An Analysis of Organizational Structure and Strategic Alignment

The assignment provides a comprehensive analysis of organizational structure and strategic alignment using the McKinsey 7S model. It includes references from various books, journals, and online sources that discuss the application of the model in different contexts. The student is required to analyze and apply the McKinsey 7S model to understand strategic alignment in academic libraries, clothing suppliers, and leasing apparel companies. A case study on a clothing company's establishment in Finland based on a university brand is also included. The assignment concludes with a discussion on the value of resources to add using the BSC model.

Organisational Behaviour
Research Paper
20 December 2018

ABSTRACT
This research is based on assessment tools for the company, as CEO of the firm I want to
make changes in the company. Therefore, these tools will assist me to make further
modifications. It also describes recommendations for changes and support proposal with
independent research.

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Different tools available to provide Company analysis.........................................................1
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Research assessment is too often conflated with journal assessment, obscuring the
contribution an individual work brings to advancing a field or more badly, science as a whole.
Furthermore, an organisational assessment refers to a systematic process for obtaining valid
information regarding the performance of the company and the factors that affect its operations.
It varies from other kinds of evaluation because the assessment concentrates on the firm as the
primary unit of analysis. In today's world companies are making efforts to adapt, survive, work
and influence. Though, they are not always successful and to better understand this firms can
conduct organisational assessment to enhance their ability to perform any ways to do this. With
the help of this tool, company can achieve assistance to obtain useful data on their own
performance, identity crucial factors that help or impede their achievement of results (Cox,
Pinfield and Rutter, 2018).
The company for my organisational assessment is Island Company whom I worked with
for a short while. It is a wholesale and retail, clothing brand. The firm is headquartered in Florida
and was founded in 2002 by Spencer Antle. The areas the organisation serves are; USA,
Caribbean, America, Asia, Cayman Islands and Europe. It deals in Men's, Women's Swimwear,
sunglasses, beach accessories, and footwear. The company has grown from a small set of
women's swimwear to a lifestyle brand with goods ranging from men's and women's travel
apparel, including a skin care product line. It was also discovered that the company since
opening its own retail stores, it was listed in six years in a row in Inc. magazine's Top 500 fastest
progressing firms in USA.
By using multiple tools such as 7 – S, BSC, SWOT, PESTLE, and Porter's five forces,
the company's evaluation will be done for improving the firm's success, As CEO I want to
recommend certain viewpoints in order to change and improve company’s success in the market.
MAIN BODY
Different tools available to provide the Company analysis
Swot analysis
CEO’s as well as business experts have different assessment technique which they utilise
for analysing the performance of the company. By utilising the Swot analysis framework, Island
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company can easily identify internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Island
Company is a well-known clothing brand operating business.
Strengths:
 Island company has a good image in the market.
 Effective marketing strategy has supported an enterprise in increasing sales and
profitability.
 Storing customer base.
 Business entity offers accessories with clothes.
 The organisation offers a wide range of products.
 Island company sells fashionable as well as designer clothes.
 Island Company organisation has branded retail stores which has enabled the business
entity to deliver products or services to a wide number of customers.
Weakness:
 The biggest weakness of firm is that an enterprise is highly affected by changes in social
factors.
 The two retail stores of Island are adding cost to company which has negative effect on
profitability.
 A company has low market share.
 Business entity is facing difficulty in providing quick response to customers (Liu, J., Zhu,
J. and Zhang, 2018).
Opportunities:
 As Island has good brand image, business entity can easily enter into new market.
 Expansion of business
 An organisation has an opportunity to include new as well as unique collection of clothes,
as this strategy will support an enterprise in attracting a greater number of customers.
Threats:
 Increase in competition.
 Changes in social as well as economic factors.
 Threat of new entrant
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The advantages of Swot analysis are that, it assists an enterprise in identifying internal
strength as well as weakness. This framework also supports management in identifying the
strategies which can be implemented in order to increase strength as well as overcoming
weakness. It also supports manager in determining the tactics which can be implemented in order
to reduce risk (Thompson, and McLarney, 2017).
The major drawback of Swot analysis is that it does not provide detailed information.
PESTLE analysis
Pestle analysis is as an effective strategical technique which can be utilised by manager
of Island company for analysing the external factors which have direct as well as significant
influence on business operations. This technique supports management in addressing those
factors which has negative influence on business operations. It supports management in
development of suitable strategies for providing an appropriate response to change in business
environment is a tool which helps to analysis the factors on internal and external basis. External
assessment technique will also help an organisation in exploring as well as capturing business
opportunities. There are several factors which can have effect on the business operations of
Island company are:
Political factors: These constituents involve political condition in the nation, changes in rules
and regulation related to industry etc. All these variables have direct as well as significant effect
on the business operations of Island company. As the Britain has its control over Cayman Island,
the implied rules and regulations are governed by UK government. Brexit have negative effect
on the profitability of companies operating in retail sector (Niemann, Kotzé and Mannya, 2018).
