Reflective Report: Business Strategy of Exceed Shoe Brand Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Exceed shoe brand's business strategy, drawing on simulation game outcomes and reflecting on the company's performance over several years. It begins with an overview of the brand's mission, vision, and values, followed by an evaluation of its corporate objectives. The report then delves into a year-by-year assessment of the business, detailing key decisions, their outcomes, and the challenges faced. The business environment is analyzed using PESTLE, Porter, and SWOT models, providing insights into the macro, meso, and micro environments. Functional strategies, including marketing, operations, supply chain, CSR, and finance, are discussed, along with an overall performance review against investor expectations. Finally, the report concludes with recommendations for future strategies, offering guidance for the brand's continued success.

Business Strategy: Reflective report
SID: Type SID here
Word count:
(Excluding text in abstracts; data; tables;
figures; diagrams; in-text citations;
footnotes/endnotes used for reference
purposes and kept within reasonable
limits; references; appendices. Per ARU
Academic Regulations 12, 2019, §6.83).
Type word count here
Academic honesty: [By submitting this assignment, I declare that] I
understand that the piece of work submitted will
be considered as the final and complete version of
my assignment of which I am otherwise the sole
author. I understand both the meaning and
consequences of plagiarism and that my work has
been appropriately attributed unless otherwise
stated. I have not knowingly allowed another to
copy my work.

Executive summary
In this report it has been described about shoe brand of Exceed and simulation game
outcomes. Also, it is explained about mission vision and objectives of firm. Besides that, year
by year evaluation of business is done. The pestle, porter and SWOT models are explained
to analyse the business environment. Furthermore, functional strategies such as finance,
marketing, operations, CSR, etc. has been discussed within report. At last recommendations
for future strategy is described.

Table of contents
Executive summary.......................................................................................2
Table of contents..........................................................................................3
List of figures................................................................................................ 5
List of tables................................................................................................. 6
(1) Mission, vision and values........................................................................7
1.1 Mission..................................................................................................................... 7
1.2. Vision....................................................................................................................... 7
1.3. Values..................................................................................................................... 7
(2) Corporate objectives................................................................................8
(3) Year-by-year evaluation...........................................................................9
3.1. Year 11.................................................................................................................... 9
3.2. Year 12.................................................................................................................... 9
3.3. Year 13.................................................................................................................. 10
3.4. Year 14.................................................................................................................. 10
3.5. Year 15.................................................................................................................. 10
3.6. Year 16.................................................................................................................. 10
(4) Business environment analysis...............................................................11
4.1. Macro environment............................................................................................... 11
4.2. Meso environment.................................................................................................11
4.3. Micro environment................................................................................................12
(5) SWOT / Telescopic Observations.............................................................13
(6) Functional strategies..............................................................................14
6.1 Marketing............................................................................................................... 14
6.2 Operations.............................................................................................................. 14
6.3 Supply chain and logistics......................................................................................14

6.4 Corporate social responsibility................................................................................15
6.5 Finance................................................................................................................... 15
(7) Overall performance review against investor expectations.......................16
(8) Recommendations for future strategy.....................................................17
References....................................................................................................................... 18

List of figures
No table of figures entries found.

List of tables
No table of figures entries found.

(1) Mission, vision and values
1.1 Mission
To provide comfort shoes to everyone
1.2. Vision
To become world’s finest shoe brand
1.3. Values
Committed to equality and valuing people.

(2) Corporate objectives
To gain 12.5% market share within next 3 years.

