Strategic Planning for Success

The provided content consists of a collection of academic articles and books on strategic planning, covering various aspects such as library management, project management, business performance optimization, and design firms. The texts explore the importance of strategic planning in achieving success, providing insights into effective strategy formulation, execution, and evaluation. Additionally, the online resources provide practical guidelines for stakeholder engagement and identifying users' needs. Overall, the content offers a comprehensive overview of strategic planning concepts and their applications.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Activity 1......................................................................................................................................................3
Activity 2......................................................................................................................................................9
Activity 3....................................................................................................................................................17
Activity 4....................................................................................................................................................20

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................22
TABLE OF FIGURES

INTRODUCTION
The management of every company needs to conduct effective strategic planning for
achieving the growth of business. To create any organizational strategies, the company’s
management is required to define their goals and target. Most of the firms are concentrating on
future planning which is the most useful for increasing their growth rate (Kogan and Bobchek,
2007).
The present report is based on a UK based company which deals in online service and acts as
a web based intermediary between independent takeaway food outlets and customers. The
mentioned company operates in more than 13 countries (Just Eat, 2016). In this report, the
strategic planning of “Just-Eat” has been discussed along with different aspects that can affect
the organizational behavior, i.e. the environment, business plans, modeling tools for strategic
planning and factors that impact the organizational strategies have also been examined. This is a
local take-away restaurant where customers can place their order online.
ACTIVITY 1
Review of current position of the company in the market
Just Eat provides a platform to customers to search for a local take away restaurants so -
as- to place orders online, and to choose from pick-up or delivery options. The customers
preferred it as the most convenient services, therefore, the mentioned company has the large
number customers who visit and use company's website. According the secondary data gathered
from company's website, there are 8,000,000 Hungry customers who visit the company's website
every month. However, around 50% of them approx., 4,000,000 customers place an order, by
which company generates revenues of +25% from online orders as compared to the phone (Just
Eat, 2016). Through BCG matrix, Just-Eat has to describe their long-term planning and the basic
idea behind the use of this strategy is to get bigger market share with faster growth rate.
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Figure 1(BCG matrix)
(Source: Crowley, 2004)
According to the BCG Matrix, the firm is currently at the cash cow position where it has a
high-market share but it is not able to get similarly great growth in the business. The
organization generates cash which fulfills the needs to maintain the business. Low investment
will not help them to get higher growth rate (Beekun, 2006).
1. Dogs - The Dog section within BCG generally possesses low market share with lower
growth rate, the result in not generating large volume of cash. Just-eat company does not
belong to this matrix as they have relatively large share within the UK market. Therefore,
customer base within this section is low as company market share as well as growth is low.
Customers are less attracted towards the services of Just Eat Company.
2. Question marks - Another section is question marks that generally depicts increasing market
area and growth by delivering quality and online food services within the UK market. With
the increasing market growth rate, company features capturing low market share as online
food services and take away services are not preferred by all the customers that are residing
in UK marketplace. Customer base of Just-Eat Company is low as compared to other firms
which are delivering online food company.
3. Stars - However, the star section in BCG depicts that company is in the position to dominant
the marketplace by making online delivery of the food services to the UK customers. In
addition to this, star section also features strong market share with higher market growth that
is beneficial for Just-eat company in increasing their image. Customer base within Stars
section is very high as they are in dominant position as Just-Eat Company possesses
relatively very high market share and growth that assist them in attracting large number of
customers,
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4. Cash Cows - The last section in the BCG depicts the situation of cash cows that possess low
market growth rate but have high market share that result in gaining possible profit.
However, the products and services of Just-Eat lies within the cash cows' section as they have
high market share with lower growth rate within the market that is beneficial for the
company to invest low amount to sustain in the market. Customer base within cash cows is
high as Just-Eat Company has high market share as they are providing online food delivery
to the customers that is beneficial for the firm in the present scenario.
1.1. Importance of external factors that have an impact on organizations
The external factors are the most important attribute that can create impact on the development
of any company. These factors can be described by PESTLE analysis (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: External factors which have an impact on the organization (PESTLE)
(Source: Steiner, 2010)
External factors which have an impact on the organization are as follows. Political: this factor deals with the government interference in Just Eat economic and
different development policies in regards of tax, environmental issues, labor law or trade
restrictions. Political stability and predictable political environment are also a crucial
issue for companies/Just Eat when choosing on which markets to operate in. As the
company is doing its business virtually, hence there is not much interference of the
government in its business (Wallace, 2006).