But after Brexit and Political stability between Europe and UK many of organisations in retail
sector has got an opportunity to enter into new market. It is required by Island company to follow
all the rules as well as laws formed by the government in the nation, as this strategy will help
firm in reducing the negative effect of changes in political factors on business.
Economic factors: these variables include changes in taxation policies, increase in Text rate,
fluctuations in price of products etc. Changes in economic factors have direct as well as
significant effect on the profitability of Island company. These variables also have significant
influence on buying power of company. Increase or decrease in consumer income has great
effect on the demand for product or services offered by an enterprise. It is required by Island
company to adopt flexible pricing policy, as this strategy will aid business entity in reducing the
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negative effect of changes in economic variables on financial performance of an organisation. In
addition to this, due to the negative effect of changes in economic factors of Island organisation,
Business entity has to struggle for arranging the funds required for expansion of business this
factor this factor has a huge effect on the economy.
Social factors: These constituents involve changes in trends, taste and preference of people etc.
Changes in social variables have direct as well as significant impact on the demand for the
products or services offered by company. Changes in these variables have direct influence on
operational decisions made by manager in Island company. It is required by marketing manager
in Island company to execute market research at regular interval, as this strategy will support
business entity in analysing the market trend, it will support an enterprise in identifying the needs
as well as demands of customers in the market. The negative effect of this factor is that due to
change as well as increase in unique demand of customers, Island company is facing difficulty in
maintaining balance between demand and supply.
Technological factors: It mainly involves the advancement in technology. Advance technology
has helped Island organisation in increasing working efficiency. Technological advancement has
supported Island organisation in developing new products. It has assisted business entity in
bring improvement in business procedures as well as operations. Technology has helped an
enterprise in delivering additional facilities as well as services to customers. Technology such as
social media has enabled Island companies to promote goods at services at large scale. It has
allowed organisation to facilitate direct communication with customers (Makarina, 2017). The
negative effect of technological advancement is that it has given rise to stiff competition among
companies in retail industry, due to which Island organisation is facing the difficulty in
concentrating on core business function. It is required by the Island company to employ advance
technology at work place, as this strategy will help business entity in creating new marketing
channel for promoting products or services,
Legal factors: The changes in laws by government has direct as well as significant effect on the
business operations of Island Company. It is very much important for Island organisation to
develop the understanding about the laws of nation where company is planning to expand
business. As this tactic will assist business entity in eliminating legal issues. As such issues can
have negative effect on the sustainability of Island company.
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Environmental factors: These factors include changes in weather conditions, competition in an
industry etc. Retail industry is very big and there are many big companies, Island organisation
have to struggle a lot for establishing good position as well as for capturing wide market share. It
is required by Island organisation to provide high value proposition to customers, as this strategy
will assist business entity in gaining competitive advantage (Thompson and McLarney, 2017.).
In addition to this, an organisation also needs to concentrate on delivering the quality products or
services to customers, as this will support an enterprise in retaining clients. Company can also
adopt the low pricing strategy, as this will support firm in attracting a greater number of
customers. Island company can also implement diversification strategy, as this will assist
enterprise reducing the effect of competition on business.
Advantages and disadvantages of Pestle analysis
The biggest advantage of Pestle analysis is that it helps management in addressing those
factors which have direct effect on the strategic planning or business performance of company.
By conducting the external assessment, an organisation can identify as well as capture market
opportunities. It enables firm to develop understanding about market which is very much
important in order to increase sustainability (Evans, 2017). The major drawback of Pestle
analysis is that information can be easily miss interpreted which can have adverse effect on
business performance.
Porters five force analysis
Porters five force model is considered to be as an appropriate framework for measuring
the effectiveness of industry in which company is operating. It is also an effective technique
which can be utilised by manager in Island company for evaluating the competition in the market
and industry. Porters five force model supports management in developing suitable plans for
reducing the effect of competition on business (Aithal, 2017). It also enables managers in
identifying suitable techniques or strategies for gaining competitive advantage. Porter five forces
helps organisations in analysing the strategies adopted by rivalries for attracting customers.