(3)Year-by-year evaluation
3.1. Year 11
In this I took decision of establishing more production units. This was done to reach
to more regions where we are not able to. I also applied concept of doing business through
internet market. it will allow in increasing production and fulfilling demand. Here, I forecasted
rise of 15.%. also, I took decision of issuing share at $2. And outcome of it was that at end of
year 2011 EPS was $3.13 (Agrawal, 2016).
I made this decision by discussing it with team members. They were also agreed with
it. here, I found that outcome of decision taken was increase in revenue from 127,650 to
160,841 only in internet.
The model applied in it was forecasting which helped in fixing issue price of share at
$2. Now, in next round I will focus on forecasting on return on equity so that more funds in
raised through investors.
3.2. Year 12
In this round I took decision of manufacturing more shoes at low quality so that
production cost is reduced. Also, I decided to do marketing through branded stores as well.
this is because in year 11, 2150 pair were sold wholesale and in EA only 1999 were sold. I
also took decision of investing in celebrity endorsement. This enabled in improving Exceed
only image rating but only with little margin. The bad decision I took was fewer private shoes
were sold as compared to year 11 (Ahmad, and Krishnan, 2017).
I made decision by analysing reports ad data. I found that there occurred conflict in
team due to it. they said to focus on internet marketing but I disagreed. Thus, issue was
resolved by doing forecast of branded operations.
I this outcome of decision was that in branded production labour cost increased. In
year 11, it was 5.30 where as in 12 it was 5.50. also, production cost increased from 23.09 to
23.79.
I will focus on improving credit rating by engaging into CSR activity.
3.3. Year 13
I took decision of investing in CSR to improve Exceed credit rating. I found that as
compared to year 12 in branded operation market share decline from 10.8% to 9.3%. I took
decision of purchasing more equipment for branded shoes. Another decision was not to
engage much amount in celebrity endorsement. We also increase prices of online shoes to
generate more profits. this resulted in creating positive impact on our brand image and stock
price.
I took decision by comparing data with rivals. For this decision I persuade with my
team members. I argued with them on some points that is CSR. Thus, we changed our
strategy as well.
The result of it was that credit rating was improved from B+ to A+. in year 13. Also,
image rating was 83 in it. the stock price went to 95.88 to 274.47 in it. due to that EPS
reached at 9.78. thus, in this way investor expectation was met. The ROE went to 45.2 % to
29.0%. (Dahlberg, Hokkanen, and Newman, 2016)
3.4. Year 14
Here, I took new decision that is to reduce cost of in buying new material. I did this to
improve our shoe quality. also, I made decision to endorse 2 more celebrity to increase
image. We invested more in CSR practice. I decided to increase price of internet marketing

from £81 to £85.
I took decision by doing forecasting. I did not discuss with members I taking decision
as they do not agree with it. So, it led to conflict. The conflict was not sold as no one took
initiative of it. so, there was negative consequence of conflict on outcomes.
The result of this was that EPS increase from 9.78 to 11.35. also, stock price
increased from 274 to 303. The credit rating remained same but image rating improved.
Also, SQ rating was increase to 6.8 from 5. But poor outcome attained was production cost
raise to great extent that in 35.82 from26.81 in LA. In EA it was 39 from 0.
3.5. Year 15
The decision taken by me was to improve digital marketing to increase sales. I also
took decision to invest more in marketing. I took major decision to stop p label operation as
they were no profitable.
The process followed was focusing on future market analysis. I took decision by
mutual agreeing with team members. They also agreed for it. So, we changed our strategy
on only internet operations (Das, and Rangarajan, 2017).
So, results was that ROE was decreased from 42.3 to 41.8. but EPS rise to 13.77. It
was only slight change in it as no major decision was taken. There was little rise in revenue
generated in internet market. the bad outcome I found that private label revenue was 0 from
72841. I found that in branded operation market share declined to 10.7% in NA. no P label
operation was done. The CSR award was won by Heel2toe.
3.6. Year 16
It was last week of game play so I have to take critical decisions by analysing data.
thus, I made various decisions in it. I did forecast to calculate revenue. I also took decision to
buy more production equipment. I decided to implement TQM in operations. This was done
to produce goods in when demanded. At last decision taken by me was to apply Carroll CSR
model.
The process followed by me was analysing theories and model and discussing with
team. we analysed in depth and then developed strategy. So, there was no disagreement
between me and team members.
The outcome generated was revenue declined by -3.2% in year 16. EPS by -6.9%
and image rating by 2 points. However, Exceed got second price in CSR reward by applying
CSR model. So, it was positive outcome obtained. I found that in wholesale revenue
decreased. In all region in branded operations, operating profit declined (Gupta, 2016
Kem, 2017).
(4) Business environment analysis
For the business to have good position in the market it is very essential for the company
Exceed to analyse the changes taking place in the business environment. The business
environment involves the analysis of the all the internal and external factors which affects the
changes in the environment affecting the business. The major reason underlying is that if the
company will not adapt to these changes then this will affect the working of the company to a
great extent.
4.1. Macro-environment

