
chance of customer engagement. Similarly, keywords plays an essential role to increase the
traffic of company and leads to high conversion rate. Thus, before incorporating online
operations Wirkkala company needs to identify desirable content otherwise they may lack in
gaining possible result.
Funding: This consider as main issues which arises in adopting the digital marketing
services. There is need of marketing for running a business where finance has taken a big place
to arrange activities. Wirkkala is a smooth juice making organisation that require digital
marketing activities to provide information and attracts customer. Therefore, it is a challenge for
chosen organisation to arrange funds for running and promoting brand through social media and
other digital marketing activities. In absence of funding organisation cannot run its activities
furthermore.
Increased cost of advertisement: As most of the companies are keen to build online
presence because it offer immense exposure to company to cater immense customer base.
Simultaneously it involve immense per head cost of expenditure on company which may not be
feasible for company to pay (Temelkova, 2018). Although these expenditure are less in
comparison to traditional advertisement but still incur immense expense on company. Therefore,
this act as a challenge for company in order to carry out the use of digital marketing strategy.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that effective leadership is very
important for all the organisations. If leaders are not able to work properly then business entities
may face end number of challenges regarding leadership which uniting company with
development goals. Some of them are lack of employee engagement, inappropriate
communication, challenging working environment etc. It is very important for the top level
executives of all the organisations to make sure that they use effective strategies and theories to
deal with each one of them. There are several leadership theories which can be used in difficult
situations. These are participative, trait, contingency, transactional, transformational etc. All the
companies require proper strategies to market all the products and services in the market. For this
purpose, business entities may formulate a clear digital market strategy as it helps to reach
maximum number of customers in lower budget. There are various advantages and challenges
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which could be faced by companies while identifying it. It is essential for leaders to find
effective ways to deal with all the challenges. It will help to reach business goals properly.
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