Threat of new entrant: It is basically low. As retail industry is very big and there are many big
companies has capture wide market share, it will be difficulty for small firm to sustain in the
market. In addition to this, entering as well as establishing business in retail industry requires lot
of capital investment which is not at all easy for small organisation to do so. But small
companies by developing unique product or by adopting low pricing strategy can enter into
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market, this can be threat for Island company. It is required by an enterprise to establish high
standards for products or services, as this strategy will support business entity in creating big
barriers for entry of new companies in an industry.
Threat of substitute product: the threat of substitute product is high. As financially strong
companies in retail industry can develop or launch substitute product for increasing the level of
competition, this activity of competitors have negative effect on the profitability of whole
industry. It is required by Island company to concentrate on providing high value proposition to
customers, as this will support an enterprise in reducing the adverse effect of competition on
business. Providing unique value proposition to customers, this strategy will also help Island
company in gaining competitive advantage (Gander, 2017.). Many organisations in an
organisation can offer the same goods at low price to customers, this factor have negative effect
on the sales of Island company.
Rivalry among existing firm: It high. The changes in the pricing strategy of competitors can
have direct as well as significant effect on the profitability of company. It is required by an
organisation to concentrate on quality of products as well as business entity need to adopt low
cost pricing strategy, this will help an enterprise in attracting customers. In addition to this,
Island company need to identify competitors as well as develop understanding about the
strategies adopted by rivalries.
Bargaining power of buyers: It defines the easiness of buyer to switch to another brand.
Bargaining power of buyer in retail industry is high as switching cost is low. The major reason
for this threat is stiff competition in the market. It is required by Island company to develop
attractive policies and offers discounts. In addition to this, Island company can launch new
products as this will help an enterprise in attracting customers.
Bargaining power of suppliers: It is low. As Island has good brand image in the market, there
are many suppliers who want to enter into contract with such reputable brand for increasing
profits. The bargaining power of suppliers is low as there are many suppliers in retail industry
and switching cost for an enterprise is low. It is required by Island organisation to maintain the
good relationship with suppliers, as this will support firm in getting the regular supply of
material which is very much important for making timely deliveries of goods or services to
customers.
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Manager in Island company is provided with recommendation to utilise porters five force
assessment technique as it will assist business entity in identifying way to gain competitive
advantage.
One major drawback of porters five force analysis is that it is static model. Porters five
force model only provides the snapshot of business environment in which an organisation is
operating (Biliba and Mishchenko, 2017). Another biggest disadvantage of this hypothesis is that
it cannot be utilized for simple market structure. It does not provide meaningful information
about the preventive actions.
McKinsey 7- S Model
The model was begun in the 1980's by McKinsey consultants Tom Peters, Robert
Waterman and Julien Philipins. For this, they took help from Richard Pascale and Anthony G.
Athos. Since the establishment, the tool has been broadly used by academics and practitioners
and remains one famous strategic planning tool (Ravanfar, 2015). This 7S frame work is termed
as a management tool as a strategic vision for groups to involve businesses, business units and
teams. The 7S's are; structure, strategy, system, skills, style, staff and share values.
Hard elements:
 Strategy: - this refers to the company's actions that it takes and plans in response to or
expected of changes in its external environment. This is the high-level perspective on the
business and how firm plans to rise above its rivals over time. Island company can adopt
this model for changes but must keep in mind that if one element changes then it might
affect all the other. For example, modifications in HR system and management training
will affect organisational culture. Therefore, The Island Company must establish a long-
term strategy that matches with the other components of the model and clearly convey
what their purposes and aims are.
 Structure: - structure element of this model is something with which company probably
handles it already. Firms' structure is always seen in the form of an organisational chart
which shows that who reports to whom. This states that for smooth functioning of the
business, coordination among all departments is necessary and also it is affected by
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)

strategy. This structure can deal in terms of the entire company or generally a department
within the firm (Channon and Caldart, 2015).
 Systems: - this element of the model are formal and informal processes that support the
strategy and structure as well. Island company's system is where the huge majority of the
time is spent by the manager and ensuring that all workers are performing on the right
projects. Without proper functioning of the system, the entire model is a waste.
Soft elements:
 Shared Values: - directing concepts, fundamental ideas around which a business is built
must be simple. In other words, this element describes the overall culture of the
organisation. The shared values of Island company should stretch to all workers, to
develop a feeling of connection and camaraderie.
 Style: - style element of this model tells about the way and approaches that management
takes in leading the firm as well as how this affects the performance, productivity and
corporate culture. There are various management and leadership styles that is employed
by the company in various situations.
 Staff: - this is sixth 7-S model's element which states that learning the strengths and
weaknesses of the employees and team is the best leadership policy. Staff basically meant
to be the human resource of the company, so having a strong and goal-oriented staff in
Island company and contentiously improving them for better future, must be the aim of
the firm.