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 Economic: this factor includes economic growth, interest rates and exchange rates. This
factor has a major influence on the company’s operation and decision-making Social: this factor includes cultural and health consciousness aspects. Currently, online
shopping is increasing, therefore, this aspect presents a major opportunity to the
company. Technological: Just-Eat has to introduce different technical machines and software to
maintain the standard of their products (Wallace, 2006). Legal: the laws, especially laws regarding online businesses, need to be followed by the
company.
 Environmental: JUST EAT needs to take into account that its operations and activities do
not have a negative impact on the environment.
1.2. Analysis of the main stakeholders and their needs and expectations
The main stakeholders of Just-Eat are its investor, supplier, society and customers. Supply chain
management function uses these factors in planning their strategies for the organization. These
all can have a huge impact on the development of the organization.
a) Investors: they are the initial suppliers of the industry. There are different investors that
help the company in financial factors such as a bank loan, financial institution and
partners. The investors are interested in knowing the financial position and credibility of
the corporation before investing their money in it (Matthews, 2005).
b) Suppliers: they are the distributors of raw materials which are used in manufacturing
company goods. Suppliers are connected to different retailers from where they obtain
resources for the company. Suppliers expect the company to adopt a fair credit and
purchase policy.
c) Society: in ideal cases the company conducts a research on the society’s needs and
designs its product line accordingly. The society needs to know whether or not the firm’s
products and services are having any negative impact on the societal functions such as
healthcare and reliable quality levels of sourced raw materials.
d) Customer: these are the main external stakeholders of the company. The customers
demand good quality products with proper information at competitive prices from the
organization (Matthews, 2005).
Their needs and expectations
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Organizations have to identify their stakeholders and their importance for the growth of their
business. The needs and expectations of stakeholders are very high in the company. Just-Eat has
to fulfill the expectations of their stakeholders by trying to take into account each and every need
of the different stakeholder groups. However, this is not possible as they contradict as suppliers
for instance are interested in their profits, but this can drive prices up which customers will find
unsatisfactory.
1.3 & 3.2 - Understanding development taking place within similar organizations and analysis of the
changes of the organization
There are many factors due to which the internal environment of the company is going through
several changes. These external factors, the economic, social, management, ecological and
geographical factors, affect the internal operations of the company as well. Analysis of different
changes in the organization reflects some particular areas such as social-political changes,
technological changes, development changes, customer analysis and competitor analysis (May,
2010). This factor is directly or indirectly based on the evolution of new customers in the society.
For getting advantages of these aspects, they have to get better efficiency and productivity.
Ecological aspects are used to get different resources that are used in manufacturing their
products, and this will define the valuation of their products. Technical changes are necessary for
the development of the company to be able to serve better meal to their consumers (Cassidy,
2005).
In today's scenario markets are expanding globally, and competitors are increasing in numbers
as compared to earlier times.
Just-Eat needs to develop its products with new and different taste. Therefore the company
used benchmarking and portfolio analysis. Benchmarking is a method to identify the different
resources to improve their performance. Portfolio is used to analyze groups according to their
environment. These are used to ensure growth and development of business in changing times
(Simerson, 2011). PESTLE analysis encompasses the external environment factors. PESTLE
stands for political, economical, social, technological, legal and environmental. These factors are
uncontrollable, these are beyond the control of management. The external factors are:
 Political Factor: These factors help in determining the extent to which governments or
regulatory bodies influence the industry. Political factor include import export rate, tariff
rates, tax rate etc. this will highly influences the strategic plan framed by the organization
(Kogan and Bobchek, 2007). for example, if UK government may enforce the new tax
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rate to the industry, or organization this will directly influences the revenue generating
structure of the company. Hence, organization might change the structure as per the new
enforce rate.
 Economical Factor: These factors also contribute to the external environment that
directly influences the organization's strategic plan. These factors include interest rates,
inflation rate, foreign exchange rate etc. Just-Eat needs to determine their strategic
policies according to the Economic factor.