This is the environment in which the company operates and includes many of the changes
taking place in all the external factors. All these changes need to be worked and need to be
adapted as if this will not be adapted then this will affect the working of the company to a
great extent. Thus, for this Exceed will make use of PESTLE analysis which is as follows
Political- in the current business environment due to current pandemic the government has
provided many of the subsidies to the business in order to manage the business after the
pandemic. Thus, this has a positive impact as because of this the company can get many
subsidies and this can improve the performance.
Economic- the major change in economic environment is that interest rates has been
decreased and this created a positive impact over the business. this is majorly because of
the reason that now the company can take loan and will have to pay less interest. Thus, this
will increase the profitability of the company.
Social- in the current business environment the consumer has become more conscious
relating to the health and because of this the current trends are towards sports shoes which
are very comfortable to the consumers. Thus, this is an opportunity for Exceed.
Technological- there are many upgradations within the technology and these need to be
addressed by the company. thus, if the company will use these advancements then this will
increase the efficiency of the company and will improve the profitability.
Legal- there are many rules and regulations which Exceed need to follow like, employment
laws, contract law, health and safety of employees and many others. All these laws need to
be followed as this will improve the trust of employees and consumer towards the company.
Environmental- this is also an important factor which Exceed need to follow as if company
will not pay attention towards the protection of the environment. For this the company must
limit the use leather in shoes or must find some of the alternates to leather.
4.2. Competitive-environment
This is also very important for the company Exceed to make the analysis of the competitors
and this will assist the company in making the effective strategies. This is particularly
because of the reason that when the company will analyse the strategies of competitors and
the make their own strategies. For this the company makes the use of the Ansoff matrix in
order to attain a competitive strength which is applied in following manner-
This method involves four different types of strategies which Exceed can use in order to
make the product good and gain competitive advantage. These are as follows-
Market penetration- this is a method in which the company focus on increasing sales in
existing market and with existing product only.
Product development- under this strategy company tries come with some new product but in
the existing market only.
Market development- under this strategy the major focus of Exceed is to capture a new
market with the help of the existing product only.
Diversification- under this strategy the company enters into totally new market with a totally
new product.
The major strategy suggested to Exceed for gaining a competitive advantage is to focus on
market development as a strategy. The major reason for this is that when the company will
use this strategy then this will assist company in increasing the profits of the business and
the market range of company will also increase.

(Source: What is the ansoff matrix? 2020)
4.3. Micro environment
The micro environment is an environment which involves the analysis of the internal factors
which involves the changes taking place in the internal environment of the business. this
involves the changes taking place in the internal working and affecting the culture of Exceed.
For this Handy’s culture model is applied in following manner-
Under this model there are four different types of cultures which Exceed can use and these
are as follows-
Power culture- under this the decision making power of the employees is limited to few
people only and there is major focus over centralisation of power.
Role culture- under this culture the work is having more clarity and the has specific rules and
regulations and employees are provided with work on the basis of their specialisation.
Task culture- under this type of culture the major focus is laid over team work and the group
efforts. This is done as this increase the efficiency of the company and tires to manage the
work in much better and effective manner.
People culture- under this type of culture the major focus of the employees is on their own
interest. This is majorly because of the reason that when the major importance is given on
people then they have feeling that without them the work will not take place.
Out of all the major focus of Exceed is on task culture as this will assist the company in
focusing over the teambuilding and doing work in team.
(5) SWOT / Telescopic Observations
Strength
The major strength of the company is that
this have a global presence and this provides
a large market share.
In addition to this another major strength is
that earning per share is being increasing
and this reflects that the company is in good
Weakness
The major weakness is that there are many
fluctuations in the stock price of the
company.
Another major weakness is that company is
not in position to manage the cost allocation
in proper and effective manner.