 Skills: - this refers to the talent and abilities of the company's staff and management,
which define the kinds of achievements and work Island company can accomplish. Firm's
staff is something that company should focus on.
The model states that, Island Company during the first step its aim should be look at the 7S
components and find if they are effectively aligned with each other or not. Further, with the help
of top management, Company's next step is to figure out effective organisational design that it
desires to achieve. Then comes the action plan in which the organisation decides the changes it
should make. Further, the implementation is the most crucial stage in the procedure, therefore,
Island company must look for those personnel who are best to apply changes. From this model it
is clear that, the aim is to improve the performance of the firm, investigate the likely influences
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of the future alterations within the organisation and determine how best to apply a proposed
strategy (Shiri, Anvari and Soltani, 2015).
BSC model
It is balance scored card model this is strategic performance model. It is measurement
model which provides a tool for performance evaluation. Objective of this tool is to find out the
visions and the missions of the organisation. And translate them into an action. This model has
used by the many companies. Because there are many functional groups of are s work together in
an organisation to achieve a common goal this model provides a strategy to fulfil the all the
expectations of the company. His strategy will help to know about the position of the company.
BSC model are mostly used by all the non-profit organisations, government and business
industry across the world all the big organisations have adopted this model in US. This model
has made for the different perspective and these perspectives are written below, it is a planning
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Illustration 1: Before changing organisational chart

about strategy by management system all the business activities helps to improve the
performance and the communication in Island company. The balance scorecard is a management
system, it is way of analysing the organisation that focuses on the strategic goals or objectives of
the business. It also assists organisation to select the appropriate things to measure so that
business can achieve those objectives and goals. In earlier days organisations have judged their
health by profitability of the business, financial measures are very much essential, but they only
demonstrate a part of the picture. They are focused upon short term goals and the owner is trying
to develop an organisation to stand successfully till the end of time. The balance scorecard is a
combination traditional as well as strategic measures which helps to get a more balanced view of
business performance.
It helps to achieve the long terms goals of the Island. This tool will help to provide all the
techniques to make a strategy and also helps to provider an advantage to the island company.
Because this strategy can help all the functional units to work the properly and for the addition of
different values. Island company should follow this management tool to maintain and manage
the all the functional department.
Financial perspective- this perspective is all about the improvement of the financial
report of the company. Because financial perspective plays the main role in for the growth of the
company it is most importation for all the stakeholders and shareholders to understand this
perspective for the financial growth of the company. Financial perspective is to cover all
expensive of the company which has invested by the company. So, this model provide different
tools and techniques to cover all the expenses which company has invested behind the business.
Financial perspective is important in all manner. It crates importance for the all stakeholder and
other equity holders of the company. This is mainly a quantitative benchmark based on figures
from the past. It provides sustainability to the chosen organisation and financial perspective is all
about the things which will happen in the future with benefits. It also provides better
management in operations. Cash flow of the organisation depends on it. When higher value
added in the balanced scorecard the profit will be also higher in the scorecard. Island company
can use this tool to maintain the financial position of the company.
Customer perspective- this model helps to determine the perspective of the customers
that means according to customer what should be the price of product and services should be
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according to this model an organisation always try to approach the expectations of the customers.
There are different kinds of customers in the market who has their different perspectives about
any product and services. And this feedback helps to improve the quality of the product because
each and every organisation has it specific needs in the market. So, this model helps to fulfil the
perspectives of the customers. There are many alternatives that plays the big role in the market.
Because these alternatives can change the mind of people.
It is very important part for any organisation because they are the customers who help the
organisation to make stable and in sustainable manner. Customers have different perspective.
Some customers are quality conscious, and Some are price conscious, so it is important for the
organisation to know about the preferences of the customers and it will help the organisation to
make sustainable profit. Organisation always try to meet customer expectations but in some
cases, it will not work because customer preferences change by day to day (Guiraud, and et.al.,
2018).
Learning and growth – The growth and learning perspective looks at entire
organisational culture, it is important to identify whether employees are aware of the latest trends
in the industry. It is important to develop knowledge of the employees so that they can achieve
their personal and professional goals. Technology plays an important role in facilitating growth
and learning among the employees. A more knowledgeable workforce can help to increase
effectiveness and efficiency of an organisation. Internal business process includes many of
departments which is known as operational departments. It is asked to the organisation that what
internal process forms in the organisation which made profit for the organisation because
production department is the only department which produce the product and help to achieve
goal of the organisation. It is the result which made from customer needs and wants. The value
added in the balanced scorecard to know about the value of internal departments. An
organisation should provide the different seminars to employees for maintain the organisational
culture it will help to understand them about the culture of the company. Learning and growth is
about to learn and growth of the company. Where Island starts to learn from the feedbacks of the
customers and make an effective change in the product for the purpose of the growth of the
company this strategy has also adopted by the Island company. Island company can apply this
model to balance the internal culture of the company.