 Social Factor: These factors examine the changing environment of the UK market.
Change occurs due to change in taste, preferences, demographics etc. For example, there
is a wide range of different foods available online (Nelson, 2008). Just Eat should cater
all different type of food items to attract customers from different demographic regions.
 Technological Factor: The continuous innovation in the technology also directly
influences and changes the organizational policies and procedures. Just Food company
with the new, improved technology the company is now capable to provide wider
selection of dishes, including various national specialties .The introduction of new supply
chain enabled quick and quality service with increased volumes.
 Legal Factor: Legal factors include various laws enforced by the governing body that
every organization have to follow while in operation, for example labor laws, health and
safety law, consumer law etc.
 Environmental factor: Environmental factors include all the elements that create waste
or have an impact on the environment. Just Eat operates digitally, most paperwork is
done electronically. The focus should be on upgrading equipment and machinery tomore
energy efficient versions as the primary carbon footprint of the company is energy
consumption. Logistics is a field demanding similar level of attention.. Another topic can
be packaging materials for food items, where offering bio-degradable packaging is
compliance in one country and a unique sales point in another, but is always
environmentally friendly.
Porter's Five Fforces Model
It is a powerful tool that assesses the overall industry in which the organization is operating their
business activities. However, the tool also plays a significant role in understanding the strength
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of the organization in the competitive scenario and the area within industry, in which
organization is preceding their activities. This industry analysis tool generally focuses on
measuring five forces that is supplier’s’ power, buyer’s’ power and competitive rivalry, threat of
substitution and threat of new entry (Simerson, 2011).
* Threat of new entrants – New entrance in the market is the major threat for the company
as it can reduce the market share and customers can switch to new competitors. The
threat of new entrants within the online food ordering industry is relatively high because
with the increasing e-commerce business in market customers are preferring to online
order the food online and take it away from the respective places. It is tough for Just-Eat
Company is also engaged in the new product differentiation that result into reduce the
threat of new entrance as the competitors will require huge capital to enter into the online
food delivery industry.
* Power of suppliers - The bargaining power of suppliers within industry is low within the
online food ordering industry sector as there are number of organizations that supplyies
food ingredients to the Just Eat. Therefore, bargaining power of suppliers is low within
the industry that assists the company to maintain good relation with suppliers to get
services at the best prices and quality.
* Power of buyers - The power of buyers within the industry is high as in the
contemporary scenario; buyers are more concerned towards quality of product and
services and they do compromise with such elements. In respect with the restaurant and
food offering the customers have become more environment friendly.
* Availability of substitute products - The availability of substitution is high in the online
market as there are indirect ways through which the customers get deals in rendering take
away food services i.e. websites of restaurant and online delivery service provided by the
restaurants.
* Competitive rivalries - Due to the expanding market of the food ordering industry and
the emerging technologies the competitive rivalry in the industry is supposed to be
relatively high. Despite, the firms in the market, do not offer differentiated products or
services.
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ACTIVITY 2
2.1. Appropriate tools to analyze the effects of current business plans
Just Eat Company operates in the food and beverage industry in the UK. It has been working at a
small level in the industry. SWOT analysis of the company has been carried out to identify its
current state of affairs.
i. Strength:
a. labor costs are low in comparison to other companies,
b. good distribution and sales networks (Cassidy, 2005),
c. barriers of market entry for new competitors.
ii. Weakness:
a. operational costs are too high,
b. future competition,
c. huge investment in research and development (Kaufman and et. al, 2003).
iii. Opportunities:
a. capture more customers because income level is increasing day by day,
b. demand will be increasing in the future,
c. try to establish new markets (Cassidy, 2005).
iv. Threats:
a. financial capacity,
b. external risks,
c. changes in taste and preferences of the customers.
Value chain analysis
Value chain analysis is an effective tool that basicallyto understand evaluate the essential
activities that support the overall firmcompany in gaining competitive edge among their rival
companies. This model generally focuses on explaining the overall activities of business in the
two broad categories such as primary activities and supporting activities. However, the model
also focuses on activities that support the Just Eat company for creating its value among
customers.
