Organizational Strategy: A Case Study of Bath & North East Somerset Council's Transportation Services

This report analyzes the strategic planning process of Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&NES) focusing on their transportation services. It examines the council's vision, objectives, and implementation of strategies to address challenges like increased population, poorly designed roadways, and high air quality index. The report utilizes SWOT and PEST analyses to evaluate the internal and external factors influencing the strategy's effectiveness. It also discusses the advantages and limitations of the strategy and provides recommendations for future improvements.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
BODY................................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
For an organization or council, it is required to form a strategic plan to convert their long-term
vision into reality. Especially for a council that works for the betterment of the local community,
they are required to form strategies to accomplish their wide range of objectives. As a strategy
analyst at Accenture, I have created this report on strategy making in Bath & North East
Somerset Council (B&NES), and the theme chosen for this report is transportation services in
the local community.
With the increased population and poorly designed roadways, B&NES is facing several issues
regarding transportation, for their vision 2020 they have targeted this issue to be considered.
As per their estimation, well-designed transportation system will significantly increase the value
of its economy by £ 3 billion. The strategy, its implementation, and internal, external analysis of
the strategy are described in the following report.

BODY
WHAT IS STRATEGY?
An individual or organization to accomplish short-term or long-term targets can define strategy
as a tool that helps in forming systematic and organized steps to be taken. These targets can be
focused on fulfilling the requirement of organization, community or both. It includes
considering various factors that have a direct or indirect effect on the effectiveness while
achieving the objectives. In addition, increases maximum effectiveness by utilizing the existing
resources to its maximum extent, this also results in improved economy (Johnson, 2016).
In context with B&NES local council, strategic planning ensures the productivity and that the
citizen’s need and requirement are matched. Additionally, due to its flexibility, it is easier for
the council to adopt the changing internal and external environment of the community.
STRATEGY FORMATION FOR THE B&NES COUNCIL
As the local council, B&NES has several responsibilities to perform in a specific period and to
accomplish those targets and satisfy the local community they are required to form strategies.
As per the transportation services, it has been noted that there are only five bus stops on the
local bus route. With the increase in estimated population until 2020, i.e. 11% growth in their
population, poorly designed roadways and high air quality index in the village areas have forced
the council to consider the transportation services seriously (B&NES Council, 2016).
In order to maintain the ecosystem of the community habitable and lower the air quality index
in the village areas, effective strategies have to be developed, this can be done by forming
different objectives such as:
 Initially, to educate the community about the importance of local transports services
along with the importance of preferring walking and cycling for short distances.
 Forming well-designed roadways and pathways, those are capable of handling the rising
traffic in the upcoming years.

 Improving the traffic management facility
 Improving the rail and metro networks and increasing the effectiveness of road
transport services
These are some of the basic objectives that B&NES has to be focused on in order to attain their
goal for 2020. Forming a well-established transportation services system will not only improve
the local environment but also results in a strong economy, as per the estimation of the B&NES
council, a total of £3 billion increase will be seen in the 2020 economy if these objectives are
achieved. The council has taken several steps to complete the aforementioned objectives
(B&NES Council, 2014). These steps involve, educating the local community about the health
benefits of preferring cycles and footways by conducting events like the marathon.
Additionally, parking plans are made for the historic core area, in which special parking area is
constructed for the coaches, to improve the traffic management. Moreover as per the
Transport and Parking plan, (2015-2016), well-designed and the council to prevent any form of
inconvenience to the citizens and tourists forms dedicated structure. As per the plan
implemented, three teams are formed that ensures effective parking services, passenger
transport, and public transport (B&NES Council, 2016). They focus on reducing the time of
citizens while travelling by ensuring smoothness in the transportation services. By forming this
plan, the B&NES council has also fulfilled its objectives for different target i.e. increased
revenue generation and jobs for the young citizens.
Figure 1: Road Safety Data

[Source: B&NES Council, 2013]
They also ensure safety for every person using the transportation services and prevent any
form of disaster or accident that may harm citizens; as per a survey, people feel more safe
while travelling in 2014 compared to 2013. Additionally, these strategies have also made the
community independent, as they do not have to rely on the central government for the minor
funding in the transportation and parking services (B&NES Council 2013).
The aforementioned strategies and its implementation were done by the B&NES council results
in providing satisfaction to their citizens; to validate this, as per a report by the B&NES council,
it was described that a total of 65% if the residents are satisfied with the strategies and working
of the council (B&NES Council, 2018).
INTERNAL ANALYSIS
For effective internal analysis of the strategy formed by the B&NES council, SWOT analysis tool
is used based on which following outcomes can be evaluated:
Figure 2: Micro Environment
Micro
Environment
Strength
Weaknesses
Opportuniity
Threat

[Source: Author]
Strength
Since 2011, the local economy of Bath and North East Somerset is increasing, and the council
saves a total of £32 million. Thus, there is no dependency on the central government for the
initial funding.
Weakness
Narrow and poorly designed read ways are difficult to redesign, as it will require high
investment in expanding the roads. Additionally, for bigger projects like North-South
Connectivity, the council is dependent on the central government for additional funding.
Opportunity
Council has the opportunity to form a sustainable tourism, through which they can increase
their economy. This can be used as funding for new strategies and thus the council will be self-
dependant (B&NES Council, 2016).
Threats
A threat for the strategy is that, if the council decides to expand and redesign the roads, it will
affect the local community nearby roadways; this may politically affect the image of the council
for short period (Goetsch, and Davis, 2014).
EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
It refers to the situation in which the B&NES council have no to little control; to get a better
understanding PEST analysis is conducted:

Figure 3: Macro Environment
[Source: Author]
POLITICAL
 Political decisions and policies have initiated the
improvement of the pedestals and cycling
infrastructure
 Funds provided by the central government has
made possible implementing large projects for
improved transportation like North-South
Connectivity, Somer Valley Transport strategy etc.
(B&NES Council, 2017)
ECONOMICAL
 The sustained economy since 2011 has supported
the transportation strategy initially
 With the increased tourism, the local economy has
boosted that is also been used for the improvement
of the transportation and parking services
Macro
Environment
Political
Economical
Social
Technological

SOCIAL
 The positive response of local communities
towards the awareness campaigns conducted by
the council has supported the strategies
 Local communities are acting responsibly and
proffering public transport or pedestals and cycle
paths to support the initiative of the council
TECHNOLOGICAL
 Social media has played a significant role in the
implementation of the strategy; awareness and
importance of walking, cycling and choosing public
transport is shared via social media
 With the help of air quality index machines,
awareness is increased among people
(Gupta, 2013)
REFLECTION AND RECOMMENDATION
From the given report it was clearly understood that Bath and North East Somerset has lately
been facing issues regarding transport services, as per a report, their roadways are not
designed to handle the present traffic and, the increased population has worsened the
situation. Moreover, the higher air quality index has forced the council to make an effective
strategy to form a sustainable transportation system in the community.
Based on the strategy and action plan implemented by the B&NES council to effectively manage
the traffic and transportation issues had made clear that, in the upcoming years, sustainable
transportation system will be developed. It has clearly reflected that the division of working
group in the transportation and parking plan developed by the council has positively tackled the
transportation problem (Department for Transport, 2013). Additionally, it also clearly reflected
that even with limited funding increased population and other issues that have to be tackled
like job creation, limiting the carbon emission; strategic planning has resulted in solving these
several issues with a single plan (Clayton, et al., 2014).

Additionally, with the help of central government, the B&NES council can focus on electric rails
and metros for improved transportation, additionally, by creating policies for the tourist
transportation and influencing the leisure sector to follow effective pathways for sightseeing
the council can reduce the traffic issues significantly. Lastly, to increase the popularity of the
public transportation, education can be provided from a young age, since in the upcoming four
years, nearly, 469 young people added to the population (Sunley, 2017). In addition, the council
can increase the total bus stops and frequency in the local areas to provide better service to the
citizens.
ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS
Strategies formed by the B&NES council for the improvement of transportation services have
several advantages over the local community and environment that are listed below:
 Lower traffic and jamming issues in the street of Bath and North East Somerset
 Improved and strong economy, that resulted in an estimated growth of £3 billion
 Due to less traffic and high usage of pedestals, cycles and public transport, the overall
carbon emission is significantly reduced, which will eventually result in low air quality
index (B&NES Council, 2014)
 Transportation and parking plan has generated jobs for the local community
 Well managed transportation system has resulted in increased tourism (B&NES Council,
2018,)
Though there exist some limitations that are required to be considered and solved for the
further improvement of the strategy, these are listed below:
 Increased population and tourism has made it difficult for the council to effectively
implement and control the transportation, as the service quality increases it eventually
attracts more tourists
 Parking requires large land area, which is a limited resource; therefore, with the
increase in coaches and vehicles in the street, it is becoming difficult for the council to
provide sufficient parking space to citizens.

CONCLUSION
The aforementioned report describes the role of strategy for an organization to fulfil their
objectives and convert their vision into reality. To get a better understanding on the described
theme, strategy formed by the B&NES Council for the improvement of the transportation
services in the area and simultaneously creating jobs and improving the environment in the
process is explored. From their implementation and outcome, it can be concluded that forming
and implementing an effective strategy can be found very useful as several different objectives
can be achieved through single task, as done by the council by forming transportation and
parking plan through which they not only improved the transportation services and educated
citizens but also created jobs. This can be considered as the first milestone towards sustainable
transportation services and Bath and North East Somerset.

REFERENCES
1. B&NES Council, 2013, Passenger Transport Survey Analysis, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/schools-colleges-and-learning/home-school-
transport/passenger-transport-survey-analysis] [last accessed on: 28 May 2018]
2. B&NES Council, 2014, Getting Around Bath: Supporting Document, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/supporting_strategy_report_final.pdf]
[last accessed on: 28 May 2018]
3. B&NES Council, 2014, SHARING GOOD PRACTICE, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/sitedocuments/Parking-and-Travel/
Transport-Plans-and-Policies/sharing_good_practice_-_final_6.pdf] [last accessed on: 28
May 2018]
4. B&NES Council, 2016, Corporate Strategy 2016-2020, , [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/your-council-and-democracy/corporate-plan] [last
accessed on: 28 May 2018]
5. B&NES Council, 2016, Transport and Parking Service Plan 2015-16, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/siteimages/] [last accessed on: 28 May
2018]
6. B&NES Council, 2017, South of England north-south connectivity, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/connectivity_prospectus_final_web_vers
ion.pdf] [last accessed on: 28 May 2018]
7. B&NES Council, 2018, Our plan to get Bath moving, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/our-plan-to-get-bath-moving] [last accessed on: 28 May
2018]
8. Clayton, W., Ben-Elia, E., Parkhurst, G. and Ricci, M., 2014. Where to park? A
behavioural comparison of bus Park and Ride and city centre car park usage in Bath, UK.
Journal of Transport Geography, 36, pp.124-133.
9. Department for Transport, 2013, Department for Transport monitoring and evaluation
strategy, [online available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monitoring-and-evaluation-strategy]
[last accessed on: 28 May 2018]
10. Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
11. Gupta, A., 2013. Environmental and pest analysis: An approach to external business
environment. Merit Research Journal of Art, Social Science and Humanities, 1(2), pp.13-
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12. Johnson, G., 2016. Exploring strategy: text and cases. Pearson Education.
13. Sunley, P., 2017. Case Study Report.