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Internal business processes – The internal business processes perspective focus on the
smoothness of the business activities or operations. Efficiency is very essential in this, it is
related to reducing waste, achieving more with less resources. This perspective also motivates
organisation to develop more effective products and services in order to attract more and more
customers in the market. Island company needs to identify and understand the real needs and
demands of the customers, so they can provide most satisfactory products or services to them.
Learning and growth both are different terms but they both interrelate with each other because
through learning the employees work hard for the organisation and learning motivate to create
new skills and develop them. Learning is the best process in the organisation which through an
organisation can achieve its goal and make sustainable environment for long term growth.
Organisation has to change itself on the daily basis because the environment changes every time
and every day comes width the innovation is very important for the company to fulfil the
expectations of the customers according to their needs, wants.
So, as a CEO I would make changes in the Island company that to provide a common
platform to the employees where all the employees can take an initiative. And they can also give
their innovative ideas to the company. This process will help the Island company to provide
satisfactory product and services to the customers. Island company should use various techniques
such as on job training, seminars and other training programs in order to ensure that employees
have sufficient knowledge related to their jobs and responsibility. This type of management helps
to balance the score for the company, these tools described above will help to provide the
alternatives to Island company which can helps to make the strategy. The reason behind this is
that, strategy helps to overcome from the situation of falling of the growth.
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CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarised that as CEO of the company I should use the
different ways to overcome from the many difficulties like by analysing the internal and external
factors of the company that influence the factors to affect the company. Also discussed were the
strengths and weakness of the company which will help to choose a better way for the future of
the company. The porters five force analyse. This model can help the management to overcome
from the bottom. Also, discussed about the BSC model which has showed the value of resources
to add.
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Illustration 2: After changing organisational chart
(Source : Organisational chart, 2018)

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aithal, P.S., 2017. Industry Analysis–The First Step in Business Management Scholarly
Research.
Biliba, A. and Mishchenko, N., 2017. Establishment of a Clothing Company in Finland Based on
a University Brand Case: LAMK Apparel Company.
Channon, D. F. and Caldart, A.A., 2015. McKinsey 7S model. Wiley Encyclopedia of
Management, pp.1-1.
Cox, A. M., Pinfield, S. and Rutter, S., 2018. Extending McKinsey’s 7S model to understand
strategic alignment in academic libraries. Library Management.
Er,and et.al., 2018. Pericyte-like spreading by disseminated cancer cells activates YAP and
MRTF for metastatic colonization. Nature cell biology.20(8). p.966.
Evans, N.N., 2017. The internationalisation strategies of small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) clothing suppliers in the UK (Doctoral dissertation, Manchester Metropolitan
University).
Gander, J., 2017. Strategic analysis: A creative and cultural industries perspective. Routledge.
Guiraud, and et.al., 2018. Evolutionary Expectation Maximization for Generative Models with
Binary Latents.
Islam, A., 2017. A study on promoting and positioning The Super Star Brand (fan, lights,
accessories) through their retailers.
Liu, J., Zhu, J. and Zhang, J., 2018. A DEA-based approach for competitive environment
analysis in global operations strategies. International Journal of Production Economics.
Makarina, M., 2017. Business Plan for a Leasing Apparel Company.
Niemann, W., Kotzé, T. and Mannya, K., 2018. Global sourcing risk management approaches: A
study of small clothing and textile retailers in Gauteng. The Southern African Journal of
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. 10(1).pp.1-15.
ONLINE
Ravanfar, M. M., 2015. Analyzing Organizational Structure based on 7s model of
McKinsey. Global Journal of Management And Business Research.
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Shiri, S., Anvari, A. and Soltani, H., 2015. Identifying and prioritizing of readiness factors for
implementing ERP based on agility (extension of McKinsey 7S model). European Online
Journal of Natural and Social Sciences: Proceedings. 4(1 (s)). pp.pp-56.
Thompson, J. and McLarney, C., 2017. What effects will the strategy changes undertaken by
next Plc have on themselves and their competition in the UK Clothing Retail Market?.
Journal of Commerce and Management Thought. 8(2). pp.234.
ONLINE:
The McKinsey 7 – S Model. 2018. [Online]. Available on: <http://www.free-management-
ebooks.com/news/the-mckinsey-7-s-model/>
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