Primary activities: These are considered as key activities that generally focus on
manufacturing products and services as well as distribution for the same to the ultimate
customers.
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Secondary activities: These are the secondary activities that help the Just Eat company in
accomplishing their primary activities.
Supporting activities
Infrastructure  The company follows effective control
system
 Company culture and organizational
structure
Human resource management  Training of their employees.
 Managing adequate hHuman resources
that focuses onspecialised in online
delivery of the food products ordered
online.
Technology Development Usages Use of IT equipment tools for
delivering the food online order management.
 The website of Just Eat has a platform
where customers can provide regarding
customer service.
 Innovation
Procurement  Procuring adequate resources.
 Taking ingredients from the local
vendors and suppliers.
Primary activities
Inbound logistics  Acquiring different raw material like
cheese, dough, sauce for preparing the
snacks.
 Fruits and vegetables.
 Species, salt and pepper
Operations  Timely delivery of the food products.
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 Preparation of the food.
 Proper utensils for preparing food item.
Outbound logistics  Transportation of online food to
customers.
 Serving hot food items to customers.
Marketing and sales  Segmentation
 Branding
 Eeffective pricing
 Advertisement
 Discount offers to increase the sales
ratio.
Service and support  Taking online order
 Ensuring home delivery of the food
items.
2.3. The competitive strengths and weaknesses of an organization’s current business strategies
Resource analysis:
The company operates in a small market enterprises sector. The firm is using various resources
to increase its production and to try to provide the customers with the best service. Some
resources are as follows:
a. Human Resources: human resources are the basic need of the organization for running
business effectively. This firm has been recruiting skilled and qualified people because it
aims to serve best products and services in the market. Human resources contribute with
new creativity and ideas to the expansion of the business and managing responsibilities in
an efficient manner (Nelson, 2008).
b. Financial resources: financial resources have been used to develop business in new
markets and are also helpful in introducing new products and services in the market.
Company took loans from banks in order to finance business expansions. Many small
financial institutions and investors have been connected with the company for support in
terms of finance. Financial conditions of the firm are good as compared to their
competitors (Kerzner, 2002).
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c. Technological resources: the organization has been using various new machinery and
equipment for making food. The firm will be using new technologies in sales and
promotion of the products in the market. These include various new technologies in
payment system like online order, payment with debit card/credit card, and membership
cards for regular customers (Bryson, 2011).
d. Skills and competencies audit: With the skills and competencies audit, company will
determine the skills and various competencies its human resource have. These audit will
benefit the Just Eat by determining the skills there manpower possess to achieve the
goals. With the help of skill and competencies audit company will also identify the actual
areas where training and development is needed to enhance the skills so that they should
effectively contribute in accomplishing the targets.
e. Bench-marking: One of the effective method for evaluating the current strength and
weakness of business is bench-marking tool. It is an effective process that generally
focuses on distinguishing comparing the current businesses processes to the rival
business process that further results in improving their performance and adopting
practices so that they may easily focus on taking strategic decisions for the overall
business.
3.1. Modeling tools to develop strategic options for an organization
Ansoff’s model is a strategic planning tool that is used for the development of new strategies for
the business. It gives better options to handle upcoming risks and market share effectively. Some
options of Ansoff’s model are as follows as for making useful strategy during the expansion of
the business.
i. Market Penetration: this is helpful when the corporation is facing problem in selling
its current products. It provides a new path to attract competitor’s customers and new
customers from the market. Company will be focusing on advertising and promotions
for the purpose of grabbing customer's attention thus, increase the number of
customers. This option is less risky for the company in establishing a new strategy for
growth (Malphurs, 2013).
ii. Product development: development of new products attracts existing and new
customers in the market. The organization has been developing new products
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according to needs and expectations of the customers. In the present scenario
customers want variety in the food so Just Eat tries to develop new products on the
basis of taste and preferences of the customers (Linn, 2008).
iii. Market Development: The market development strategy focuses on expanding business
into new markets (geographies, countries etc) while using its existing offerings. This is a major
option available to the business for enhancing the profit of the business through
covering new market. The enterprise has been managing new branches at various
places in the market for earning good revenues(Elbanna, 2010).
iv. Diversification: this is a very costly option for the corporation because it involves
making new products and choosing new markets for serving the products and
services. Diversification is risky for “Just Eat” because this strategy not necessarily
triggers growth as at times, instead of this, it might also have a huge negative impact
on the financial position of the firm (Al-Turki, 2011).
The company can also adopt the various other plans like Mintzberg, gap analysis,
Competitiveness strategies etc. these tools will help in developing the strategic options for the
organization. Gap analysis is technique that is being used by the Just Eat company to identify the
steps that will help the company to move from the actual state to the desired upcoming state
(Dameron and Durand, 2013). It will help the company in determining the actual finance,
manpower inventory or time needed to achieve the goals. The process for conducting gap
analysis include three steps:
 The first step to identify the current state of business is of accomplishing the objectives
and goals.
 The second step is to determine the gap by proper analyzing the internal and external
market situations and providing solution to fill the gap, so that “Just Eat” company can
achieve the objectives.
 The last step will be of determining the desired position where they want to move
forward.
3.3. Options to form the basis of future organizational strategy Mergers and acquisitions: mergers and acquisitions options will help in improving the
status of the firm. It will provide various advantages to the organization in expansion of
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its business with the support of other firms. It will be helpful in improving the financial
conditions of the enterprises, and market share will also be increased in the future
scenario of the industry. It is useful in attaining competitive advantage as it increases the
size and sales volume of the firm in the market (Germano and Stephenson, 2012). Corporate expansions: this option provides better opportunities to the firm in expansion
of business through new projects and assignments in the business. The company will be
covering various areas of the market through various products and services. A corporate
expansion takes huge investments and taking loans from financial institutions. So the
firm will be using finance systematically in the suitable projects (McLarney, 2001). Control of distribution channels: the organization has been using different techniques in
distribution of goods and services. It will be helping in proper management of
distribution according to market needs and demands. The corporation is selling and
distributing their products where the demand is high and when demand is low in the
market the company diversifies its distribution in other market with the help of proper
channels.
 Niche marketing - In future Just Eat can also focus on targeting niche market for
enhancing their performance. Through targeting niche market Just Eat company can
easily target their new market customers that further enhances their visibility. Niche
market is being created through determining the needs and preferences of the customers
that are not fulfilled by the other companies. Therefore, niche marketing is an effective
future strategy that is beneficial for the company.
 Diversification - Another future strategy is of diversifying their products and services so
that they can fulfill the requirement of customers. However, through diversification, “Just
Eat” company can easily increase their market share while gaining higher profits by
generating higher sales volume.
 Efficiency in production - Another future option for Just Eat online food company is to
ensure efficiency in the production through using technical and electrical equipment for
preparing the food. Thus, use of advanced utensil and tools can support the company in
preparing food on time, further enhances the productivity.
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4.1. Suitable structure for a strategy plan that ensures appropriate participation from all
stakeholders of an organization
The stakeholder of Just Eat company are employees, customers, suppliers, and so on. The
company must engage each and every stakeholders is the process used by an organization for a
purpose of achieving accepted outcomes. Here, is a strategic plan to ensure participation from all
stakeholders of an organization:
 The employees must engaged in process by providing them authority to take decision on
their level. There must be two-way engagement within limits of responsibility.
 The customers are provided with options website to give feedback regarding customer
services
 With the suppliers, business has to maintain good relations through coming up with
loyalty programmes (Understand and engage stakeholders, 2016.).
SWOT analysis
Strength:
 labor costs are low in comparison to other companies,
 good distribution and sales networks (Cassidy, 2005),
 barriers of market entry for new competitors.
Weakness:
 operational costs are too high,
 Financial capacity
 Huge investment in research and development (Kaufman and et. al, 2003).
Opportunities:
 Capture more customers because income level is increasing day by day,
 Demand will be increasing in the future,
 Try to establish new markets (Cassidy, 2005).
Threats:
 Future competition
 External risks,
 Changes in taste and preferences of the customers.
4.2. Criteria for reviewing potential options for a strategy plan
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Balanced scorecard is the best option for assessments of the individual performances in
the organization. Balanced scorecard is a technique that help the company in converting their
vision and mission into the strategic goals and they also help in monitoring the performance that
is financial performance and human resource performance in terms of achieving organizational
goals. It indicates the future results of the strategy on business with the use of the analysis of the
activities of the strategies. The company has been setting targets to managers and employees for
achieving the objectives of the firm (Tsiakkiros and Pashiardis, 2002). The organization has a
reward program in place if if employees achieved the target in given time, so it creates positive
direction for the employees, and they will give full efforts for gaining achieving the objectives.
Most of the time the enterprise is using success matrices in evaluating the strategy and
performance of the employees. After this evaluation, the company will be trying to make
changes according to the needs of the company for growth in profit and sales.
While, Just Eat company can also review the strategic plan by evaluating the targets to
achieve the goals. Goals and objectives should be transformed into the different targets that need
to be accomplish by following the strategic plan.
ACTIVITY 3
4.3., 5.2., 5.3.
An agreed strategy plan that includes resource implications:
Management strategy is the systematic analysis of the factors associated with the external and
internal environment to provide a basis for the operations and current management of the firm.
Just Eat uses following implications in resources for constructing its strategic plan:
 There must be a work flow process in order to achieve results in the form of
products and services.
 The firm must adopt reward and penalty processes to induce people to behave in a
way required by the organization and its employees to behave in making
associated activity available (Ashill, Frederikson and Davies, 2003). By adopting
these processes Just Eat company can effectively motivate their human resource
to produce quality and healthier product so that they should satisfy their
customers.
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 Company maintains and makes adequate use of the resources for sustainable
development. As they require financial resources to buy the various ingredients
for preparing the healthier food.
 Human Requirements: the human capacity and skills required to implement the
strategy, current and potential sources of the resources. Human resources provide
structure and operational activities to firm in efficient manner (Subramoniam and
Krishnankutty, 2002). Human resource serve the basic requirement of their
customers. Financial requirement: finance requires for the management of the firm operations
and expansion of new projects. Management invests and evaluates the fund on the
basis of importance of upcoming requirement of the firm.
Appropriate vision and mission statements for an organization
Just Eat has been making appropriate vision and mission for the future. The company’s
vision is to establish approximately 50000 branches all over the world until 2020. Just Eat
company's vision is to sustain for the long run in the competitive market so that they can attain
higher profits. They wish to attract more and more and customers so that they can expand their
activities across the globe. Mission of the firm is to provide organic, natural and healthy food to
customers at a reasonable and providing best products and services to customers in short period
and taking growth in business (Schraeder, 2002).
Future management objectives for an organization
The company’s future objectives regarding society is to protect society interests and
values. The company will be using objectives related to the expansion is clear that the increase
the competition in the market from products and services. It focuses on improving the profit of
the business and making objectives for increasing the number of customers in the market. The
firm has established objectives according to their resource availability (Ketzes, 2003). Company
frames the real objectives and makes efforts to fulfill them. Company mission will have to be
creating a unique image in the market form giving quality in services. The future
management objective of Just Eat company is to motivate their employees in such a manner that
they should attain higher success in the market. They should also motivate their employees so
that they should effectively treat their customers by providing better service through competent
self-regulation and evaluation methods.
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5.1. Core organizational values with the current business objectives of an organization
Core organizational values pertain to the vision and mission of the firm. They cover ethical,
social, environmental and business aspects for the future. Some core values are as follows as:
i. selling natural, organic and quality products to customers,
ii. providing higher satisfaction to the customers,
iii. supporting team and provide rewards and incentives on the basis of their
performances,
iv. generating wealth through profit and growth in the business (Barksdale and Lund,
2006),
v. providing better products to the community,
vi. producing environmental-friendly products,
vii. involving and understanding the society needs and expectations,
viii. managing suppliers effectively,
ix. adopting ideas from stakeholders in decision-making.
There are certain cultural values that will directly affect the Just Eat company in
achieving the objectives and mission. Cultural values within the organization will benefit the
company in attaining the stated goals and objectives that is to cater the quality food services to
their customers. Vision framed by the Just Eat company will influence the objectives and goals,
as vision and objectives are linked with each other.
5.4. Evolution of plans in the organization
A company is in the most dangerous situation when it is in the top tier in the market.
Hence, the firm uses different strategic plans. It has different organizational cultures that are
teamwork, leadership, climate for action and capabilities (Dameron and Durand, 2013). There
are different issues that affect the evaluation of plans, to minimize these conditions company
performs monitoring process. There are certain measures that can be used by the Just Eat
company to evaluate the plan. The various measures are:
Measuring the Financial outcome: With the help of measuring the financial outcomes,
company can evaluate the effectiveness of plan implemented in the company to render their
services among the UK customers and international customers (Dameron and Durand, 2013).
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Measuring the customer satisfaction level: the company can also evaluate the success of
plans by measuring the customer satisfaction levels and considering the financial aspects and
gaining feedback from the customers about their products and services.
ACTIVITY 4
6.1. Implementation of the plan in an organization
To implement the strategic plan in an organization, the management needs certain planning
processes that will help them to adhere to market demand and stay ahead of competition.
 Self-evaluation: the company has to develop their ideas to make different products.
 Market research: this is the tool that helps the company to get information about their
products in the market and the specific need for it. This can be done by market research,
and it is a very important component in implementing any plans in the organization.
 Information on competitors: this can be obtained by market research, and it will help
them to develop their products and strategies (Schoenberg, Collier and Bowman, 2013).
 Requirements: these are resources that are used for making their products, and it is very
essential for the development within the company so the company should use standard
resources to get a good image in the market.
6.2. Methods that will be used to gain commitment from the stakeholders
There are different types of stakeholders, so in order to gain their commitment the
company has to use different methods. Commitment is a very important factor in the
development of any relationship. The company has to develop their strategies and planning
according to the needs and satisfaction of their stakeholders. Different stakeholders are the
investors, the suppliers, the society and the customers, therefore the company has to apply
different methods for different stakeholder.
1. Investors: Just-Eat has to present their strategies and ideas to investors at meetings and
conferences.
2. Customer and society: customers can get their information about the new product that has
been launched in the market through mass and media, social sites and postings.
3. Suppliers: they have to know about the resources that will be used in manufacturing a
product, so suppliers can plan according to standard and requirements of that products.
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As Just Eat company mainly deals in catering the online food service to their customers and also
provide take away food services for their customers parallel to, serving new dishes or food items
in the market. They should use following dissemination methods that will help in gaining
commitment from the stakeholders:
 Company website: With the help of official company website, through which customers
order their food items and various other product online can be used as a dissemination
method to gain commitment from the various stakeholders. The company website ensures
covering vast geographical area and disseminating the information among their
stakeholders.
 Cloud services: by upgrading IT systems, Just Eat company can also use video
conferencing methods to disseminate the information among their customers, suppliers,
investors and other stakeholders. Company can also upload their video recording to
disseminate the information to gain the commitment from their stakeholders. Document
handling can be performed by a central server giving access to them from anywhere.
6.3. Monitoring and evaluation systems for implementation of strategy plan
 Monthly strategy planning: In this strategy the company can perform different team
meetings at on a monthly basis according to their respective department. This can help
them to get appropriate time-frame of their program so that the teams are able to make
their further planning.
 Annual review meetings: In Just Eat, they also had meetings on a yearly basis that will
help them to communicate formally. This helps to get information about all their targets
to be achieved and planning operations by their respective functional departments
(Sekhar, 2009).
The systems that is being used by the Just Eat company to monitor and evaluate the
implementation of the strategy plan are:
 Quality systems: Company may also adopt the quality systems to monitor and evaluate
the implementation of strategies. This system will help the company in preparing the
quality and healthier food for their market customers so that it should not affect their
health. By implementing this system in the company, the company can attract large
number of customers and can also provide benefits for implementing the plan.
 Time scale
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CONCLUSION
Hence it has been concluded that Sstrategic planning is the process of implementation of
business operation planss for attaining growth by systematic use of resources. Above discussion
concluded that good strategic planning provides unique advantages to the organization in the
market, and it increases the competitiveor advantages in terms of growth and expansion of new
projects in future activities. The firm company has can analyzed its own and its competitors’
strengths and weaknesses for regarding the implementation in the production and operations of
the business. Company will be monitoring and evaluating the implementation steps because it
gives a huge impact on brand image of the company.
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Online
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<https://restaurants.just-eat.co.uk/benefits.html>. [Accessed on 8th March 2014].
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